Chapter 142 - 323-336

Chapter 330 - 323: Unexpected Retrouvailles And Goodbye

''Sigh! As I have feared, they knew we were coming. To think Rank 12 would be killed with hesitation, his heart was crushed. How cruel.''

Sera commented as she observed the corpse lying on the ground. However, no matter how long she waited, nobody said anything. Therefore Sera looked in Alex's direction; there she saw Alex frozen; Luna had a horrified look on her face, she covered her small mouth with her hands.

​​Following their sights, Sera saw something she would never forget. Hanging on the iron bar was a freshly cut-off thumb; it was a girl's thumb; it doesn't take a genius to guess to owned this thumb.

〖Calm down, Master. Please don't lose your cool.〗

''Alex, please calm down, listen to me.''

Both Silveria and Sera were thinking of the same thing. Sera dashed toward Alex as she could feel he was about to explode.

When Luna wanted to say something to her man after managing her shock, she got blown away.

Boom!

''Bastard!" Alex bellowed, a huge aura exploded from his body that sent Luna flying.

Fortunately, Sera arrived at that time to catch Luna before she could collide against a broken tube.

When the girls looked at Alex, they were scared beyond words; Alex's eyes were devoid of most emotions; only one emotion overflowed his body; its hatred, black aura was oozing from Alex's body.

Suddenly, there was a,

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

Sera and Luna could hear this sound.

A black gun appeared inside Alex's right hand, Sera and Luna almost kneeled, their bodies started trembled, it was instinctual fear, like when you face something beyond your understanding, something that surpasses you by a large margin, something that could decide your fate.

''No good, we must stop him. He will die if this keeps up.'' Luna shouted; Sera didn't question what she meant by this; she bit her lips to regain control of her body.

Taking one step was like walking inside a gravity room; slowly but surely, Sera was advancing; Luna also managed to regain control of her body, she was moving toward Alex. The latter had a blank look on his face as if he was lost hope in life; he wished nothing but destruction. It doesn't matter if he lost his life in the process; he had lost himself, almost as if his raison d'être was lost.

Piak!

Under the girl's astonished eyes, Alex got slapped hard. This slap was so hard that he was sent spiraling across the air.

Silveria, who finally managed to appear in reality, glared at Alex.

''What are you doing, you idiot. Don't you know it's what they want? Does one thumb mean that she's dead? Are you so naive to think once you found her, she wouldn't have suffered anything? Brace yourself together; have you forgotten who you're? Who she's?.''

Sera and Luna were dumbfoundedly watching the drama in front of them.

Meanwhile, Alex didn't answer Sera's question; his head was lowered. Silveria continued.

''It's only one thumb, and you are behaving like this? Even if it were one arm, it would regenerate because she has your blood inside her. Now it's not time to lose yourself, we must quickly find them and teach them a lesson, and to be able to accomplish this perfectly, you must be yourself. So, get up for me, this is unlike you, come back to yourself.''

Finally, Alex showed a reaction; he stood up and slapped his cheeks.

''Thank you, Sil; I am now awake. Let's leave. We must find them; I have the feeling that they are not too far from here.'' Alex said.

Sera, Luna were overjoyed when they saw Alex finally showing some reaction; Silveria nodded before disappearing.

Boom!

Just as Alex and the others were about to leave the underground cave, a massive explosion occurred, and black-skinned monstrosities appeared; some had a human appearance, among those with human appearance, Alex and Sera recognized one.

For Sera, it was the monster she fought inside the dungeon; she thought she had killed it; however, seeing it again means that it got revived.

''Sebastian? Golfak? Lucien ?"

''Grrrr! Grrrrr!" The three-headed humanoid abomination could only mutter these cries; it was unknown whether or not the three-headed monster understand Alex's words.

Alex asked, eyes filled with murderous intentions; even though their appearances may have changed, Alex was still able to identify his friends with whom he shared a short adventure.

''What? Do you know them?" Luna asked the question Sera wanted to know as well.

''Yeah! We took D Rank advancement test together. It was their leader; we promised to form a group when we see each other, there is another person, a girl, an elf, she is a Spirit magic-user, Meera.''

Alex deliberately omitted Eleonora as he knew where she is.

''I see, so they got kidnapped and turned into this thing, how sad. Nobody deserves this fate.'' Sera commented while dodging a bone lance launched at her from a distance by one of the five abominations surrounding them; it was the pegasus-like monster who shoot bone lance from its bones wings.

Boom! Crack!

Alex and the three-headed monster (Sebastian, Lucien, and Golfak transformed) kicked the ground at the same and clashed mid-air.

Bang!

Alex was sent flying, he glided across the ground, leaving a huge trail on him before managing to stop; he lowered his head back until it almost touched the ground to dodge a water bullet fired at him by the third head, the one on the right, Lucien, the water magician.

Two magic swords came crashing where Alex was; fortunately, he had already left.

BANG! BANG!

Alex first fired at the water bullet when rolling on the; he lets the three-headed monster stepped into the puddle of water on the ground before shooting a second bullet to freeze the monster, at least stop him until his next attack was ready.

Unexpectedly, the three-headed monster fell for it; it became momentarily frozen, its feet.

''Pardon me, my friends. I shall see you on the other side.''

Alex said before shooting a crimson bullet at his former friends who had no become monsters.

The crimson bullet erased the three-headed monster from this world; in their last moment, Alex could swear to have seen his friends smile and mumbled.

''Please save her.''

''Don't worry. I will.'' Alex promised as he could tell of who it questions. A single tear escaped from his eyes.

Luna and Sera approached Alex intending to comfort him because of what happened; however, Alex suddenly clutched his chest and started rolling on the ground.

''Ugh! Ahaaaaaa!"

Black veins appeared all over Alex's body as his body kept thrashing on the ground, puking blood; his eyes became bloodshot.

''No good. Something is being done to his sister.''

Silveria appeared and said she was panicking.

Chapter 331 - 324: Gracier's Suffering

Let's rewind time to one hour.

Under the golden-haired young man's order, Maddog relocated their hiding place because their previous one got comprised, and they left for Alex, a little present, his sister's thumb.

​​Currently, Gracier was put on an operation table; her thumb was slowly regenerating, it was almost fully regenerated; Maddog was fascinated by this discovery.

''Hehehe! Soon I will become invisible with your blood; there's nothing I can do.'' Maddog declared while cleaning his cutting tools.

There was something attached to Gracier's left eye to make it easy to remove the golden eye without damaging it.

Gracier showed no fear; her expression was like that of dead fish; this annoyed Maddog as he expected at least to see her fall into despair and desperately beg to be saved, ultimately to dies at the end.

''Tch! You are not fun at all. Oh! By the way, your Big brother will die soon.''

''Um! Um!''

Gracier, who did not show any emotions even when all tools were being put on her body, started thrashing when she heard her brother die. She knew that these despicable people must have set up a trap for her brother; smart as he is, he must know, but because of his love for her, he would still step into the trap just because of the slightest chance of rescuing his sister.

''Hahahaha! Good, finally showing some reaction. Don't worry; I will study him as I study you. It's a shame that I can't get his right eye for myself, truly a shame.'' Maddog burst into laughter.

''Umu! Umm!" (Gracier meant, You bastard)

''Yeah! I'm such a generous bastard. Hahahaha!"

Gracier glared at Maddog; the latter only burst more into laughter; look could kill, Maddog would have died by thousand times.

Suddenly, someone entered the laboratory. Without turning around, Maddog stopped laughing and said.

''Well, you are finally here. We shall start then.''

''Wait, I want you to test this blood on her.''

Saying so, the man with golden eyes tossed a vial containing black blood at Maddog; the latter caught it; his expression was dark; how can he not be mad? This damnable lass wants to spoil his plans, knowing well what he intended to do with Gracier's blood.

As if he could understand what was going through Maddog's head, the man said.

''Don't worry, it's a diluted version of our God's blood, besides it's an authentic one. Same used to create Alice and to remodel 007.''

''Oh! That's good then. Talking about 007, no, she should be called Pandora now. Where is she?" Maddog asked as she did not see Pandora beside the man; it was her who brought Gracier here; Pandora's appeared changed, now she had pale white skin, long sharp ears, heterochromia eyes, one blood red, and the other green, her hair was pure black, she was their strongest creation, even Alice couldn't hope to last ten minutes against her.

''She went to check on Alice. It's time for her to wake; although she is not powerful as Pandora, she is still extremely powerful; those two would be my trump cards. With them, I can catch Alexander and deliver him to the organization to make up for going solo.'' the man with golden eyes explained.

''I see. Time for me to start.'' Maddog approached Gracier with the black blood vial; it was writhing within the tube as if it was alive. Gracier felt a chill shot down her spine, instinctually she started thrashing because she didn't wish for this disgusting thing to enter her body; she had the feeling that something will change forever if she was to let this thing corrupt her blood.

If only that bracelet were not attached to her wrist, suddenly, Gracier remembered what Pandora put inside her right arm and what she told her to do.

''Y you should w-wait the appropriate moment to use it.''

Although Pandora's words sounded broken, Gracier could still understand them. Somehow, she had faith in Pandora, as if she knew her somewhere, no wait, Pandora looks like Meera, the spirit mage user who was in their party during the rank-up test. Finally, Gracier could identify Pandora; if not for the sharp ears and green eye, Gracier couldn't have identified her.

'No way, she got c-'

Gracier's eyes widened when a foreign matter entered her body.

''Uga! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Gracier wailed, her body started spasming, the area where the blood entered through her body turned dark, then white, then black again, black veins appeared all over her body. The black blood was trying to invade her whole body; it was trying to rewrite her DNA.

''Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The pain was so excruciating that Gracier fainted numerous times; however, soon, she would regain consciousness and restart experiencing the same hell; this went on for one hour; however, to Gracier, it was like it has been an eternity, she wished to be dead be even this was refused to her.

After one hour, the black blood had succeeded corrupting half of Gracier's body, the end of Gracier's beautiful flaming red hair had turned dark, few strands of hair had turned completely dark, unlike the other who only had their tip darkened.

Even Gracier right eye started to show signs of changing.

