In the main hall of the Jupiter's lighting's headquarters.
After Tirus left,
'Master, what do you think about him?' The rank 4 magus, Zegna, asked an illusory figure floating behind him.
'Hm, I couldn't tell the amount of soul or spiritual force he currently has, nor do we know exactly how his cultivation increased, so it's better if we don't antagonize him in any way.' The illusory figure transmitted its voice through some peculiar technique. This illusory figure was the rank 5 radiant moon magi, Melinda.
She was the split soul of the Blazing Flame Monarch.
When the blazing flame monarch was breaking through to rank 6, she trapped Melinda because she was the collection of all of the blazing flame monarch's personality defects. Split souls, unlike ordinary clones, cannot be killed as they are a part of the user's true soul and could only be trapped.
'Then, master, I shall do as you say.' Zegna replied to her mentally while massaging his temples.
'What happened? Why are you so tense, little Zegna?' Melinda asked in a childish tone, unlike her usual emotionless one.
'Nothing…it's just that my cultivation hasn't made any progress in the last 80 or so years.'
'Don't worry about that, cultivation is accumulative, it's only natural for it to take longer to make any progress the higher one's rank gets.
You still have a long enough lifespan, so eventually, you will reach the radiant moon rank for sure.' Melinda encouraged Zegna, at least it looked like that on the surface, but if Tirus was here, then he'd immediately understand Melinda's intentions.
In the canon, she had used Zenga after he had reached the peak of radiant moon realm to recreate her physical body, and the same would happen this time as well.
…
A few days later,
Tirus was on his way to the teleportation formation which led to the twilight zone.
'It's been a long while.' He thought, a slight smile appearing on his face. Once he broke through to rank 4, everyone's attitude around him had changed a lot. The rank 3 magi who previously respected him now feared him, and those who feared him were too scared to even come close to him.
But he had no problem with people fearing him, in fact, he loved it. The treatment he got at the banquet held on the celebration of his breakthrough was enough to make a 200-year-old monster like him genuinely happy.
"Now then…" He reached the secret location where the teleportation formation was and activated it.
His black magus robes fluttered in the wind as a white light slowly enveloped him, slowly making his body more and more illusory.
…
In the twilight zone,
Eastern region,
Under the headquarters of the dark dawn guild,
Beth was standing in front of the teleportation formation in her favorite red magus robes as he waited for Tirus to return with an eager expression.
'Finally, he's coming back.' Thinking about her master, who had left this place for almost 3 decades.
She maintained her expressionless face as she looked at the formation with increasing intensity.
Soon, the formation started to glow in a white light as the figure of a man manifested itself in the middle.
This was the collector of souls, the dark dawn guild's founder, the absolute tyrant, dark magus Tirus.
"Welcome back master, you're…wait, you broke through!" Beth couldn't maintain her expression as she started at him in shock. He was clearly emitting an aura that was way beyond what a rank 3 magi could emit.
"How?" This was the only word that came out of her mouth.
"I'll tell you soon, but there are some things that I need to do first." Tirus said with a smile on his face as he controlled the tiny amount of radiation he was letting out.
If he wanted to, then he could let all of his rank 4 radiation leak, but if he were to do that, then he'd unintentionally kill everyone who wasn't at rank 4 or above.
…
In the Twilight zone,
Dark dawn guild's headquarters, main hall,
Beth was stading infront of Tirus as they conversed together.
"What? You had such a fortuitous encounter, that's great!" Beth was shocked and didn't know what to say after hearing about master's experience in the inheritance ground.
"Yes, although I only absorbed the leftover energy, it was still enough for me to make a break through." Tirus said in a calm tone.
"But if you absorbed so much, then how are you only at the morning star realm?"
"Well, you see…the amount of energy was too excessive, so a massive portion of it was wasted during the process, if not for that, then I'd definitely have reached the radiant moon realm, but good thing I didn't."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Think about it, a peak rank 3 magi breaking through to rank 4 after a fortuitous encounter makes sense, but jumping straight to rank 5 from rank 3 would make everyone want to know my secret, plus that'd lead to quite a shaky energy foundation and a risk of death." Tirus explained his reasoning as he twirled his hair.
…
After a few hours,
Tirus was looking far into the distance with his hands behind his back.
"So, what is the situation here?" Tirus inquired with an aloof expression on his face.
"There hasn't been any issue so far, but since so many ranks 2 elder and a rank 3 grand elder have died, this will definitely cause a commotion in the entire twilight zone, who knows if we may even get attacked by some other party." Beth replied while closing her eyes, as if she wasn't really concerned about the topic being discussed.
"Then, tell me, guild master, how will you handle the situation?" Tirus asked playfully as he got closer to her.
