"Sigh, you are really just like him." An astonishingly beautiful woman appeared in front of Beel. She had long silver hair with crystal blue eyes. The majestic aura around her caused one to have the urge to kneel in front of her. She was wearing a golden imperial robe with a phoenix like picture embroiled on its back.
Both Beel and the Soul Devouring Demon King did not respond. They were trapped in time. Unlike Erza, this woman Time Magic was at the peak of this world. Everything around the woman stood still in her presence.
"How long are you going to hide?" The woman turned to look at one corner of the place.
"Hehehe.. Babe, you are still as beautiful as ever." A middle-aged man suddenly appeared from the boundless darkness. He was roughly two metres tall and breathtakingly handsome. He had long blue hair which was tied, and his gaze was profoundly sharp. At a glance, Beel actually resembled him a bit.
The woman snorted in reply. She seemed used to his sweet words.
The man chuckled then turned to look at Erza direction with a gentle expression on his face. "How long are you gonna make her wait?"
"Now is still not the right time." The woman firmly replied. The man could only sigh in his heart as he knew that she was probably right.
"Fine then. I'll take Beel away. He needs to prepare for his coming of age ceremony two years later." The man said as he got closer to Beel.
Coming of age ceremony! For a devil, it was a very important and fundamental ceremony. It would baptize the person and made him a true devil. The purer the blood, the easier one could pass it. As for a mixed blood like Beel, it would be very hard for him to succeed.
However, once it was done, Beel would no longer be a human. He would be awakened as a true devil! A character from the legend!
"Don't forget to take him away as well." The woman pointed to the Soul Devouring Demon King. She did not argue with the man. She knew that Beel had long decided to undergo the ceremony, despite knowing the difficulties he would face.
"Hahaha. Of course, it is rare for me to meet an old friend nowadays."
The man then took Beel and the Soul Devouring Demon King away, and disappeared into the boundless darkness. It concluded the intense fight in this place.
The woman looked at the man departure with a complicated gaze before walking toward Erza. She had made her choice so now she needed to take the responsibility.
Next, she took the already matured Soul Recovery Heavenly Herb and Erza away, leaving the tattered dungeon. The place was once again surrounded by the boundless darkness and finally became quiet after the unprecedented calamity it had just experienced.
.......................................................................................…
"Nggghhhh… Where am I?" Erza muttered in a weak voice. She finally regained her consciousness. She was feeling really weak at this moment.
"Erza! You are finally awake! Thank goodness." Lisa was pleasantly surprised when she saw that Erza was awake. It was her turn to accompany Erza as Elsa, Linda, and her were taking turn to visit Erza.
"Where am I?" Erza asked again as she tried to sit up but fell down because she was too weak at the moment.
"Careful, careful, you better lay down first… You are currently at the infirmary... You have really scared us. One month ago, you suddenly dropped down from the sky in front of the academy main gate." Lisa slowly explained.
"What? I was unconscious for a month?" Erza was stunned.
"Yes! What were you doing?? We heard from Sir Adam that you were away to do errands for him. Was that true?"
Erza was confused at first before she quickly understood that the Supreme Elder was covering for her absence. She could not imagine what kind of trouble she had caused for the elder. She really needed to express her gratitude to him later on.
"Yes. It was a secret mission. I was not allowed to tell anyone about it." Erza quickly came up with an excuse.
"Fine then. By the way, around the same day you dropped down from the sky, there was a great disaster in the dungeon. Some people even suspected that you were actually inside."
Lisa words suddenly reminded her of a very important thing! Her memory was previously a bit fuzzy since she just woke up from a coma. But now, everything started to come back to her mind.
"What happened? Where is Beel?" Erza was suddenly in panic. She remembered that they were fighting against the Soul Devouring Demon King before she passed out due to the aftereffect of 'Purgatory'.
Lisa was silent for a moment. She was trying to come up with a good way to explain the situation. She knew that Erza was very close to Beel.
"You need to be calm and strong…"
Erza expression turned uglier. "What happened?"
"A month ago, there was a big calamity in the dungeon, where huge earthquakes and explosions kept happening throughout the dungeon. More than a hundred third year students and elders were reportedly dead. And Beel senior was one of them."
And Beel senior was one of them...
Beel…
He was dead!
Lisa words kept resonating in Erza's mind as her face visibly turned paler by the seconds. Growing up without a real family, Erza never had a big brother figure.
Therefore, she was feeling a bit awkward at first when she had to call Beel 'big brother'. However, as time passed by, she started to treat Beel truly like a big brother. Even though she was forced to make an oath, Beel never treated her badly. Instead, he actually treated her quite nicely.
He never forced her to do anything against her will. He also respected her privacy as he never questioned her further when Erza informed him about her day.
Instead, he often shared his knowledge with her and calmly explained a complicated matter when Erza questioned him. He also helped her in her practice. Overall, he was always there for her. But in the end, she failed to help him when he needed it!
Soon, Erza was having a hard time to breathe as tears started to fall down from her eyes.
'Impossible! Big brother Beel is still alive!' Erza was trying to deny the fact in her mind. But the more she thought about it, the more she believed that Beel was truly dead. After all, their enemy was a peak King realm expert with a True Devil body!
There were many possibilities about what actually happened. However, the biggest possibility that she could think of was Beel sent her away with a special treasure before putting his life on the line and died together with the devil.
Erza was trying to hold her tears but it kept flowing out from her eyes. She really hated how weak she was. She lost her big brother because she was too weak!!
The colour of her pupils turned redder as Erza started to lose control of her emotions. Unbeknownst to her, fundamental change was happening with her eyes. After all, Eyes of Chronos were closely related to one's emotion.
Seeing her grief, Lisa decided to hug Erza to calm her down. She was also crying a bit because she was affected by Erza's emotion.
Later on, Qi Long, Mozart, Elsa, and Linda also came to visit her once they heard that she was awake. Together with Lisa, they tried to console Erza as the day came to a close.
Four months later...…
Black Snow Royal Academy's Year End Tournament was a grand occasion that occurred once a year at the end of academic year. Different than New Students Championship, this time it was open to some of the public. As long as one was an aristocrat, had status, or was a relative of the current students, then they could come to observe.
Inside the biggest arena in the academy, the entire field was packed with people. Out of them, 70% had come to see Erza, the youngest Knight in the human history. They wanted to watch how far she could go against her seniors.
The tournament would include every students in the first, third, and fifth year.
The second year students were currently undertaking their Eastern Trial, whereas the fourth year students needed to prepare themselves to participate in the Inter Cup, a competition between academies in Black Snow Empire.
As for the sixth year? They would need to prepare themselves to attend the Hathaway Olympic, the biggest and most spectacular competition for academy students in the entire human realm.
This time, the two most well-known individuals of the younger generation were Erza and Ling Men. Ling Men was the strongest person amongst the fifth year students. As for Paul and Lance, despite coming from big clans, not many people knew them.
Beel was previously also a very well-known individual. It was a pity that he would not participate this time. Many people were sad to hear about his fall. He was after all one of the most promising youths in Black Snow Empire.
It was truly a great loss to the empire.