''No good, her body seems to be rejecting our God's blood. We must add a bit more. I have the feeling that we will create something perfect. Her eye will be more perfect after receiving the baptism of our God through his holy blood.''

The man with golden eyes announced after seeing that Gracier could resist their God's blood corruption, he tossed another vial at Maddog, the latter sighed, even though it was not what he wished for, he could only comply; his scientific blood was boiling to know what Gracier would become after completing her baptism.

So, another God's blood got injected into Gracier; this time, the black blood rushed directly to Gracier's core, toward her heart where her blood essence was.

Boom!

A big explosion happened inside Gracier's heart; she vomited a mouthful of blood, half of her hair turned dark, she felt like all cells inside her body were being broken down and reconstructed; the pain was so intense that she couldn't voice it out.

It was at that moment that Alex fell to the ground and clutched his heart; he experienced for a millisecond what his sister was going through.

Chapter 332 - 325: Never Anger A Touch 1

When all of this was happening, Ignia was trapped inside a black cocoon. No matter how many times she tried destroying this cocoon, this cocoon would instantly regenerate.

''Damn it, if not because I'm extremely weakened, I would have destroyed this annoying this a long time ago. Although I have sensed a weak chaos beast in this world, I would have never thought that the latter blood would be used to create a bracelet that could seal us Spiritual weapons.'' Ignia lamented; she never stopped attacking the black cocoon; she could feel her host's pain.

​​This damned cocoon not only blocks her ability but also made it impossible for her to communicate with the outside; if not, she would have told Silveria where their location was. Ignia never doubted Alex's love toward his sister; she knew he must be searching everywhere for her, it just that the men they were going after were too cunning.

Bang! Bang!!!!!

Ignia kept attacking the black cocoon again and again. However, the result was still the same; she was unable to break free from this cocoon; for the first time since eon, Ignia was displeased with how weaker she has become; the ones of God governing fire were unable to break a little cocoon.

Suddenly, Ignia vomited blood and kneeled.

Outside, Gracier's hair had turned completely dark; she lay motionless on the operation table. Gracier's right eye was closed because there was no tool restraining it.

Maddog approached her; it was now the time to remove that golden eye.

It happened at that moment,

Boom!

Somewhere in the underground base, an enormous explosion occurred that shook the whole base.

The man with golden eyes exchanged glances with Maddog before he disappeared; he was furious because of this unexpected situation. He hoped it was nothing serious.

The moment that the man with golden eyes disappeared between the moment Maddog used to turn back in Gracier's position, only five seconds passed, and it was between these five seconds, Gracier, who should be unconscious, moved.

She pushed the black blood toward her right arm; it was possible because the thing Pandora put inside her arm, a green dew, a wood essence, it was this wood essence that sprout vines to lock the black blood Gracier managed to momentarily push out of her heart to gather inside her right arm before exploding.

Bang!

''What?"

Maddog was shocked by the sudden explosion; a mix of green and black blood exploded on his face sending him flying. Maddog may be a scientist, but he was still a strong Ranker nonetheless, someone at the Grandmaster Realm.

So, he quickly controlled his body to safely land on the ground; looking in front of him, Maddog was horrified to see Gracier standing; her right arm was gone entirely, there was nothing under her right shoulder.

''Shit.'' Maddog cursed; he knew trouble had come knocking at their doors; with the cursed bracelet gone, nothing is stopping Alex from locating his sister; this wasn't part of the plan. It was too soon for Alex to make an entrance; the stage was not ready yet.

''Shit.'' For the second time, Maddog cursed before disappearing; he must catch Gracier and remove her eye and blood before the cavalry arrive.

Although he wished more than nothing to know what just happened, Maddog knows that now wasn't the time; he must hurry.

At the same time, in Alex's location, Alex, who had fainted after going through inhuman pain, abruptly stood up; he didn't bother wiping away the blood on his mouth.

''I know where she is.''

It's all he said before Silveria touched his shoulder; her remaining arm could only catch Sera before she Accel-ed.

Fwoosh!

Luna was the only one left behind; she could not help but sigh.

''I need to hurry back and ask for more assistance. They may need it.''

After deciding on what to do, Luna didn't waste time; she sprinted toward the exit at a frightening speed.

~ Back to Gracier's location.

Maddog, who disappeared, reappeared behind Gracier with a hard chop; he intended to knock out the girl, to him what happened what just due to a last rush of adrenaline, like when one is about to die, a rush of adrenaline will make you turn into a superman for a short period. So, Maddog was not worried; however, he soon found out that his assumption was wrong.

Gracier quickly caught Maddog's hand; the latter became momentarily dazed, then something astonishing happened; Gracier lifted Maddog as if he didn't weigh anything and slammed him against the ground.

Boom!

Even though Maddog was surprised, at the last moment before touching the ground, he erected a shield around his body to lessen the impact of being slammed against the ground; he immediately took his distance from Gracier and warily looked at her.

''Who are you?"

Maddog could not help but raise this question as he believes that the person before him was no way that girl they captured.

'Do not tell me it was her.' Maddog thought of a certain possibility.

''Fufufu! It's exactly what you are thinking. I see that you have taken good care of my host.''

Ignia, who momentarily took control of Gracier's body, responded, as for Gracier, she was amidst an awakening, her body was in the middle of a volcano, the same area Ignia used to bath, numerous black filths were being cleansed from Gracier's spiritual body through the baptism of fire, her black hair was returning to their previous beautiful crimson color.

A gigantic western red dragon coiled around Gracier's body; this dragon seemed to be merging with her body.

Outside, Maddog becomes more vigilant when he heard that Ignia was possessing Gracier; the latter was emitting pressure that doesn't lose in the slightest to his own; no, it was above his. There was a certain majesty of an apex predator mixed with this pressure that he could never hope to attain no matter how many experiences he had.

''What do you want?" Maddog asked while thinking of a way to get out of this situation.

Gracier (Ignia) grinned, and illusionary dragon horns appeared above her head before disappearing.

''Relax, I would have liked nothing but to thrash you, but I believe she should handle her problem; after all, I have given her to mean to,'' she said.

''What?" Maddog exclaimed.

''It's time.''

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a golden flame appeared around Gracier's right shoulder before disappearing, then a brand new hand appeared.

Maddog's eyes bulged out of their sockets.

''No way.'' He said with a shaking voice.

[Remember, this is a temporary boost of strength. Hold on until your brother comes.]

Ignia told Gracier, who had regained control of her body.

'Understood.'

Two pairs of golden eyes glared at him; he instantly took a step back.

''I will show the world never to anger a Touch, never mess up with us.''

Gracier declared before disappearing in a golden flame.

The Touch's name was about to shake the whole world.

Chapter 333 - 326: Never Anger A Touch 2

Maddog, who had taken a step back under Gracier's dragon eyes, quickly shut his eyes before taking a deep breath. Now that he knew it was not Gracier's Gift spirit that was going to fight as he believes if it were the case, he would almost lose, Maddog was most relieved. No matter how much strength Gracier has acquired, she couldn't beat him.

''I shall let you witness the power of science.''

​​Maddog shouted before putting his fingers in the direction Gracier was coming from, and the skin on his fingers stretched out, shooting like a net.

Gracier's eyes widened; she had never heard of something like this before; even so, she was quick to react; she used the flame on her body to amplify her reflexes and dodge, but the skin-net was faster, and it enveloped her. A cooling sensation rippled out of the skin and like water extinguishing the fire.

However, Gracier was Gracier, the child of fire; at the same time that the golden flame around her got extinguished, she tapped her foot on the ground; through them, she sent flame vines at Maddog. The floor cracked behind apart as hundreds of flames vines charged through them, ready to pierce through Maddog.

''Too naive. I'm not a weakling that would fall for that.''

Maddog thundered, and the flame vines smashed into pieces by a thin thread of skin.

Gracier, at the same time Ignia, who was recuperating were horrified.

''The universe is surely big. To think that I would one day encounter something like this.'' Ignia commented as she soaked in the hot lava.

Outside, Gracier wondered, ''How could he manipulate skin to such an extent?!" as she dodged skin threads shot at her.

''Hehehehe! Keep running. I catch you and suck all your blood before sucking your brother's blood. I will skin you and added your skin on top of mine. Hehehe!" Maddog tried to provoke Gracier, and as expected, it worked.

Golden flame burst under Gracier's as she shot toward Maddog at incredible speed; halfway through, she summoned Ignia in the form of a scythe; however, from the ground, numerous skin threads appeared and formed a net that sealed Gracier's movement.

''Hehehehe! You fool, anger is not an emotion you should let rule you when you're fighting; it makes you predictable and prone to provocation.''

Like an older man teaching his junior a valuable lesson, Maddog said before tightening the skin net around Gracier's body, he didn't forget to add a bit of provocation to further fuel Gracier's anger.

''By the way, I wonder how much anger will rush to your brother's head once he saw your corpse? I can't wait to see it. Hehehe!"

Gracier knotted her fists. Unspeakable rage pumped through her heart; she had the impulse to destroy everything; controlling herself, she smiled.

''Wrong!" Gracier shouted, ignoring the numerous tiny skin threads that pierced her thighs and legs.

''What do you mean-"

Maddog stopped in between as he felt a powerful burst of aura from Gracier.

''I govern fires.'' Like the Goddess of flames, Gracier declared.

"What?"

The temperature in the laboratory drastically fell while flames appeared on Gracier's body; it was the combination of orange flame, crimson flame, and golden flame.

Instantly, Maddog understood something,

''You think this flame can overpower the confines of my net? It is useless!" He snorted before sending more threads to strengthen the skin net. Further, even himself dashed toward Gracier with skin pike protruding from his right hand, he intended to pierce Gracier with this, but then his expression flickered.

Fire burned in Gracier's eyes, seething fiercely. The flames grew wild, radiating heat as she said.

''I said you are wrong. Anger can be a powerful tool when better used, for example, making the other party think that you were fooled.''

There was a nasty smile on her face, unlike that of 14 years old.

Then,

BOOM

A pillar of fire erupted from her body and ripped through the skin's net, and transformed a gigantic fist that struck Maddog, sending him flying through the air.

