Novel Myriad Life [Dark, Tragedy, Fantasy]

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by GDLiZy, Sep 9, 2018.

  1. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 19
    Even when Forus saw the approaching danger, his face remained unmoved, not even a ripple of emotion was on his face. Instead, a faint smile was emerging from his usual still face.

    Ever since when he had resurfaced the realm of life from his first demise, his soul that had wandered between the boundary of life and death had strengthened his mind and almost entirely disconnected him off the dull emotions. Only the olden memory and nostalgic recollection

    From the moment he set out to gain strength to protect himself and to achieve his wishes, he had hardened his mind and used every bit of his mind and soul to plan, choosing the best choice to come out on top in this cold and unfeeling world. The feeling of despair he felt during the darkest moment of his life had left him dull and empty.

    If not for his last bit of fortune, or misfortune, depending on the perspective, he would never sign the contract with that mysterious entity and set himself free from the shackles of fate that tied him with those he loved. Although the bitterness of living was painful, the sweet relief of death was just a thin exterior that hid the darkness below.

    So, against all the odds, Forus chose to endure the soul-searing pain. He decided to abandon the illusion of peace and faced the cruel reality of torture. It was his worry about his lovely daughter's well being and the promise with his faithful wife that kept holding him back from crossing the line of rationality.

    To hear about his daughter for the final time, he wouldn't be scared to challenge that mysterious female sorcerer and her disciple merely to listen to a story about his daughter. To find out about his younger brother and his wife, he wouldn't hesitate to go against fate.

    The terrifyingly detached state of mind of his was the result of experiencing death and embracing life. Against such an unbelievable experience, how could a silly plan be compared with his indescribable struggle against fate and destiny?

    With a flick of his hand, Forus spontaneously strengthened his hand before stretching out to seize at the blazing wave of flame that rushed towards him.

    His action caused Abicel to frown before letting out a sneer. She revealed her disdain expression while continuing to refine her concoction, unbothered by his performance in the slightest. Mabilis, on the other hand, pondered about it in his mind deeper than before. He seemed to be unable to glimpse into the thought process of Forus, no matter how he tried, the man gave off an unusual vibe of being shrouded in a thick fog.

    Uninterested in his surrounding, Forus used his bare hand to seize the searing ray of fire, letting it convert his layers of tissue into the scorched surface, layer by layer. The scene that unfolded before the spectators were very shocking to some of the true sorcerers.

    To the other, the pain would make the weak-willed people roll around and screamed mindlessly and the strong-willed people to heavily sweat and disrupt their breathing, but for Forus who had once merged with the sea of nothingness, the physical pain was like a nonsensical illusion, weaker than the psychic pain and the pain that grasped at his soul.

    Ignoring the pain on his hand, Forus tightly gripped at the spark of energy and used his light elemental sorcery to exhaust the ray of energy and infused the light elemental energy in it, depleting its offensive power. After the wave of heat had lost parts of its potential, shrinking into half of its previous size, Forus threw it towards the silhouettes within the dark mist.

    The deadly ray of light penetrated the layer of fog and landed on the vague figure of the mature lady, causing her to let out a chilling scream. The lady had her chest impaled by the sharpened and semi-transparent light that continuously scorched her ethereal body, turning it into black and rotten flesh.

    Her eyes turned pitch black as she sensed the rampaging flame particle inside of the strike that pierced her heart, clutching her hands tightly as she hatefully glared at Abicel, whose expression had turned solemn and full of regret.

    The resentment spirit was just a fragment of their original self, broken and worn out. Their intelligence was even worse than a small child. Once they got hit by a mysterious power that had a heavy scent of fire, their instinct let them focus their attention towards the one which they assumed to provoke them.

    Abicel, who had fallen into the scheme, was the first target of the ghost lady. While she was formerly the master of the spell, making numerous of her traces apparent in the strike, the attack was not intentional. Only by the guide of Forus, who decrease the power of the strike and threw it towards the spirit, did the ghost not suffer the severe damage and had the remaining strength to retaliate.

    The female ghost screamed out a blood-curdling scream before launching herself towards Abicel. Although the resentful spirit was weak, she could cause Abicel's pain-staking effort to go down the drain if she were to become distracted by the attacks of the ghost.

    Seeing the situation was turning bad for her, Abicel instantly pressed her hand towards the ground, triggering a hidden formation that she had placed it to protect herself from the unexpected attacks. A countless spark appeared and flew around Abicel, forming a ring of flame that protected its owner.

    Even though they were causing a huge commotion and disturbed other participants, no one was trying to stop them. Everyone had reached a silent agreement to let this matter slip off as long as there was no causality.

    In the eyes of the Steel Cauldron, this would serve as an additional test for the participants. They would have to stay focused to complete their concoctions and also stay aware of their surroundings not to get hit by the impact of their conflict.

    The participants sweated heavily as they hastily set some forms of protection for themselves. They had never encountered the scenario where they had to protect themselves while trying to concoct a pill before. Naturally, this would make some of them panic and afraid.

    Although the others were busily thinking about their present, Mabilis had been observing the hidden battle since the start, and he had been shocked by the marvellous plan of Forus Ander, whose mind seemed to be stretching into the abyss of darkness, silently watching and waiting like an invisible hunter.

    After weighing the situation carefully, Mabilis decided to not interfere with the on-going conflict between the two. He didn't want to offend the sorcerer families behind them and also didn't want to sour the relationship between him and the twos.

    Strangely, he noticed that Forus didn't seem to try to fight back, and only continued to refine his pill while staring at the dark cloud deeply. Mabilis could easily deduce that Forus was waiting for something to happen. Otherwise, he would try his best to ruin the opponent's concoction, increasing the chance of him winning the competition.

    Sensing that something was amiss, Mabilis used his sorcery energy to strengthen his perception sense. Now, with his temporary increased perception, he could detect a faint air of melancholy diluted in the atmosphere. The air of melancholy had infiltrated every bit of the testing ground.

    Even though he had greatly reinforced his perception, Mabilis could only detect it if he focused most of his conscious mind into perceiving it. The air of melancholy was very diluted and seemed insignificance to even the dimmest elemental particle, even then, it was very weird that something like this would appear here.

    This thought process led Mabilis to the horrible conclusions that something sinister was about to occur, causing him to set up many protections fanatically. His actions caused others to frown, making them wonder about what was in the mind of his.

    However, almost none of them would spare their thought for him. The geniuses were usually the most unusual of them all. Maybe he was preparing for his concoction that required the use of something dangerous.

    Suddenly, without any warning, the air of melancholy in the atmosphere intensified itself. From the faintest particle that wasn't noticeable from the standard perception of sorcerer apprentices to the overwhelming force that threatened to invade physical beings in the surrounding, this instant of change caught almost everyone off guard, except for Mabilis and Forus.

    The impact of this had caused several of the participants lost their control over their cauldron, causing it to explode or burn their ingredients, resulting in severe losses. However, the one with the most pathetic state was Abicel, with the ghost lady attacking her, the air of melancholy became her nightmare.

    As of now, if she dared to relax her breathing of focus on other things, not only her concoction would fail, but she might even sustain internal injury as well. She couldn't even get time to think about Forus and how his scheme had already shown its result.

    While others were busily dealing with the air of melancholy, Forus wasn't doing anything to protect himself other than a small faint layer of light that covered his body. Although the aura of sadness was threatening to ordinary people, against Forus, who had fought and obtained control over the Death Aura inside of his body, it was as weak as the air that mortal breathed.

    Forus raised his injured hand and forced the blood inside of it to come out. The blood contained within his palm had a hint of grey diluted in it. It stretched out according to his will, slowly creeping towards the black mist.

    Although he could use his Death Aura to control the aura directly, he decided not to do so. His reckless action would expose his extraordinary talent to use the Death Aura. Not only that, if he was unlucky, he might reveal the special grey light that came from the transaction with the mysterious entity.

    His blood formed a string of dark-red line and warped itself around the remaining figure within the thick fog. The last ghost of vengeance was a silhouette of an infant. On its dehydrated skin, multiple miniature holes were emitting the faint air of melancholy, forming a layer of a shadowy sphere that continuously battled against the incoming string of crimson blood.

    Sensing the immense crisis coming towards it, the ghostly infant started crying loudly, sending waves after waves of distorted noise outwards. Whenever the waves of distortion touched anything, it would convert the surface of the object into rotten flesh. The flesh will then continue to corrode the target further, causing numerous chain reactions.

    Alas, no matter how hard it tried, the fragment of the soul of an infant wouldn't be able to contend against the sorcerer apprentice. The shadowy sphere finally collapsed and let the crimson string in, catching the body of the infant and retreated towards Forus.

    Forus gripped onto the infant and pointed at its screaming mouth, causing icy spikes to condense into existence and sewed its mouth shut, not letting any sound out at all. Without any emotion, Forus covered the ghostly infant with a layer of ice, sealing every pore on its body.

    After that, Forus glared at the devastated Abicel. She was having a tough time merely to keep up with the attacks of the ghost lady and the invasion of air of melancholy while controlling her blazing cauldron. Not only that, after she could adapt to the assaults of the ghost, she had to face another threat that was waves of distortion that considerably damaged her protection formations.

    Her situation was very pathetic as she was on her last leg. However, if she could banish the female ghost, she could easily keep up with the air of melancholy. After an instant of thinking, Abicel decisively cut her wrist, causing blood to leak out.

    The blood then automatically formed the structure of a formation, generating a tremendous attraction force to confine the female ghost. However, after she activated the trap, a sense of creeping crisis emerged within her soul. It was feeble and hardly detectable, but a disaster nonetheless.
     
  2. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 20
    After Forus successfully sealed off every pore on the infant's body, blocking all the holes that leaked out the air of melancholy, he threw the dead infant towards the already struggling Abicel. The dead infant, who couldn't scream or pumped out the aura of grief, gradually expanded, threatening to explode under the pressure of the unending stream of gas inside its sealed body.

    The infant immediately met with the bloody formation, crashing into it directly. The icy layer of frost on its body served as the first layer of protection against the array formation. The freezing aura of ice began to freeze a small part of the structure, creating a flaw in the array formation.

    Seeing the ticking time bomb was coming towards her, Abicel face turned pale from fright. She instinctively forced out more of her blood, strengthening the structure and forcing out every last bit of her sorcery energy to cast various spells to banish the female ghost. If she couldn't expel it in time, she knew that not only she would lose her concoction, but her life would also be in a disastrous situation.

    Although she may seem to be in a threatening situation with no way out, a prodigy wasn't just a random nobody. If she assuredly felt that her life was going to end, she would still have more means to change the situation and made her escape.

    However, the prodigy also had their pride, if she couldn't even deal with this predicament, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron would not place their attention at her. Not only that, her trump card should never reveal itself casually as it involved her secrets and inheritance. If she used all of her cards here, she wouldn't be able to use it as a life-saving card in the future.

    Not long after her usage of the bloody formation, it had severely weakened the ghost lady, causing her strength to drop rapidly. Although the array formation was exceptional, it also cost a lot to create and maintain. The constant usage of the bloody arrangement caused Abicel's whole body to turn pale and her skin to age.

    She weakly raised her finger, creating a revolving fireball around her finger. It expanded itself rapidly and circled the ghost lady, binding her body and readied to banish her. Her bloody array was also sucking out the aura of melancholy inside the figure of the infant, preventing it from an eruption due to massive stress.

    At that moment, Forus suddenly pushed the refined physical body of the infant into the burning cauldron, causing the bluish flame to burn the body once more. After that, Forus sent all of the remaining ingredients into the container, combining them with the physical body.

    The burning sensation of the corporeal body caused the incorporeal soul that was the ghostly infant to struggle madly, trying its best to break out of the array. This move that Forus had attempted was very taxing. He had to over-boost the flaming intensity of the bluish flame and controlled it with more precise not to damage the ingredients.

    Seeing that Forus had taken advantage of her by making her the meat shield while he continued to refine the infant's body, Abicel was getting very enraged. She had to admit that her reckless action had caused this predicament, but, for Forus to use this opportunity to trap her as well as refining his pill at the faster pace, he might be more than he looked like at first glare.

    Once she had thoroughly thought over all the possible outcomes, she quickly created a shape of fire that resembled a dagger and cut open a large wound on the ghostly infant, causing its air of melancholy to leak out. She then decisively withdrew her fireball and used the force of the bloody formation to throw the infant towards Forus.

    While she had gotten rid of the ghostly infant, she also lost most of her strength. Abicel coughed out blood as she gritted her teeth and focused on banishing the remaining ghost. The ghostly infant that got thrown out didn't turn back to attack Abicel, but it instead flew towards Forus, who was refining its body and was the source of its intolerable pain.

    Now, as the infant came into this physical world for a while, it had been learning to control its power rapidly. The infant could observe and replicate the process of manipulating the fundamental energy that Abicel used to bind the ghostly lady. Using its air of melancholy, it condensed them into a concentrated mass of blackness and sent it flying at Forus.

    Regarding the approaching mass of melancholy, Forus still ignored it as it couldn't go any meaningful damage to him. He instead let the blazing bluish flame consumed it and used the last bit of the aura to refine the physical shell once more.

    However, once the undiluted air of melancholy got near him, his soul slightly shook as multiple strings of faint light appeared and restrained his grey soul. The feeble and incompleted silhouette of an old man slowly manifested above his soul. His consciousness was under the invasion of multitudinous rays of light at the same time as the old man appeared.

    The Decaying Dawn Ring on his hand trembled as it continuously emitted the Death Aura, corrupting the surrounding into pale ashes. This change caused the spectators to frown and glared at the examiners and the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron.

    However, in contrast to others, Ocelia Coruscare whose face was expressionless began to breathe slightly quicker. Her face twisted into a pleasant smile, beaming with genuine happiness and realisation.

    The feeble figure was none other than Lord Phasma whose first appearance had almost caused Forus his life. The might of the unknown sorcerer who could split his soul into pieces and fused them with the treasures was unpredictable and formidable. Before he got consumed by the strange grey light that slumbered inside the grey soul, he had sent a hint of his fragmented soul inside Decaying Dawn Ring, in case he failed to take over the body and perish.

    He would use the Death Aura inside the Decaying Dawn Ring to slowly recover himself to his peak before attempting to take over Forus' body again. However, little did he know that Forus would accidentally trigger the mysterious function of the Decaying Dawn Ring, pushing his weakened self out before the predestinated period.

    "Although I am out before I fully recover, it was still better than letting you have your time to cultivate your sorcery. Now that you are at your weakest period, I shall take back what was mine." Without wasting any time, Lord Phasma turned into a ray of brilliant light and shot towards Forus, accompanying with him, several hazy darts flew out from the void and rushed towards Forus, destroying the string of blood that protected his body.

    Detecting the ambush, Forus instantly raised his hand and formed a fist. He then retracted the Death Aura inside his soul that was suppressing the spiritual seed with the help of the blazing spiritual power. Once the Death Aura ceased from containing it, the seed quickly fought back madly and swiftly spread out from his unusable right eye, causing pain to travel through his whole body.

    Ignoring the pain, Forus burnt his fist with the Death Aura, burning his flesh into the decaying skin, and swang his nasty fist at the nearby ghostly infant. The overwhelming Death Aura broke through the air of melancholy and butchered the ghostly infant in an instant, killing it without letting it have any chance to defend.

    After throwing out a punch at the ghostly infant, Forus waved his hand and sent the blazing cauldron at Lord Phasma and his hazy darts, blocking the trajectory of the darts. The bluish flame would consume all the darts that came into contact with it, increasing its power and reducing Lord Phasma's offensive ability.

    While Lord Phasma was resisting the bluish flame, Forus made a grasping motion with his other hand, causing symbols to flash and disappear in a chain reaction. Lady Abicel who was about to finish off the ghost lady immediately felt her sense of crisis intensified countlessly, causing her hair to stand up.

    The semi-transparent light that stabbed through the ghost lady abruptly exploded, sending out various streams of light, penetrating through everything in the surrounding, eliminating the female ghost and heading towards Abicel. The light repeatedly smashed into the bloody array before breaking it down and proceeded to rush towards her.

    The light stabbed into her body, creating numerous wounds on her fragile body. Abicel suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Her face showed a torturous expression of despair. Her scream penetrated the countless soul and shook the atmosphere of the room, turning it gloomy and haunting.

    However, her wounds were either superficial and wouldn't be able to diminish her potential, other than the psychological trauma. Now, if she wanted to recover to her peak or ascended towards the higher high of power, she needed to rid herself of the enormous shadow that weighted on her heart.

    At the moment her hoarse scream ended, a cold snorted resounded the whole testing ground. Countless pale snowflake flew towards Abicel, enveloping her body as it touched her skin. The magical snow emitted a freezing wind to freeze the wounds and stopped the bleeding while recovering the injuries with the spiritual power inside of the blizzard.

    While the blizzard was protecting the dizzy Abicel, a part of it continued to produce several ruby-red spears. The spears were releasing a bloody fragrance like the blood-thirsty monstrosity. Every single one of the spears positioned themselves into a pentagram formation, circling each other while continuously changing their positions.

    "Falsus Nomen, you, a mere commoner, dare to harm someone under me?" A ruthless speech echoed the surrounding. The pentagram formation expanded out and shot the spears out successively. Each spear contained the force of the true sorcerer, making the ground trembled, sky rumbled, as it moved through space and time.

    The owner of the speech was Glacies Ninguis. His current ruthless expression and domineering behaviour were utterly different from the previously calm and collected presence in front of Ocelia Coruscare. He, as future successor of the Ninguis Family, held his head high and accumulated his pride since his birth.

    With superior talents and a great mind, Glacies had always been ahead of his generation, suppressing even his former teacher, who was at the peak of third-layered sorcerer apprentice, when he just advanced to the third-layered.

    Only with his rival, Ocelia Coruscare, could he feel some pressure from getting suppressed and left behind. Solely by standing with her, he could become excited and motivated to cultivate. She was the only one from his generation who could stand proud and held her head as high as him.

    His competitiveness slowly turned him into a cultivating madman, causing his power to surge and his skills to become much more refined. However, gradually, his feeling towards his rival also shifted from competitiveness into something else, an obsession.

    Once he got to the peak of the third-layered, Glacies Ninguis chose to use this desire of his to break through the bottleneck and becoming a first-ranked sorcerer. By becoming a genuine sorcerer, he embraced his obsession and let it burrowed deep into his mind, making him wanted to keep her for himself alone.

    "Die." Unnoticed by Forus, a small droplet of greenish elemental particle concealed itself within the group of crimson spears. It travelled alongside the spears, shooting itself towards Forus. It aimed at the right eye, right towards the spiritual seed.

    Forus tried to defend himself from the spears of the bloody blizzard, causing him to overlook the droplet. When he noticed the greenish droplet, it was already too late. He wasn't able to activate all his defence, causing the droplet to slip in and penetrated his right eye.

    At the moment of crisis, a soft sigh filled with adore and love echoed beside Forus. His entire body felt as if he had returned to his mother's embrace, it was warm and safe. There was not a single hint of pressure within this dreamy state.
     
  3. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 21
    The sound of the soft sigh was like a wedding melody, uplifting and spiritual. Forus felt as like his wife had returned to his side and was hugging him from behind, whispering to him about their olden memory.

    Countless transparent hands manifest itself around him, blocking most of the bloody spears. Some of them were caressing his body, giving out a friendly and familiar aura. Most of them went forwards to intercept the ruby spears, nullifying their destructive power.

    A faint and invisible pair of eye gazed at Forus, savouring his features and committing them all into its consciousness. Its gaze contained the yearning for a companion, and its touch stirred a profound emotion from his past.

    Although the invisible hands could stop the bloody spears, it wasn't able to stop the greenish droplet or could it destroy the spiritual seed within his right eye. Forus had to stop using his Death Aura and focus them into suppressing the empowered spiritual seed again.

    The empowered seed instantly sprung out a pale flower that came out of his right eye, rooting itself permanently onto his right eye. The pale flower had a group of yellow pollens, continuously emitting out a unique fragrance.

    Now that the seed had become a flower, its root had also extended deep into his body, causing its removal to become much more difficult than before. The flower was also subtly influencing Forus, making him more sensitive than usual, invoking his suppressed emotions.

    Before long, all of the bloody spears got obliterated by the transparent hands smoothly, but once the pentagram arrangement got crushed, the transparent fists didn't continue to retaliate. They slowly faded away, not doing anything other than necessary.

    "Because of my respect towards my only rival, Ocelia Coruscare, I will not pursue this matter." Glacies snorted before waving his hand, causing the raging blizzard to die down and disappeared. Only then were the spectators saw the panting Abicel lying alone.

