Celinee explored the cave—which had been altered in such a way that it could hardly be called a cave—where Mariel and Lukhiel lived, reaching its farthest point.
The inside of the cave wasn't small, but it wasn't large either. It was divided into five sections overall: the front, middle, right, left, and back sections. The middle was the largest, while the right, left, and back sections were progressively smaller.
Mariel used the left part of the cave as his resting place. The right section belonged to Lukhiel. The back part was empty; there was no bathing or excretion area inside (it was easy to tell if Mariel had done those things at the river not far from the cave). It was this empty section that became Celinee's territory.
Celinee immediately left the back section of the cave after carefully thinking about what she would need to make the space livable.
Mariel was already back in the front room of the cave when Celinee arrived.
The young man was sitting cross-legged with "Sword of Salvation" in his left hand.
He had previously said he would try to remove the bandages sealing the sword. Because of that, Celinee didn't attempt to call him. She sat leaning against the cave wall and watched the boy intently, a bit curious about what would happen once the bandages on the sword were removed.
Celinee didn't have to wait long.
The half-demon felt a large amount of prana being drawn from Mariel's body as he began unwrapping the bandages. What happened next shocked Celinee. A silver barrier dome appeared, enclosing Mariel, and the young man himself had fallen unconscious.
Celinee quickly stood up and moved swiftly toward Mariel. She tried to break through the barrier, but her body was automatically repelled. Celinee didn't stop; she tried several times. However, the result was futile—even though she had strengthened her body with Devil Curse.
The ninja could only rely on her voice to bring the young man back to consciousness.
---ooOoo---
Mariel suddenly found himself standing before a stone arrangement that had been made in such a way that it could easily be called an altar.
However, he didn't panic. Mariel realized that he was now inside his subconscious or the subconscious of the "Sword of Salvation". Or, if neither of those, he was now within an illusion caused by the holy sword. He didn't need to worry about any danger threatening him.
"I welcome you, young chosen one."
Mariel instinctively turned around.
Immediately, his gaze met the wise smile of an old man with pale, long white hair tied into a bun. He smiled while stroking his long, pale white beard with his right hand, while his left hand tightly gripped a black staff resembling obsidian, topped with three miniature blood-red snakes.
The old man, with gray eyes and appearing to be in his 70s or 80s, was sitting in the air. He wore a gray robe adorned with several ornaments here and there. At a glance, he appeared strong and dangerous, but Mariel didn't feel any power from him. He could be weak... or perhaps just an illusion.
"Who are you, Old Man?"
Mariel didn't mince words. He could guess, but he knew his guess would be far from the truth.
"My name is Ruthlemia, but I doubt you've ever heard of it. I am an ancient mage, one of the best. I am the one who will decide if you are worthy of wielding the 'Sword of Salvation' or not."
Ruthlemia...
Mariel had never heard of that name. If he was truly one of the best, his name would surely be as famous as Merlin or Athrecia Le Fay. Ah, he mentioned being an "ancient mage", so perhaps he came from an era before Merlin existed. If that were true, it made sense because the holy sword he had previously held fell into the "ancient" category.
"…How will you determine if I'm worthy or not?"
The old man smiled again. "Simply meeting me already shows that you're worthy," he explained.
"But…?"
"But I won't tell you anything about the sword's power before I hear your answer."
Mariel wasn't surprised. "What answer?" se asked, demanding an explanation. Ruthlemia hadn't asked anything yet; it didn't make sense for him to demand an answer.
"The answer to the important question I am about to ask you." Ruthlemia paused as he cradled his staff. "And before I ask that question, I want you to listen to my story. It's about the Sword of Salvation and the history of the world."
Mariel had always wanted to learn more about the world's history. He had many questions to ask. The moment he heard the old man was going to tell a story about history, he immediately sat on one of the stones. His eyes fixed on the mage intensely.
"You look very eager, Young One."
"Of course," Mariel didn't hesitate. "Knowledge is power. You call yourself an ancient mage, so you must have much more information than Lukhiel and various books. I also have many questions I want to ask."
Ruthlemia nodded in understanding. "Knowledge is indeed power," he agreed. "There are times when knowledge can make a greater difference than strength."
"Please, start your story, Old Man."
"There was a time when the gods walked among mortals," Ruthlemia began, his gaze distant as if lost in thought. "There were other races that rivaled humans in dominating the world. The world was larger than just the four continents. You know, in the past, the underworld and the heavens were..."
Mariel listened intently to the mage's story.
According to Ruthlemia, the underworld and the heavens were once one. Both were under the protection of the gods who resided in the sky. Not the shapeless sky of today, but a solid sky that could be reached—the true sky. The Earth used to have three layers, with Hell located beneath the third layer of the Earth. Meanwhile, the sky also had three layers—Heaven was above the third sky.
However, this unified world drastically changed when the Sword of Salvation— the core that kept the three layers of earth and the heavens unified—was stolen.
The loss of the sword caused the three heavens to collapse. Stars and other celestial bodies were flung out into the empty space, while the gods and other inhabitants of the heavens fell scattered to the earth. Heaven was thrown somewhere unknown. Some early historians theorized that Heaven had become one end of the universe.
A similar fate befell Earth.
The Earth's three layers were separated. According to Ruthlemia, the second and third layers of Earth and Hell were thrown out just like Heaven. The three of them aligned with Heaven to become the ends that held the universe together. Meanwhile, the upper Earth layer split into two, then fused and curved into a massive solid ball called a planet.