"Hm, I don't really care." Beth said, paused for a moment and continued, "Since you have broken through to rank 4, then I don't think that there is anyone who can or dares to deal any damage to our guild or us. As for the rumors, so what if there are rumors?
They would only be seen as rumors, and the 'members' of our dark dawn guild have no free will due to the contract they made with the trial's eye when joining. I'd say that we conquer the entire Twilight Zone, since I doubt these subordinates would be too useful now that you're a rank 4. All we now need is resources. Plus, nurturing capable members is really, tedious."
When they first made this guild, they didn't want to have control over the entire twilight zone as that'd result in a lack of competition, which would make it difficult for them to nurture capable subordinates, but now? Tirus was a rank 4 magus, these subordinates didn't really mean much to him, so it was better to conquer the Twilight Zone and take all the resources.
A slight smile appeared on Tirus's face as he heard her, this answer as given by Beth was precisely what he wanted to hear.
"Good, you're acting more and more like a strong tyrant now." He said.
"Master."
...
The next day,
"Here, take it!" Tirus threw a dagger at Beth. She looked at it in awe after catching it. Its blade was crimson red and by emitting faint fire energy radiations.
"What is this for?" She asked while thinking, 'Is this a gift?'
"It's a high grade magical equipment, its fire energy radiation can be fused with one's spiritual sense and be used to directly attack anyone." Tirus said with a wry smile on his face, knowing what Beth had expected.
Hearing this, Beth pursed her lips and pouted, squinting her eyes towards Tirus.
'She…' Tirus didn't know whether to laugh or cry, seeing her like this, he said, "Don't worry, I do have a gift for you." He said as he took out a bracelet from his storage ring.
"Here."
"What does this bracelet do?" Beth asked while looking at the bracelet from the corner of her eyes. This bracelet was white and had a golden coating around its corners, one could tell that it was made from sun stones of the highest quality and had been merged with some other luminous metals to give it a proper shape.
Tirus moved forward and held her by the waist and said, "It has an automatic defense function."
"… I like it." She let out a sigh as she bowed in response.
She really didn't care what kind of gift he brought her, as long as she knew that he still cared for her, that was enough.
….
Days passed and the situation in the dark dawn guild calmed down. However, it would be more accurate to say that the situation had been suppressed.
Anyone who dared to mention the incident of the elders going on a mission and just disappearing without a word was instantly turned burned and turned into ash right at that moment, it was as if someone was hearing whatever anyone in the guild said.
This caused the guild members to even feel a little scared to even think about that topic.
The members of the guild didn't mind not discussing a certain topic, as they loved their lives and the resources provided by their guild more than their cheap conversations.
This caused the guild to become eerily quiet for a few days, creating a gloomy atmosphere. However, there was one news which shined like an eternal star under the dark sky of the Twilight Zone, and that was the birth of a new rank 4, morning star magus.
This magus was the founder of the organization which had complete control over almost the entire Twlight zone and had countless resources as well as sun stones casually hung from the walls of their residential area for acolytes. Rumors stated that they had prepared a secret plane as a residential area for magi at rank 1 and above.
This rank 4 magi called himself the collector of souls and had an undying army of thousands of demons which he could summon from his shadow. If someone had a resource that he wanted, then he simply took it, and if met with a retaliation, then the ones who retaliated would meet a fate that'd force them to regret even being born.
His cruel ways soon earned him a title of the Dark Tyrant. Along with his partner, the scarlet demoness, he had absolute control over the entirety of the Twilight zone.
Time passed in a blink of an eye and 20 years passed,
Under his rule, his dark dawn guild made rapid progress in the fields of potioneering, transfiguration and even spatial studies, they had wood elf and dark elf slave businesses that spread from the twilight zone to a place on the surface called the 'central continent'.
…
"Huh? They are giving you a mission after so long?" Beth said as she clasped her hands.
"Hm, it's a summon, it's a good thing that they showed their sincerity by sending a rank 2 magi as a messenger along with do many treasures." Tirus mumbled as he held a violet scroll in his hand.
This scroll had a mission inscribed in it and was signed by the leader of Jupiter's lightning, rank 4 magi, Zegna.
"What is the mission?" Beth asked in a curious tone as she leaned forward.
"It's a summon to the central continent, it's mentioned that I'll be given further information about the mission once I meet Zegna." Tirus said as he looked in Beth's eyes.
"What is it, master?" Beth asked, somewhat confused, and troubled. Her master rarely ever showed such a concerned expression while talking about himself, then why now?
"Nothing." However, his expression still showed a hint of uneasiness.
Beth smiled, and whispered in Tirus's ear, "Come back soon, okay?"
After a second, Tirus answered, "I will, I swear."
To be continued…