    Due to his declare, Forus Ander subconsciously looked at Ocelia Coruscare, who was also staring at him. Her face was smiling brightly, inviting him to come and see her. However, her gaze only served to hurt him. Forus felt as if endless daggers were stabbing into his heart. The sensation of bittersweet was enveloping his mind.

    He quickly turned his head away, avoiding eyes contact with her. He felt as if he was back in his past, seeing his lovely wife's figure overlapping with the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. Such a blurry scene had forced him to ponder about his tragic past again, making him rewatched how his family fell from their peace and entered the abyss.

    Merely a thought about his incompetence ability caused Forus to clenched his fists, silently vowing to take his daughter back before everything was too late. With his resolution will, Forus frantically bit his tongue, almost tearing it apart. He used this torturous pain to regain his rationality.

    "Don't worry, my loved. I will always be there for you." A soft reply echoed his mind, causing him to tense up. He could feel that the strange string of fate that previously caused him to undergo an unbelievable experience started to crawl towards him, desiring to connect him with her again.

    Seeing the approaching string of fate, Forus waved his hand and forced some of the bluish flames, which was burning the protection of Lord Phasma, to move towards him, helping him defend against the strand of fate.

    The act of dividing the force of the bluish flame created a small gap of power between it and Lord Phasma, creating an opportunity to relax his pressure. Once he established his foothold, Lord Phasma began to resist the might of the all-consuming bluish flame, pushing it back into the cauldron.

    "Something is wrong." Glacies Ninguis furrowed his brow while observing the unexpected development. He saw Forus started struggling against the figure of the old man and suddenly divided his bluish flame to protect himself from something invisible.

    Although at first, it seemed as if he was acting on his emotion when he attacked Forus without any warning, he was aiming to get rid of the potential enemy for the Ninguis Family. From the performance that Forus displayed, it was clear that he was gifted in the art of alchemy and would become a great asset for the Coruscare.

    Using the moment when Abicel got injured as an excuse to launch a life-threatening strike to finish him off, Glacies almost succeeded if Ocelia didn't interfere with her spell. Even then, his last resort still slipped away from her protection and struck into Forus' right eye, causing a tremendous disturbance inside his body.

    It was natural that he was able to detect the strange seed that rooted within Forus, as it continuously emitted the wooden element into the air, forming an invisible spack that attracted attention from others.

    However, the fact still stood as he failed his plan and let Forus live. The second chance wouldn't be there for him as the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't tolerate the blatant act of murder under their watchful eye, even more so when the victim was the talent that they desired.

    It was an exceptional tolerance showed by them that they didn't pursue the first attempt to kill their participant. If Glacies didn't have the backing of the Ninguis Family, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't turn blind eyes easily. After all, the power of the Steel Cauldron that spanned across multiple countries must not waver under any circumstance.

    Ocelia Coruscare also didn't do anything else other than watching her lover struggled cold-heartedly. She felt and knew that her dearest one would never fail at these things, as the string of fate that almost connected them was still shining brightly, implying that their future would continue to entangle with each other after this disaster.

    Mabilis Sagunien, who was watching the situation from the sightline, was trembling in awe and fear at the sight of the exchange between a true strike of the first-ranked sorcerers. After all, he was still a third-layered sorcerer apprentice. Seeing the actual power of the genuine sorcerer would help him gain insight into the might of the true sorcerers.

    Not only that, from observing the battle, he could tell that Forus' sorcery was very strange and unusual. He deduced that Forus must have stumbled into an inheritance ground and acquired the ancient path of sorcery cultivation. Other than his unique sorcery power, he also had a decisive mind and ruthless characteristics.

    Now that his superior mindset had crumbled down, Mabilis began to think about how to befriend Forus, instead of roping him in. After all, Forus was a genius and naturally had his pride. Mabilis wouldn't recklessly ask Forus to come under him.

    While everyone was observing both Forus and Abicel, another battle that Forus had been fighting against the string of fate had gone unnoticed by others. The persistent line of destiny would extend towards Forus endlessly, only to get burnt by the bluish flame before retreating and extended outwards again.

    This perpetual cycle was slowly draining Forus' sorcery energy. If he didn't do anything to break the cycle, in the end, he would exhaust himself and let the string of fate connected him with Ocelia, effectively becoming the sole property of the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. He would lose his will and had his personality and memory overwritten.

    Seeing that the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron didn't have any intention to help, Forus gritted his teeth before stabbing his hand into his right eye, grabbing at the pale flower and ripped it out. The roots of said flower twisted violently, rampaging within his body, creating myriad pain all over his body.

    Others could see the little roots twisting beneath his skin, violently rooted themselves onto his flesh and tissues, refusing to come out. The pale flower also sensed the danger of being ripped out. It absurdly rotated and emitted out the stronger fragrance. Anyone who smelt the fragrance would feel their soul relaxed and their energy flow to stagnant.

    Although the pain of forcefully removed the flower was unimaginable, Forus never once let out a scream. During the whole process, he did it flawlessly and cold-bloodedly that it sent chills down the onlookers' spine. The onlookers also heard a faint cry of a lady that echoed around Forus, cursing him whole-heartedly.

    Once the flower sensed its impending doom, the roots immediately severed themselves from the said flower and sealed off Forus' right eye, blocking the foreign force from entering. The said roots also began to retreat into its shell and started to condense its essence to create a newer flower.

    Looking at the withered flower that was steadily leaking the wooden element, Forus used his icy elemental energy to freeze the struggling flower and slowed down its movement before throwing it into the cauldron.

    The bluish flame greedily devoured the flower, which sent out a dry and pitiful wailing every time its petals fell off. The cry of the dying flower caused the other alchemists to feel sad for the flower and hatred towards Forus. After consuming the rotting leaves, the fire which was brimming with the wooden element naturally became hotter and more destructive, becoming more and more challenging for Forus to restrain it.

    However, after the deadly flame consumed the pale flower, Forus' left eye was brimming with madness and ruthlessness. He instantly severed the connection between himself and the bluish flame, causing it to go berserk. His hands then manipulated the flow of his sorcery and sent the remaining ingredients into the cauldron and used his icy element to compress the container, causing its outer shell to turn red from the terrifying heat from the inside.

    Seeing his abnormality, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron began to activate their prepared formation, creating an energy field that covered the whole testing ground, preventing any sorcery spells to leak out and injure the guests. Some of their personnel were also paying their attention towards the safety of both Forus and Abicel, after all, they wouldn't want their soon-to-be talents to injure themselves and their potential.

    Finally, other alchemists couldn't take the pressure of staying near the ticking bomb any longer, many of them decided to stop their concoction and requested to come out. Only Abicel who was unconscious and Mabilis who had already prepared for the worst case was still staying near Forus. Mabilis was observing the strange process of concoction that Forus was performing, etching every single detail into his brain.

    Lord Phasma who got trapped inside the cauldron was reconsidering his priority. If he couldn't take over the boy's body this time, there would be almost no chance in the future to control his body again, but if he overreached himself, he might die by the bluish flame before he could get close to Forus.

    Although his original body had engraved his soul into many treasures, most of them couldn't withstand the passing of time and have decayed into nothing but junks. If he missed this opportunity, there would be no guarantee that he would have another chance to take over a body again.

    After a moment of hesitation, Lord Phasma's eyes turned blood-red as he decided to gamble all of his cards into this one chance. The thought of slumbering for countless more years without any knowledge of when would he come back again had already terrified him out of his mind.

    He decisively overloaded his ghostly body with Death Aura, causing his lower-half to explode. The impact of such explosion caused the cauldron to shake violently, increasing the rate of destruction caused by the bluish flame. The container was gradually crumbling into pieces.

    The explosion slightly damaged Forus, causing him to lose his focus for a moment, making it easier for the string of fate to creep towards him. Although his sorcery energy reserve was nearly empty, Forus was still devoid of panic and fear. His mind was bidding for the right opportunity to save his life from the overwhelming assaults.

    The closer to dead Forus was, the calmer he became. His first death had made him became numb from the fear of nothingness. If not for his promise before his demise and his concern as a father and a faithful husband, he wouldn't risk his life to become a sorcerer.
     
  4. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 22
    Looking at the crumbling cauldron, Forus slowly raised his hand channelled even more ice element into the container of the bluish flame. The contrast between heat and cold caused the instantaneous combustion that echoed within the fragile cauldron.

    Observing his crazy and reckless actions, not even Lord Phasma could deduce his objective. However, even if none of the onlookers could predict it, the enchanted instinct of special sorcerers could still pick up the inevitable direction of destiny. Mabilis could see the faint silhouette of the ever-changing black mess of cloud above Forus, holding a scythe that extended towards Forus, waiting to chop it down and ended his life.

    Although the scythe was not going to hit him, Mabilis could feel that just the aftershock could easily kill him, causing him to sweat rapidly before slowly retreating in fear of its notice. However, once he surveyed his surrounding, he found that above the entity, a giant and almighty hourglass was hanging in the sky, leaking endless sand towards the black monster, threatening to consume it.

    Other alchemists who lost their wit and those who stayed outside the boundary of the force field couldn't see it, as they didn't have any unique ability for this kind of power. They could only try their best to reason the madness that drove Forus to this extent.

    However, even if Ocelia Coruscare couldn't sense the abnormality with her enchanted sense, she could still feel the movement of the string of fate. Her expression which was calm began to show a trace of ecstasy. The closer the said string of fate towards Forus, the faster she could become one with him.

    Even then, Ocelia was perplexed by the actions of Forus. She knew by her heart that the man she loved was a cunning and ruthless man and that all of his moves would benefit him one way or another, but, the current action of his seemed to do no good. It would only worsen his situation.

    Though, with her special connection with him, Ocelia could feel a looming crisis hovering above her, waiting to descend and devour her. The crazed actions of Forus must have caused something to happen and might even get him out of this predicament.

    Thinking about this strange situation, Ocelia smiled faintly. Even if Forus could reverse his current state, there would be no escaping from her backup plan.

    The poor cauldron trembled once more and slowly leaked the blue flaming particle out of its cracks. The destruction of the said cauldron was inevitable. One could only delay the inevitable and not prevented it. Forus didn't do anything to obstruct it, making the rate of destruction to accelerate.

    The blue spark that floated aimlessly would burn everything that it touched, making the area around the cauldron mostly turned into ashes. The sparkle also moderately affected Forus that he needed to divide some of his magic to protect himself against getting wasted down by the constant flow of fire.

    Meanwhile, Lord Phasma was getting desperate. Even after he hardened his mind and used the lower half of his spiritual body to suicide and attacked the cauldron, it still didn't fall as the icy particle was holding it together. Although layers after layers got melted by the bluish flame, the last coat of frost was too sturdy to destroy within a small time frame.

    With no way out, Lord Phasma had nothing to lose. He began to laugh manically, using his hands to tear his hair apart, savouring the pain.

    "You have forced my hand!" His words echoed within the cauldron as they couldn't bypass the coat of frost. Suddenly, one of the precious rings on Forus' hand sent out a faint glow as its exterior began to melt down.

    Sensing the unexpected change in one of his treasures, Forus immediately move to suppress it. However, before he could put up any defence to protect himself, the ring, the Decaying Dawn Ring, exploded into smithereens, heavily damaged Forus in the process.

    One part of the exploding power went towards the coat of frost, crashing into it and broke the cauldron, leaking out the condensed bluish flames in all direction. As the container got destroyed, Lord Phasma also came out along with the bluish fire. Upon seeing the destruction of the Decaying Dawn Ring and the heavily injured Forus, he instantly shot himself towards Forus, aiming to take over his body.

    Seeing the unexpected change, Ocelia also over-boosted her lingering sorcery power that used to suppress the spiritual seed, making it rampaged Forus' body, obstructing his flow of energy. Forus would have to focus more on his mental mind to use his sorcery when his refined flow of sorcery cultivation got hindered.

    All of this led to Forus' collapse, followed by the dispersing of his Death Aura that stopped the advance of the string of fate. Without anything to hinder its progress, the said string of destiny once again shot itself towards Forus, aiming to penetrate his soul and connected him with Ocelia, for all eternity.

    In the eyes of Mobilis, he saw the multi-colours light descended from the sky, piercing Forus and the container, injuring him and destroying the cauldron. Once the said cauldron broke apart, a cloud of grey gas shot out towards Forus, aiming at the middle of his chest. At the same time, the hourglass faintly shook as it leaked out more sand, flowing towards Forus endlessly.

    The sorcerers from Sagunien Family needed to study and comprehend the art of divination. It was their main sorcery cultivation method. Legends told that the founder of the Sagunien Family acquired this unusual cultivation method through the ancient ruins. By decisively abandoned his previous cultivation base, he caused his talent to drop and his soul to injure itself, lowering the chance to advance further.

    However, since he had practised the new method and gained the ability to peer into the river of fate, he naturally exploited the current of the destiny to advance his cultivation and single-handedly found the Sagunien Family, but, the inheritance wasn't invincible. It was but a fragment of the completed technique, leading only to the second-ranked sorcerer.

    The worst defect was if one cultivated this method and achieved small success, their soul would involuntarily transform into another model that fitted the system better, making it impossible or excessively hard to undo or change their cultivation method.

    If not, other superpowers within the territory would have already joined their hand and destroyed such a household. The valuable technique that could exploit the fate was too precious for one lone force to control. However, if one must stick to the incomplete method without any hope of further advance, none of the third-ranked powerhouses would want their descendants to practice it.

    However, even with this marvellous sorcery, Mabilis who hadn't advanced into a first-ranked sorcerer wouldn't be able to predict the future. He could only use his extraordinary sensitivity to perceive the otherworldly vision.

    Mabilis looked at the black entity and threw the thought of helping Forus out of his mind. From his perspective, having a great talent helped him in his quest was always a great idea, but if he had to fight to the death to get that, Mabilis would decisively abandon such thought and fleed without any hesitation.

    He instead turned his attention towards the unconscious Abicel, stumbling towards her. He would choose to help the hopeless girl and earn her favour that risk his life. With that thought in mind, he swiftly took out his healing potions and poured them over her wounds, slowly tending her injuries and keeping her save.

    Shortly after, the dense aura of blackness gushed out of Forus' body, enveloping him, forming many silhouettes of weapons. Strangely, all of them were pointing towards Forus, as if he was attempting to suicide.

    Forus also used all of his Death Aura to burn his flesh, turning them into dark rotten skin. After withdrawing all of his Death Aura, the spiritual seed within his body also ran rampaged, invading every inch of his body. Only his sea of conscious and soul was safe from the invasion and external threat.

    Looking at the incoming string of fate and crazed Lord Phasma, Forus slowly raised his skeleton hand, whose flesh got torn apart by the explosion of the Decaying Dawn Ring.

    Many people had already regarded Forus as a demented man. Some were laughing and scolding at him, seeing Forus as a crazy man, trying to kill himself. While others were only watched the show unfolded, not doing anything.

    Except for one person, Ocelia Coruscare frown as she focused most of her attention at him. Before long, her eyes shone as her face strangely twisted into the expression of madness. She forcefully channelled her sorcery power to enter the energy field, trying to track and pulled back the string of fate.

    Looking at the panic in Ocelia's eyes, Forus grinned with satisfaction and excitement. He used retracted all of his remaining power that was fighting against the string of fate, and instead, using them as the mean to strengthen the said string of destiny and pulling them towards himself.

    The string of fate immediately shot towards Forus' soul, attaching itself with the soul. The moment the line had established the connection between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, Forus directed all of his Death Aura in his remaining rotten hand and stabbed himself in his chest, pulling a majority of the spiritual roots out of his body.

    "The Snow of Remembrance shall cover all things." With one single chant, countless pale-white snow descended and covered the testing ground, moving at Forus. Following after, the eccentric weapons that got created by Death Aura also shot towards Forus, aiming at his heart.

    Seeing the decisiveness of Forus, Ocelia immediately abandoned her futile attempt to prevent the string of fate and instead created several defensive seals around her soul and body, hindering the outside interference.

    After the string of fate attached itself into his body, the connection began to form between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare. However, once Forus felt the connection, he revealed a smile of a madman before cutting the edge of his soul out, causing him to cry in pain.

    Now, due to him severing his soul apart from his male body, the overlapping vision didn't occur, only the perception outside the energy field, the sight of Ocelia Coruscare, remained.

    After Forus successfully moved his soul to the new body, the weapons of Death Aura also penetrated the male physical body that Ocelia currently controlled, making her groaned in pain. However, before she could do anything to protect her new human body, the snow of remembrance had already covered her soul, causing her to fall into a neverending illusion.

    Lord Phasma, who was coming for Forus' soul, noticed the change regarding the soul inside the body immediately, making him frown before resigned himself to his fate, pushing the limit of his spiritual essence and trying to take over the physical body.

    Although the nutrient and mysterious grey soul disappeared and had the new soul overtaken, at least Lord Phasma could see that the current soul was not as terrifying as the previous grey soul, increasing the chance of taking over the body.

    After his soul partly merged with the female body of Ocelia, the original soul tried to suppress his, but because her soul got into the physical form of Forus and took the hits from Death Aura weapons, Lord Phasma's spiritual power and the rampaging spiritual seed, Ocelia got only a fragment of her original soul to fight against Forus.

    Ocelia's soul violently struggled as it got corrupted by Lord Phasma and the destructive Death Aura. Coupled with the unending illusion of the pale-white snow, this combination of deadly power could potentially kill a first-ranked sorcerer.

    Subsequently, Forus once again burnt a tenth of his soul, causing his mind to turn dizzy and confused. After igniting his soul, a considerable amount of soul energy got expelled outwards and crashed into Ocelia's soul, further weakening her.

    Finally, taking advantage of his well-thought-out plan that dealt a devastating blow to Ocelia, Forus eventually took over the female body of Ocelia before pushing her out. The remaining part of her soul that got expelled out of her body spontaneously got sucked into Forus' physical form under the influence of the string of fate.
     
  5. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 23
    After finish merging with the new, superior body of the first-ranked sorcerer, Forus felt overwhelmed and uncomfortable within her new body. The weak soul of the third-ranked sorcerer apprentice wouldn't be able to control the strong physical shell of the first-ranked sorcerer freely.

    In reality, if not for the fact that Ocelia's soul got heavily injured and got restained by the mysterious string of fate, coupled with the illusion of the Ring of Recollection, whose origin was untraceable even by the second-ranked sorcerer, Ocelia could still retrieve her body back and instantly enslaved Forus' frail soul.

    Now, since Forus had overtaken the body, she got assaulted by the overwhelming memory of the previous owner, Ocelia Coruscare. In the vision, Forus received about various miscellaneous facts and pieces of information about the traditional path of sorcery.

    If not for the enigmatic grey light that fused with his soul, Forus would have gotten overwhelmed by a large amount of the clustered information and scattered memory that got crammed into his soul. The soul of the sorcerer apprentices wouldn't be able to process the memory of the sorcerers.

    After finishing the process of transmigration, Forus slowly felt the flow of pure flaming element inside of her body. She was trying her best to adjust the coordination between her soul and newly acquired physical shell. This process also helped her to gain experience of how the power of the first-ranked sorcerer operated.

    However, before Forus could control her new body, the seals that Ocelia had created also began his activation. Many tiny lines were crawling onto her body, preventing Forus to move. If Forus wanted to completely took control over her new body and integrated herself into the Coruscare Family, she needed to break the last line of defence that was the seals.

    Fortunately, the seals got set up poorly, as Ocelia didn't have time to set a strong seal carefully. After an instant, Forus had already gained control over the majority of her body. Before long, she would have become the new Ocelia Coruscare, the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family.

    If it was the previous Forus who was still a measly sorcerer apprentice, he might be able to break the seals after going all out, but after she used the power of the first-ranked sorcerer, the seals got torn apart like a wet paper. It couldn't stand in the presence of such might.

    After she could move her body freely without any obstruction from the seals, Forus began to look at her beautiful figure and alluring features. The not too short nor too long red hair that danced with the gentle wind and the orange eyes that shone brightly like the sun could steal the attention and heart of any men that had their sight onto her.

    The feeling that the flow of pure elemental energy gave off was intoxicating, almost making Forus felt addicted to it. However, she still remembered her objective. She looked into the energy field, penetrating the space and saw the struggling former body of Forus.

    It was only a moment that Ocelia got caught inside the illusion of the Ring of Recollection. After all, a spell cast by a sorcerer apprentice couldn't do anything lethal to the first-ranked sorcerer. Even then, numerous wounds had already emerged on Ocelia's new body when she got out of the illusion.

    After Ocelia got pulled into Forus' body, her soul also got the memory of the Forus. Because of her soul that was the soul of a first-ranked sorcerer, she had no difficulty in receiving the vision of a sorcerer apprentice.

    Watching the past of Forus, she discovered that she could only see into so little of his life, as everything before his mysterious awaken in the hideout of the blue-robed sorcerer never got transmitted into her soul. However, in her situation, she had no time to ponder over such useless thing when she needed to find a way to survive the scheme.