The planet itself was divided into four parts. The surface, or what we now call the upper world, was the first and largest part. This area was mostly land and water. Beneath it was magma, under the magma was the underworld, and beneath the underworld was an empty space with a glowing plasma ball in its center.
The distance between the upper world and the magma layer was a thousand years' journey on foot. The same distance applied between the magma and the underworld. The same was true for the underworld to the planet's center. Meanwhile, according to one of Ruthlemia's acquaintances, the distance between the planet and the four corners of the universe was a four hundred thousand years' journey.
The drastic changes in the world caused many creatures to die. Those who survived the great catastrophe struggled to find the Sword of Salvation. But none succeeded in finding it. This lack of results caused each race to become suspicious of one another, and a great war was inevitable.
"The great war nearly wiped out all life," Ruthlemia continued, his jaw tightening. "The only ones left were a group of humans who were fortunate enough to hide from the battlefield. We called them the Great Humans, but perhaps in your time, there's no trace of that name."
Ruthlemia told that it was that group of humans who eventually found the Sword of Salvation. However, when they found it, the sword was already broken into thirteen pieces. The blade shattered into twelve pieces, while the hilt became the thirteenth piece.
They made various attempts to restore the Sword of Salvation to its original form. If the world had fallen apart because the sword was stolen, perhaps it would return to normal if the sword was restored. They all wanted the world to be restored, so they worked tirelessly.
However, none of their attempts succeeded. It was believed that only the Primordial Gods could reunite the broken pieces of the sword. Eventually, they decided to stop trying and to make use of all the pieces of the sword. Each piece became the core of what is now known as the thirteen holy weapons.
Of the thirteen holy weapons, only one weapon was left unnamed.
The hilt of that weapon was the original hilt of the Sword of Salvation, and because of that, the sword remained nameless. They continued to call it the Sword of Salvation. And of those thirteen weapons, only the Sword of Salvation was not given to anyone. It became a symbol of the existence of the old world. Over time, the existence of the sword was nearly forgotten.
"A thousand years after the creation of the thirteen holy swords," Ruthlemia continued, "the gods and various beings who had died in the great catastrophe and the wars that followed began to appear one by one. They appeared in newly born human bodies. You call them spirits."
With the appearance of the first god in the form of a spirit, Ruthlemia said, the issue of repairing the sword and restoring the world resurfaced. However, the majority of humans had forgotten about the existence of the Sword of Salvation. Very few remembered the goals of their ancestors. And of that small number, all of them rejected fulfilling their ancestors' desires.
"Except for one person."
"However," Ruthlemia continued before Mariel could ask who that person was, "that person was immediately branded a traitor and made an enemy. They hunted him wherever he went. Various attempts at negotiation were rejected. Unless the sword was handed over and then hidden, that person would not be forgiven. To ensure the world did not return to its former state, to ensure that humans remained the rulers of the world, they sought to destroy all knowledge of the sword."
"But that person was not without means or resistance. He was the most powerful mage of all time. He took on an apprentice, and he gave the Sword of Salvation to that apprentice. He tasked his apprentice with finding the human who inherited the spirit of one of the three Primordial Gods. After all, the world needed to be restored to avoid total destruction when the center of the planet was destroyed. And, that sword is now in your hands, Young One."
Mariel didn't say anything after the story ended. He processed again what the mage had just said. There were many questions to ask; many conclusions could be drawn—including who that one person in the exception was. However, Mariel said nothing about it. Ruthlemia had finished telling the story, but he wasn't done speaking.
"What I want to know is, do you want to carry out that heavy task—even if it means facing the entire world? If the spirit within you is not one of the Primordial Gods, would you seek another human to whom you would pass on the sword?"
"Before I answer that question, Old Man, I have a few questions."
"Three questions. I will only answer three questions."
Mariel frowned—three questions was too little. He had many questions that needed answers.
"This illusion won't last much longer; we don't have time to answer many of your questions."
If that was the case, Mariel couldn't protest. Three questions were better than none.
"The first question," Mariel began, "do you know how demons got to the upper world? The second question, can I save a demon with the Sword of Salvation? The last question, are all the gods really dead and reborn as spirits?"
---ooOoo---
Celinee didn't know what to do to help the young man. Her voice had become hoarse, and there were no signs that Mariel would wake up. The barrier also showed no signs of weakening. Celinee truly didn't know what else to do. Hoping for the best was the only thing she could do at that moment.
And perhaps, that was what she should have done from the beginning: sit calmly and hope for the best. Because, just as Celinee had sat calmly and hoped for the best, the barrier enclosing Mariel suddenly seemed to fade and then vanish. Then, the young man woke up several seconds later.
"Mariel!" Celinee rushed to him. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Mariel seemed to frown for a moment, but then he took a deep breath and shook his head slowly. "It's nothing," he said. "I'm fine. I just got hit by an illusion spell planted on this sword; there's nothing to worry about."
Celinee nodded in understanding. "So, what about the sword? Can you feel its power?"
Mariel frowned again. "This sword—unlike the other twelve holy weapons—doesn't have any special power," he explained. "Aside from the blade being harder than diamond, there's nothing special about it."
"Eh, so this isn't a sacred sword? It's just a sword enchanted by a mage?"
Mariel sighed deeply. "I don't know, but what's clear is that this isn't the original Sword of Salvation." He then stood up and shook his head slowly. "It seems like we really have to find Merlin, Celinee, he's the only hope we have now."
"Then, we need to find Merlin quickly."
"Yeah. We have to."
But before that, they needed to practice a bit to get used to each other's powers. If they were going to work together, making sure they could fight side by side was a must.