INTO THE DARK REALM
"Yes, it does. The place that Arothar sacrificed himself is the place of his death and also his tomb", Emperor Tian told us his opinion.
"So, the tomb of Arothar is not a real tomb but is in the Dark Realm or at the entrance to the Dark Realm?" I asked.
"It is most plausible. That is the only place that we haven't searched in this battlefield. We must go there", Emperor Tian told us.
"Shouldn't the corridor to the Realm of Darkness be guarded by powerful monsters?" Ratatouille asked me worriedly.
"Yes, it says in the manual that the entrance to the Realm of Darkness that was partly sealed by King Arothar, is guarded by Lord Phantom", I said to them after reading the manual.
There was a powerful guardian who guarded the entrance to the Dark Realm, and it was Lord Phantom himself. It would usually be impossible to reach the Dark Realm to recover the heritage of King Arothar with him guarding the entrance.
"And lucky for us, the Lord Phantom is no longer guarding the gate to the Dark Realm, it is possible to go there now", Ratatouille told us suggesting.
"Okay, I agree that the tomb of Arothar could be at the entrance to the Dark Realm, but how do we get up there to the dark realm?" I asked.
"We can fly up there?" Ratatouille replied to me.
"It won't be so easy. The Lord Phantom is still fighting with the knights before the gate of the Dark Realm. If he spots us sneaking into the Dark realm, he might stop fighting to chase us", I replied to him.
"There are many ways to reach the Dark Realm. Practitioners have been doing so for all ages", Emperor Tian told us.
"The only way people could reach the Dark Realm is when they sacrifice themselves to it. That is the only way the Lord Phantom will not consider them as threats and allow them to pass", I replied to them casually.
"Forget about this place. What is the point of getting into the Dark Realm if we die in a sacrifice", Ratatouille told us disappointed that he would not loot King Arothar's tomb.
When we thought that this mission was hopeless and a waste of time, Emperor Tian had an idea.
"Sacrifice me", Emperor Tian told us to our surprise and shock.
"Are you serious?" I asked him.
"Yes, if that is the only way to enter the Dark Realm to retrieve the divine body of King Arothar", Emperor Tian told us.
"Even if we want to make a sacrifice, we also need the know-how. We are not witches. How are we going to sacrifice ourselves, slit out throats?", Ratatouille told us and asked.
"If only Tori was here", I replied to him mentioning about my wife in my previous life who was the greatest witch of Ouamua.
Suddenly, Emperor Tian, my former teacher, raised his hands to the sky where the gate to the Dark Realm was and spoke.
"I shall sacrifice myself to enter the Dark Realm, in return for the body of my resurrection", Emperor Tian told the crawly hands in the sky.
All of a sudden, the sky crackled violently, blinding the world with a massive display of lightning.
Suddenly, Emperor Tian's shroud rose into the sky toward the realm covered by long crawly hands.
"This is not going to work. The Lord Phantom will stop us", Ratatouille reminded us.
"No, he will not", I told him.
The Lord Phantom who was fighting in the Tomb of Order saw Emperor Tian being sacrificed to the Dark Realm, but he didn't do anything to stop him.
He wasn't going to stop offering or sacrifice to the Dark Realm. It was the purpose of the entrance to the Dark Realm to receive offerings and the Lord Phantom wasn't here to stop that.
"Are we going to stay here and wait?" Ratatouille asked me.
"No, we are going up with my teacher", I replied to him as I spoke to the sky.
"I sacrifice myself to enter the Dark Realm in support of Emperor Tian's wishes", I proclaimed to the sky to the shock of Ratatouille.
"What the hell?" Ratatouille screamed at me.
Suddenly, even my body was pulled into the sky and toward the Dark Realm.
-----
"What in Hell is happening up there in the sky?" Lord Iketes asked.
"Don't be a busy body, we should focus on our fight with the Lord Phantom", Lord Temeros replied to him as he channeled his magic to the shield that protected them from the onslaught of the Lord Phantom.
"No, this is interesting. It is that bastard Oriese that is being sacrificed to the Dark Realm", Lord Lady Aesoness told them.
The knights looked at the sky curiously and indeed what the Lord Lady said was true.
"That is so fortunate. We managed to get rid of that bastard Oriese without doing anything at all", Lord Iketes told them.
"There is nothing fortunate to shout about. We still need to escape from the onslaught of this damn Lord Phantom otherwise we would join that bastard in the Dark Realm", Lord Temeros told them.
-----
After being pulled into the gate of Darkness, we entered a space that was without light. Many scary, crawly hands were pulling us, trying to dismember our bodies and souls, before ingesting them.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"We are at the entrance to the Dark Realm", Emperor Tian replied to me.
"I never expected the Dark Realm to be like this", I replied to him.
"We need light. I can't see in this darkness", Ratatouille told us.
Even Ratatouille joined me when I was pulled into the Dark Realm. Although he didn't sacrifice himself, Ratatouille hid inside my soul realm and gained a free passage into the Dark Realm.
"That will be easy", I replied to him as I brought out a lamp of the apostles.
"Holy Lamp of Purification"
Soon, the world around us was illuminated by the holy light of the apostles. Even the long crawly hands that tried to dismember and eat us alive shied away from the light. The darkness of the realm was afraid of the magic of light.
"Where are we going?" Ratatouille asked us.
"To the Tomb of Arothar of course", Emperor Tian replied to us.
"There isn't even a road in this realm, only darkness", I replied to him.