    Fortunately, Ocelia could still see the various spells that Forus had learnt during his stay in the hideout of the blue-robed sorcerer. Ocelia also saw the moment where Forus struggled at the doorstep of the death when he almost killed the righteous female sorcerer apprentice, forcing the mentor of said sorcerer apprentice to act, nearly killing him with one of her casual spells.

    However, Ocelia couldn't see anything related to the Death Aura and the mysterious entity, as all information about it got blurred by the interference of the unknown power.

    Facing the death threat of the Death Aura weapons, Ocelia gritted his teeth decisively cut a chunk of his flesh and threw it outwards at a random direction. The Death Aura weapons quickly sensed the meat and moved towards it, aiming to annihilate it.

    However, inside of the chunk of flesh, various roots of the spiritual seed began to penetrate out of the meat, defending against the Death Aura weapons and trying to find its way back to the main body. The movement of the agitated roots caused a chain-reaction that made other roots in action, rampaging inside Ocelia's current figure.

    In the face of death, Ocelia only let out a low grown before repeating the process, sending out more and more chunks of flesh. The flesh then became the target practice of the Death Aura weapons, getting destroyed by them regularly.

    However, before Ocelia could catch a breath, he sensed a sudden looming feeling of danger appeared out of nowhere, causing Ocelia to become alert. He used his new-found spells of ice and light to protect himself.

    Suddenly, the faint silhouette of an old man appeared behind Ocelia. Lord Phasma snapped his finger, creating many rays of light. The rays of light then shot towards Ocelia, binding him in place and restaining his sorcery energy.

    If Ocelia still had the previous body of the first-ranked sorcerer, she could easily defeat this fragmented soul, but alas, the body Ocelia had now was at the rank of sorcerer apprentice, which was fragile compared to the first-ranked sorcerer.

    Without anyone to obstruct his path, Lord Phasma released attacks after attacks, targetting her soul to ensure that the defence of her soul to get weakened as much as possible. After all, after he decisively destroyed his Decaying Dawn Ring, Lord Phasma had lost his hideout. If he couldn't succeed in this takeover, he would disappear for good.

    However, to his surprise, Ocelia could still hold on even after suffering from various mental attacks. Lord Phasma had no mean to know that Forus had used the extraordinary mean to capture the soul of the first-ranked sorcerer.

    "Why are you still idling? Go and save that child!" Outside of the energy field, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron had already begun their rescue mission. After all, they couldn't bear to pass with such a great talent alchemist.

    "That man, Falsus Nomen, is currently under my protection. How could I stand and watch as someone I promised to protect dies?" A firm and gentle voice softly echoed the testing ground. Accompanied by the graceful speech, an old man swiftly rushed into the energy field.

    Ocelia Coruscare, or her body which got controlled by Forus, expressed her motive to rescue Falsus Nomen, trying to rope him to join her Coruscare Family. However, her goal naturally crashed against the Steel Cauldron, which also wanted to recruit Falsus Nomen.

    If Falsus didn't exhibit such a grand talent in both alchemy and sorcery, the Steel Cauldron would back down and gave this successor of the sorcerer family some face. However, now that Falsus had exhibited a sign of an unparallel talent, the Steel Cauldron could potentially have a next grandmaster alchemist.

    After Forus got the memory of Ocelia, she knew that the Coruscare Family couldn't contend against the actual might of the Steel Cauldron. Naturally, after staying stubborn for a while to retain the dignity of the sorcerer family, she finally retreated after she got the offer of compensations.

    The sole reason why Ocelia in Forus could still survive was the fact that she managed to guess the absurd intention that Forus carefully hid beneath his suicidal surface.

    If Ocelia didn't dissipate the elemental energy that used to suppress Forus' body at the last moment, she would have died by the detonation caused by Forus. However, due to her keen sense that allowed her to guess Forus' intention vaguely, she had immediately destroyed all of her back-up measures as they could threaten herself.

    Although with the help of the Steel Cauldron, Ocelia-in-Forus had narrowly avoided the calamity, Forus-in-Ocelia also had much more time to plan her scheme thoroughly, and there would be no way to stop her.

    In theory, Ocelia could expose the fact that she and Forus had swapped body and soul, that would cause Forus' plan to fall apart, but, if anyone knew about this secret of soul transferring and the string of fate, at best, she and Forus would have gotten locked in the laboratory and experienced the endless experiment. At worst, both of them would get their souls extracted and dissected, forever suffered in the hands of the powerful sorcerers.

    After weighing the pros and cons, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare had tactically promised each other not to reveal the dark secret that they shared or their life would get ruined, and their soul got trapped forever.

    Forus, in her captivating body, watched as the Steel Cauldron carefully treated the dizzy and barely conscious Ocelia, who was in Forus' frame. She was showing to the surrounding that she got her interest fixed at the alchemy genius, Falsus Nomen.

    "Although both Abicel and Falsus didn't manage to finish their recipe, their superb talents had already won over the judges' attention. However, please let us have a moment to discuss before announcing the winner." After seeing that both Abicel and Falsus were safe, the Steel Cauldron quickly ordered their judges to review the potions and pills as well as examining the procedures.

    Even if no one said it, everyone in the testing ground silently agreed that the top of the test should be Abicel and Falsus. They had already given up on obtaining the first and second place.

    After a short while of heat discussion and speculation, the judges came out of their meeting room and slowly announced the scores of the test. At this point, there were many rounds of crying and rejoicing. Some were even trying to hear the reasons why their scores were as such.

    Naturally, the third place belonged to Mabilis Sagunien. Although he was the rare genius of the Sagunien Family, he didn't solely practice the art of alchemy. He, who wished to become the next head of the family, only practice alchemy to widen his circle of influence further.

    In contrast to Forus Ander, who had the personal diary and research papers of the second-ranked sorcerer, and Abicel Pingre, who didn't have any political scene and had better talents than him, Mabilis stood only a low chance in getting the first place.

    "The first place of the test goes to Falsus Nomen!" Various acclaims and encouragement sounded the entire testing ground as the last result got announced.

    Hearing that Falsus Nomen had won the competition, Ocelia Coruscare, whose body got controlled by Forus, smiled faintly before channelling her sorcery power, sending a minute speck of pure sorcery energy towards Falsus.

    Although the real Ocelia didn't want to take the tampered sphere of energy, he nevertheless absorbed it casually, seemingly without any concern.

    "As I have promised, this pure sorcery energy will unquestionably help you progress in your cultivation. Not only that, I shall personally help you recovered from your injury and try my best to restore your unusable eye." Her voice gentled and her gesture beautiful, Ocelia gave a declare in front of everyone that she had taken her full interest in Falsus.

    However, while everyone busily envied him, Falsus Nomen, whose body contained the soul of actual Ocelia Coruscare, paled at the sentence of her real body.

    "Mistress Ocelia, your grace and magnanimity are as bright as the sun that dispels all the darkness and evilness of the world. However, to go to your Coruscare Family with this dirty and tattered attire is nothing short of insulting your dignity. Please let this one prepares himself." Falsus struggled to kneel and bowed, trying his best not to offend Ocelia Coruscare.
     
  6. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 24
    Although Forus' soul got severely injured by the act of ruthlessly burning a part of her soul away to repel the soul of Ocelia, with the help of her new background, the Coruscare Family, she could recover her soul to its prime and strengthened it to become compatible further with the body of the first-ranked sorcerer.

    However, even if she could quickly heal her soul, she had to slowly request the potions to avoid arousing unwanted attention and suspicion, making her recovery process to take a longer time than necessary.

    After missing the best period to get rid of Ocelia, who was in Forus' previous body, she had already given up on continued to pursue the task. Now that Falsus Nomen got the full attention of the Steel Cauldron, the security around him would become the annoying pest that followed him everywhere, not giving her any chance to assassinate him.

    The Coruscare Family couldn't bear to offend the Steel Cauldron whose influence extended throughout the entire Mountain Union, having many smaller bases within almost every big city. The leader of the family, which currently had the power of the second-ranked sorcerer, wouldn't be able to withstand the wrath of the Steel Cauldron, whose leader was a third-ranked sorcerer.

    The only way to safely eradicate this dormant problem was to quickly strengthen her soul to the point that she could suppress the soul inside Falsus Nomen and made it her loyal slave using the connection of the string of fate as the battlefield.

    Even then, Forus still didn't wish to connect herself with Ocelia, due to the mysteriousness of the Ring of Recollection, she didn't want to get trapped inside the unreal illusion while she competed with Ocelia in the contest of the souls. If Ocelia had unexpectedly discovered a new function of the Ring of Recollection and set a trap and waited for Forus to fall in, she would at least get expelled from this incredible body and at worst became a permanent slave of Ocelia instead.

    Despite the intention to ruin and enslave Ocelia, who knew almost all of Forus' secrets, she still maintained her outward appearance of a caring and gentle mistress who occasionally went to see Falsus Nomen, the genius at the arts of alchemy, expressing her interest in his body and soul, acting like an innocent maiden who had fallen in love.

    Each time she visited Falsus Nomen, she would send a tiny part of her sorcery energy to help him cultivate his sorcery base. Naturally, the sorcery energy she sent to Falsus had got tampered with and contained some lines of dialogues, using it as a mean to silently communicate and helping each other becoming more powerful for the sake of getting rid of each other at the end.

    Responding to Ocelia's visit, Falsus would sometimes gift Ocelia some mid-quality potions, expressing his admiration towards the mistress of the Coruscare Family. The medicines also contained a mark of information buried inside, using them as the mask to conceal the secret conversation.

    From this type of communication, both Forus and Ocelia had benefitted from the previous calamity by a large margin. Since the moment they knew that they had very little chance to finish each other off, they immediately sought for compromisation and tried their best to race against each other. If any of them misstepped even once, the other might took that moment of failure and boosted themselves up, completely suppressed the one who failed first.

    Perhaps the significant losses that Forus had were the loss of the control over Death Aura and the powerful body that got specially created by the grey soul. The feminine body of Ocelia Coruscare, whose power was at the first-ranked sorcerer, was just a little stronger than the figure of Forus, whose power was merely at the third-layer sorcerer apprentice.

    Even if Forus could train her new body with Death Aura, its power would drop down and would wake a much longer time than with her original body. The original foundation of Forus had got created by the mysterious grey soul to become compatible with the Death Aura, while Ocelia's body was just a regular body without any enhancement from the mysterious forces.

    Forus' only oversight was that she forgot to destroy the Ring of Recollection before she transferred her soul with the help of the string of fate. However, in that moment of life and death, there wasn't enough time to carefully plan everything without any mistakes. Just for Forus to successfully take over Ocelia's body, he had probably exhausted all of his luck.

    However, with benefits came problems, after taking a tremendous risk and successfully won the bet between life and death, taking over the body of Ocelia, the issue that related to the mysteriousness of the soul and consciousness began to show itself.

    As Forus' soul began to unite with her new body, the lingering emotions and dispositions that existed within the female body also began to fuse with Forus' personality, subtly changing her temperament. Although the dominant emotion and personality still belonged to Forus' emotions, the changed in her temperament was undeniable.

    The feeling of intimacy and love towards Ocelia Coruscare started to take root within Forus, making her felt warming sensation every time their eyes met. Forus also began to sub-consciously talk and acted as Ocelia without any thoughts, slowly becoming the genuine mistress of the sorcerer family.

    She knew that the process of merging the two to become one was unavoidable and resigned herself to her fate, as she was confident enough to control her emotions not to affect her rationality. Although she would feel excited and yearn to be with Ocelia, Forus would never do anything rash.

    "Mistress, your requested black tea is ready." The same old butler gently knocked the door before opened it and brought in the black tea full of rich fragrance.

    After sensing the silent approval of his mistress, the butler slowly walked towards Forus-in-Ocelia as he professionally lifted the jar full of black tea and skillfully poured it into the lustrous cup. The scene of a matured maiden casually drinking the freshly-prepared tea while admiring the surrounding scenery of nature would ease one's mind and warm one's heart.

    "Mistress, your favourite alchemist, Falsus Nomen, has requested me to deliver this gift to you. He wishes to see you again." It was no secret that Ocelia Coruscare was interested in the talented alchemist, Falsus Nomen, whose skills could rival some master of alchemy. The Coruscare Family also expressed their approval of the relationship by silently turned blind eyes towards the matter and secretly supported the two.

    After all, having connections were essential for the survival and the continuance of the sorcerer family. It would greatly help pave the way of the rise of the Coruscare Family if the next leader of the family had an intimate relationship with one of the exceptional talent of a significant association.

    "Tell him to wait for me. I would visit him soon." Receiving the gift, which was unquestionably the potions and the secret message, Forus listened to the reports of the general situation of the city before dismissing the butler.

    "Seeing you desperate truly warm my heart." Forus giggled lovingly, seemingly enjoying the thought of the nervous expression that Ocelia might be having. After all, with Ocelia's experience, he would have already noticed the unusual characteristics of his new body.

    The fact that Ocelia couldn't advance his sorcery cultivation by using the traditional method would send him into a panic, but, given the intellect of Ocelia, he would have long figured out that Forus was holding the crucial step to ascend towards the first-ranked sorcerer.

    Regarding the information about the mysterious entity and the detail cultivation method about the Death Aura, Forus could deduce that something had interfered with the transferred memory and erased the detail regarding these taboo subjects, probably the mysterious entity itself.

    Even with the memory of Forus Ander, Ocelia Coruscare couldn't be able to create the next step of cultivation method by himself. Although the lingering emotions and dispositions that existed in Forus' previous body would merge with Ocelia's real personality, it wouldn't cause Ocelia to become a copy of Forus. After all, Ocelia's personality was the dominant force.

    That only left Ocelia-in-Forus with one choice, to establish a deal with Forus-in-Ocelia, to trade for something at the equal value. Because of this, Ocelia had been trying to express his sincere by gifting Forus some middle-grade potions that were good for sorcery cultivation, especially regarding the path of the flame.

    After a long period of silence, Ocelia started to get desperate, and in the end, requested to see Forus face-to-face.

    Seeing this reaction caused Forus to smile gently, feeling proud of herself. To let the other take the initiative to approach her would make her have the upper hand in the transaction. The one who showed their interest first would naturally get exploited by the more secretive one.

    However, Forus also needed to analyse this transaction thoughtfully with cautious. If she pushed her deal too far and accidentally crossed the boundary, Ocelia might do something that would be disastrous to both of them out of his recklessness. If she didn't do anything and pretended not to acknowledge this, Ocelia might also try to search for the answer himself, exposing the extraordinary body in the face of the danger.

    Regarding her previous body, Forus Ander would try her best to seize it, while subduing the soul of Ocelia into her submission, making Ocelia her property forever. Not only it would satisfy the tender sensation that she had got from fusing with Ocelia, but the extraordinary physique that could manipulate Death Aura was a notch better than the ordinary feminine form.

    If not for the gloomy threat of becoming enslaved by Ocelia and the crisis of Lord Phasma's appearance, Forus would gladly live inside her first body and continued to struggle against fate. Now that Falsus had entered the Steel Cauldron, it would be a matter of time before he could deduce the method to break through accurately and became the first-ranked sorcerer.

    However, such was fate and destiny, one could not force the result and could only silently comply while one was weak. Only those with unearthly power could shape their lives and led their journeys. Those who couldn't reach the top were destinated to fall and became a pile of ashes, paving ways for the next generations.

    After clearing her mind from those thoughtless matters, Forus gently lifted the present that Ocelia had sent to her before slowly unwarped it while humming her tone, acting like a relaxed lady who was excited to open her gift.

    Seeing several middle-quality potions, Forus smiled faintly before rapidly using them to maintain her sorcery cultivation further. After getting this new feminine body, Forus could once again use the regular potions to improve her sorcery cultivation and finally be able to train in traditional cultivation method.

    Although it seemed that Ocelia was desperate and practically giving out Forus free potions and the likes, Ocelia had only given Forus the remedies for healing injuries and increasing cultivation energy, and not any of the medicines that could enhance the power of the soul or purify the sorcery power within her body.

    Even with the help of these potions, Forus would never be able to break through into the peak of the first-ranked sorcerer, let alone the mighty second-ranked sorcerer. Ocelia had also made sure that Forus wouldn't find a way to enhance her soul to increase her chance and suppressing and enslaving Ocelia when they fought for control over other's body again.

    The feeling of increasing one's sorcery was addicting for the body of Ocelia. Forus could feel the burning sensation of the flaming particle that flew through her vein, making her body turned hot and exciting. It was the opposite of how Forus cultivated her first body, which involved rotting her flesh and skin with Death Aura before using it to invade the blood and inner organs, slowly and painfully strengthening the entire body.
     
  7. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 25
    At the edge of the balcony, a fairy-like lady was sitting alone, gazing towards the horizon, covering her vision with the entirely of the Flamedouse City and the beauty of the sunset beyond the forest that encompassed the border of her view. Her moderately long red hair swang with the calling of the wind, grazing through her face like a gentle hand of the Mother Nature, caressing the cheeks of her beloved child.

    Forus Ander, whose soul took over the noblewoman body of Ocelia Coruscare, had been watching the flow of nature and men since she had merged with her new personality, becoming more and more lady-like. Although her fundamental nature didn't change, she had been able to express her emotions more freely from her past self.

    The black tea had taken the interest of Forus lately. She had been savouring its essence and taste, just like the past Ocelia. However, these changes were just at the surface level, changing only his external preference. Except for her strange affection with Ocelia, whose soul was in Forus' previous body, nothing would ever make Forus hesitate to act against the real Ocelia.

    Suddenly, a low knocking sound echoed from the marble door, travelling across the room before waking Forus from her state of relaxing. Although her scenery-viewing got interrupted, Forus didn't show any irritation, but her eyes shone faintly as she lightly tapped the tea table, sending waves of vibration towards the door, radioactively opened the door, revealing the figures behind it.

    Accompanying the old butler, a handsome man whose hair glittered black light as it reflected off the natural sunlight stood behind the aged butler, keeping his eyes fixed at Ocelia's figure as if he was savouring the sweet curve and alluring features of the unsullied mistress.

    The eyes that locked themselves on the silhouette of Ocelia had a hint of pleasure and delight in them. A tinge of redness also flashed beneath the calm face of Falsus, subtly revealing his excited self that wished to be with Ocelia together.

    Others would feel disgusted and embarrassed from the look that Falsus was giving to her, loathing that man to damnation. However, at the thought of how Falsus was admiring her beauty and charisma, Forus felt that her body was shivering in anticipation of what might happen next.

    However, deep down inside the impenetrable mind of both of them, they knew that these arousing sensation would disappear once any of them shew their hostility.

    Their feeble thought of living together in harmony as an ordinary pair would never occur when they still had their free wills. Only when one could control the other, would they be together with their loved and cherished one.

    After a moment of wild fantasy, Forus suddenly remembered that the butler was still in the room. In her embarrassment, her face flushed pinkish as she shyly waved her hand to let the butler left. Her bashful expression, coupled with her natural disposition of the mistress of the Coruscare Family had made the butler in awe of her youthful beauty and charm.

    "Our mistress had surprisingly grown up." The old butler, who had served the mistress since she was born, naturally viewed her as his granddaughter. Seeing her mature over the time had made him emotional, making his eyes watery.

    The tiny sweetheart of his had grown into a beauty that would eventually lead the Coruscare Family, becoming the pride of her generation. As her butler and foster grandfather, he would also want his sweetheart to find happiness in life. To have someone that could understand you and helped you when you needed it the most, it was a blessing from the World Will.

    "Go, prepare some black tea for our mistress. Make it the best one you could." The butler regained his orderly manner after a moment of distractions. After all, he had served the people of Coruscare Family since his youth, making him excelled in his role. He swiftly ordered the maids to prepare the necessity for his mistress before walking away in deep thought, not wanting to disturb their moment of sweet love.

    After the sound of multiple footsteps faded into the distance, Falsus immediately placed his hand onto the ground, creating many restrictions, isolating the room from the outside, preventing others from spying them. Runes after runes got engraved onto the formation. Each represented the beauty of the sorcery power.

    "I wish I could watch this process a little longer." Forus instinctively complained once she saw that Ocelia had already finished engraving the runes. She loved the movement of Ocelia when he raised his hand and drew the rune up in the air before pushing it down onto the ground.

    "I also wish that you were this lovely when you were in your real body." Ocelia chuckled as he moved towards Forus slightly, looking straight into Forus' eyes. He was enjoying the rosy expression that Forus was exhibiting.

    As if in trances, Forus' eyes froze when she looked into Ocelia's. The sky-like pupil that contacted when visible caused Forus to unknowingly move her hand towards Ocelia, closing in onto her eyebrows. The temptation to touch the azure eyes was unstoppable, penetrating the essence of Forus.