At the last minute, Maddog erected a skin shield right before the gigantic flame fist struck him.

Maddog, who glided across the stone floor, was startled to discover that the whole room got turned into a flame domain.

BANG

The heat ripples blew the entire laboratory into igniting ruins.

Ssss

The air turned unbelievably hot, and even the ground surface turned volcanic hot as the heat fluctuations eroded through it.

''Amazing! This makes me want you more. Your blood held the secret to my rise. Let's me skin you and suck your blood.''

Maddog declared with a mad glint flashing through his eyes. Although the information they have acquired stated Gracier unbelievable control over the Fire element, reading it was one thing while seeing it, in reality, was another. For Maddog, the secret for such control must be ingrained in Gracier's DNA; if he could get all her blood, he would be able to gain this ability after assimilating her DNA.

''Hehehe! Although your domain is indeed really powerful, it changes nothing to the fact that your fate is sealed; it remains the same. I'm above you-"

Gracier interrupted Maddog with a mocking sneer,

''You talk too much. Less talk much action.''

Gracier was well aware of the time limit for this boost of power to continue; at best, she might have fifteen minutes, so better take care of this man, the man that makes her go through hell, the man responsible for the loss of numerous lives. For this madman, others' lives beside him are worth nothing; all he cares about is his experiment; he didn't care if an entire village, no a city, was massacred for him to get what he wants. To this kind of person, it's better to eradicate him before he ultimately turns the world into his laboratory.

'I will vent my anger plus the anger of those that died on you.' Gracier vowed.

Maddog's smile disappeared as he bellowed,

''Do not get cocky, you half-breed.''

He dashed toward Gracier; his two hands got covered by skin to form crescent skin blades; Gracier also summoned her scythe; the two were about to clash, the second round was about to begin.

At the same time, the man with golden eyes arrived on the second floor.

Chapter 334 - 327: Never Anger A Touch 3

While Maddog and Gracier were about to start their second round, the man with the golden eyes, the mysterious guild vice master's son, arrived on the second floor; he was shocked by what he saw.

Unlike the previous, this second mainly was comprised of few glasses tubes of human height; these tubes used to contain test subjects such as Pandora, Alice, however, now all of them were broken, the test subjects inside were killed, some had their heads lopped off, some had their heart crushed, it was such gruesome sight to behold.

​​Advancing through the wrecked floor, the man with golden eyes tried to keep his calm; however, he seems unable to do so as the air around him was twisted, a testament to his growing anger.

Finally, the man saw what he was looking for, then he erupted.

All the broken glasses on the air, the dead subject bodies momentarily levitate in the air before disintegrated; this is an attestation to the man's strength.

If Sera were here, she would be shocked by how much the man had progressed in the span of few days; even he was hiding his strength, Sera was not an opponent one could fight against while still conserving one's strength, so it was astonishing to see that someone could jump from Rank 12 to 13 so shortly.

''Hehehhehe, Good, extremely good. Although I have suspected that something was wrong with Pandora, I never expected her to do this. First, by helping that little girl break free. Then sabotage things here; she even dares to kill Alice.''

From the man's words just now, it seemed to be aware of what was going on the lower floor. However, he was not concerned, not worried in the slightest; Maddog can take care of Gracier, while for him, he could take care of everything, things might have gone a little bit awry, but everything was still under his control.

Presently, he was the most powerful after all. Unless Alex brings with him a Saint, there would be nothing to fear. Well, he believes it was impossible to move a Saint Realm expert in such a short period; Alex would probably appear with a Grandmaster at best.

The man walked toward Alice's head; he picked up the head before walking toward Alice's body; he connected the severed head against the neck, instantly it began regenerating, and before long the head was connected back to the neck; however, Alice showed no sign of waking up. The man then took a small black stone from his space ring and put it inside Alice's hollowed chest where her heart used to be.

When the black stone entered, numerous black tendrils shot out and got attached to the damaged muscle.

Gakin! Ba-dump Ba-dump!

Then, it started beating like a normal heart; before long, Alice opened her eyes and looked around before her emotionless eyes landed on the man above her.

''Get up, we have some sneaky rat and guess to welcome.''

The man said before leaving the room; he chooses the same direction as the fleeing Pandora.

Eighty kilometers from this base, a group of people, appeared before disappearing again; naturally, it was Alex's group moving under Silveria's Accel.

•••••

Back on the lowest floor, Gracier and Maddog's location.

Inside the fire domain were Gracier and Maddog; they have exchanged blows for five minutes; Gracier knew that time was running for her; she must quickly wrap things up before losing this boost. So, she took action.

A movement of her golden eyes made the domain spit hundreds of fireballs like a meteor shower.

Maddog lifted a hand to create a shield of hardened, indestructible skin.

He rotated the skin shield around him at such speed that it became a series of blurs.

RUMBLE~

The fireballs violently smashed on the skin shield. Melting heat ripples surged outward, and a few fireballs bounced back, smashing on the domain border.

BANG!

Gracier, who appeared behind him and slashed at Maddog, got pushed back.

Normally, inside Gracier's domain, Maddog would have a hard time breathing; his skin would be sweating as not only Gracier's domain was powerful, she could also control the fire in the air to weaken her opponent, for example, amplifying the heat to reduce the amount of water inside her opponent's body that would prove to be fatal. Gracier had increased the ambient heat to drastic measures.

Yet despite the overwhelming nature of the domain, Maddog was unaffected! His body wasn't the least bit dry!

Seeing that nothing was working, Gracier pulled back before slashing it out diagonally. In the trajectory she made, the air ignited itself and exploded out like an arc of fire.

"Half breed! You are wasting your strength for nothing!"

Maddog said with disdain as the arc swept forward, slashing like the scythe of the grim reaper. He lifted the hardened skin shield, and the arc smashed on it.

BANG

Sparks flew out like firecrackers, but unlike the previous attacks, the arc of fire didn't repel back or fade. Instead, the potent fire energy spread through the shield in the form of tiny chains and seeped directly into the pores.

After coming to the other side, these tiny chains of fire energy concentrated back in the form of an arc and strike Maddog. Everything happened in a matter of seconds!

BOOM

The potent force exploded on contact, and Maddog was blown back by over twenty steps. His skin manipulation powers absorbed the explosive force, saving him from harm.

Still, Maddog was astonished.

Not by the power of the attack, for it only pushed him back due to the surprise factor, but rather the quick-thinking of Gracier to bypass the shield. To come up with such a method in the middle of battle, she must be a genius gifted in the art of war, such a shame she was about to die.

''Half breed time to end this little charade.''

Maddog declared and was ready to launch an ultimate attack on Gracier, the latter mocked.

''Really?"

Gracier asked before closing her eyes and announced,

''Condense!"

Maddog's eyes flickered, and he quickly looked up just in time to see a humongous head, made of fire, descending.

The fire around gathered to form a gigantic fire dragon head.

The humongous Fire dragon head opened its enormous mouth and exposed its sharp teeth that were, in fact, spears of volcanic flames.

ROAR

The dragon head roared before swallowing Maddog and shutting its mouth. Terrifying pressure erupted inside the mouth, just like the second before the volcano erupts.

Astonishingly this time, Maddog's skin dried completely under the dark golden flame.

"Half-breed bitch!"

Maddog cursed as the flame spears rushed forward to impale him while the entire head exploded into molten lava.

BOOOM

A terrifying explosion blasted through the lowest floor, making its shake to the core.

''Ultime Skin Armor.''

Sensing his impending doom, Maddog shouted; his shriveled body faded even more, he seemed to have gotten younger, yet he couldn't hide the rides all over his face; he appeared to be in late teens, then a dreadful white skin armor appeared on his body.

He shot out from the raging flame and arrived before Gracier; his speed was too fast, so she couldn't dodge as she got blasted back and collided against the melting walls on the other side; Maddog was already before her, intending to finish her before suddenly freezing and dropping to the ground.

''What did you do to me?"

Chapter 335 - 328: Never Anger A Touch 4

''What did you do to my body?"

Maddog asked; he tried channeling Mana through his body to revitalize his cells which were dying at an extreme rate

''Puh!"

He puked blood and was sent flying by Gracier's flaming kick; since the start of this fight, more than 10 minutes have passed.

''I just sent my flame into your body to slowly break your cells from the inside; without cells, you won't be able to construct new skins. I am wrong?" Gracier asked. She slowly approached Maddog; numerous flame chains bound him to the ground; these chains were searing through Maddog's damaged skin, emitting a burnt smell.

''Indeed, you are right. How brilliant of you. Hehehe." Maddog burst into laughter at the end of his sentence.

Gracier sensed that something was not right; therefore, she stopped right in her track and jumped back.

''Sharp instinct. You managed to surprise me again!" Maddog said with a vicious smile. "And I should have expected nothing less from the Eighth."

''However, as I said, I'm not a weakling even though I'm a scientist. Let's me show what absolute strength is.'' Maddog said, then released the restrictions on his pores.

BOOOM

A frightening aura exploded out of him like a tsunami, destroying everything part of the wall behind him. The ground toppled while the domain collapsed into lingering streams of fire.

"!!"

Gracier grew alarmed as she understood what was going on; Maddog activated his domain; somehow, this increased his strength; not only that, but Maddog himself was going through some changes.

'No good, I must finish him before he managed to complete his transformation.' Gracier thought before using Fire lotus on him.

Beautiful dark gold flame lotus blossom with Maddog inside it.

Boom!

The area around Maddog was instantly transformed into molten lava; strangely, Maddog was unharmed; he was silently floating above the burning lava.

Maddog stood floating in the middle of the lava. The skin on his body turned into the darker shade of sharp metal; he looked like a metal man.

When he looked at Gracier, there was no look of fear on her face; it was blank as paper, so Maddog snickered before moving one arm.

Gracier sensed immense danger; she knew she would be unable to escape from whatever was coming; therefore, she wrapped flame around her heart to slightly shifted its position as she knew where the incoming attack was going to strike.

This feat was not without consequence; Gracier puked blood, at the same time, fine black thread pierced through her chest and narrowly missed her heart.

Maddog was surprised; even his reaction was quick; that fine black thread wrapped around Gracier's body and brought her toward Maddog; everything happened in seconds.

