Time slowly passed and, before even the couple succumbed to the cannon shot called 'Bio Blaster', the rest of the inhabitants of the world, those who weren't dragged away by the System's teleportation, died in five seconds or less.

The trees withered, rivers dried, and the small organisms vanished from existence, killed by the toxic attack launched by the System.

In five minutes, the world didn't resemble its former peacefulness and became a barren land full of death and eerie emptiness.

Arthur and Lucy laid next to each other, both unconscious for a prolonged period of time as the System refrained from dispatching any robot to retrieve them until the effect of the blast lessens a bit and becomes non-lethal.

One day passed and the first to somewhat wake-up was Arthur, who had a lot of difficulty breathing, much less properly moving, nevertheless, he tried his best to sit-up and move a bit closer to Lucy, checking if she's still alive or not.

Fortunately, the silver-haired woman had a bit of life in her but it was rapidly diminishing and if she were to remain in this fatal environment any longer, she'll definitely die.

Unlike her, she doesn't have countless resistances to poisons and all kinds of stuff so the attack affected her more than him despite her high cultivation.

The parasite raised his head and saw the massive spaceship covering the grey sky. Its shadow was enough to cover hundreds of kilometers and it was giving multiple red lights which seemed like alarms.

Even the wind which blew on his face was inexplicably hot and highly toxic. The ground under him was lifeless, the trees withered, the branches fell down and the leaves were nothing but ash.

'Just what do they want from us?'

Arthur tried to use Life Magic on himself and Lucy but it didn't work. In fact, after making a couple of simple movements, he fell back down and lost consciousness again.

One more day passed and when Lucy was truly on the verge of dying, a sudden phenomenon occurred around the couple. It all began with Evil Wind, which left Arthur's storage and started letting out desperate cries while circling around Arthur and Lucy.

It used its black flames to protect Arthur but Lucy was still exposed and perishing. Her skin was turning green and blood was oozing out of all of her orifices. The sentient Dark Blade's cries became extremely loud, almost deafening and when night was about to fall, it hovered above Lucy.

The sharp tip of the blade was pointing at her chest and, slowly but surely, it stabbed the white specter but it didn't want to kill her, quite the opposite, it was saving her life.

When half of the blade penetrated Lucy's chest, her eyes fluttered and after a few breaths, she came back to her senses, heavily panting.

She looked at Arthur then at Makaze, which didn't stop and, seeing her in a better condition, completely entered her body, causing the woman to cry from the agony she was going through, nevertheless, she didn't resist the Dark Blade.

A period of total silence passed before, in the middle of the night, a burst of blue light exploded forth, reaching the spaceship and freezing a small portion of it in a split second.

Back on the ground, next to Arthur, Lucy was back on her feet, her clothes were cleaner than ever and her complexion was back to normal, however, her appearance had drastically changed.

Her right arm, the Devil Arm, had much smaller crystalline scales and, instead of the steam, there were black flames in a circle around her feet. Her silver hair grew much longer, almost reaching her feet and both her eyes were now sky-blue.

Her right hand was tightly holding Makaze, which had drastically changed in appearance. The blade wasn't curved anymore and resembled a straight one-handed sword, its black handle now silver with a blue phoenix wrapped around it. Furthermore, it was emanating Lucy's fusion flames from its tip.

"I never thought that you'll be the one breaking the oath but…"

She looked at the sword in her hand, smiled and added, "I have to thank you for trusting me. Now then, shall go kick some ass?"

Nine silver lotuses were spinning around Arthur, creating a sphere which was impenetrable, even by the toxic air lingering in this world.

Like a shooting star, Lucy shot at the spaceship, leaving a trail of beautiful silver particles in the air. She stabbed the sword to the front, releasing a beam of pillar of blue light which became larger and struck the spaceship, which retaliated with its countless cannons.

Unfortunately for it, the cannons weren't able to stop the sword tab, which, when it reached its target, ripped through the ship's metal and caused dozens of large explosions. Moreover, it froze anything it touched while the fusion flames followed by turning anything in its way into nothingness.

Lucy's one strike caused the spaceship to naught but a destroyed scrap, which slowly started falling downwards. The White Specter, with an inconceivable speed, she appeared inside and slashed horizontally with Makaze then let go at the very last second.

The sword slash was so strange that it cut everything in its way and, from outside, it looked like the spaceship got cut in half. But, this wasn't the end as the sword released an ear-splitting screech and literally transformed into a majestic blue phoenix, which wielded its ice Magic to freeze half of the ship and all its passengers before spitting blue flames.

As for Lucy, she couldn't join Evil Wind as her path was blocked by a tall and domineering robot. The only one which wasn't affected by the earlier attacks. This was the perpetrator behind the Bio Blast and the one commanding this mission.

Lucy glared at the silent robot and coldly said,

"I just need one touch and you'll be gone."

"Target, Lucy MoonStar, ready to-"

Before it could finish talking, Lucy appeared before him like a ghost and stretched her right hand, which was glowing with a blinding blue light.

The robot swiftly jumped back but it wasn't as far as Lucy and, before it managed to land, Lucy's right hand had touched its elbow.

The moment it made contact with her freezing cold fingers, the commanding robot, which was supposed to be as strong as an Exalted God, was turned into an ice statue, which fell down from above and shattered into thousands of pieces.

Seeing the fall of their leader, Lucy snorted and continued disposing of all the rest, planning to let none escape this place.

**********

Down below, Arthur, who was unconscious, was experiencing the last stage of this supposed test given by Ventus Malum. It didn't require him to have a lot of power, after all, it tested his heart, his feelings, and his cherished memories.

The Gale Devourer empathized that the strongest thing is and will always be love. It is what motivates everyone and you can't achieve what you want if you forsake it.

He wanted Arthur to fall in love again, he wanted him to experience that feeling again so he may never forget it. Of course, slowly recovering his memories was part of the test but memories are not enough for you to love someone, some may even ignore them or erase them, however, Arthur did not.

And although he didn't really fall in love with Lucy again, it can't be denied that he cares for her a little now and, from Ventus' point of view, that's the first step.

From within the sphere put by Lucy, the sound of a beating heart could be heard and it was getting louder and louder. The parasite's chest started glowing with a golden color and a harmless heat surged inside of his body, traveling from part to another until it covered him whole.

"Lucy… Saly…"

Arthur groaned as he muttered his name, his eyes opening abruptly and his body twitching once every two seconds.

Each words he muttered carried a strong and unstoppable wind which ripped Lucy's sphere and cut down the ground under him, reaching deep inside.