    "At first, I am baffled by your obsession in those cerulean eyes, but now, I can see the reason for that." Forus suddenly smiled before retracting her hand, causing Ocelia to sigh in disappointment. She had indeed been captivated by the eyes, but only for a mere moment before regaining her rationality.

    "You are becoming more and more perfect, as I want you to be." While he wasn't able to get Forus to caress his face, Ocelia still felt contented that his eyes could charm Forus. However, the greatest delight of his was the fact that Forus was becoming prettier and lovelier, turning into an ideal mistress Ocelia wanted her to be.

    After teasing with each other for a while, Forus and Ocelia had already vanquished their thirst and desire for something much more, or maybe, they had only suppressed it for some time. Forus used her slender finger to tapped at Ocelia's nose lightly before walking away towards the traditional tea table, sitting there, cross-legged.

    She walked step by step, sending constant rhythms of tapping sound outwards, creating a harmony between the floor and the luscious atmosphere. The music only agitated Ocelia further, as he got caught off guard by that tap on his nose.

    Forus peeked at Ocelia and found him touching his nose, trying to feel all the warmth that remained there as the record regarding the playful touch of Forus. The more Forus looked at Ocelia, the more she felt excited, causing her face to gain redness.

    "Since you have already come here, I shall assume you have decided your answer." After hearing the sentence, coupled with the serious expression that Forus was revealing, Ocelia immediately suppressed her emotions and regained her rationality. Although a trace of previous spirited atmosphere still lingered within the room, they had already stopped doing pointless things.

    "Of course, my dearest, both of us are the most compatible with each other. We also knew each as well as ourselves, after all, we had almost become one once." Ocelia answered without any hesitation. His voice carried a hint of confidence and fearlessness.

    Since the exchange of the body and memory, although they didn't get overtaken by the other's personality, their personality had fused and become one, gaining great comprehension over their counterpart's feeling and thought process.

    With the unlimited access to the memory, they had already learnt every bit of their opponent, approaching the point of becoming an unidentifiable twin. They could casually imitate the talking style, behaviour and temperament, fooling even the closest of relatives.

    According to these facts, the two would form the perfect pair in almost everything. With these thoughts in their mind, they weren't afraid to seek the other to cooperate for the sake of benefits.

    With them forming a pair, the outsiders would only think about how their love led them to this conclusion, not knowing the hidden underlying secret of both of them. They could also protect their secret of soul-transferring incident, eliminating the likelihood of accidental leakage.

    Because they were the absolute nemesis that would eventually try to enslave each other, they also knew each other the best, knowing the deepest and darkest secrets of both, knowing every information about each other.

    "With your cooperation, my body would also not come in contact with Glacies Ninguis, and your body would also avoid others from the Steel Cauldron." Forus' face twisted slightly after uttering the name, showing an expression of disgust and annoyance. After all, Glacies had tried his best to get a hand on this body of Coruscare's mistress, doing everything to express his desire.

    "Don't worry, that Glacies won't do anything rashly. I had once punished him from overreaching to me." Ocelia could only say some consoling words before stop talking about it, after all, he also knew how annoying it was to have someone regularly hitting on her.

    "Then, let us sign our contract." Not wasting any time, Forus waved her hand, creating various flaming snowflakes, arranging themselves in a mystical structure. The structure gently rotated, producing sorcery energy endlessly, covering the whole room.

    If Ocelia didn't place various types of concealing patterns, the large gathering of the sorcery energy would have alert everyone within the Coruscare Family. However, with many protections and isolations, not a single person had noticed the ghastly change in their mistress' room, except maybe the current head of the family, whose strength was at the extraordinary level of second-ranked sorcerer.

    At the instance where the room was full of sorcery energy, an omnipresent force instantly descended and sealed off the area, disconnecting it from the world. The mysterious force rapidly devoured the sorcery power before producing a sheet of paper, detailing numerous conditions.

    Each of the words contained the unimaginable power of binding, releasing a frightening amount of radiation. In front of the contract, even the mighty second-ranked sorcerers would have to submit themselves. The sheer power of the World Will could crush any sorcerers causally, destroying their soul and consciousness.

    "In my name, Forus Ander, I summon the World Will to bear witness this oath!" Every time Forus opened her mouth, a strange power seeped into her soul, covering its surface, ready to crush it if Forus ever dared to go against the agreement.

    "In my name, Ocelia Coruscare, I summon the World Will to bear witness this oath!" After both of them had agreed to the contract, the World Will shot out an invisible string of binding, locking both souls together, before vanishing away after the completion of the oath.

    After the disappearance of the World Will, the sealing power also dissipated, connecting the room with the outside world again.

    Forus could feel the untraceable power looming over her soul, preventing her from breaking the agreement and going against her oath. If Forus or Ocelia had ever broken the contract, the almighty World Will would come down and claim the soul of the contract's breaker, consuming it and shattered their existence, leaving behind only an empty void.

    "Let us have this drink as the celebration of our successful agreement." After verifying the conditions of her body, Forus lifted her marble teacup before tapping her fingers on the table, sending another cup of tea flowing towards Ocelia.

    The taste of the black tea melted in her mouth as she savoured it slowly, thinking about the next step of her plan. After all, since her setback at the Steel Cauldron's recruitment ground, Forus had tried even more to perfect her calculative skills, not wanting to suffer the same fate without any ability to control her destiny.

    After a cup of tea got empty, Ocelia bid Forus goodbye before standing up and drew himself closer towards Forus, staring into her fiery eyes. His eyes had met head-on with Forus' confused eyes, radiating desire and passion.

    Before Forus could recover and make sense of the situation, Ocelia had pressed her pale lips onto Forus' pinkish lips, the lingering flavour of the black tea also enhanced the fragrance of love that spread across the room.
     
  8. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 26
    "Dear father, your daughter wishes to ask for your consent to let her venture outside and has a chance to train herself." Forus, whose soul was controlling Ocelia's balanced body, slowly sat down on the ground, expressing her respect towards the aged man who was sitting above the highest seat of the Coruscare Family.

    Accompanying the eldest mistress of the family, all other servants and the members of the Coruscare Family kneeled onto the ground and kowtowed, showing their devotion and loyalty. Not a single member of the family dared to raise their head and look into the abyss-like eyes of the seated figure.

    The figure was naturally the person with the highest control over the Coruscare Family, the current family head of the sorcery family, the enigmatic second-ranked sorcerer, Levota Coruscare.

    Levota was not the most talented member of Coruscare at his time, but he was the most cunning and decisive member of the upper echelons. In reality, his talent alone couldn't help him to advance to the first-ranked sorcerer, however, using his great mind and ruthless nature, he had seized the talented and special elemental affection from one of his siblings, crippling them and wasting their sorcery cultivation.

    Not only that, but he also managed to win over the majority of the upper echelons of the family, using nothing but his initial connection inherited from his mother, an insignificant concubine that got poisoned to death due to the vengeance of the victim of his power seize.

    In the end, he schemed with the Ninguis Family to take down his obstacles between him and the seat of the successor before finally staged their betrayal, dealing an immense blow to the Ninguis Family, causing their hostility to intensify from that point onwards.

    However, after reaping the benefits from betraying the Ninguis Family, Levota had amassed enough resource and had unexpectedly broken through the limit and advanced into the rank of the second-ranked sorcerers. With his newfound power, he forced the previous head to retire from his position and became a rightful successor of the family.

    Because of the power of the second-ranked sorcerer, the Ninguis Family could only watch the success of Levota in silent, not daring to do anything reckless. After all, the might of the second-ranked sorcerer wasn't something anyone could ignore, even for the sorcerer families like them.

    Recalling the accomplishments of the current family head, even Forus Ander, who wasn't related to the Coruscare Family in any way, except for her irresistible affection towards Ocelia Coruscare, admired and respected the man.

    "Falsus Nomen is the man you yearn to be with, isn't he?" Ignoring the request, Levota Coruscare directly mentioned the open secret of the family, asking 'Ocelia' about her choices and decisions.

    "Dear father, your daughter shall follow your arrangement. Even if she has to sacrifice her life." Forus immediately answered Levota's question, not wavering even in front of the mighty second-ranked sorcerer. Her love was real and would not cower beneath any external force.

    Since her first life, after experiencing the hopelessness and despair of the weak, Forus had long since valued the memory of her past and her freedom in dictating her fate the most.

    "Falsus Nomen, having no background, having no records concerning him anywhere. What are you going to deal with his mysterious and unknown identity?" Seeing his successor exhibiting her firm confidence and absolute resolution, Levota suddenly thought about his past, seeing his faint shadow in the keen eyes of 'Ocelia'.

    "Dear father, although his identity is a mystery, his talents in the arts of alchemy are too good for any organisation to risk having him come in contact with the danger. He also had already offended our rival, the Ninguis Family, almost making Glacies lost his cool during the Steel Cauldron recruiting event." Having prepared of the questions, Forus immediately answered Levota about her 'speculations' and 'discoveries', perfectly disguising Falsus as a wanderer from afar.

    "Well done, Ocelia. Embrace your love well, that man will forever become your supporting pillar, helping you overcome your mistakes, going through heaven and hell with you. With his talents in alchemy, he is an excellent choice as your husband." Despite the approval of her love, the only reason she got the approval of Levota was that Falsus was a genius in the arts of alchemy. He could quickly become one of the precious assets for the Coruscare Family to use.

    After all, being the head of Coruscare Family, Levota would always put the benefits of the family first, and the happiness of the members later. However, because of his mediocre talents in sorcery, only being able to advance to become the second-ranked sorcerer by cheating the Ninguis Family, his descendants would sometimes have inferior gifts in magic.

    Due to this reason, the descendants of Levota would have to struggle harder than the previous generation to complete against the Ninguis Family. With only his eldest descendant, Ocelia Coruscare, becoming the only one currently in the younger generation that advanced into the first-ranked sorcerer at a young age.

    Still, talents in sorcery didn't make one achieve everything. If not, Levota wouldn't be able to become the lord of the Coruscare Family. Learning from his experience, Levota would almost never restrict and controlled his descendants' freedom and their decision-making process. Only through mistakes and failures would one become stronger and wiser.

    "Thank you, dear father, for your blessing. Your daughter will work harder for the sake of our family." His approval was also the indirect approval in her journey. Overjoyed, Ocelia inadvertently raised her voice, sounding like an excited child whose father had allowed her to play outside, acting childish and cute.

    However, seeing his daughter displaying incompetent behaviour, Levota immediately stared down his daughter, using his gaze to pressure her to lower her head and ceased her nonsensical response. Forus, whose body got constrained by the gaze of the second-ranked sorcerer, suddenly turned pale and quickly reduced her voice, kneeling silently, enduring the stress and pain.

    "Take it. With this, you can save yourself once from a full power strike of an ordinary second-ranked sorcerer." Levota expressed no concern over the silent weep of his eldest daughter. He snapped his fingers and hurled out a solidified flaming particle, impaling into the chest of Ocelia, joining itself with her flesh and skin.

    "Your daughter thanks her father for gifting her such a great treasure." The process was painful beyond compare, however, learning from her experience, Forus gritted her teeth and stopped herself from letting out any sound nor showing any pained expression.

    After the pain of fusing with the flaming particle ended, Forus said some superficial words before expressing her desire to leave, wanting to go back and started preparing her properties.

    After the eldest mistress of the family bade her farewell to her father, the family head casually waved his hand, permitting the others to leave. Noticing his hand gesture, no one dared to disobey. The upper echelons expressed their praise while the servants saluted in an orderly manner, emitting out the air professionalism.

    Once there was only Levota Coruscare in the meeting hall, his emotionless face turned into a thoughtful one, tapping his finger across the throne in a constant rhythm. The approval of the desire of Ocelia to be with Falsus Nomen was an unanticipated surprise for him. However, it was a welcoming one.

    He had plans to draw Falsus Nomen to his side, helping his bloodline descendants to gain a useful asset. As a second-ranked sorcerer, he had already known that Falsus Nomen didn't have any background and had no real threat towards his family.

    If not for Ocelia's affection towards Falsus, he would have pitted Falsus in a scenario where he would unknowingly offend the Ninguis Family, dealing a blow towards their benefits and fame, forcing him to become their enemies. Then making use of his plan, his Coruscare Family would be the only helping force that could contend with the Ninguis Family.

    The associations that span wide and far would not intervene with the local's affairs and political scenes as they didn't wish to offend someone with the home-ground advantage. However, the main factor was that these sorcerer families had strong support from the second-ranked sorcerers, making them hesitated to help a sorcerer apprentice from their wrath.

    However, now that Ocelia and Falsus had fallen in love, which got confirmed by both surface-level and in-depth observation, Levota didn't need to run those meaningless schemes now. By helping them realised their love and attachment, wedding them together, Levota would have the absolute loyal from Falsus.

    The best contract that could bind the strong and the wise was always the contract that based on their emotions, especially love.

    Still, there was one aspect regarding Falsus Nomen that made Levota hesitated to immediately arranged their marriage, which was why he had agreed for Ocelia to go adventuring with Falsus for the time, trying to collect information and observed his potential.

    Thinking about something, Levota couldn't help but kept smiling, feeling please about himself.

    "With this in my mind, I might even reap even more than I thought." Chuckling to himself, Levota slowly rose from his throne. His robe swayed with the heat that his body emitted before suddenly froze. In the blink of an eye, his existence melted into the flaming particles, disappearing into nothingness.

    ...

    A faint light shone, accompanied by the vibration sent out from the unimpressive necklace. Because of this phenomenon, Mabilis who was concentrating over revising his daily works got distracted and accidentally wasted his papers.

    However, despite he had wasted one of his work, his face had shown nothing that could indicate him to be bitter or annoyed, only his grave and solemn expression remained.

    Slowly walking towards the glowy necklace, Mabilis adjusted his attire and checked his overall appearance twice before clearing his thought, focusing his mind into thinking about what he should do after activating the necklace.

    After an instant of pausing, Mabilis held the necklace up and gently pressed his thumb on the gemstone at the centre of the said necklace. The instant Mabilis pushed his finger onto it, various spell formations immediately poured out of the accessory, covering the entire room with many detections and isolation spells.

    A faint white mist leaked out of the necklace, slowly forming a single circle, condensing itself into a humanoid shape. A part of the white cloud at the core of the mist turned into the black mist, recreating the facial features of a human and mimicking the expression said a human was trying to display.

    "Lord Elder, Mabilis extended his greeting." Seeing that the communication device activated successfully and didn't go out of control, Mabilis spoke his prepared line before bending his back into a bow, showing a sincere expression of admiration.

    "Listen well, Mabilis. I have peered into the wave of Destiny and saw an incomplete fragment of the future. Inside the ancient ruin of Fleeing Emotions, there lied a great fortune, an opportunity for one to change their destiny!" The elder quickly spoke his vague statement that could very well come from the mouth of a madman. However, Mabilis had trusted this elder unconditionally, not even thought about the possibility of its falsehood.

    "Lord Elder, Mabilis will not disappoint you!" After receiving the guidance of the elder, Mabilis only asked about the overall situation of his clan before bidding the elder farewell, wanting to go and prepared for his exploration.

    The elder was naturally one of the upper echelons from Mabilis' family, succeeding in advancing into a first-ranked sorcerer. These sorcerers would sometimes get a chance to peer into the future, seeing the possible scenarios and performed to reap the benefits for their clan.

    Moreover, this elder was also on his side, helping him to win over the successor seal of the family, causing Mabilis to trust him the most.

    "The Fleeing Emotions Ruin? Very well, Falsus Nomen, it is fate that brings us together again." Thinking about the mysterious man whose alchemy talent exceeded many, Mabilis felt that there was much more beneath the surface.

    Once again, the wheel of fate started to move, coming closer and closer towards the inevitable end.
     
  9. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 27
    Inside the carriage, two puzzling figures sat opposite of each other, gazing at the windows, peering into the scenery while analysing about the future.

    "Time, precious beyond all worth, isn't it?" Turning around and looked at Forus Ander, Ocelia Coruscare gradually spoke the sentence in his mind.

    "It is also your worst nightmare, having no way to escape its doing." Hearing Ocelia's question, Forus fell into dazes. Her mind wandered into the endless loop of memories, creating from her fragmented recollection.

    Seeing Forus fell into her dazes, Ocelia used the opportunity to take a good stare at Forus, marvelling at her facial expression. Although Ocelia was observing the facial expression that belonged to Ocelia previously, seeing it now with the enhancement from the merged charisma and disposition exerted by Forus, her beauty seemed to magnify itself, charming even the previous owner of the body.

    Suddenly, Forus faintly shivered before abruptly covered her mouth with her delicate, pale hand. Her face turned pinkish as her eyes tried their best not to let the liquid of sadness and grief loose. From the elegant lady to the pitiful maiden, her demeanour had changed instantly, causing Ocelia to become alarmed.

    "Why is this happening? How is this possible? Why? How? Their faces became blurred. How is this possible?" Choking in her tears, Forus kept muttering senselessly, as if she had lost her mind, turning demented.

    "Forus, answer me! What is happening?" Ocelia immediately released various detections and curse-lifting spells, defending Forus from all the possible ambush and intervention.

    The benefits of overtaking the body of someone else was immense, just thinking about it would make one's mouth watered. From gaining that person's physique and elemental affection to overtake said person memory, personality, disposition and physical features, any of the stated advantages would drive the sorcerers mad with greed.

    However, not everything about overtaking a body was good. Since the day Forus had taken the risk to swap bodies with Ocelia, their memory had merged and fused, forming an equilibrium. This balance between remembrances had caused some of their recollection to fade, withering into an insignificant impression.

    For others, they might tolerate the loss of those unremarkable features and memories. However, for Forus, the memory of her past was almost the entire purpose of her existence, the sole force that kept pushing her off out the darkness, holding her wills together for her to continue her quest. The quest to accomplish her promises and ended her worries.

    Now that the appearance of those Forus treasured the most had started to blur, it had caused her to burst out with the suppressed emotions and gone uncontrolled for a moment.

    However, due to her mentality and disposition, Forus soon calmed her mind, dispelling the ripples that troubled her mind. Her face gradually averted back to its original state of pale-white, showing the cold demeanour of the elegant mistress.

    The most shocking thing wasn't the fact that Forus had forgotten her beloved, but that the face of her late wife, Meria Ander, had been replaced, occupied and became that of Ocelia Coruscare as if Forus had indeed wedded Ocelia as her deceased wife before she had suffered her first tragedy.

    Forus quickly suppressed her shock before regaining her calm. The more she knew about the after effect of taking over someone else's body, the more she wanted to return to her previous figure, which was superior to this current body.

    Forus also decided to bring Ocelia with her for this reason, going into the ancient ruin that would open soon together, into the Fleeing Emotions Ruin. If the chance presented itself, Forus Ander would, without any hesitation, swap back to her previous body and tried to make Ocelia Coruscare bowed to him, becoming his forever.

    According to the intel provided by Coruscare Family, the remains got found by the ancient ancestors of Coruscare Family and Ninguis Family, leading to both of them taking over the wreck, allowing their youths to train themselves and get some treasures from the remains.

    They set a price for the outsiders to enter the ruin, because of this none of the external power could come and find any excuse to band together and attacked them.

    Hearing the name of the ruin for the first time, Forus instantly thought about the mysterious words from Lord Phasma, speaking about the Thought Domain, the origin of the Ring of Recollection.

    Because of those reasons, Forus had decided to risk her life once more. If she didn't do anything and practised her sorcery as any ordinary sorcerers would, she would lose the chance to take back her previous body. Even until this moment, the hibernating spiritual seed was still waiting for the moment to burst out again, continually reminding Forus and Ocelia of the mysterious sorcerer Forus had once offended, nearly killing her disciple.

    Both of them knew that the mentor of the righteous sorcerer would come for Ocelia, who resided within Forus' body, capturing him to help her traumatised disciple overcame the shadow that Forus had previously cast onto her soul and mind, weakening her sorcery cultivation.

    With everything in her mind, Forus could deduce that her future of retrieving her body back would be full of calamity and crisis, however, for the sake of her survival and above all else, to find a way to restore her memory and became stronger, enough to travel the world to see her family for one last time.

    "Thank you, dear. I only thought about the nightmare from the past." Looking into the pair of worried eyes, Forus smiled gracefully before turning her head outwards, setting her sight at the scenery and fell into her thoughts.

    Ocelia could only helplessly watch Forus as he didn't know what to say to console her. He knew that Forus was hiding something extraordinary, however, probing too much into the matter could cause their intimate relationship to worsen, which was not something Ocelia wanted.

    ...

    At the same time as the Coruscare Family sent out their carriage towards the Fleeing Emotions Ruin, other families also had their plans and sent out their carts as well.