By the time Gracier could move, she found herself caught; Maddog was holding her by the neck. Gracier tried to kick him but to no avail.

''Hehehe! Obediently stop resisting; my skin is tough as adamantine. I'm invincible.'' Maddog proudly declared.

''I wonder about that,'' Gracier said with ridicule before sending her knee into the man's stomach; the result was the same.

''Did I not-"

Maddog abruptly stopped talking; his eyes bulged out of their sockets as if he was in imaginable pain.

Indeed, he was. Gracier's special attack was a diversion; her real attack was a small fireball in the balls.

From her second foot, a small fireball shot out and crashed against Maddog's crotch; no matter how much he could strengthen his skin, the crotch can't be strengthened so that it will remain a weak spot. Well, not everyone is despicable enough to strike his opponent in the crotch in the middle of battle.

Maddog had his balls crushed then burned; the pain was so intense that he let go of Gracier, who fell into the lava while himself was sent flying on the opposite side.

The mad scientist became furious; how dare she touch his crotch?!

It was burned to such an extent that even he could not bear to look at it! And unlike with his face, using fake skin or another man's skin would prove useless! It was burnt to a molecular level, not a priest; only divine medicine might help him.

So, even if a woman wanted to be with him, he could never show his destroyed treasure to her! Forget about using it!

Gracier observed Maddog with a warm smile. She has already left the lava shining as if she had taken a warm bath.

''Ops! Sorry, I missed my aim.'' She said her apologies did not sound like an apology at all.

Black veins appeared all over Maddog's face; he decided to torture this bitch to the extent that not even her mother would not recognize her when she saw her.

At the same time, Ignia was warning Gracier that she was about to run out of time.

[Daughter, you should flee, this man is too strong, almost at the Saint Realm.]

'I know, but I must have my revenge. I must avenge the others.' Gracier refused to listen to Ignia's advice.

'I still have one card up my sleeve that I have not used.' Gracier added; Ignia instantly paled; how couldn't she know what Gracier was talking about?

[Child don't, it's too risky. Please stop]

Ignia's warning fell on deaf ears.

Gracier had already opened the lock she and Ignia placed around her heart, an area inside her heart; the moment the seals were lifted, Gracier's heart started beating at fast speed.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

The furious Maddog arrived before Gracier at that moment; however, when he wanted to clutch her neck again, he jumped back out of fear. Instantly, black fog covered Gracier's body.

'What is this?' Maddog questioned himself; it was like he is facing a terrible monster; even he could feel the fear at the molecular level; all cells inside his body were screaming at him to run.

Only one time he had felt such a fear, it was when he accidentally angered the vice guild leader, the young man with golden eyes father, to think Gracier would make him remember such a past; she must have a death wish.

Before Maddog could move, the black fog covering her body disappeared, and what appeared shocked him to the core.

Chapter 336 - 329: Hell's Flame

Before Maddog could move, the black fog covering her body disappeared, and what appeared shocked him to the core.

Beautiful jet black hair left dark eye and right golden eye, black flame imprint on her forehead, flaming dark robe covering her body. The new Gracier appeared more mature, around seventeen years old.

The temperature inside the destroyed lowest floor plummeted, the boiling lava instantly quieted down like an obedient like that was scared of her mother scolding her.

''What the hell are you?" Maddog shouted at Gracier, strangely floating in the air; there were no wings at her back, no flame under her feet; she was just floating.

''I'm your nightmare.'' the mature Gracier said before vanishing and when she reappeared.

Boom!

She was back where she stood as if she had never left; however, Maddog could be seen embedded in the depth of the boiling lava. (A/N: It began boiling after Gracier threw Maddog inside it)

Maddog puked black blood before shooting out the lava, he put a great distance between him and the floating Gracier, he couldn't understand what just happened, one moment he was standing perfectly fine, but in the next second he found himself lying in the middle of lava, the strangest thing was that it didn't have any awareness of how he ended up there, this would mean that the monster in front of him speed transcended his imagination for him to be unable to sense the slightest change when he got caught and thrown inside the lava.

Even Ignia was surprised by Gracier's strength; at the same time, she was scared, scared because the latter heart was turning dark at fast speed, it gets corrupted, this strength was powerful but at an exact time double edged.

[Child, stop. At this rate, you won't be able to come back after getting wholly corrupted. You won't be you anymore. Stop, your brother should have arrived by now.]

Once again, Ignia tried to dissuade Gracier about using this power; however, Gracier's response was still negative.

'It's not everything I will let my brother take care of. I would not be worthy of him if I were to do. At least I should try helping the much I can. This bug I can take care of him.' Gracier said as she watched Maddog's eyes turned dark.

She launched a crimson snake at Maddog.

''Don't look down on me, you Half-breed!" He bellowed.

BOOM

Maddog mana surged outward like a fierce storm and smashed on the crimson snake.

Kaboom!

An explosion occurred that further destroyed the already wrecked floor.

The shockwave pushed Maddog a couple of steps back while Gracier remained floating; her black hair was dancing in the air. By now, half of her heart had turned black; even so, she showed no sign of panic.

''Previously, you talked about absolute strength; lets me show you what absolute despair is.'' She announced.

''How dare you, half-breed, to talk to me like that.''

Maddog knew that he must let this monster complete what she was doing; he had the feeling that he would not come out unscathed from it; therefore, he took action.

He launched twenty skin constructs in the form of spears to punish distract Gracier. He used wind magic.

At the same time, every skin cell on his body melded into the wind he had just summoned. From a materialistic body, he turned into a fading specter that completely vanished!

Gracier narrowed his eyes.

She quickly crushed the skin constructs while looking around. There was no sign of Maddog.

"?!"

Suddenly, Gracier felt her body turning numb as some invisible substance wrapped around it.

Maddog has compressed his presence to skin cells and then blend them with the wind. Now, he coiled those blended particles on Gracier to take control of the latter's body.

After all, as long as he could assimilate the skin with her particles, he would be the master of the girl's body.

This method was one of his trump cards! Something he rarely used! Not even the young man with golden eyes knew about this.

Gracier took a deep breath before saying.

''I heard they exist some people who seek death, I would never have thought you are one of them.''

Immediately, a black flame burst out from Gracier's body.

''Hieyahhhhh!"

Maddog cried of pain before immediately detached himself from Gracier's body. When it materialized again, his body was severely burnt.

Like a ghost, Gracier appeared behind Maddog and slapped him flying; she reappeared above him and kicked him toward the melted floor.

Boom!

From the sky, Gracier held her hands out; black lightning flame appeared before striking mzddog repeatedly.

''Hiyah!"

''Ahhhhhhhhhh!"

Maddog, even though feeling the immense pain, tried to construct a skin shield to block the incoming black lightning flame. The black flame could easily burn his body while at the same time freezing it.

Gracier lifted Maddog by the neck; black flame covered her hand as she used to rip off Maddog's hand, the one he used the most to slice her open.

''Iyaahhhhhhhh!"

''Why are you wailing like a girl? It's just the start.'' Gracier said before sending a black flame inside the wound to torture the man further.

RIPPPPP!

Maddog couldn't do anything.

Cough!"

Maddog coughed up a mouthful of blood. His chest and his hand were ripped off, and hot blood splashed out.

Suddenly, Gracier frowned because more than half of her heart had darkened; she knew she must hurry up; therefore, she grinned.

She pointed her finger at Maddog's chest, and a small black lightning flame appeared before entering Maddog's body through his chest.

Maddog's eyes turned bloodshot; he clamped his mouth tight and tried to ignore the lightning flowing into him. He did his best not to think of how his skin was charred and his flesh cut.

Sadly, his attempts failed. The lightning discharging from the girl's fingers didn't stop, and in a matter of minutes, he started screaming.

"AHHHHHHHHH!''

''AHHHHH! P- Please stop, please.''

More and more black lightning flame went inside Maddog's body, destroying everything and at the same time regenerating, then destroyed, then regenerated; it was a vicious circle; Maddog's cries had stopped a long time ago, even his mother would have a hard time recognizing him.

[Gracier, it is about time.] Once more, Ignia warned; however, this time, her tone was more severe.

'Yes, I know.' Gracier responded before launching Maddog into the sky, and a black flame appeared and got wrapped around the falling Maddog.

''Devour Hell's Flame,'' Gracier ordered.

''Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Maddog emitted a sharp screech, the pain was too much; even his soul was burning; before long, Maddog, the mad scientist, had disappeared from this world. Not even ash was left behind.

At the same time, Gracier's puked blood and fall from the sky; she clutched her chest.

''Seals.'' She shouted. Her hair turned crimson; she coughed another mouthful of blood before slowly closing his eyes.

''Big brother, I leave the rest to you.''

She then lost consciousness; at the same time, Alex, Luna, Silveria, and Sera arrived.

Chapter 337 - 330: Arrival

At the same time that Gracier fell onto the ground after eliminating Maddog, Alex, Silveria, Luna, and Sera arrived at the location where Gracier was being held captive. It was extremely far from the capital, more thousand kilometers from Avalon, in a small abandoned village in Andoras Principality.

''I never expected it would be this far. Thank you, Sil. You can get some rest.'' Alex said as he watches the pale Silveria; using Accel on such a long-distance was extremely tiring, especially when people were accompanying her.

''I get it. Be prudent. There is a monster inside. Gracier is on the lowest floor unconscious; Ignia told me that she was doing fine. It would be best if you went rescue her before the one I'm talking about manage to get her. He is moving toward her location.''

After giving one last help, Silveria excused herself.

Alex followed by Luna, and lastly, Sera entered the underground maze. Thanks to his Divine Sense, they could locate the first floor quickly; they descended on the first floor. A group of wind wolves welcomed them.

''Awooo~''

Swoosh! Swoosh!!!!

Alex's knives stabbed through the head of the seven wolves before they could get the chance to surround the group.

At the same time, Luna, who was in the middle, looked at her right; there was a shadow lurking in the dark, trying to snipe the group from afar.

''Holy Fist!"

Right before the red goblin archer could shoot his arrow, a gigantic white fist comes crashing toward him; the red goblin was instantly reduced to meat patties.

