Diane was sneakily moving onto the roof of the store.
Regardless of the close relationship she currently has with Leif or the crazy mess she was in, Diane had never doubted her judgment.
Only with a firm and righteous attitude can one survive in this world. This is what she had envisioned from a very young age. Even if she cut down thousands of her enemies, in the end, it was for the prosperity and well-being of the world.
As she looked over at the strange man silently sitting inside of the store, something seemed to be amiss.
He was wearing a gray robe and looked completely fine but if you look closely enough there were stains in his tightly shut eyes.
The man was also trembling silently. Seeing this reaction Diane unconsciously moved a step back out of primal instinct. But to her horror, something blocked her from behind and grabbed her hand.
As she turned around she saw a panic-stricken Leif holding onto her hand and blocking her from the strange sight.
For the first time in her life, from childhood to her teens she had never experienced such comfort and security. As someone who from infancy was seen as just a candidate for being a bodyguard and protector such comfort was rare.
But Leif was someone who was even slightly younger than her!
Leif did not hesitate but drew his weapon and directly confronted the guard after ensuring Diane's safety.
As he stood in front of the guard did he realized the severity of the situation.
"This poor man is just a puppet that someone imbued with some strange path energy to trick anyone who tries to come this way. How miserable!" Leif commented as he looked at the strange man.
"Should I help him out of his misery?" Leif raised his weapon but he was not sure if this would lead to other consequences.
As he was pondering, a sword slashed at the man almost with a tinge of gentleness, and with a euphonious sound, the man's head was cut off from his neck.
Diane sheathed her sword and said, "Saving those in the darkness and leading those in the path of light is the goal of the righteous path!"
She looked like a virtuous knight who completed a valiant and noble task. Her scarlet hair fluttered and her gaze was firm.
But Leif was panicking deep in his heart! He had sold (almost) his soul to an unknown being that probably had bad intentions towards him or some other scheme.
He reminded himself never to speak of this to anyone else.
As the situation had progressed to such a state they had to hurry before the consequences arrived in their way.
After taking care of the corpse both of them searched through the entire store.
The most peculiar thing about the entire building was that the material used to make the inner walls were of a completely unknown and strange material. Diane tried to pierce it with the sword but there was not even a single scratch.
The entire walls were snow white and no other impurities within them.
But there was a boundless sorrow seeping out that was almost suffocating to bear with.
"What is wrong with these walls?" Diane could not help but say this. It was almost unbearable for them to stand still in such a creepy place.
Leif also felt uncomfortable but he had to bear it through.
"It's ok Diane, let us stop this meaningless search!" Lief said, discovering that there was nothing else other than some miscellaneous remains and useless junk.
Suddenly Leif tripped and he knew that he had triggered something!
~Ding!~
The walls started to move and their surroundings suddenly started to shift.
Both of them in the end were just youngsters with a heart for adventure and had some courage to speak of. They lacked the crucial experience and were careless.
Diane could not hold on and completely lost her balance. Even after falling, she continued to rotate and Lief was unable to do anything at all to help her.
Finally, he also went down and felt that he was slowly losing consciousness.
***
'How comfortable!'
This was the only thought that Lief had as he was suspending through a gloomy and dark space.
Time seemed to have stood still and he felt formless and extremely light. His vision was blurry but the darkness seemed to be his entire world and his senses almost non-existing.
But suddenly a dazzling glow of light flashed and he jolted from his trance.
"What the hell! Where the heck am I?" Leif was drenched in sweat as he tried to calm his nerves.
"I should figure ou-" Leif stopped midway as his eyes bulged in disbelief when he accessed his body's situation.
His path energy had grown incomparably dense and his body had a faint layer of ice! Most importantly the ice formed was disappearing at an even speed.
"My ice element has finally awakened but most importantly the profundities of time is also slightly awakened! But this only happens in later stages? Unless this place has an incomparable affinity to my path or my blood!"
The profundity of time is not a difficult one to comprehend but that alone is useless, as it is easier to ascend to the heavens than trying to sense the existence of the profundity of time.
But with the power of time, it was impossible to affect and change the concept of time of every being in the entire universe.
Rather it was used to affect the surroundings and slow down targets in its base form.
Suddenly the white background around Lief changed and a faint red color started emerging from the corners of the room. Lief, alarmed by this lost his balance and fell to the floor.
The walls retained their dazzling white color there was something written right in the middle of the wall that caused Lief to lose his composure and his face turned pale with white.
The words were written in blood and carried a bone-chilling glow...
'ᴅᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴅᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀɪʙᴇꜱ ᴘʀᴇᴘᴀʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅ
ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ ᴅᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴅꜱ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ!
ꜱʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴘʀᴇᴠᴀɪʟ ᴀɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴛᴜʀɴ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴀ ꜱᴇᴀ
ᴡʜᴏ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴅᴀʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴏɴ ᴍᴇ!
ʙʀᴇᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ
ᴅᴀʏʙʀᴇᴀᴋᴇʀ ᴅᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴠᴇɴɢᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅɪᴇᴅ!'