    Inside one of the fancy carriage that didn't look any worse than Coruscare Family's carriage, three figures were sitting on the seats quietly, doing their things respectively. The grey-robed servant was keeping his eyes out for the possible change. After gaining the position of the personal servant of Glacies Ninguis, his sorcery cultivation also had risen, reaching the peak of the third-layered sorcerer apprentice.

    The young master of the servant was reading the reports, occasionally frowned as he scanned them. After his humiliating loss at the Steel Cauldron, Glacies had directed his fury at Falsus Nomen, instead of being angry at Ocelia due to his blind affection.

    The last figure was a graceful maiden, looking out into the wildness while revising a particular scene in her head, trying her best to find fault and mistakes she did during the event, resulting in her loss. Although Abicel felt frustrated towards her defeat, after calming herself and looked at the situation subjectively, she found that the failure was nothing much, and instead gained several foreign ideas and tricks that she could use to improve her art of alchemy.

    "Avidas, what do you think about the matter between Ocelia and Falsus?" Glacies suddenly spoke up, glaring at the servant in grey intensely, not concealing any jealous that occupied his eyes.

    "Young master, this one thinks that Falsus must have something that attracted the attention of the mistress of the Coruscare Family. Otherwise, there was no way that the ordinary commoner could get her attention." Avidas tactically replied, avoid offending both the Ninguis Family and the Coruscare Family.

    "Mister Glacies, I think that the extraordinary power and talent that he displayed during the recruitment event have captured the attention of Miss Ocelia. Maybe she noticed the mysterious techniques Falsus used during the concoction method." Abicel randomly voiced her thought. Although she was talented and had remarkable standing in the Steel Cauldron, the group was huge and had many stars. They couldn't afford to nurture all the geniuses they had.

    Because of the appearance of Falsus Nomen, the monstrous prodigy that suppressed her in term of talents, Abicel would undoubtedly get less resource than she would have if Falsus didn't exist. She also wanted to have more connection, allowing her to expand her network to decrease the difficulty in getting the desired rare components.

    With all things considered, Abicel decided to work with the Ninguis Family, getting into their favoured list. That way, she could receive both the resource from the Steel Cauldron and the Ninguis Family, benefitting even more than before. As long as she didn't meddle with the political scene, she wouldn't encounter any trouble.

    "Don't worry, young master. The Fleeing Emotions Ruin was without any surveillance. If anything happened inside the ruin, no one would be able to find the cause of the incident." Avidas whispered into Glacies' ears, telling several reasons why the ruin was the isolated ground, igniting the flame of hatred inside his mind.

    If Abicel paid her attention and heard what Avidas was trying to do, she would, without any hesitation, objected the plan and tried her best to stop this foolish idea. However, Avidas also knew about this. He kept the conversation to only his young master, and intentionally lowered his voice.

    ...

    A lady sat alone, looking at the blooming flowers, marvelling in their freshness. Her mind was floating in the sky, reminiscing about the shocking event that almost caused her to faint. Iracia Chlora was waiting for someone to arrive.

    After a while, another figure walked right towards her in a constant and relaxing rhythm. The silhouette wore a reddish cloak that fluttered with the movement of the wind, giving off the collected air.

    The man in red looked at his surrounding before sitting in front of Iracia, looking straight into her eyes. To his surprise, the lady didn't evade his gaze, but instead, she used her sharp eyes to bite him back.

    "What do you think about my proposal?" After a longspun eyes contact, Mabilis was the one who couldn't endure it and spoke first, breaking the eyes contact as he did so.

    "Two is always better than one. Don't you think so?" Iracia casually spoke while raising her hand in front of Mabilis, waiting for him to respond.

    Although Mabilis could tell from the start that Iracia would agree to his plan, he still couldn't control his facial expression and lightly smile in the end. With the background of Iracia, the daughter of an elder from the Steel Cauldron, she could effortlessly gain access to the information about the Fleeing Emotions Ruin.

    "Yes, milady." Feeling playful, Mabilis decided to play along, extending his hand to hold her hand gently before helping the lady stood up.

    Because of their actions, the ordinary sorcerer apprentices around them began to set their sight on the two, trying to prob out their relationship. However, the two seemed unfazed. The man continued to hold the lady's hand and escorted her to view the scenery.

    Despite the lovely atmosphere between the two, they naturally didn't have any intimate feelings towards each other. Their alliance was for the mutual benefits and could crumble down at any moment, not like the pact between Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, where they got bound by the oath of the World Will and the unforgettable feeling of affection between their soul.

    ...

    Inside the room full of dust and moss, the entangled webs, which continuously changed their shape, silently sent out a cloudy glow that illuminated the room.

    Suddenly, numerous lines of webs abruptly stopped their motion before slowly changing their shape into something vague and obscure, becoming more and more life-like.

    The process of changing their shape had caused the room to shake uncontrollably, alerting the guardians of the chamber. Sensing the commotion, the sorcerers swiftly opened the gate before pressing his finger onto the empty air, producing a small rift in space and sent out a shadowy crane into the void.

    Not long after the wait, the trembling of the room intensified, causing the guarding sorcerers to panic. However, without their knowledge, space before them began to distort, twisting violently before breaking apart, revealing a mysterious figure.

    Seeing the figure, the first-ranked sorcerers kneeled onto the ground and paid their respect before telling the person about the change. For the first-ranked sorcerers to revere a person, that person must be at least the second-ranked sorcerer.

    "So soon? Very well, the faster we go, the higher the chance our plan succeed." The figure said calmly before waving his hand, sending out magical signals to other higher-ups, notifying them about the situation.

    "Big brother, I shall avenge your death myself." Intor Ander whispered his wish while his body was melting into transparent particles, merging with space and disappearing into the void.
     
  10. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 28
    The quiet sound of carriages echoed the narrow passageway, filling the stillness of the tranquil forest with the light vibration, sending rhythms outwards, tickling the ears of the living creatures.

    The sound waves travelled forth and bounced the leaves and petals, shaking them from their imprisoned state of frozen motion, producing the unique yet harmonious sounds, repeating the same process endlessly, each time with lower and lower sound level.

    However, not long after the first wave of sound travelled outwards into the surrounding reality, they came into contact with the impassable obstacle, standing tall and high, blocking the advancement of the sound waves. Each wave of sounds would meet the same depressing fate, coming out into the beautiful world then died down immediately afterwards.

    The obstacle seemed to blend in with the surrounding vines and plants, despite not having the same colour spectrum like the forest, merging with the silent world, never to come out to the warm, delusional reality.

    Coming out of the carriage, Forus, whose soul had taken controlled over Ocelia's body, was greeted by the calming landscape and the refreshing breeze of the wildness. The servants had already waited for their masters and mistresses in front of their respective carriages. They skillfully bowed before their masters and arranged a group of guards to escort the distinguished people to the destination.

    Near the mysterious ruin of Fleeing Emotions, the world grew darker the more ones approached the ruins. The world grew twisted as the elemental essence grew chaotic, flowing from one place to another without any clear patterns. The disordered element would disturb the order of nature, creating chaos and corroding the rationality of the mortals and lowly beasts.

    After passing a certain point, the chaotic force would be too much for any ordinary living creatures to handle, making them lost their mind turned into senseless puppets, powered by their primitive desires. The sorcerers would need to get out of their carriages and walked towards the ruins by themselves.

    Because of this, the magical plants that could withstand the chaotic force emitted the Fleeing Emotions Ruin would almost never get eaten or picked by the wandering mortals and beasts, making the scenery increasingly beautiful and mystical the more one got closer to the ruin.

    The sorcerers and their apprentices wouldn't pick these magical plants as they were worthless for them, having very little element property and also got diluted by the chaotic force. Only the magical beasts that these plants attracted would get hunted and captured by the sorcerers, indirectly helped increase the chance for the plants to survive.

    Along the way, Forus and Ocelia had seen various types of sorcerers, making their way towards the ruin. Each of them would have the shiny emblem on them, signifying their qualification to enter the remains. The sorcerers with no background would have to buy them from the sorcerer-bloodline families to gain access to the remains while the noble-blood would have them gifted from their upper-echelons.

    Forus and Ocelia also had these emblems themselves, showing to others that they also had the qualification to enter. However, even without the symbols, if someone saw them, they would associate the iconic red fairy hair and the feminine appearance of the sorceress with the powerhouse of the Flamedouse City, the Coruscare Family.

    Because of the easily discernible characteristics, Forus had cloaked herself with the regular yellow robe, concealing herself as an ordinary sorceress, risking her life for an opportunity in the Fleeing Emotions Ruin.

    Falsus also had quite a reputation, becoming one of the raising geniuses of the Steel Cauldron, filling his surrounding with ears and eyes. Because of this, Ocelia also disguised himself as the partner of the lady-in-yellow, wearing an unremarkable orange robe.

    Walking along the road while viewing the scenery, time passed as fast as lightning and thunder. Before long, the couple had already arrived at the outpost that guarded the entrance of the ruin, checking for the qualification and preventing the unlawful sorcerers from getting in. The station was also a lab created by the sorcerers from the sorcerer-bloodline families, using it as the temporary site for conducting experiments and observing the change regarding the Fleeing Emotions Ruin.

    "Your emblems, please." The lovely couple stopped before the guards, pulling out their emblems before showing them to the guards.

    After the guards touched the emblems, a tiny spark of glow emerged from the symbols on top of the badge, floating above the marks, orbiting around them. The manner of the guards turned respectful after the extraordinary phenomenon, bowing before the two while signalling others to prepare them the welcoming ceremony.

    However, the female sorceress only waved her hand to stop the guards' actions, not intending to create the commotion. After seeing that the sorceress from the Coruscare Family didn't wish to have any ceremony, the guards could only accept it and asked for someone to escort them to the entrance of the ruin.

    With this, no one except for the guards of the outpost would know that the Coruscare Family had sent people to the ruins, much less knowing that the eldest mistress of the family, accompanied by the prodigy of the Steel Cauldron, went inside the Fleeing Emotions Ruin.

    Following the guides, Forus, in her feminine figure, allowed Ocelia, in his handsome features, to lead her towards the historic remains. Because of their intention to not cause any disturbance, the escort group was small and efficient, not attracting the eyes of the onlookers or creating an uproar.

    Arriving at the centre of the outpost, the scenery that greeted the warming couple was that of the wasteland, raking of death and decay. The tall artificial mountain that got surrounded by various formation arrays, using numerous types of sorcery to investigate the exterior of the mountain.

    The ancient remain had withstood the corrosion of time for countless ages, gathering the intense feeling of decay and destruction, yet still stood tall without any sign of collapsing. The prospect of gaining such unbelievable sorcery had driven every sorcerer families mad with greed, banding together to build the outpost surrounding it, trying to reverse engineer the magic.

    Time passed, and as they expected, the sorcery spells from the ancient time were too much for them to try to comprehend. Left with no choice, they decided to enter the wrecks to gain understanding over the remains. However, since the first second-ranked sorcerer forcefully entered the ruins through his sorcery spells, he had never come out, installing fear and dread into the sorcerers' heart.

    The event led the sorcerers to only eyeing the mountain hungrily, waiting for some chance to understand the mechanism of the remains somehow. Since then, they only knew that the hill was just the surface of the Fleeing Emotions Ruin. The interior of the summit was the small realm in itself, containing numerous overlapping space, each with a different property.

    The place seemed to be some kinds of training ground for the ancient sorcerers, using as the area for the sorcerers in the broad range of capability to temper their mind and increased their experience. If one could endure the challenges the mountain created, at the end of the floor, the mountain would reward them with various things.

    However, the realms within the mountain were endless. With no knowledge regarding how the Fleeing Emotions Ruin selected the challenges for their targets, the sorcerers could predict where they would end up. No one could prepare beforehand.

    Although it sounded hellish, the ruin also wouldn't send the trainees into their death with no chance of surviving, filling the sorcerers with a glimpse of hope. Maybe if they were lucky, they might get the legendary treasures. Not only that, after a while, there would be a stationary portal appearing at random. If one sensed that they couldn't finish the challenges, they could use the gate to get out of the realm. Even though the region would punish the deserters by draining some of their sorcery cultivation, it would still be better than dying in the remains.

    Reciting the information about the Fleeing Emotions Ruin, Forus found herself standing in front of the large design, spanning across hundreds of meters in diameter. She saw a faint glow emitted from the mystical runes, constantly gathering the chaotic elemental essence.

    However, none of them could bother Forus Ander. She gazed deeply into the formation array for a moment before letting out a faint smile. She turned her vision towards Ocelia before raising her hand forwards, waiting for the gentleman to take her hand.

    Seeing Forus' elegant action, Ocelia also couldn't control himself and extended his hand out, holding the soft fingers of the maiden gently, caressing it weakly to feel the sensation of affection. Ocelia then looked into Forus' eyes, seemingly captivated by the refined flaming-crystals of vision.

    Forus also stared right at Ocelia's eyes, one with the sky as the colour and one with the dark hollow abyss as the colour. Their mental-selves entangled with each other, communicating with the unique language created by pure emotions. Finally, they slowly retrieved their mind into their body, walking toward the array.

    With both of their hands interlinked, the two entered the formation, prepared to face the numerous challenges, using love as the motivation to succeed.

    Following their echoed chants, the chaotic flowing of element speeded up, causing the wind of disorder element to flow faster. However, the symbols of the array also started to shine brighter, greedily swallowing the elemental particles, using them to power the sorcery formation.

    Multi-coloured lights flashed as the space around the hand-holding couple broke apart as they enveloped the two gently, shielding the darling of the world from all possible harm. Numerous runes glowed, illuminating the whole area, chasing off the dark aura of decay and destruction.

    Finally, the last symbol on the array had finished devouring the chaotic particles. The symbols then got united by a faint light, forming the complex shape with the heart-warming couple at the centre. Numerous soundless cheering and blessing of the invisible particles echoed the warped space as the array sent the two to their journey, passing the exterior of the mountain into the wonder of the world.

    ...

    The orb was floating in the endless void, flowing with the undetectable current of nothingness, forever travelling inside the river of space.

    The unknown orb was inactive for countless aeons, remained motionless without any response, silently waiting for some requirement to meet before finally activating itself.

    Around the orb, various rays of light flew along with the current of nothingness, progressively approaching closer and closer towards the sphere before fusing with it, transmitting the information it was carrying into the orb for it to collect.

    Each ray of light would carry the rough information about everyone who entered the Fleeing Emotions Ruin through the array, keeping track of their relative sorcery cultivation and speciality, using it as the base to deduce the perfect place for them to train. Not only that, but the light would also act as the guards who oversaw the mountain, not letting anyone breaking in without permission.

    However, at the moment, the light that carried the information about a couple of destiny, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, had fused with the orb and transmitted its data for the sphere to see. After receiving the information about the couple, the globe let out the pinkish light, brightening the dark void with its lovely atmosphere and generated warming breeze that travelled across space, chasing every cold dark void away.

    After becoming active once more, the orb immediately sent out various commands to the light, sending them into a frenzy. The sphere had already prepared the exceptional realm for the potential couple, waiting to see their performance before deciding the next course of action.

    The orb that was once an empty sphere had turned pink, filling itself with the seductive feeling of affection, causing every onlooker to feel the sensation of love.

    The orb shone once again, projecting various scenes of Ocelia and Forus, since the start where they got into the outpost until the point they got sent into the mountain.

    However, after numerous repeats, the scene turned shorter and shorter, until the last remaining scene emerged from the vision.

    The vision of the couple, looking at each other's eyes lovingly.

    They had interlinked their hands.
     
  11. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 29
    Thunder rumbled as rain poured down from the height of the ever-expanding white sheet of space, stretching both horizontally and vertically towards the lofty summit of infinity. The pale drops of rain froze in their shape as they descended from the ghastly void, joining with the death-still soil which reflected the recurring shades of grey and brown.

    Amidst the monotonous sequence of neverending reproduction of liquid downpours, a minute speck of light reintegrated itself from the deep cold nothingness into the corporeal reality which eagerly accepted its presence, not bothering with the consequences of before-mentioned behaviours.

    The newly-formed ray of light shone with its colourful light, resisting the aseptic atmosphere of the timeless domain and its unearthly-still elemental scraps. However, the phlegmatic quantity of worldly pressure nevertheless insensately pulverised the insufficient brightness into its former infinitesimal state.

    The struggling flare could prognosticate its ineluctable dissolution. The blazing point of flame decisively debilitated itself, using its final fruitless endeavour to grow into the astonishingly small size of a gateway which conjugated the eternal nothingness and the sorrowful plane together.

    From such miniature vacuum devoid of dismal might of the callous realm, two unique humanoid contours advanced forwards, grounding onto the unexplained cosmos. Their eccentric disposition emanated out the pinkish amorphous quality, permeating the depressing surrounding with slow-witted sentiments.

    ...

    Unable to penetrate her vision into the colourless mist, Forus decided to turn her attention towards both her conditions and Ocelia's. The act of travelling between realm was only possible with the help of the Fleeing Emotions Ruin, and it was remarkably dangerous.

    Strangely, the robe that both of them wore had changed their colours by themselves, turning somewhat pink and lovely. Numerous runes resembled the shapes of hearts and roses appeared on the clothes of the couple. Their clothing style had almost become that of a bride and a groom.

    Feeling the heart-warming heat, Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare set their sight at their entangled and inseparable hands, keeping their partner close without any intention to part way. Without their knowledge, some unknown force had embedded a symbol of love and affection onto their hands, taking the shape of the two deliberately twisted structures.

    The first structure assumed the shape of a blooming rose, expanding its petals outwards, covering the sky with its beauty, shielding the world from calamity and negativity. The other structure had the appearance of the wilting lily, using its roots to keep the blooming rose in place, supporting it from collapsing due to its limitless petals.

    With their roots entangled with each other, the flower represented the two opposing concepts, fighting yet complementing each other.

    The source of the heat was naturally these imprints, emitting the vapour that had the faintest shade of pink, fighting against the invading dullness of the pale world. The fog of love also created the thin layer of membrane, shielding the sweet pair from the destructive raindrops sent down from the infinite height of the firmament.

    After finished checking for any abnormality that might occur after the void-travelling experience, Forus fell into contemplation state, trying to make sense of the world around her. Seeing Forus' relaxed state, Ocelia curled his mouth upwards before starting to put out some formation arrays.

    However, after powering just a few of them, Ocelia stopped his actions before she closed her eyes, trying to detect the presence of the sorcery energy in the atmosphere. To his expectation, the world around him was like an empty vacuum, devoid of sorcery energy and any usable elemental particles.

    Looking at Forus, Ocelia sighed before letting go of their entangled hand, causing the imprint to dim down, slowing its process of releasing the hazy pink mist.

    Ocelia decided to walk around, surveying the surrounding, hoping to find some noticeable landscapes to later mark as the reference before they could obtain the outline of the region. After walking away from Forus, Ocelia noticed that the mist started to dissipate, causing the invading soulless vapour to come into contact with his skin.

    He swiftly retreated towards where Forus was sitting, escaping the invading gas. After getting closer to Forus, the imprint started to emit the life-saving fog again, fending off the callous gas. Sensing that the pressure had lessened, Ocelia was surprised that the tiny amount of mysterious gas had made his flesh rot and disintegrate, revealing the bloody wound that exposed a part of his bone.

    The body that Ocelia was currently occupying was very extraordinary. It got created uniquely by the enigmatic grey soul that fused with Forus after her first death as a gift from the formidable devil in their exchange. The body could withstand the invasion of the Death Aura, which could completely obliterate any ordinary first-ranked sorcerer, while it was still at the stage of the sorcerer apprentice.

    Thinking about the consequence of his action, Ocelia started to feel uncomfortable and could only resign in his fate, going back to guard Forus, patiently waiting for her to open her eyes. Although Ocelia would be bored after a while, he could still have a chance to immerse himself to the breath-taking features of the matured maiden.

    After a moment of peace, Forus silently opened her eyes, revealing the glowing light of understanding as she did. She abruptly stood up, settling Ocelia who was staring at her face. Seeing the tender eyes glared back at him, Ocelia could feel his rampaging blood that turned his face red from embarrassment.

    "Taking advantage of a helpless maiden, don't you feel any shame at all?" Forus forcefully held back her giggle as she teased her lover, feeling pleased after seeing his panicked face.

    After a moment of playfulness and giggling, Forus and Ocelia had finally relieved themselves of their stress and returned to their formerly calm and collected mindset. This state of mind would help them in their upcoming crisis where their critical thinkings needed to be precise and swift.

    From both of their observation, the records of the realms in the Fleeing Emotions Ruin that the sorcerers had created had no mention of this strange realm. So, either this realm was extraordinary enough for the higher-ups of the sorcerers to hide it from the mass, or that they were the first pair of sorcerers to come to it.