The group then moved to the second floor at incredible speed, Alex's Divine Sense couldn't explore more than two floors, and the man Silveria warned them about was not only the second floor.

On the second floor, another group of monsters welcomed them, a group of green orcs.

''Leave then to me,'' Sera said before disappearing; she reappeared shortly after.

Twenty orcs around Level 60 were instantly killed; no-calling slaughter should be more appropriate. The twenty orcs had their heads cleanly lopped off.

The group didn't linger on the second; they descended on the third floor, and like on the previous floors, they were welcomed by a group of monsters, this time, it was a bunch of skeletons wearing tattered black robes. There were only ten of them. However, they were all high level, level 70, the strongest was level 72.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Numerous black balls were shot at the group after they appeared; usually, this should have caused some damage to the group; however, before these sinister black balls, which had the stench of death, could land on Alex and the others, a holy white barrier appeared and stopped them before incinerating the black balls.

Kaboom!

Luna sent another holy fist in the form of a hammer that slammed on the ten mage skeletons; while they did not die, most of them got injured, then Alex's attack arrived.

Bang!!!!!

His special undead bullets blew the injured mage skeleton's head.

''Sigh! It starts to get annoying. It's almost as if we are raiding a dungeon.'' Alex said Luna and Sera couldn't help agree with this statement.

Meanwhile, on the fifth floor was the man with golden eyes; he knew that Maddog had somehow lost; even so, he was still calm, turning his toward his back he ordered.

''Go on the sixth floor, bring me that little girl.''

Alice did not say anything before disappearing.

''Hehehe! Back to our business. Since when have you gain your awareness?"

The man asked the girl he held by the neck; this girl was severely bruised all over her body, her right leg was missing, her left arm twisted unnaturally, this girl was the previous 007, currently nicknamed Pandora.

Pandora refused to answer the man's question even when he tightened his hand around her neck.

The man did not become furious at Pandora's refusal to answer his question; on the contrary, there was a vicious smile on his face.

''I see, still stubborn after suffering so much. Well, do not worry, your old friend has come.''

When Pandora heard this, for the first time since the man began torturing her, even chopped off one of her legs, she didn't show any emotions; however, the mention of an old friend coming made her expression change, her eyes momentarily widened before going back, this change didn't go unnoticed by the man, he grinned.

''Hahahaha! I knew it. Well, we knew your past with Alexander. It could be said it was part of our plan all along, targeting you and taking his sister to lead him to us, making him fall in despair before capturing him. You see, someone extremely higher wants him; they have some plans for him. Even I don't know why he was so valuable. He indeed possesses some unusual abilities, but that is all.''

The man with golden eyes didn't hesitate anymore; he told Pandora their real goal, and capturing Alex had been their real goal alone; all others were collateral.

Pandora did not become furious after learning the truth; on the contrary, she wished for nothing but Alex's safety. Although they exist some blur in her memories, most had come back. She knew Alex is brilliant; by now, he would have connected the dots, and from the few interactions they had, Alex was not an ungrateful person; he would avenge them.

Seeing Pandora still have the same expression even after learning the truth, the man got bored, then suddenly his expression changed for a split second before he burst into laughter.

''Hahahaha! What a timely arrival. Almost as if he was saying, plunge me into despair. Good, I shall do that. It was our initial plan anyway.''

The man said Pandora tensed up, although she got severely beaten, her power sealed, her senses were still functioning, so she was able to pick up three presences descending toward this floor at fast speed. Among these three presences was someone she wished to see more than anything. At the same time not, from the other side, Alice was also coming back with Gracier. It was a pretty funny coincidence.

Finally, Alex and the one behind his friend's disappearance and his sister's kidnapping were about to clash.

At the same time, Sera released

Chapter 338 - 331: Awakening 1

Finally, Alex arrived on the fifth floor; however, what he saw made his mind go blank.

He saw a young man with golden hair and eyes holding a woman, this man pierced the woman chest, the moment Alex arrived, the man removed his hand, inside was a black stone beating like a heart, the woman puked blood before behind tossed in Alex's direction, it was when Alex recognized the woman that his mind goes blank.

It was Meera, the Elf Spirit mage with whom he took the rank-up test, the same girl Sebastian, Lucien, and Golfak, on their last breath, entrusted him to rescue.

Alex's killing intent soared, he quickly caught Pandora; the latter was becoming paler and paler; even so, she still recognized Alex with her blurred vision. Touching Alex's cheek with her bloodied right hand, she said.

''Leader, finally I was able to see you again. I'm happy; please be wary of-"

Pandora's voice was instantly cut off, Alex's heart grew cold.

''Meera!!" He shouted.

At the same time, the young man with golden eyes started to clap.

Clap! Clap!

''What a drama.''

Alex glared at the man; Sera readied her black sword while Luna tried to heal Pandora; however, it was not working.

The young man momentarily froze under Alex's murderous intentions before chuckling.

''Oh! What murderous intentions, it almost scared me. Welcome, Mr. Alexander, Ms. Saintess, and Ms. Zero.''

Even with the murderous aura in the air, the man was still in the mood to introduce himself.

〖This man is dangerous. He is at the Saint Realm.〗Silveria was able to tell which Realm the man is in an instant.

Alex, Luna, and Sera gulped because Silveria simultaneously sends her voice inside the three heads; they learned this new at the same time.

At the same time, Alice entered while dragging Gracier with her. Blood rushed to Alex's head when he saw this.

Swoosh!

''Die!"

Like a madman Alex accel-ed in front of Alice and threw a devastating punch at the girl's head, everything happened too fast, yet the young man with golden eyes appeared before Alex and stopped Alex's punch with his bare hand.

Boom!

An enormous shockwave blew away some rock behind the man and Alice; the latter still had that deadpan face.

Alex's eyes widened; only one word could be used to describe the man's speed; godly, far beyond his speed, he was even able to sense the man coming.

The young man grinned at Alex.

''Now, now, let be civil and talk; why are you in a hurry Mr. Alexander?" The young said with a smile before suddenly, his expression changed.

Boom!

A gigantic white hand appeared above the three before exploding; at the same time, Sera using this opportunity to drag Gracier away; everything happened in five seconds.

When finally, the white light blinding the young man and Alice died down, Alex and Gracier were nowhere to be found; the man turned his head in Alex's previous location, he saw them standing there with Alex flashing him a smile. The man understood that Alex's previous outburst was a ploy to let Luna prepare her attack and Sera rescue Gracier amidst the confusion.

''Hahahaha! I see; I wasn't expecting less from your Mr. Alexander. But do you think you have won?" The young man asked.

Instead of answering him, Alex asked the man a question.

''What is your goal? Why are you targeting my loved ones?"

Pandora, whose bleeding had stopped but was still missing a heart, smiled when she heard Alex's words.

''You are smart. You must have figured out the answer. All of this happened because of you. All I want is you and your sister's eye.'' The young man responded nonchalantly.

''I see, thank you!" Alex said before shooting,

[Crimson Bullet]

The almighty crimson bullet tore through the air and arrived before the young man at breakneck speed; the young only raised an eyebrow before flicking his fingers.

A magic barrier appeared and covered both him and Alice before the crimson bullet exploded.

Kaboom!

When the explosion died down, the young man and Alice could be seen standing there perfectly fine; however, the area behind them got destroyed, there was a large hole behind them.

And Alex's group was nowhere to be found; they have fled.

''What powerful ability; if I haven't added another two shields, we would have been injured. Hehehe! Let's go after them; they are not far. I don't know what you hope to accomplish, but I know that you won't succeed. The whole domain is under my control. You have delivered yourself, and now you want to leave? Hehehe! It wouldn't be easy.''

The young man muttered before going after Alex's group; Alice disappeared; she seemed to have gone ahead of the young man.

On the fourth, Alex's group could be seen running, Sera carried Gracier, while Alex held the now completely white Pandora (Meera), her lips had turned entirely purple, she was at the death door, if weren't because of her special constitution, she would have died after losing what acted as her heart.

[Phantom Bullet]

Boom!

Alex destroyed the entrance to the fifth floor; he knew it was a momentary solution; he did this to buy them a few minutes to complete his goal. A confrontation was inevitable, so he must at least gain another ally to increase his chance of survival.

''Sera, give Gracier to Luna,'' Alex ordered after stopping and putting Pandora on the ground.

Sera did not ask why Alex gave this order, neither did Luna questioned it; she took Gracier and put her on her back before starting running toward the upper floors; her goal was pretty simple, at least get the unconscious Gracier out of this underground maze.

Sera released her domain and covered the whole fourth floor; the room turned dark.

''Sil, what do I need to do?" Alex questioned Silveria; it was her who suggested fleeing for now because she had a plan.

〖Remember that black stone you snatched inside the mine?〗

''Yeah, I do remember. Tell me what I need to do.'' Alex asked; they did not have much time; the young man and the white-haired young girl were closing in.

〖Take it and put your blood on top of it before putting it inside her chest; it would act as her heart from now on.〗Silveria instructed.

Alex did exactly as he was told, taking out the black stone; he bit his thumb until it bleeds and let the blood fall on the black stone.

Ba-dump

The black stone turned red and started biting like a heart; Alex didn't waste time; he put the now red stone inside Pandora's chest.

The wound on her chest instantly closed, at the same time,

Ba-dump Ba-dump!!!

Pandora (Meera) rose from the ground and started levitating; black and green energy mixed to form a cocoon around her, while the sound of heartbeat continued to be heard.

Ba-dump Ba-dump

Boom!

From behind Alex, an explosion occurred, Sera's domain got reduced, and the young man appeared with a smile on his face.

Chapter 339 - 332: Awakening 2

After the explosion occurred, the young man with golden eyes appeared; he was smiling.

''So, you rats are here. No, there are two missing rats. Huh!?"

The young man stopped talking; his eyes caught sight of something; it was the floating cocoon in the air. Using his senses to analyze the cocoon, the man's face darkened.

Swoosh!

He launched an attack on the floating cocoon as he couldn't let what was inside it to awaken.

BANG! Boom!