    No matter which scenarios were the real one, the couple would have encountered the enormous treasures trove, waiting for them to pick. If they weren't the first to come in, then the realm would be extraordinarily valuable, having more treasures then other ordinary regions. If they were the first, then they would have to be careful about its mysteriousness, but in turn, all of the treasures were intact and waiting for them.

    Then, there was the last possibility of why there was no record of this realm. It meant that there was never once a single sorcerer who could escape this realm alive to share their story. All of them died despite the countless sorcerers that had ventured into this land. Its impossibly hellish challenges caused the downfall of all the sorcerers, not even one could survive until the gate appeared.

    The two also found that the space around them had no sight of elemental particles at all. They could only detect the trace of the degraded elemental particles that couldn't do anything meaningful for them. With this discovery in mind, they would need to use their sorcery sparingly, not wasting any precious resource.

    Although they had prepared immense amounts of restoration potions, they didn't accord for this type of isolation scenario. After all, no records had stated that some challenges would isolate the sorcerers from the elemental particles.

    Ocelia also told Forus about his experience, telling him how the imprint dimmed down and stopped emitting the pink gas after walking away from Forus. It would mean that they had to cooperate if they wanted to survive. If any of them died, the other would soon follow after the lack of pink mist to protect oneself from the invasive force of the mysterious realm.

    After a moment of silence, the two gazed into the windows of the souls of each other, seeing the faint glittery light, they nodded at each other and immediately did their part. Ocelia slowly used his sorcery to write runes in the air, before using his hand to grab them and crushed them into powder.

    Silently, the shadowy sphere actualised itself in front of Ocelia, gaining its former shape over time. The orb began to emit the red and orange light, gushing out flaming particles, flowing violently towards Forus.

    Because of their deal, Forus would receive potions and Ocelia would get the refined flaming-particles from her. Using them, Ocelia managed to consolidate one of his Orbs of Element, the Flaming Orb. With time, Ocelia also condensed the Freezing Orb and Light Orb because of his talents in these elements. Also, with the help of the Steel Cauldron and Forus Ander, Ocelia used his wit to employ the elemental waste that the spiritual seed created to form the Plant Orb.

    These Orbs of Element would increase his affection with the said element and empowered the elemental spells. It would also faintly generate the same type of elemental particles as theirs. Although it would unmistakably help the couple in the situation, the rate of generation would be too slow for the continuous usage of sorcery.

    Using the help provided by Ocelia, Forus attentively channelled her sorcery, applying them to create a symbol on the greyish ground. According to her mind, the flaming particles dissolved themselves and became the fuel of the ritual, powering the frame. Bit by bit, untold amounts of elements started to stack on each other, forming the visible shape of the tower.

    The tower of flame assembled itself as the flaming particles powered the ritual, raising from the ashes of history and stood tall and high. Once the leaning tower finished itself, numerous blazing shapes rooted in their places, showing their devotion as they exerted their scorching heat, trying to gain the favour of their master.

    After advancing to the first-ranked sorcerer, the leaning tower had gone through another phase of enhancement, improving the overall power of the fire spirits and constructing the last top floor of the tower, which contained the entity that could battle the first-ranked sorcerer, the Flaming Guardian.

    However, because of its costly consumption, Forus decided to send only the lower fire spirits that resided on the first floor to investigate the world for them. While the couple waited for the report of the servants, they would find a secure place to stay for the night, which was fast approaching.

    The night of the still realm was not because of the sun and the moon swapping place like any ordinary worlds. Forus and Ocelia gazed at the infinite whiteness as they gradually turned from pale-white to depressing-grey before becoming pitch-black. The mist was intensifying, and the destructive rain never seemed to stop.

    Before long, the couple was able to find a large tree that stood as tall as the hill and as wide as the sea, its branches broke off into various shapes, creating many natural shelters for them to choose. The strange tree that successfully grew to the size of a hill was ghastly-white, mirroring the texture of the bones, as well as its durability.

    Venturing through regions of emptiness and whiteness, the two hadn't seen any living creatures, other than the hill-size tree. Every tree and plant they encountered had died long before their arrival, and it seemed to be the same case with this shrivelled tree.

    After finished preparing hand-made traps and sorcery-less arrays, Forus and Ocelia sat before the campfire that they casually created. Because of the constant downpour, the temperature of the realm had reached the freezing-cold point, making the normal flame an impossible dream. The couple instead used the cold-flame that released the cold wind, providing light like the natural fire but could sustain itself in the cold environment.

    Feeling the tickling sensation, Ocelia glared at his shoulder, only to see the soft face of Forus, leaning onto his body, sharing the warmth and happiness mutually. Her pink cheeks invited his hands to caress them, so he did as they hinted. After touching her face, Ocelia could see Forus smiled faintly, before turning her face towards his, tapping her hands at his lap.

    The pinkish mist suddenly increased its concentration, showing only the silhouette of the pair of lovers, releasing their playful-self and engaging in their teases.
     
  12. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 30
    Before the two could do anything questionable, Forus forcefully grabbed Ocelia's hand and used her remaining hand to form the silent gesture, causing Ocelia to halt his movement and looked at Forus confusingly.

    "The weaker fire spirits that I sent out, they are all gone." Forus frowned as she spoke. The little monsters that she used as the scouts had the power of the first-layered sorcerer apprentice, which could survive in the ordinary wildness.

    However, once the darkness had eclipsed the world, all of them that didn't return fast enough had vanished without any knowledge of the assailants. This new information had contradicted the previous prediction that the world was lacking in life.

    Observing the vast darkness that encompassed the space around the icy bonfire, neither Forus nor Ocelia could sense anything beyond their world of light. The couple could hear the mocking resounded from the abyss, echoing around the boundary of reality and illusion.

    Looking at the thoughtful expression on Forus, Ocelia snapped his finger before sending out the small icicle that she had created into the darkness. Once the blindness had engulfed the icicle, its connection also broke from Ocelia's mind and silently vanished.

    Seeing the strangeness of the situation, Forus and Ocelia immediately changed their priority and guarded the icy bonfire closely, not letting anything came close. If the abyssal environment engulfed them, there would be no guarantee that they wouldn't end up like the previous victims, quietly vanished into thin air.

    Quietly, the calm melody travelled from the darkness, uplifting the gloomy atmosphere. The sound from the untraceable music box would occasionally repeat its song or sounded distort due to its poor condition. Accompanied by the soft tone, a feminine voice would sing her verse without end, giving the tone life and blowing the worry of the listeners away.

    Inside the dome of light, Forus and Ocelia had practically stood back to back, eyeing the surrounding intensely without any intermission, dreading the entities of the night. The worrying aspect of this situation was the lack of knowledge about the monsters. With the combined memory of Forus Ander and Ocelia Coruscare, the two still couldn't find any description that could be about this monster.

    Just when Forus opened her mouth to say something, the darkness that waited outside of the region of luminosity abruptly shook. The instance the darkness shuddered, a string of flaming needle and icy spear accurately hit the said spot. However, the two spells also suffered the same fate as their predecessors, getting absorbed into the blackness before directly disappeared.

    Supported along with the tone of the music box and the lady singer, a series of laughter emerged from the darkness, toying with the hopeless little humans. A large hand pushed the boundary between the light and dark away as it slowly advanced towards the source of light. If it could reach the bonfire, all hope would die down as soon as the light faded away.

    As if it was the warcry, several smaller shadows also broke the barrier of light and advancing towards the couple, desiring to rip their soul apart and tortured them indefinitely.

    Forus immediately swiped her hand downwards, touching the greyish ground with her sorcery-empowered hand. The spell formation activated itself when Forus infused the sorcery into it, actualising the leaning tower into existence. The tower immediately opened its gate, letting the fire spirits of various power to battle against the shadows.

    However, the weaker spirits of the first floor would get absorbed by the larger shadows once they touched the said spirits, eating away the fire like they were just snacks. Only the flame of the third floor and fourth floor could chase and burn the shadows off, forcing them to retreat into the shadows.

    Overseeing the situation, Forus felt her heart jumped as she turned her vision towards Ocelia. The man was struggling against the terrible shadow that had four limbs and numerous tentacles as its legs, and Ocelia was loosing. His body slowly degenerated by the darkness as Forus watched his skin turned pitch-black.

    Although the process was painful, Ocelia didn't even sweat when he got hit by the black limb of the monster, perfectly keeping his calm in the face of the death. Without any second thought, Forus immediately finished her spells and sent out three icy spears towards the monster, forcing it into the defensive stance.

    Due to its agile tentacles, the monster could easily avoid the spears, successfully getting out of the assault without any disadvantage. However, it also retreated away from Ocelia, whom Forus had resued and was currently standing behind her shadow. Strangely, the freak looked at Forus, showing apparent confusion with body language.

    Forus saw the monster reached its limb in anticipant of something before feeling pain at her back. In reflex, she twisted her body before pulling out a dagger she had hidden to slice the attacker that stabbed her back, before jumping away to the safe distance. Forus could see that the previous wounded Ocelia had stood still and silent, with a smile that ripped his mouth apart from one ear to another, leaking out grey blood as he laughed maniacally.

    Without any shadow to relay on, Ocelia quickly melted away as he licked the blood from his hand, savouring the test of the fresh blood, which hadn't appeared since time unknown to others.

    In dazed, Forus sprinted towards the bonfire and used its freezing flame to froze her skin, examining the sensation of pain as she discerned that something was suppressing her senses. Before her eyes, the thin layer of darkness that had previously stuck on her eyeballs began to melt away, returning her vision to the truth.

    The black freak was formerly Ocelia that was winning against the monster, which explained why it looked at Forus weirdly after getting attacked by her.

    After regaining her vision, Forus and Ocelia grasped their hand together, sensing that their connection was more intimate than ever. Savouring the moment of comfort, the string of fate that previously slumbered suddenly awaken as soon as the imprint of love activated itself.

    The two lonely souls began to tangle with each other, sharing the feelings, emotions, memories and thoughts collectively, letting each other took control of the physical bodies.

    "Looked closely, dear Ocelia. I shall teach you how to control and use the Death Aura." As if Forus was the teacher and Ocelia was the student, Forus slowly raised the hand of the male body, letting Ocelia felt the process of chanting and the thought that ran through Forus when she was performing the spell of the Death Aura.

    The deadly black flame began to expand under the manipulation of Forus, burning away the flesh and skin of the male body. Although the previous times Forus used it, he would feel constant pain, but this time, Forus and Ocelia could only feel the warming sensation of the flame, brightening the spirits of the two and calming their soul.

    The burning flare of Death Aura would not release heat or cold wind but would cause everything under its influence to decay and rot away. Aiming at the large shadowy hand, Forus used his filthy hand to grasp at the air in front of him, creating the crumbling rays of black flame that shot towards the hazy claws, piecing into them forcefully.

    The hand unexpectedly took the hit head-on. However, it violently struggled after it recognised that the power within the light was strange enough to affect it, stretching its pure-black skin, dropping a drop of liquid on the ground.

    The sound of the music box spontaneously turned distorted and high-pitched, resembling the screaming of countless souls integrated into one. The singer also stopped her verse and began to cry, sounding hoarse and misleading, as if her voice was emotionless.

    The sound of mocking also died down, turning into the pitiful cry of the unfortunate beings. The change in the atmosphere caused the shadowy monsters to retreat, fearing the wrath of the angered one. The hand that got damaged by the Death Aura froze still in the air, releasing the sinister aura stronger than before.

    One after another, the fused soul watched as undeterminable greyish eyeballs manifested in the darkness, looking intensely at the bonfire. They could feel the crazed power that hid behind the night, waiting for the cage of light to break down and consume the world into the abyss again.

    The hand slowly moved again after the pause, meeting with the manipulator of Death Aura directly. Like before, Forus and Ocelia created the black light and sent it travelling towards the mighty hand, crashing into the stated hand, transferring the shocking impact into the surrounding, causing the icy bonfire to flicker.

    However, this time, the hand accurately grasped the speed of the light, catching it with its fingers before pinching it into nothingness. The shock wave sent outwards and dimmed the fire even more.

    The shadow cast by the black hand vibrated faintly, extending from the ground and built itself into various lines, forming the blackish tendrils. They rapidly devoured the weaker fire spirits and fought to the standstill with the stronger fire spirits, altering the situation to worsen more than before.

    Although the two could use their Death Aura to stall for time or, with some preparation and sacrifice, annihilated the shadowy hand, that would have used too much of their precious sorcery energy, forcing them into their weakest state. The potions were gradually decreasing like water due to their crisis, and they would use them all in less than a month.

    Conjuring another light, Forus willed the male body to aim at the hand again. However, the sudden interruption of chaotic information disrupted the body's rhythms, causing it to slow down and released the light at the wrong timing, exploding in front of the male body and burnt the foul hand into ashes.

    The tentacles exploded toward the absent-minded feminine body, using that moment of failure to wrap around her and struck her body, devouring her with its abyssal power. The skin that made contact with the corrupting tentacles would turn dull and lost all energy, becoming like all things in the realm, lifeless and soulless.

    The fusion between souls was powerful and mystical, but the aspects of the soul were not something the lowly first-ranked sorcerers could peek into its secrets. Only with the mystic features of the imprint of love and the mysterious force within the grey soul could the two fuse with each other. However, the sorcery energy required to power the fusion was too much for the reserve of the two first-ranked sorcerers.

    The symptom of dizziness was just the beginning of the consequences of using something beyond one's power. If Forus and Ocelia couldn't finish the battle quick enough, the two souls might irreversibly merge and become one, fusing the two personalities and two memories into one.

    Sensing the depletion of the sorcery energy, Forus decisively burnt all of the male body with the Death Aura and disregarded the icy bonfire, jumping towards the hand and punched at it. The speck of black flame would fly outwards as the strikes landed, burning the bothersome tentacles that couldn't avoid the blaze in time.

    In the meantime, Ocelia also controlled her feminine body and unleashed the flaming breeze that scorched all the tentacles on her body before she gritted her teeth at the pain of cutting the grey flesh out of her body. The dull skin would never heal and would need to be cut off. With many of the healing potions, she could quickly heal the missing tissue.

    During the chaos, the sound of the music box steadily grew louder, turning more calming and soothing. The echo of the melody instantly drove the tentacles crazy, twisting violently before disregarding their fear and charged at the couple without any hesitation. The calming harmony also manifested the formless pressure onto the pair of sorcerers, causing their movement to slow down and their flow of sorcery energy to stall.

    The hoarse cry slowly turned into silence and once again began to sing her chorus, brimming with passion and emotions. The voice of the lady would cause the body of the two to experience the happiness and relaxation, alleviating their mind with the relaxing song, weighing on their soul, telling them to let go of the pain and embrace the nighttime.

    The night, which was full of love and joy, hate and fear, would continue. At the end, who would remain the same?
     
  13. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 31
    Countless glowing eyes started to appear around the couple, stationing inside the mysterious black abyss, staring at the pale flesh and pure souls that they would soon feast. The creatures of the night patiently waited for the extinguishing of the light, longing for the new visitors from another world.

    Gradually, the music started to pick up its pace, increasing its rhythms to empower the shadowy minions further, causing the situation to change for the worse for the fire spirits. Ocelia had to open the fourth and fifth floor to help the remaining fire spirits to withstand the crazed assault of the monsters.

    With their mind-linked, the two could instantaneously know about each other's circumstances and thoughts, perfectly cooperating with another, lessening the pressure from the dark creatures. With the occasional help from the spells cast by the female body, the male body could hold the advancement of the ghastly hand and avoid some of the strikes.

    However, although the war of attrition was usually good for delaying the enemies, the two knew that the monsters also didn't mind to wait for a longer time, having endless tolerance. The creatures weren't anxious to try to destroy the balance and rushed in forcefully. Instead, they toyed with the couple like the dolls joyously, feasting in their hopeless situation and the ever-nearing tragedy.

    The more Forus and Ocelia dragged things out, the higher the chance for them to survive, successfully lived through the night. Once the endless void turned pale-white and let out the light again, the mysterious creatures of the night would have to go back into their hiding.

    Still, to prolong the war, the two also had to maintain their fusion to use the instantaneous communication ability to cooperate with another and reduced the pressure from the assaulting monsters. The more merged, the worse their condition. Their wills would slowly degrade, turning into pieces before finally fusing into one, creating an entity that combined Ocelia and Forus.

    After an unknown amount of time passed, the wills of Ocelia finally gave in. The female body slowed down considerately as her mind started to relax, letting go of the control. Her face became white as she spilt out blood, kneeling onto the grey dust as Forus tried to hold the female body up. Dividing his consciousness into two parts, the speed and reaction of the couple became sluggish, pushing more pressure into the already alarming situation.

    In her defenceless position, the tentacles took the chances to penetrate the maiden, turning her flesh and blood dull and grey, consuming the colours that shouldn't exist in this realm, feasting in delight. Within a moment, the tentacles had already taken the left foot of the body, turning it into pitch-black that grew out more tendrils, corrupting the blood further.

    Punching with all his might, Forus used the opportunity from forcing the hand to retreat to let go of the male body before forcefully control the unconscious lady to use her flaming-empowered dagger to cut off her infected foot and forced the corrupted filth out of her blood, weakening her body further.

    With her mind broken, the power of the fire spirits also declined, giving in to the strength of the shadowy creatures. The leaning tower also crumbled as the sorcery within the lady began to deplete, not enough to keep the fire spirits working. The male body needed to stop his assault to get back to the lady, shielding her valuable body from harm before Ocelia could regain her conscious.

    The sound of cheering and singing almost drown the mind of the two, interrupting Forus' concentration, creating undesirable openings for the monsters to take advantage off. The music started to invade their body, relaxing their muscles and easing their nerves, slowing their reactions and corroding their emotional stability.

    As time passed, the injuries continued to grow in numbers and lethality. Although the mind could endure the tortures, the body couldn't go on any longer and slowly stopped functioning. The male body only had the steady wills to support its standing while the female body was lying on the ground, heavily panting as she defended herself from the tentacles.

    With the talents of the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family, Ocelia didn't take long to regain her conscious to fight with Forus. However, almost all of her sorcery energy was gone, making the fight against the endless tentacles and monsters harder and harder. If not for the dagger she had prepared as a back-up, she would have to use her fists to kill the enemies.

    Because of the corruption, Ocelia had lost one of her feet, essentially rendering her immobile, forcing her to defend only and never go offence. Forus also lost one hand after the impact, making him unable to use the fighting styles that coordinate with both fists. The burning Death Aura also slowly ate away his flesh and skin, revealing the white bones within.

    In their desperation, Forus bit his hand until his blood poured out, leaking onto the grey earth. Using the blood and his Death Aura, he channelled his minuscule amount of sorcery to create a protective array, keeping the monsters at bay with the cost of his vitality.

    The blood shone in crimson light as they rearranged themselves in an orderly manner, forming the shape of the hexagon. The blood floated aimlessly, encompassing the area near the two. Every attack from the outside and the inside would not be able to enter or exit the barrier without destroying the array itself, making it the perfect trap to stall for time.

    Each tentacle that struck the barrier would break the outer layer into pieces before helplessly watched it reformed itself back into its original state. Every time a layer got destroyed, the array would vigorously suck the blood of the male body, turning him slimmer and paler, using his blood to replenish the defence.

    Without any hope, Ocelia looked at the process of unending agony and perpetual ageing that tortured Forus while his body slowly became thinner and more lifeless. Because of her constant usage of sorcery to stop the bleeding and to treat her wounds, Ocelia would need to concentrate her whole thought to move, making her unable to help her loved one.

    The melody rang, bypassing its way into the interior of the barrier, softly playing into the minds of the two. The music box was intangible and incorporeal, able to penetrate the physical defensive layer without any effort. Along with the musical noise, the lady-like voice also echoed the barrier, soothing the couple into relaxation, telling them to join the party of the calming, colourless and dull world.

    The sound of dream and nightmare made the sorcery energy depleted and slow the elemental particles to stagnation, causing the rate of recovery of the array decreased, as well as increase the cost of the reparation, deducing more blood from the host than before. The verse of the beauty also created the illusionary air that relaxed the two's body, slowly making their eyelids heavier.

    Before long, Ocelia couldn't resist the urge to sing and dance anymore. She quietly hummed the lyric, using her sweet voice to deliver the pure emotions of tiredness and terror, as well as happiness and joy. Her missing foot started to recreate itself by accepting the grey dust around her, turning her lower body dull and colourless.

    Her face distorted from the pained expression into a calm smile before her body emitted the charming air around her. The grey dust on her skin slowly merged into her body, condensing itself inside of her as it modified her body, making her the citizen of this lonely world. Her robe glittered with grey light as her orange hair slowly turned duller and duller, becoming more refined and less aggressive.

    With her muddled mind, she stood up and danced elegantly, seemingly inviting for her dear one to join her performance. However, due to the connection between the two souls, Forus could practically hear the scream of Ocelia, which stirred his soul and softened his heart, making him felt the burning sensation of fury running through his body.

    Forus silently communicated with Ocelia before disregarding his injuries and over-exhausted himself to conjure a blade of black light, shooting it towards the lower half of the uncontrollable lady, cutting both of her pale legs from her living body. He collapsed onto the ground as he watched the severed parts disintegrated into grey powder, returning to its original state dictated by the lifeless realm.

    The agonising pain woke Ocelia from her confused disposition and let her take control over her body, repelling the intoxicating voice of the unknown singer. She heavily panted as she suppressed her scream from coming out of her mouth.

    However, she didn't have the time to calm herself down as she sensed the condition of Forus, whose body was lying on the ground, enduring having his blood depleted by the constant strikes from the creatures of darkness. She observed his wrinkled face and noticed that his eyes were still fresh and showed no sight of fatigued as if the ageing process and blood loss didn't bother him at all.

    Discerning her worried gaze, Forus weakly smiled as he looked into her fairy eyes, admiring the determination and pureness of them. He watched as Ocelia crawled towards him, slowly advancing towards the old body of her loved one. Because of the exhaustion, Forus could only lay on the ground and watched his dear one slowly making her way towards him.

    There needed no words to speak, no emotions to display. The two silently enjoyed the company of each other, quietly embraced others in their arms. With their minds linked, their souls intertwined, they could share the pain and the joy, but they chose not to because they didn't wish their partner would have to experience their sadness.

    Knowing that time is running out, Forus gently caressed Ocelia with his remaining hand while staring at her face, trying his best to engrave every detail into his soul, hoping that he would remember it in his next life if he would be reborn again.

    Beautifully, the crimson barriers got shattered layer by layer, turning into reflective particles that floated aimlessly in the air, resembling the white snow of the romantic night. The array slowly crumbled as monsters approached the bonfire, expecting to prey on the unfortunate souls lastly.

    The melody of the music box turned more calming and lovely, like the song played in the wedding events. The voice of the mysterious singer grew more familiar to the two, matching the sound of Ocelia, calming and lovely, pure and refined, charming and mature.

    The imprints on their hands slowly dimmed as the connection between their souls gradually dissipated, returning Forus into the male body and Ocelia into the female body. If this happened before this incident, they would try their best to control each other's mind, turning them into their property forever.

    However, after hours of struggling and cooperation, as well as the intimate connection between the two souls, which was the purest form of relationships to bond with others, the two had already stopped scheming to take each other's life and started to open their heart and created a special place for their special one.

    They had already sworn to themselves to officially declare their relationship if they managed to go back, setting up the wedding and announced to the World Will that they would live with each other, died with each other and pursued the ultimate truth of sorcery together forever, for all eternity.

    Finally, the moment of warm and joy turned gloomy in an instant as the last layer of the array crumbled, causing the backflow of the blood, assaulting the blood veins of Forus. Thankfully, Ocelia had anticipated this and used her last remaining sorcery to help Forus eased the pain and supported his condition.

    The abyss-black hand slowly approached the icy bonfire, trying to end the source of light, the natural barrier that stopped their kinds from entering to feast the two lovers.

    No matter how hopeful their oath was, if they never got to leave this realm, they would never be able to realise their desire, never to live a happy life and never to achieve anything meaningful.
     
  14. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 32
    As the layers upon layers of the array deteriorated, the tone emitted by the music box also turned more calming and soothing, engulfing the atmosphere with sadness and grief. The faint weeping sound resonated with the lovely voice of the mysterious singer, showing her inner emotions, containing reluctance and sorrow.

    Once every last bit of defence crumbled, along with the extinguishing of the blazing desire for hope and success, the giant hand gradually advanced towards the couple, who were embracing each other, readied to relapse into the worriless sleep, waiting to reborn together, forever and ever.

    Even under the pressure of the approaching death, Ocelia Coruscare remained unwavering and continued to savour the moment of fulfilment, welcoming the weary body of her love, rubbing his silver hair gently, avoiding the abrupt actions that might hurt him.

    Enjoying the moment, Forus Ander faintly smiled before using his remaining strength to grab Ocelia's hands and place them on her lap before weakly rose from the ground, sitting cross-legged. Ocelia tried to help him but got rejected by Forus, so she could only worryingly watched her partner painstakingly raised his only hand.

    Forus looked around the world, engraving the vision of the world into his memory for the last time before he used his remaining hand to did the unexpected thing.

    Using his last hand, he forced his fingers into the eye socket, before exerting all of his power to grab the sphere of sky-like colour, causing pain to run through his body multiple times. Although the pain was immense, Forus didn't even sweat or show any sight of distress. His unreadably pale face withstood tearful agony of losing his vision and both of his eyes, not complaining or lamenting.

    With the endless resolution, he exhausted his brain and used it to command his last hand that held the bluish eye to throw the eye at the incoming grip of the death, not caring about the consequence from overusing his mind and brain.

    The blood that supposed to gush out from his eye socket didn't come out. Instead, the horrifying roots of the spiritual seed rushed out to occupy its place, forcefully taken another part of his body, preventing him from using his sorcery spells and potions to regrow his lost organs. The bulb popped out of his left eye, blossoming into a pale flower that sucked the leaking blood into itself, turning them into its fruitful nutrient.

    The flower twisted and turned, violently spawning leaves and branches, rushing out from the eye socket into the dull, emotionless world. They rushed towards the loose eye and tried their best to take it back. Every bit of Forus would help them absorb his power to become stronger and resisted the suppression from the grey soul and the Death Aura.

    The flower immediately activated its defence and started to madly rushed towards the dark hand once it noticed the hand's presence, using its roots to try to bind the hand and absorb its vitality. However, the bulbs that touched the dark fingers would turn into a pile of dark mass that merged with the fingers, becoming a part of the higher being.

    After sensing the formidable might of the mysterious hand, the flower began to utilise its sorcery supplied its creator had left as the back-up plan. The enhanced roots began to rapidly grow with the help of the wooden element, turning spiky and tougher, being able to put up a fight with the hand for a moment before turning into dust again.

    However, because of its massive numbers, the roots of the flower managed to create a stalemate, indirectly buying time for Forus and Ocelia to live for a little longer. The last gamble that he was confident was this move. The plan was the desperate attempt for survival, filling with lots of assumptions that would kill them if they were correct.

    Firstly, Forus risked that the sorceress that planted the seed into his eye was not the godly third-ranked sorcerer and also not a sorcerer trained in the space-related study. With the separation between the world and the pocket dimension, as well as the protection from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, the creator of the seed would have no way to communicate with the bulbs and telling it to suicide itself to kill him.

    Secondly, he also assumed that the seed would have the back-up source of power that would help it in its struggle. As the sorceress was probably at the stage of the second-ranked sorcerer, her scheme would run deep and have many layers of protection to ensure its success.

    Thirdly, he gambled that the seed wouldn't have the semi-conscious to control itself and acted according to the situation, as it had never demonstrated such ability even when he was scheming against Ocelia at the Steel Cauldron.

    Finally, he further assumed that the sorceress didn't want to kill him with the seed and by herself, as she was the type that would care for her disciples. From the moment that Forus had severely injured the righteous girl, she would develop the gigantic shadow of his silhouette that would suppress her wills power and determination, forcefully stalled her sorcery cultivation progress and distracting her concentration.

    If the sorceress cared about her disciple, she would also care about her future, leading to her being unable to kill him, as she needed him to help her disciple overcame the shadow by directly defeating him by herself.

    Fortunately, the luck was on his side or maybe the misfortune didn't want him and his partner to rest yet.

    The struggling between the flower and the hand slowly lost its balance of power as the flower gradually depleted its source of energy left by its creator, but the black hand didn't show any visible sight of tiredness or wariness, as if it had infinite energy to spare and was toying with the spiritual flower.

    Once the flower acknowledged its defeat, it immediately commanded its roots to retreat, disregarding the casualty and forcefully rushed into Forus' eye socket, hiding from the monster of the night. If it couldn't defeat the monstrosity, it would burrow inside its host and used him as the shield.

    However, the black hand extended itself forwards, accompanying its movement, space trembled, creating countless small cracks that led towards the darkness of the void. The darkness rapidly poured out from the rifts, letting the tentacles to rush out of the void freely, binding the roots and pulling the flower out from its hiding shelter.

    Sensing the pain akin to getting his body ripped apart, Forus casually placed his hand on the flower and grabbed it tightly, uprooting it out from his eye socket with all his might. Using the battle between the fingers of wickedness and the magical roots, Forus decisively disregarded his safety and decided to eliminate the threat that hovered above his soul for a long time.

    Finally, realising that its demise was near, the seed decided to abandon all of its occupied territories and disconnected the flower and the roots from its core, fleeing into the deeper part of his conscious and soul. The remaining inefficient parts began to gather at both of Forus' eye sockets, growing into the wood that would hinder his effort at recovering his eyes.

    Although Forus would be able to get rid of them if he continued to focus his sorcery energy into his eyes, he wouldn't be able to use them in this mysterious realm where he and his loved would face the bringers of death all the time, increasing the risk of the couple's mistakes that might end their life.

    After Forus could confirm that he had dealt an extraordinary blow to the spiritual seed, he laughed loudly without any restained, feeling relieved and genuinely pleased. However, his series of laughter got interrupted by the sudden coughing, causing him to fall onto the ground, losing all of his strength from over exhausting himself.

    Fortunately, Ocelia had been waiting for her dear in case he fell onto the ground and successfully caught him from hitting the dirty ground, laying him on her lap, looking into his hollowed eyes without any hints of disgust. Her hand caressed his silver hair as she observed his old, wrinkled facial expression.

    Although Forus had lost the pair of sky-like eyes that had previously attracted her and the handsome face that would charm the pure maidens, the love and care that Ocelia had for him still didn't diminish and kept going up as the moment passed.

    "You can rest now, my dear. Thank you for everything. It is time for your love to pay you back." Her soft voice echoed the world of light as she gently placed Forus onto the ground that she had covered it with her torn robe before she set her gaze at the mysterious hand.

    The hand also finally finished absorbing the spiritual flower and its roots, silently travelling towards the two instead of the icy bonfire. It wished to taste the core of the flower that would be much more delicious than the shoot itself.

    Forus could only hear the faint sound of chanting that Ocelia sang, using last bit of her flaming sorcery to summon the leaning tower once more. Most of the tower was empty without any fire spirits as they had already died from the previous battles and struggles. Only some of the fire spirits from the fifth floor, and the sixth floor remained, not counting the ultimate peak of the seventh floor.

    The higher the floor, the lower the number of fire spirits as they would become more concentrated and individually stronger than the previous level. The power of the ones on the fifth and sixth floor was akin to the various stages of the third-layered sorcerer apprentices.

    With their numbers and total control from Ocelia, she would be able to drag the stalemate for a long time to prolong their struggle. She needed to buy as much time as possible to let her partner rest and gained some of his strength back.

    Like before, the fire spirits, under the manipulation of Ocelia, arranged themselves in the patterns that would hold the frontline as long as possible. The fire spirits, disregarding their life, jumped towards the hand and used their self-destruction to force the hand back slightly.

    Using their sheer numbers, they managed to push the hand back at the cost of depleting their numbers and exhausting their creator, Ocelia. She quietly panted as her head started to feel dizzy. The mental burden of commanding the fire spirits to create complex formation and using their suicides with the highest effectiveness was very tiring.

    At first, there were only the sweats, dripping onto the ground every time she shook her body. After a while, Ocelia would occasionally cough out blood, faintly trembling as her body began to give in. Despite the heavy burden, Ocelia didn't complain and noiselessly endured it all, repaying her fated one with her blood and tears.

    Time ticked by, before long, Forus slowly raised his remaining hand, before using it to help him stood up from the ground, trying to find where Ocelia was positioning using his ears. His actions caused the trembling Ocelia to let out a smile as she extended her hand to him, feeling the warmth in his touch that sent the carefree sensation throughout her body.

    Suddenly, Ocelia instinctively closed her eyes as something pieced into her eyes, blinding her for a moment. The ray of glowing particles illuminated the world from its dark phase, leading the world from the dark age into the hopeful one.

    The dark hand shook as the world trembled, seemingly not welcoming the existence of the monstrous beasts, yelling for the creatures of darkness to scram.

    As the world rejected their presence, the music box slowly faded its melody away, and the singer abruptly stopped her song, disappearing into the void along with the several eyes that gradually closed, merging with the nothingness that disappeared when invaded by the light.

    Looking at the endless whiteness that casually came into existence, radiating from the dizzy limitless height of the sky, Ocelia Coruscare and Forus Ander silently embraced each other, enjoying the satisfaction of being able to survive the crisis.

    Together, they lived.
     
  15. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 33
    Although the depressing atmosphere of the death-still world was not pleasant, the loving couple would still prefer it more than the lively but dangerous world of darkness that they had experienced a little while ago.

    They remained motionless and silently appreciated the restored peace that had left them since the start of the nightmare period. The quiet howling of the wind would occasionally breeze across their figures, enveloping them in the cool puff that reminded them of their memory before coming to the lifeless world.

    Although their body seemed relaxed and unguarded, their mind was very attentive to their surrounding, eyeing for every minute change that would threaten them in their weakened state, hoping to prevent the crisis before it did them any harm.

    However, the most important reason why they didn't relax their guard was that the presence of the dark hand that still floated rigidly, struggling at the edge of the rift in space that connected the world of the unknown to the world of the dull colour. The world of darkness gradually dragged the black hand back to its origin, commanding the creatures of corruption to hide from the light.

    The silhouette trembled furiously as its prays were about to escape its hunt because of their luck and wits, not willing to go back to its region. The soundless roar that expressed its anger travelled forth into the foggy surrounding, showing the world the wrath of the monster.

    Its shout created a faint shockwave that corrupted the surrounding into the black matter, turning its dull appearance into the disgusting appearance before causing the natural trees and rocks to disintegrate into the black fluid, leaving behind the corrupted waste that no realm wanted.

    Suddenly, the world of dullness ceased its movement, along with the abrupt stop of the dark hand's motion. In the stillness that shocked the couple, the white mist slowly made way for the glowing shape of a slim, feminine figure that had no facial appearance. The person turned her head towards the dark hand, causing it to shiver in terror as it stopped resisting the suppression force of the rift and rushed into it without any hesitation.

    The figure raised its hand and pointed towards the closing rift, disrupting the power from the void to interfere, stopping the crack from closing onto itself and pulling the fleeing hand out from its hiding place, smashing it onto the ground.

    The shockwave created from the impact caused the ground to tremble, collapsing onto itself as the remaining force from the collision pulled a part of the earth out from its mother's embrace, sending it flying all over the ground.

    A spectacular scene of a descending calamity revealed itself as the contaminated elemental particles went chaotic and surged with frenzy, popping into existence and annihilated each other on the impact, releasing energy into the surrounding and producing coloured lights, tainting the vast yet dull world with a tiny yet colourful light.

    The force left behind from the collision caused the large branch of the majestic tree that shielded the couple from the cruel rain to collapse, clearing a route for rainfall to flow into, soaking the area as a result. The humid from the storm also extinguished the icy bonfire, ending its process of consuming heat.

    After the hand had suffered the impact, it quickly rose from the ground and tried its best to flee from its nightmare, ignoring the severe injuries it had. Its originally flawless hand had turned rubbish and ruined, leaking out the unknown black liquid that resembled the blood of the ordinary humans. Various parts of its hand had fallen onto the ground, exposing its twisted flesh of blackness that hid inside its shell.

    However, before such a formidable being, its feeble attempt at survival was fruitless and wasteful. The moment the dust from the impact rose above the sky, the lady of whiteness muttered a phase of an unknown language, which only transmitted through the sorcery energy and not through sound, making the normal persons not be able to hear them unless they monitored the movement of the elemental particles in the area.

    Accompanied by the unpronounceable phase, the white expanse that stretched towards the dazed height of the unknown achromatism vibrated as the multi-coloured light descended from the endless slope, covering the area around the dark hand and the crater originated from the impact of the collision.

    The overwhelming descension of the stream of vivid light continuously produced waves of sound and energy that cleared the surrounding fog and mist, dispelling the hazy cloud that blocked the dull scenery from the naked eyes.

    The blinding light instantly filled the area, showering the world with strange and obscure symbols. They continuously arranged themselves in new ways, manipulating the natural elemental particles as they did so, creating ripples of sorcery that suppressed the weakened hand.

    Because the mystical spell expelled an enormous amount of elemental particles, the neighbouring landscape turned chaotic as the overflowing sorcery energy started to affect its surrounding. The unchanging sky rapidly shifted its colour into a combination of newer shade, from white to red to blue to green and so on.

    The chaotic and flooding lightning elemental particles broke the balance of the world, attracting lightning and thunder from the depressing cloud, striking the earth with its unpredictable destruction. The temperature of the region suddenly dropped then heated up in a blink of an eye, causing the air pressure to turn unstable, generating strong winds and frenzied storms, further agitating the rainstorm.

    Sensing the changes, Ocelia tightly held Forus onto her hand as she and he stumbled towards one of the natural shelter formed by the pale tree. They both then used this opportunity to absorb the crazed sorcery energy and elemental particles to refill their body.

    Because of the power of the feminine figure, both Forus and Ocelia could use the waste produced by the female silhouette as its purity was more than their hard-earned one. With it, Ocelia could feel that her sorcery cultivation was slowly advancing, trying it best to breakthrough into the middle stage of the first-ranked sorceress.

    However, knowing the situation, Ocelia decided to abandon the precious opportunity and forcefully stopped her advancement, and instead, she used them to fasten her rate of recovery to heal most of her external injuries and suppressed her troublesome internal injuries. She knew that in this uncertain moment, abandoning her safety to break through was only a painful way of suicide.

    Forus also didn't laze around as he silently contemplated his next objectives. He, who had lost both of his eyes and one of his hand, needed to find a way to compensate his weaknesses before the unknown danger in this realm could exploit it and ended him. Forus was perfectly fine with having no eyes as he could still use his other senses to pinpoint his enemy, as well as connecting himself with Ocelia to temporary use her point of view.

    However, having only one hand would make his mobility and versatility fall at the abyssal rate, reducing most of his cards and weakening most of his ability to use wits to clear the obstacle. If he didn't fix it quick, the spiritual seed that was currently hibernating might wake up and used its roots to prevent him from ever recovered his hand ever again.

    Outside of the shelter, the ever-changing phenomenon began to subside as the feminine goddess of white erased the evil hand from existence, destroying even the faintest presence of its being as it had violated the supreme laws of the dull and senseless world. The remaining reason for the strange peace and stability between the day and night was such rules.

    After the keeper of rules had passed her judgement to the outlaw of the night, she turned her attention towards the pitiful lovers, laying onto the ground as they both tried their best to absorb the waste of her spell, using them to speed up their healing and refilling their empty body with sorcery energy.

    She waved her white hand, creating strange motion that transmitted the incomprehensible command towards the ever-changing symbols, causing them to stop their transformation to receive the order of their creator respectfully.

    Upon translating the edict of their creator, the symbols began to vibrate, spreading itself into the distance, towards the natural shelter that the recovering couple was resting in. The symbols slowed their speed before silently circling the house, probing said shelter with its sorcery power to observe the living creatures that resided in it.

    Noticing that the commotion from the outside had abruptly stopped, the two spontaneously raised their guard as they slowly moved their hands, forming the silent formations that could slow the enemies to give the couple enough time to plan.

    However, the unsurpassable difference in strength had shattered the hopeful thinking of the two, breaking and scattering every bit of their resistance. The symbols undeviatingly bypassed most of the weaker formations and directly ignored each of the all-out attacks and spells threw by both of them, absorbing them like how a sponge swallowed the water into it, not feeling anything.

    One of the symbols rushed towards Ocelia and imprinted itself onto her chest, turning into the bluish tattoo that took the shape of a snowflake, slowly fusing with Ocelia's body and becoming a part of her. Another symbol also inscribed itself onto Forus, merging with his skin and changing its shape into a greyish skull, emitting dark, depressing aura towards the surrounding.

    Before Ocelia could do anything, Forus held her hand back as he shook his head, signalling her to calm down and not to do anything rashly. He knew that the entity with such overwhelming power would be able to kill them both without any effort. Submitting to such a monster would give them a better chance to survive.

    Realising her lover's intention, Ocelia stopped her action and began to observe the surrounding as well as the general landscape that previously got blocked by the dusty mist. At the distant land, a towering structure had attracted her attention with its white, reflective and smooth surface. Its height had made it the pillar between the earth and the endless sky, making it remarkably noticeable if not for the fuzzy environment to conceal it.

    After one glare, the scenery of it immediately captivated her feminine mind, calling her to come towards it. However, at the thought of her partner and how he lost both of his eyes, her desire slowly vanished, and instead, making her felt sadness for her life-long companion.