Alex counterattacked, offsetting the man's attack. Sera readied her black sword. The young man frowned; just before he could open his mouth, the cocoon exploded, and a naked Pandora descended into a crouching position.

Her hair reverted to its natural green color, however, more vibrant, her ears sharper, her skin white and smoother. Still in crouching position, Pandora looked in Alex's direction, heterochromia eyes locked against heterochromia eyes; one of her eyes was pure green while the other was pure black.

''Master, I have come back. Thank you for saving me. From now on, I will be your sword.'' Pandora (Meera) said, her eyes were full of devotion.

Although Alex had many things to retort about, I know that now wasn't the time. First, he must point out something obvious.

Before Alex could tell Pandora (Meera) to dress up, she flicked her fingers, and a blue-green dress appeared on her body; Alex was shocked; the girl in front of him was at least Rank 11.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

A clapping sound interrupted Alex's thoughts.

The young man clapped; he looked at Alex's group with an amused grin on his face, although he got surprised since Pandora (Meera) was back, not less powerful; the man was not worried because he still has the advantage.

''You surprised me again. To think you will know how to use that stone. However, it doesn't change your final fate. Didn't you wonder where Alice is?"

This question alarmed Alex and Sera; Pandora (Meera) raised an eyebrow.

''No good. She must have gone after them. Meera, please-"

Before Alex could finish his words, Pandora (Meera), who tried to leave after receiving Alex's command, got blown away; she glided across the air before landing on the other side.

The young man crossed his arms as if he hadn't anything.

''Nobody is going anywhere. We shall wait here for them to come back. Well, I can't guarantee if they will be in one piece, though.

Alex's face turned dark; without hesitation, he launched his right eye unique ability, time freeze, pouring MP into his eye, he prayed, and it worked. The young man froze; using this opportunity, Alex shouted at the two girls.

''You two go.''

Alex suggested this because Alice is strong, stronger than Sera, and has a weird ability. Having fought her once, Sera might be able to deal with her; this will be possible with Meera tagging me; as for the young man, although he was not his match, Alex believes he can hold on for a while.

After giving one last glance at Alex, the girls disappeared; at the same time, time resumed.

The young man's face changed.

''What happened? What did you do?" He asked.

Alex's answer was a bullet aimed straight at the man's head.

Bang!

Unexpectedly, the man caught the bullet flying towards him at incredible speed.

Alex was not disconcerted by the fact that the man could catch his bullet in the air; he attacked again; however, this time, his attacks were more tricky.

Alex executed a triple shot, meaning he aligned three bullets on top of each other, the result was a supersonic bullet, the young man was unable to catch the bullet this time, he tilted his head sideways to dodge the bullet; however, he still felt a burning sensation on the left side of his neck.

Bang!

Alex shot forward like a cannonball; he sent his right leg covered in wind element (A/N: Sleipnir unique ability) toward the man's head.

The man caught his leg while his head was still tilted sideways; he lifted Alex, intending to slam him against the ground. To stop him from accomplishing his goal, Alex fired a Phantom bullet at the man's hand; he quickly let go of Alex's leg; however, the young man opened his mouth, and a white light beam was shot out of his mouth, going straight to Alex's head.

Alex knew he couldn't fire another bullet in time as this beam was extremely faster, even faster than his regular piercing bullet.

He waited, just as the white light beam was about to touch his head, the young man was smiling; however, this smile soon vanished from his face because at the last moment, Alex vanished, and the man took his place. Unexpectedly, Alex had used Shadow Shift to switch places with the man.

And now, the young man was going to face his attack; he was momentarily surprised; however, it was just that, stretching his hand, the man caught the white light beam and crushed it. Then he disappeared.

[Hellsing]

Alex immediately used his domain, half of the fourth floor was under his control; Sleipnir's unique ability seemed to have fused with his domain, enabling him to locate even the ant crawling three meters north of his position.

When the young man reappeared, his hand launched toward Alex's neck; he was met with a bullet, the hand got deflected. The man didn't say anything, he disappeared again, he decided to accelerate, he was so fast that he left afterimage behind that transformed into clones. These clones seemed to have a will on their own; they launched attacks on Alex's from different angles; generally, with more than ten clones attacking him, Alex should have a hard time dealing with them; however, it was the opposite, nobody saw when Alex's left hand moved, not even the real young man saw it, all he and his clones saw were rain of bullets.

[Bullet Requiem]

Bullets appeared from all sides, even from the ground, and struck the clones; the young man who was hiding was forced to come out, his left sleeves were gone, there were some red marks on his left-hand proof that bullets had stuck there.

''Interesting.''

Chapter 340 - 333: Awakening 3

Let's go fifteen minutes back.

Luna, who was running with the unconscious Gracier, stopped and erected a shield around Gracier.

''Stop hiding and come out,'' Luna shouted.

Suddenly, Alice appeared; she looked at Luna with a surprise inside her eyes; however, it stopped there, she didn't say anything before vanishing, and when she reappeared, she was behind, a white sword aimed at Luna's neck.

Clangs!

The sword got stopped by a white barrier before an explosion occurred.

Boom!

Alice jumped back, at the same time, she slashed her sword downward; she intended to cut into half Luna's Holy fist; however, upon coming into contact with Alice's sword, Luna's Holy fist exploded. Because the Holy fist was big, the explosion was terrific.

KaBoom!

Alice glided across the air; strangely, she mimicked Luna's skill, the Holy barrier to shield herself from the terrible explosion.

''Water Dragon!"

''Roarrr!"

A fifteen meters eastern water dragon appeared and roared before trying to swallow Alice whole. And because previously she had suffered twice underestimating Luna, Alice did not rush to attack; she waited; she only erected two Holy barriers around her body.

Even so, she got tricked again; just as the water dragon was about to swallow Alice, the water dragon changed strategy; using its body, the water dragon wrapped it around Alice, which was using the shield.

It was at that moment that Alice knew that she had fallen into Luna's trap, she sensed extreme danger, the hair at her back stood up at the end, like a ghost Luna manifested behind Alice, Gracier was nowhere to be seen.

The moment Luna appeared, she instantly activated that domain she just acquired, the one that makes her enemies age; however, before Luna's domain could show its effects on Alice, the latter figure turned blurry, Luna froze in place, the sensation of imminent danger struck her.

Rapidly, Luna constructed five Holy shields around her body; even so, she was still struck.

BANG!

Luna was sent flying; she destroyed numerous rocks before crashing against the wall on the opposite side; the crash even leaves a small crater on the wall, her body slide to the ground while she coughed blood.

''Cough! Cough!"

Alice slowly approached Luna; she was frowning; for the first time since she awoke, Alice talked.

''Where is the little girl?"

Unexpectedly, Alice possessed a charming voice, and it was soothing contrary to what one might think because of her face; her voice was not cold.

''Cough! Fufufu! She's already gone.'' Luna declared. Using the second explosion as cover, Luna secretly lets the unconscious Gracier ride a small water dragon to escape. Luna knew fully well that she couldn't protect Gracier while at the same time fighting against this white-haired girl; she is a monster far powerful than her; if not because of love, love for her family, Luna would never choose to fight this girl.

''I see.''

Those two were what Alice said before vanishing, a white light descended toward Luna's neck at frightening speed, Luna closed her eyes, she was almost out of MP, she was waiting for the last moment before unleashing her ultimate attack to take Alice with her, or at least severely injure her; however, a black sword appeared and black the sword beam.

Alice jumped from the ground, a hand made from earth missed her by air breath; however, she was slammed to the ground by an invisible wind hand, it was already too late when Alice noticed it.

Luna smiled when she saw Sera appearing, there was another green-haired young woman with her; although she had the impression to have seen this woman somewhere, she couldn't remember where before darkness took over her consciousness, she had lost consciousness.

Alice stood up and stared at the new incomers for a moment before looking past the first floor; then, she smiled before beckoning Sera and Pandora (Meera) to attack her.

Although Sera and Pandora (Meera) were curious about what Alice's smile meant, they decided not to think about it; maybe she was excited to fight two opponents simultaneously; either way, they must quickly deal with her and assist Alex.

Sera disappeared before reappearing again with her sword ready; she had placed Luna somewhere safe.

''Let's go,'' Sera said before disappearing; Pandora (Meera) nodded before disappearing as well.

Alice smiled before summoning a second sword, she disappeared in turn, and soon the sound of weapons clashing against each other could be heard; however, those wielding the weapons couldn't be seen, only sparks and weapon's sounds.

•••••

Back to Alex's location.

Alex stopped using his domain to conserve a bit of MP; the young man who got injured smiled before a long white sword in sheat appeared in his left arm.

''Time to attack.''

〖Master, careful.〗Silveria warned Alex. At the same time Alex's sixth sense ringed alarm bell, his head almost exploded, without hesitation Alex used Xerox, crisscrossing his guns, Alex went on full defensive moves

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang!!

Alex was able to deflect the sword strikes sent at him; he didn't even see the young man unsheath his sword, which means that in the art of the sword, the young man was at an advanced stage.

''Not bad, I shall get serious.'' the young man said before taking a deep breath; he brought his sword toward his left as if he wanted to unsheath it, and then.

Swoosh! Boom! Clangs!

Alex only saw a white light; he reacted only on instinct; using Silveria, he blocked the young man's sword; it was a beautiful white sword.

BANG

The impact sent him crashing on the few remaining half-broken experimentation tubes. The floor behind him caved in, and the glass panels exploded into tinkling shards.

SCREECH~

"Cough!"

Alex coughed up a mouthful of blood. His chest and hands ripped open, and hot blood splashed out.

Still, he ignored the pain as the impact sent him flying. He put his feet on the ground forcefully and stopped himself from dragging back any further.

''Not bad.'' the young man clapped before he furrowed his eyebrows and smiled.

''Hehehe! We got an unexpected guess. Come.''

At the man's command, a tiny Imps-like monster appeared holding Gracier; some part of her cloth was ripped, blood oozing out of a wound on her left shoulder, there were claw marks on her face.

Boom!

A big explosion occurred inside Alex's mind, Silveria sensed it, the man sensed it, the person hiding in space sensed it, the feeling of death.