    Before long, Ocelia set her sight at the white figure that single-handedly annihilated the hand that toyed with both of their life, observing every bit of the figure's characteristic before looking back at herself, sensing the movement in the blue tattoo.

    The figure looked at Ocelia, staring into her soul through the windows of her soul, making her felt comfortable. However, after a moment, the lady in white shifted her vision onto the blind man, studying him for a while, shorter than when she was observing Ocelia.

    Seeing that the order had restored itself, the keeper of laws waved her white hand, sucking the chaotic elemental particles that caused the rampaging change around the landscape into her body, forcefully terminating all of the shift in the world.

    Along with the withdrawal of the sorcery energy, the instantaneous shift in temperature returned to its icy yet peaceful state, ending the creation of strong winds and frenzy storms. The mist that got expelled by the previously expanding light began to return to its original state, covering the world from the onlookers to see its majestic view again.

    With one wave of her hand, the entire world became silent, returning to its dull and emotionless state. Because of her excellent strength, the chaotic environment became as tame as a house pet, following every command coming from her.

    Finally, the enclosing mist covered her silhouette before obstructing the view of Ocelia. After the fog subsided, the figure was gone, leaving behind nothing that could indicate that such a powerful being had descended onto this realm.

    The world was silent and cold, chilling to the point of freezing, leaving only two living, breathing humans, silently consulting each other. However, unbeknownst to Forus Ander, inside of Ocelia Coruscare's mind, her soul was burning with great desire to become strong, as strong as the figure that appeared and disappeared at will, covering the world with one hand and changing the fate of the insignificant beings at will.

    At the moment, the tattoo started to show its effect.
     
  16. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 34
    Ocelia grasped for breath as her chest felt heavier and heavier, collapsing onto Forus, knocking each other onto the ground. The symbol of the snowflake faintly shone as it continued to emit the hazy cold wind, condensing the icy elemental particles inside Ocelia, clashing with the flaming elemental particles.

    The clash would usually cause grave damage to the soul of the sorcerer, possibly making them dropped in their sorcery cultivation. The violent impact would burst the blood veins open, harming the consciousness and the mind of the sorcerer. Their heart would stop working due to an excessive amount of injury, shutting down the pathway of both the sorcery energy and the blood.

    However, with the unknown function of the Snowflake Tattoo, it forcefully held the membrane of the veins and supplied the heart with enough energy to keep it working. The damage coming from the clash between the fire and ice got reduced by the Snowflake to the bare minimum that it wouldn't affect the ordinary function of the body. Although the pain was immense, there would be no permanent after-effects or any persistent internal injuries.

    Still, the Snowflake didn't stop at this stage, it also radiated fragments of an unknown flowing fluid, continuously seeping into her body, merging with her soul and bones, making subtle changes that gradually piled up, slowly changing her physical appearance and fleshly nature. Her body casually accepted the liquid without any resistance, absorbing them as if they were precious elixirs.

    Unknowingly, her orangish eyes began to have a hint of light blue shade in them, slowly multiplied itself as it started to mix with the original colour that occupied the space of the eyes. Likewise, the tip of her hair also began to change, having a bluish hue appeared at the end of her hair, blending flawlessly with the previous reddish tone.

    These and many subtle changes caused Ocelia to panic at first, worrying about her fragile body and the consequence of its breakdown. However, after confirming that the changes wouldn't affect her, she began to observe and experimented with her enhanced body, discovering the differences in her appearance and her elemental affection.

    Logically, one's elemental affection would never change throughout their life, unless one broke through the shackle of nature and became something much more. Without the help of the mythical sorcerers or the legendary potions from the ancient time, their affection would determine their suitability in practising sorcery of different elements.

    Even then, the elemental affection of one would also be one's weaknesses. Their body would let favoured elemental particles through while sealing itself from opposing particles, expelling them out of their body before they started their rampage. The Fire Element would clash with the Ice Element. The Light Element would conflict with the Dark Element. The Wood Element would contrast against the Lightning Element.

    However, in Ocelia's case, a miracle had happened, granting her a unique characteristic that was precious beyond any treasures within the Flamedouse City. With the modification adjusted by the Snowflake, Ocelia's body would be able to accept both the flaming elemental particles and the icy elemental particles without any automatic expulsion from the body and soul.

    Although in this early stage of transformation, her body still couldn't adapt at the development and would sometimes cause the opposing particles to clash, with times and the ongoing modification, Ocelia would be able to create the equilibrium and freely used both of Element without any backlash.

    Feeling excited about her new-found ability and rewarded gifted, Ocelia turned her attention towards her soon-to-be husband, hoping to rejoice with his success and letting both of them had a sweet moment together. Stress relieve after a big crisis was necessary for the two to relax their tired mind and cope with their exhausted consciousness.

    Contrast to Ocelia's feeling of wonder and carefree, Forus had once again experienced the same pain as when the Aura of Decay first manifested within his body, decaying his soul and body slowly while keeping him alive, forcing him to experience the endless torment.

    The Skull Tattoo released the pale-white gas that slowly mutated his flesh, turning them purer and smoother, enhancing his body functions and abilities. However, because of the rapid expansion in his body, including the bones and the muscles, coupled with the enhancement of his senses, the pain he felt was a lot more than having his flesh burnt by the Death Aura.

    He could feel the mysterious energy gathering at his arm where his hand had gotten cut off, condensing itself to forcefully escalate the recovery of the body, helping him grow his new limb. The sensation of gaining a new organ was not as pleasant as it filled Forus with pain akin to burning oneself with fire from the inside.

    The flesh around his wounds started to heat up from the process of intensified reproduction, rapidly creating newer generations of skin to cover the exposed bones and stop the bleed. The arm which had no hand turned red as blood was gusting towards the newly formed flesh, gradually expanding and taking the shape of the previous cut-off hand.

    Although Forus could not regenerate his eyes yet, he could still use the overflowing energy to get rid of the blockage created by the spiritual seed. With the obstacles cleared, growing a new pair of eyes would be very easy with the resources he had amassed, not to mention the support he could get from his beloved companion.

    The feeling of having two hands again was like a man that grew a pair of wings on his back, gaining something precious and priceless. As if a new perspective had drowned him, Forus felt a hint of happiness in his emotionless heart.

    Like a worried father that watched his son came back to him after years of disappearance, Forus gently moved his new hand, trying to get the best feel out of it. His actions resembled that of a child who had gained a new, enticing toy that would not leave him for years to come.

    Seeing the process of recreation, Ocelia quickly deduced about the rewards her lover got. From the fragmented memories which she got after her soul took control over Forus' body, coupled with her observation of Forus' energy and abilities, she knew that the mysterious power that empowered Forus was the obscure Death Aura, which only existed in the area with extreme amounts of resentful spirits and deaths.

    Not only that, Forus even told her the method of controlling Death Aura when they were confronting the perished dark hand, helping her gained more insight into the Death Aura. She also had experienced the characteristic of the Death Aura, knowing how destructive it was and how hard it was to control the aura.

    According to her observation, the power that the mysterious existence-in-white gave as the rewards for their success in surviving the deadly night would be extraordinary and unique. In her case, she got the power that directly opposed her fundamental foundation of a sorcerer, helping her obtained something even second-ranked sorcerers could only dream off.

    With this hypothesis in mind, linked with mystical characteristics of the power Forus received, it was reasonable to say that Forus had gained something even better than her, the equally mysterious Life Aura.

    Like the Death Aura, the Life Aura would only manifest in the area filled with life force and vitality. From the description of the legend of Life Aura, it was said to be one of the essential ingredients to create nature's inhabitants and environments of the present time. The most ancient forms of life came from the Life Aura and perished under the Death Aura.

    However, although it was Life Aura, its calmness at the surface was only the deception, concealing its terrifying aspects. With its overwhelming power, all of its creations would take the appearance of the eldritch abominations, too horrifying to be perceived by the mortals.

    In its presence, all life would mutate and transform, returning into its primordial state of evolution, mindless and frenzy, powerful and terrifying. However, born within the chaos and mindlessness, emotions began to take its shape in the young reality, manifesting within the mindless monsters.

    With emotions emerged thoughts, with thoughts created minds. The first intelligent race forsook its godly power in exchange for its profound wisdom, severing its roots and connections from the Life Aura, becoming the ancestors of all rational beings. Although there was no evidence to justify the legend as there were no records of any creatures with godly power or any inter-reality species, this legend was still one of the most popular myths that the sorcerers tried to find the truth in it.

    Only with the sudden mutter of pain could Ocelia bring herself back from her daydream, she looked at Forus to find him sweating as his newly-created hand turned black as numerous tendrils burst out of his hardened skin, which resembled the scales of the reptiles. The black scales gradually emerged around his body, filling his skin with black layers of hardened coverings.

    Although Forus was on the verge of losing his humanity, his facial expression still didn't change as he focused his mind into directing the destructive Life Aura to his hollowed eye sockets, using its power to clear the blockage that the seed from that female sorceress had left inside of his soul.

    The process of transformation was rapid and unstoppable, forcing his blood to change and his body to approach the desired condition. The Life Aura slowly seeped into his realm of conscious, moving towards his mind and soul, converting him towards the purer lifeform, making him connected with the originator of all things.

    However, once a stance of Life Aura touched the surface of the calm, emotionless grey soul, the soul shook as myriad grey tendrils stretched out from it, devouring the Life Aura without any concern of its destructive and chaotic aftereffects. The tendrils digested the power of the Life Aura and injected them into Forus' soul, mutating his soul and transforming his mind and consciousness.

    The tendrils then moved from the realm of conscious into the physical body of Forus, penetrating every vein and taking care of every Life Aura on the way, greedily swallowed it and transferred the energy into both Forus' mind and body, strengthening it without end. The rampage of the tentacles slowly settled as the last bit of the Life Aura disappeared from the face of the dull world.

    The merciless grey soul had denied Forus of his only chance of controlling both of the primordial force of the ancient time, devouring it and used it as the supply for his strengthening. Even more so, because the Life Aura was no more, Forus wouldn't be able to destroy the blockage at his eye sockets without days of efforts into doing the task, making him unable to regrow his eyes.

    Although the unique talent that supposed to be his had disappeared, he still had reaped some benefits from the crisis as he observed the newly-grown hand. From the surface, it looked like the normal hand that everyone had. However, with a single command from his mind, the limb would turn into numerous tendrils that could move at will, gaining him a powerful secret weapon that could end his enemies in an instant.

    As for the lost of the Life Aura and his chance of becoming the exceptional talent, Forus only felt a hint of worry before he moved on. If not for the greyish soul, Forus might fall into the mindless state like the monsters that came from the Life Aura in the legend. Although the prospect of becoming uncontrollably strong was very tempting, Forus was more content with the transformative power that he could wield at the moment without losing his reasons.

    Examing the newly-transformed body, Forus carefully felt the power that ran through his body, trying his best to master the art of control. He commanded and observed the process of shifting as his nails turned into the sharp claws, his skin turned hardened and blackened. He also found that his perceptions had become much more sensitive and delicate, sensing even the faint and deflated elemental particles in the air.

    With the mysteriousness of the greyish soul, Forus became a being whose mind hadn't lost itself after coming into contact with the Life Aura, which ran rampage against the Death Aura inside his body. In the end, he became something unique.
     
  17. GDLiZy

    GDLiZy Wise Deepsea Mermaid

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    Chapter 35
    Ocelia had forced herself to stop interfering with Forus amidst the process of receiving the rewards from the white figure, feeling worried as she rooted herself on the ground, not doing anything that might disrupt his means of strengthening.

    She watched as the skin of her lover turned hardened and black as multitudinous scales merged with his bones, making him monstrous in appearance. The calm expression that showed no sight of disgust or panic had almost made her fell for him farther than before, causing her heart to beat wildly.

    She silently observed the changes that were happening to Forus, eagerly dreaming about how his final look and strength would become after absorbing the Life Aura and merged it with the Death Aura. No matter how his appearance and race changed, her feeling for him would never reduce, only the sensation of happiness would come with his increase in power.

    Although she felt perplexed at the sight of Forus regressing into his previous humanoid appearance, she didn't wish to know the reasons why the Life Aura seemingly disappeared or the reasons why Forus didn't go crazy with ungodly amounts of power. She only wanted her lover to become stronger, not wishing for any of them to depart without each other.

    In absolute silence and remorse, the couple soundlessly tested their new power to satisfy their curiosity, trying to touch the upper and lower limit of their ability, modifying their fighting styles to fit more with their current capability. Although they didn't dare to use most of their spells because of their vast consumption of the sorcery energy, they could still use their most basic ability to test their current skill.

    After an unknown amount of time passed, the two finally ended their little experiment and fully recovered their lost energy, which had emptied itself in a span of an eventful night. They laid onto each other, embracing their partner's warmth and discussed their next course of action, trying to figure out the pattern and the possible mission of this endless world.

    The mechanism of the Fleeting Emotion Ruin was to send the young, inexperienced sorcerers and apprentices to train their body and mind inside the pocket dimensions, honing their instinct and fighting experience, enhancing their mental mind to be able to withstand the pressure in the life-death situations. They would never send the trainees towards the place which left them zero chance of surviving because that would be against their purpose.

    Not only that, but the ruin would also reward ones who triumphantly completed the trial according to the difficulty of said trial, giving out generous treasures to motivate the trainees to try to overcome the challenge, further honing the inexperienced to become the wised.

    If they could survive this world and come out safely, even without them completing the unknown mission, their rewards would at least be comparable to the best of the previous rewards known to the public world, if not even better. On the other hand, they needed to not die in this world first to receive their prizes, making them concerned about getting out.

    Forus' train of thoughts suddenly got interrupted by the sudden twisted movement on Oceilia's end, as well as her subtle panting sound that indicated her painful experience. Although Forus could not see her facial expression, he could still imagine that her look would be pale and weak, enduring the pain that mysteriously appeared without letting out any sound, not wishing to worry her lover.

    The Snowflake Tattoo that previously gained Ocelia the power of equilibrium faintly shone, violently used its power to forcefully modify her body to become even more suitable for the Fire Element and Ice Element, turning her into a form of the elemental spirit, which would be the best form that suited the usage of elemental particles. Her hair and body gradually gained a hint of blue and red shade, becoming more crystal-like and smooth, turning from the warming human skin into the cold, hard membrane.

    If the process didn't stop, soon enough, Ocelia would lose her humanity and became a new race that thrived on the concentration of the elemental particles, living in the realm of Element and depended on the condition of the Element. Her body would slowly become spiritual in nature, and her soul would transform into an Element-based soul, shedding her mortal self and becoming one with the Element.

    Although becoming one with the Element would make her able to control the elemental particles flawlessly at will, her spiritual body would hinder her from ever breakthrough from the shackle of sorcery and ascended towards the higher realm of magic, unless she could find some other lost treasures that could change the aspects of the soul and body. Not only that, but her Element-based soul would also stop her from interacting with any other Element-based spells other than the ones her soul based on, which was the Ice Element and Fire Element.

    Forus placed his hand onto Ocelia, feeling the violent changes that happened within her body. Her body would abruptly radiate heat wave before suddenly stopped and emitted the freezing waves instead, making the temperature of the surrounding to turn chaotic. He also could feel that some parts of her white, soft skin had already turned metallic and cold, becoming statue-like and not life-like.

    Using his sorcery energy, Forus quickly used his hand to guide his power to lead him towards the source of Ocelia's suffering, quickly arriving above her chest, where the Snowflake Tattoo engraved onto her. Upon realising the precise cause of the misery, Forus decisively willed his hand to transform into its ugly, tentacle state, using them to stab into the tattoo and absorbed the overflowing mysterious energy into himself, helping lessen his desired one's burden.

    The mysterious energy that ran into Forus crashed within his body violently, turning his veins into a deadly battlefield and causing his blood to erupt madly, bursting out of the vessels, creating injuries all over his arm and chest. However, before the invisible energy could do anything else, the grey soul inside Forus' realm of conscious started vibrating and extending the greyish, unending tendrils out towards the physical world, reaching the said vague energy in an instant.

    Like its preceded invaders, the Skull Tattoo as well as the Life Aura, the transformative energy got eaten by the tendrils as quick as it came, becoming the sweet and delicious energy that would supply the Forus' soul and the grey light that fused with it. Although the force tried to struggle with all of its might, it was feeble when compared to the unlimited and shadowy tentacles that could devour the Life Aura without any side-effects.

    Sensing its impending doom, the Snowflake Tattoo spontaneously cut off its connection with the Ocelia's body and buried itself into her chest, silently hiding from the tendrils and ceased all of its attempts at transforming Ocelia into the elemental spiritual being. Although it had already stopped its operation, the changes were permanent and would not regress unless she found the treasures that concentrated in doing so.

    Ocelia was fully aware that her body had undergone a definite change, pushing her a little more towards the edge that separated between human and the non-human. Her cold hard crystal-like body was the proof of her power, as well as her inevitable forsaken of the humanity she once was. Although she knew that her love, Forus, would not change his feeling no matter how Ocelia became, she couldn't say that her Coruscare Family would accept her.

    If she became the fully-transformed Element-based spiritual being, she might get rejected from becoming the legitimated successor with the excuses used to overwhelm her under the facade of righteousness and justice. If her body became too perfect, it might also risk the chance that the second-ranked sorcerers would use her as an experimental subject, trying to find the secrets of her changes.

    Panting softly, Ocelia struggled to grasp for breaths, lying on the floor while watching as Forus caressed her face, slowly applying his gentle force to ease her worry and anxiety. Like the divine intervention from the higher being, his hand of healing immediately vanquished the pain that caused her inside to tear apart and filled her concerned mind with the leisure of peace.

    As Forus noticed that Ocelia had already stopped panting and shaking in pain, he gradually lost his grip on her and withdrew his hand from her, letting her have some personal space. However, Ocelia didn't wish for that to happen and used her hand, which was cold from the outside yet warm from the inside, to grasp for his, gripping tightly without any intention of letting go.

    Upon the contact, the symbol of love that engraved itself onto their hand began to glow, showering the surrounding with the highly intensified pinkish light, shooting towards the sky before forming a dome of lovely atmosphere that encompassed their surrounding.

    The dull, emotionless world suddenly turned colourful in Ocelia's eyes, becoming life-like and alive. Her pupils contracted as they changed from their former circular shape into the rose outline, shading from the orange colour with a hint of bluish shade into a bright, charming pink hue.

    In her colourful vision, she saw the crystal tower that shouldered the sky with its dizzy height, keeping the balance of the world in place as well as enforcing the rules that dictated all things. Inside the tower, countless magnificent statues of numerous creatures were waiting for everyone to discover them, safeguarding the rich history and detail behind their beautifully crafted design.

    The hallway inside the tower stretched towards the lonely altar where the skeleton fo an ancient creature remained motionless, lying in waiting for those who found their way to here. The shrine was pitch-black and would absorb every bit of light that accidentally touched it, devouring all of its essences without anything left.

    The statues that stood orderly behind the altar varied in appearance and style, making Ocelia not being able to find any pattern in their arrangement and order. However, all of them had the aura that could defy the mighty presence of the creature's remain, not crumbling before its power. Their weapons of choices were unique. Some would use swords while others would use bows, but then, there would occasionally be the user of scythes and spears, as well as ones that used axes, daggers, rods or staffs.

    Before Ocelia could walk in and examine the altar and its protectors, the tower shook violently as the space around the hallway warped itself in a twisted manner, distorted the distance and crumbled onto itself. She found herself slipped onto the ground and mysteriously leapt from her previous location, which was in front of the altar, to a new position, which was at the beginning of the entrance.

    Unlike the previous emptiness that she encountered when walking towards the altar for the first time, there was an eye-catching stand that held a greyish book in place, inviting Ocelia to open it and gained the forbidden knowledge it had kept safe from the outer world. As she carefully reached out towards the enchanting tome, a terrifying change also happened at her fingertips.

    The closer her hand towards the tome, the faster it changed from its human skin into its cold, smooth, and stony membrane. If she desired the knowledge which would pave her way to make her advancement towards the second-ranked sorcerers simple as breathing and eating, she would have to sacrifice her humanity and abandoned her traditional soul into becoming an Element-based one, forever not being able to change her form of employing elemental particles ever again.

    Noticing the price she had to pay, she slowly yet reluctantly pulled her hand away from the stand, not wishing to lose her humanity at the moment. Although she didn't get to have the tome at that moment, she could still use the mystical energy that the book radiated to improve her strength and supported her unique talent, adapting her body to be able to wield the Fire Element and Ice Element without any dare consequence.

    "Child, this is your destiny. Accept it and grasp at your string of fate, control your destiny!" A faint feminine voice echoed the Hallway, seeping into Ocelia's soul. A powerful force descended onto her body as they forcefully took over her body.