The young man went immediately on the offensive; he slashed at Alex to finish him; however, Alex, who was in a trance, dodged the sword; however, his left arm got sliced off, Silveria fell to the ground, even so, Alex showed no emotions, emitted no cry.

The young man tried jumping back; however, he soon found himself locked in place.

Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

Alex's heartbeat accelerated; it began to beat like a drum; outside the sky above, the whole continent darkened.

Rumble!

Lightning struck; it was like the arrival of a supreme being.

Back to Alex's.

With his remaining arm, Alex pointed it in the young man's direction; the person hiding in space happened to be in that direction.

A black gun appeared inside Alex's hand, his black hair elongated, his right eye shined like a beacon amidst tempest.

When the young man saw the black gun, instinctively he knew that death had come, he tried to flee; unfortunately, he couldn't even move his fingers, even the person hiding couldn't move.

A cold voice entered Alex's mind,

[Detect two opponents. A different of Four Ranks.Requirement: 3 Ranks. Begin!]

Alex fell drained then a black bullet left the black gun.

BANG!

''The end!"

Somehow, Alex wanted to say this, so he said it.

The young man and the person hiding disappeared from this world. At the same time, black lightning struck Mysthia's world, shaking it to the core. Even the sleeping black dragon awoke for a moment before closing its again.

The reappearance of the Death goddess was sensed everywhere in the universe.

Chapter 341 - 334: A Small Lesson

At the same time that Alex unleashed his second gun ability somewhere far away, where only darkness was ever-present, one could hear a burst of evil laughter.

''Kekeke! Finally, you have appeared. Let's see if this time you will escape my grasp. Even sealed, I have infiltrated numerous worlds, soon I will be free, and the universe shall remember us. Kekeke! Nyx soon we will see each other.''

In another location, outside the universe in an entirely different space, from this space, all the worlds were visible.

Two individuals could be seen playing chess; their features couldn't be seen as a rainbow light obstructed it, one wore a white robe while the other wore a black robe, suddenly they stopped, the one in white looked in the direction of a particular minuscule world, it was Mysthia.

''Hoh?! Finally, they will be some action.''

''Well, let's wait, and those girls' host seemed to have a special ability unlike the previous one. Don't interfere, do you hear me?" The one in the white robe threatened.

''Hohoho! Don't worry; the others will not accept either way. I will only watch.'' the one in black robe promised before they resumed playing.

•••••

Back to Mysthia's world, Andoras principality, in the depth of the abandoned village.

After Alex used the black gun he, immediately fainted; the imps that was holding Gracier got incinerated by the pressure from the bullet, Gracier started falling towards the ground simultaneously Alex also started falling, Silveria manifested and caught Gracier while an ill illusionary young girl slightly smaller than Silveria appeared and caught Alex.

''Big sister, you are finally out!" Silveria was overjoyed; if not because she was currently taking care of Gracier, she would have jumped toward the girl.

Finally, the young girl put Alex on the ground and turned to face Silveria. Her features became visible, dressed in a simple black robe, lustrous black hair, her was even more beautiful than Silveria's face because it was cold, even though it was not her real body present at the moment, the air inside the room was cold, if it weren't because Silveria was using her power to protect Alex and Gracier, they would be freezing.

It wasn't because Nyx wished for it to happen; it was because of how strong, how dangerous she is.

Her beautiful icy blue eyes, her right eye was a little dim, in an emotionless tone she said.

''I'm temporarily out. Take care of them. I have something to do.''

Nyx didn't wait for Silveria's reply before disappearing. Silveria could only sigh. Her sister's habits never change; Nyx does as she please.

''Seriously, dealing with you gives me more headache than dealing with those crazy lunatics,'' Silveria said as she sat in the middle of the siblings caressing their heads.

Using her Divine Sense, she observed the floor above; she stopped on the first floor where the battle between Sera, Pandora (Meera), and Alice reached its climax.

Alice had lost one hand; she was seriously injured, Sera and Pandora weren't also faring better, just as the two were about to lunch an attack on Alice to finish her, they froze as if time had stopped, a black shadow passed through the three before time resumed, Alice was lying unconscious on the ground, Sera and Pandora stared at each not understanding what just occurred, even so, their goal hasn't changed, Sera blinked and arrived above Alice, her black sword ready to pierce through the latter head, she heard a voice.

''Stop, don't kill her; she has become one of us. We will be taking her with us.''

Sera froze; she might have dismissed this as a joke if another person told her this; however, she didn't dare to take Silveria's words as a joke, so she stopped and sheathed her sword.

Seeing Sera stop like that, not killing Alice as they had decided upon, Pandora (Meera) was perplexed; she questioned Sera.

''Why do you stop? Don't you know how dangerous she is? What if she woke up and attacked us after recovering her strength?"

Because Silveria's voice only reached Sera, not Pandora, she didn't know that Alice had become one of them.

''Stop, I don't know what happened. Maybe something happened in that short period when we couldn't move, but somehow Alice has become one of us. Please do not question me how did I know this. Someone told me, and this person would never lie about such important stuff.'' Sera explained to Pandora.

''I see.'' Unexpectedly Pandora (Meera) didn't raise a fuse, she understood; now that Sera said this, she could now understand why she was feeling a subtle connection for a while, it must be because Alice had become Alex's subordinate, a connection was formed between the three, she could sense Alex's other subordinates close by surely because they shared Alex's blood.

Her guess wasn't false. When Nyx stopped time, her right hand pierced through Alice's chest, directly reaching her heart, that black stone; she wiped the signature blood inside the stone and let one drop of Alex's blood on the stone [A/N: She took a bit of Alex's blood when she was putting him on the ground.]; Thanks to this, Alice became Alex's subordinate even though she didn't know yet.

Back to Silveria's location.

She heaved another sigh; she could not help but complain.

''Seriously, do not leave things half accomplished. You must finish properly. You let me take care of it even when you could have easily done it. If I asked for a reason, you would say it's too bothersome.''

''Ah! What a troublesome sister you are.''

Even though Silveria was complaining, there was a smile on her face; now that her sister appeared, she feels more at ease; she doesn't feel lonely as it was in the past, although Nyx was not free, for her to come out can be considered a good thing. This means Alex has gotten a little bit stronger, unleashing Nyx's ability at his current; even if it was temporary was an enormous feat, it was because of this ability that Nyx was most dreaded.

''I wonder what sister is up to? Hehehe! Either way, I won't end well for whoever she set her eyes on.'' Silveria muttered as Nyx was not still back.

•••••

Holy Crux empire, the capital, Damien's room.

He was lying on his bed with a sour face; he just got rebuked by the Pope, even the goddess said she was disappointed in his performance. Fortunately, things are still salvageable; however, he must not go back to the academy; for the time being, things are still heated; who knows what Alex might do. Damien heard that Alex was still searching for his sister while Leonardo escaped.

''Tch! Just wait, Alex. I will pay you back a hundredfold that humiliation. You will never be able to see your sister ever again, only her corpse after they are done with her.''

Damien's voice was full of hatred, he hated Alex's to bones, because of him everything went awry, he lost in terms of strength, he lost the woman he loves, even his status as the Holy son was jeopardized, one should know that while they exist Holy son, they also exist Holy daughter, just that Holy daughter get less limelight, however, now that he has fallen miserably, his position was shaken, and the Holy daughter who was vying for his position would stop at nothing but to trample him.

Damien heard that sounds she would be sent on a mission, something that never happened before; it was as if they wished to tell him that he was not so special anymore.

''Shit, that slut must be overjoyed. Just wait, I will show you, nobody can take my place, what is mine will be mine. I'm the chosen one; I'm the goddess favorite.'' Damien started rambling before suddenly stopping as he remembered the black lightning that struck Mysthia's world and the phenomenon preceding the lightning arrival.

''I wonder what that thing was.''

''Well, it has nothing to do with me. I have to relax before moving to deal with Alex and get Luna. In this life, she can only be mine; I will stop-"

Abruptly, Damien stopped talking and clutched his heart before his hands became motionless; life had left his body before dying; Damien had experienced hell; he suffered so much that his soul scattered, never to be reincarnated again.

While Holy Crux empire, only one Holy son lost his life, not the most powerful entities noticed this.

Floating above the continents was Nyx; she was the one that just killed Damien. It would take Alex some time before he could deal with Damien; with this, he had one less worry, it not because of Damien's death, the Holy Crux would stop their attempt to get Luna, they will never stop, inevitably Holy Crux empire will clash against Alex sooner or later. Damien was just a pawn.

Nyx shifted her gaze from the Holy Crux empire and looked into another location inside the outer of Avalon; deep underground was a small laboratory filled with bizarre monsters. This was one of the organization responsible for Gracier's kidnapping hideout. Nyx disappeared, and when she reappeared again, that base was no more; it was utterly erased, only one letter was caved on the ground where the base used to be a big T.

On this day, the mysterious organization learned that they should never take Alex lightly, carefully plans before making a move as the consequences would be devastating.

Chapter 342 - 335: Do Not Touch The Touch For Now

When Nyx came back, Silveria questioned about where she went.

''Big sis, where did you go?"

Nyx ignored her sister; after checking the siblings, she vanished, leaving Silveria with the siblings.

''Sigh!"

Silveria could only sigh, soon Sera, Pandora (Meera), and Alice joined Silveria, the five left for Avalon.

''So, you are saying your sister helped me make a contract with Alice?"

Alex inquired; he woke up one hour ago; as for Gracier, she was still sleeping. Alex gently caressed his sister's hair while waiting for Silveria, who sat across from him to answer his question.

''Yeah, it's basically what happened.''

It was unknown how many Ice creams this girl has inside her space, but it seems infinite.

''Also, do not try checking your status right now because you have not completely recovered from using her. I know you wish for some answers, but please wait until we go back.'' Silveria added before closing her eyes, enjoying her Ice cream.

Alex chooses to do the same, but unlike Silveria, he decided to take a short rest until they reach Avalon. Sera was driving a beautiful magic carriage, Alice and Pandora (Meera) were acting as guards.

This Magic carriage was among the loots Alex got after killing the young man with golden eyes; his space ring did not get destroyed during his death; it fell on the ground, it was Alice who found it and gave it to Alex who checked the contain. Except for the magic carriage, there were only a few weapons, ten rainbows coins, and many miscellaneous items.

Alex planned to use this money to fund his private force. Unexpectedly, on this trip, not only he rescued his sister, he managed to save his friend and even gained one subordinate, no, two because Pandora (Meera) has the status of friend and subordinate at the same time.

While thinking about what he should do, Alex fell asleep while the carriage continued speeding through the paved road under Sera's guidance.

At the same time, in an unknown location, a meeting was taking place.

If Alex or the girls were here, they would have identified the man at the end of the long black table as the same man who acted as Golden spoon manager until recently before he got removed on Maria's order.

''Vice guild master, sorry for your loss. Your son was a-"

A muscular man with a shirtless upper body said, from his voice, it could be inferred that he was feeling happy about what happened to the vice guild master son.

''No need to feel sorry, he was a thrash, his death was well deserved.'' the vice guild master said in a light tone; from his tone, you could find no griefs, there was no joy either, almost as if he never considered his son to be worthy of his emotions.

''Sigh! Such heartless man. Your son just died, but you are unfazed. I know you never expected anything from him but at least show some emotions.'' A woman with red hair and snake-like pupils said as she sat across the vice guild master.

''Let's not waste time here.''

The leader said, unlike others whose features were visible, this person's appearance remained a mystery.

The other three turned their heads in the mysterious person's direction.

''Your excellence, one of our base got reduced to dust, all our progress loss. There was the word T carved there. Does anyone of you know what this means? Maybe it is those bastards from the Holy Crux empire making a move?" The red-haired woman inquired.

''I don't think what happened has anything to do with the Holy Crux empire.''

It was the vice guild master who denied this possibility, the possibility of the Holy Crux empire being involved in what happened.

''Oh? Care to elaborate?" The muscular man asked, curious.

''I think that T referred to Touch.''

''What? You mean, the eighth did this?" The muscular man asked, flustered.

Chuckle!

''Why are you chucking? You damn lizard."

The muscular man loses his cool after the red-haired woman chuckled.

Being called lizard enraged the woman, and she stood up; from behind her, a tail could be seen; it looks like a lizard tail, it was red in color.

''Do you wish to die, you muscle brain?"

Crackle!

Dark red lightning crackled in the air, the muscular man stood up and stretched his right hand, immediately black tattoos appeared on it, the long black table got instantly crushed as if gravity had struck it.

''Sigh!"

It was all it took for the two who were about to jump at each other throat to stop right away.

The vice guild leader closed his golden eyes before flicking his fingers, immediately another long black table appeared.

Since the start, after saying few words, the one referred to as Your Excellency did not say anything; this person was like a spectator; only the vice guild leader know how terrific this person is. When he remembered how he got subdued, the man couldn't help but feel chills running down his spine.

Clearing his throat, he continued, he didn't want for these assholes to begin again.

''My reasoning for saying this is pretty simple. The destruction of my son's hidden laboratory followed by the destruction of one of our bases shortly after could not be a mere coincidence. I believe that someone related to Alexander did that; it was a warning, a warning to us, to the world.''

''Who is so powerful to assist Alex to kill your sons and our envoy, and at the same time go back to erase one of our bases? Even for your vice guild leader, do you think it's possible?" The red-haired woman asked she did not believe that someone was so powerful enough to do that, Elseria, neither Freya moved so that can be ruled out, only one person left, Alex's master, however, it's impossible for her to kill two Saint Realm expert and go back to Avalon destroy their base.

''Well, this is mysterious, better left unsolved for now. What we need to do is not act against those siblings; for now, do not touch them. You know that Alex is vital for our plan; we must get him. Let's wait for a while; I believe that soon we will get the opportunity. You should continue with the experiment; we will need them soon.''

Finally, the mysterious person talked, the other three nodded their heads before the meeting ended.

•••••

In another location, a throne hall where there is only darkness. After leaving the others, the mysterious person appeared and immediately kneeled.

''Your majesty, what shall we do?"

There was a silence before the dark throne hall became illuminated by ghostly purple flames floating in the air; a gigantic throne appeared. A man could be seen sitting atop of this throne, this man wore all black, and because his face was lowered, it was impossible to see his face. However, two sinister black horns could be seen protruding from the man's head.

''We have let one of them get back her power; we mustn't let the other succeed. Calzon, go assist those fools to take that thing. Now that he has rescued his sister, his next destination would be the demon's continent. Do not disappoint me.''

''Understood, your majesty,'' Calzon said and disappeared.

The man on the gigantic throne chuckled and whispered.

''Things have become too peaceful; let's stir things a little. Chaos shall rule.''

The world trembled when the one said this as if to fight back; however, it calms down when the man harrumphed.

Chapter 343 - 336: Back To Avalon

One day later, Alex's group was back in the floating capital.

Before reaching their manor, the group heard that people were waiting to greet them, especially Alex.

''Let's take a detour.''

Alex suggested as he didn't wish to deal with such a troublesome thing. The girls smiled; Gracier was still sleeping; she woke up shortly last night before going back to sleep again. When Alex inquired if there was anything wrong with his sister, Silveria reassured him, saying Gracier only need time to be perfectly fine again.

The group disguised themselves before taking a detour to arrive at their Manor; however, even disguised Artemia and Lilith recognized them.

''Welcome back, Mr. green-hair.''

''Welcome back, Alex.''

Alex had his long hair turned green by Sera; he scratched his nose in embarrassment. The latter had already left to make a report of what happened.

''Hello, everyone. How are you doing?" He asked as the group entered the manor.

''We are fine. You are quite something. While you were rescuing your sister, you send your master deal a blow to the organization behind your sister kidnapping.''

''What are you talking about?"

Alex was confused; he didn't understand what Artemia was implying by saying that.

''Oh? Do you want to play the modesty? Didn't you send your master to erase to the ground a secret hideout of the mysterious organization?" Artemia asked as she sat on the sofa.

The maids and butlers have brought Gracier to his chamber, while Alice and Pandora got new rooms. Luna followed; she was tired and needed rest.

~Back to the main hall

''I really don't know what you are talking about."

Alex responded, although he learned about what happened today, he had the feeling that it has something to do with the sisters; maybe it was Silveria's doing; either way he would know once he asks.

''I see. Please tell me-"

Before Artemia could raise a question, the door was burst open, and two beautiful girls entered; they instantly smiled when they saw what they were looking for.

Naturally, it was Maria and Sakuya.

''Welcome back, Alex.''

''I'm happy to see you again, Alex.'' Sakuya winked coquettishly at Alex.

''How is Gracier?" They asked.

Alex did not immediately answer; he flashed next to the girls and hugged them; although they were momentarily surprised, they didn't push him away; on the contrary, they hugged him back.

''I miss you guys; however, now isn't time for a catch-up. Gracier is fine; she is sleeping at the moment. Hehehe! Later, you shall kiss your husband.'' Alex decided to tease them.

Artemia was watching this with a warm smile on her face while Lilith had a boring look.

Seeing Alex in the mood to finally tease, Maria was happy; the same goes for Sakuya; however, they decided to teach Alex a small lesson.

''Ouch!"

Alex cried in pain as his waist got pinched from two sides.

''Why don't you go see that new wife of yours for her to kiss you? Maybe even more.''

Both girls said at the same time, Alex started sweating while Artemia was embarrassed; the atmosphere turned weird. The smell of jealousy was intense.

Lilith looked at the four; she couldn't help but ask.

''What with the drama?"

''Hahaha! It's nothing. I heard that Leonardo went missing? Have you found any lead?"

Alex switched the subject.

''Nothing! We are still searching for him. But there's one thing you must know."

Maria said before looking at Alex in the eyes; the atmosphere changed again. Because he was too focused on sneaking back to his manor, Alex didn't pay attention to gossip in the capital, nor did he read the newspaper; if he had done that, he would have learned about that shocking news that sends shockwaves through the continents.

''What is it?" Alex said with a severe expression.

''Damien was found dead in his room. The cause of death was concluded to be a heart attack.''

Silence!

''Say it again!"

Alex thought something was wrong with his ears; how can someone so young, not even twenty, die from a heart attack? Not to mention that this is a magical world where people can live for hundreds of years; basically, there is no disease like on Earth.

''I know it's unbelievable, but Damien did indeed die from a heart attack. As unbelievable as it sounds, that is the truth.'' Artemia helped Maria.

〖Sigh! I was wondering where she went, but it seems she was busy taking care of this trash.〗

Silveria whispered, it was intentional, and from this, Alex concluded that whatever happened to Damien and the disappearance of that base, Silveria's big sister must have done it.

''Sigh! I see. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to deal with him, but he got what he deserves.'' Alex said with a smile.

Seeing Alex's smile like that, the girls stared at each other; there was a joy in that smile, not because one of the enemies died like that but because Alex knew what happened and he was happy.

This assumption was not wrong; when Alex first learned that Damien died like that, that it was Nyx's doing, he was a little bit angry. However, Nyx sent him some images of what Damien went through before dying. Alex couldn't help but shudder at Nyx's ruthlessness. What Damien experienced could be put into two words: Eternal Hell, even with his soul scattered, he would still be trapped in that eternal hell, never to escape, never to reincarnate.

''Tell me what you know?" Artemia was curious, so she inquired, the others were curious as well, and when Alex told them what happened, they sucked in a breath of fresh air.

''I almost feel sorry for him,'' Sakuya said before suddenly asking.

''Where is Lû?"

''She went to rest with Gracier,'' Alex responded.

''I see; we will see them,'' Maria said before dragging Sakuya with her; before leaving, she stopped and said with a smile.

''By the way, I heard that you brought two females with you?"

Alex flinched before he could talk, Maria said.

''Relax, I'm just casually asking. I will look for them later. New sister, please kindly join us; us sisters have something to talk about.''

Alex didn't look at the three women as they maintained a smiling face as they left the room, immediately Lilith asked.

''Alex, when are we leaving for the demon continent?"

Alex sighed; he finally understood why Lilith kept looking at him as if she wished to devour him; it was because of their special mission on the demon continent.

''Yeah! Let's talk about it.'' Alex said.