The demonic blood-red vertical eye laid quietly in Wizard Leo's palm, which Merlin gently picked up. He could feel that a strange power was sealed inside, like it was trying to break free from the demonic blood-red vertical eye.

This strange power was probably the third and fourth forms that were forcibly sealed by Wizard Leo. In other words, the demonic blood-red vertical eye was alive!

The moment Merlin touched Darkness Eye, he could clearly feel that it was alive. At the same time, several illusions began to appear before his eyes. Fortunately, he had Darkness Heart, so he was not susceptible to illusions.

"Darkness Eye!"

Merlin whispered softly. When he raised his head to look at Wizard Leo again, there was no more breath of life left in him. His body looked like a withered corpse, but at least his expression appeared serene.

Wizard Leo was dead!

Merlin had always been very grateful to Wizard Leo, and even regarded him as a real teacher. It was truly a pity that Wizard Leo had not been able to break the curse of Darkness Eye or become a Seventh-level Spell Caster, and had died with many regrets.

"The Black-White Great Wizard!"

Merlin looked up into the sky. He would remember this name until the end of time.

Wizard Envia and the others kept silent as Wizard Leo's death also weighed heavily in their hearts. After a few moments, he asked Merlin in a low voice, "Wizard Merlin, what do we do now?"

Merlin slowly stood up and stowed Wizard Leo's ring away securely. With a gentle wave of his hand, pale white flames appeared and started burning on Wizard Leo's body.

Soon, the blazing flames engulfed Wizard Leo's entire body and burned it to ashes. A light breeze wafted past, scattering his ashes into the dense forest.

"Let's go back to the Dark Magic Region!"

Merlin said in a sunken voice. Since the Wizards of Ozmu had left, it was safe for them to leave now. They would have to first make their way back to the Dark Magic Region and report what had happened in Blacksand Fort.

As for Darkness Eye, Merlin had no plans to cultivate it right now. Instead, he would first obtain the techniques of cultivating Darkness Eye from Wizard Leo's ring.

Back then, Wizard Leo had accidentally stumbled across the technique to activate Darkness Eye but he paid a steep price for it. His eyes were blinded forever, and he suffered a horrible curse. He was unable to become a Seventh-level Spell Caster. Even consuming the Tear of God failed to help him.

The cultivation techniques contained in the ring were truly complicated but the foremost consideration was still the negative energy that Darkness Eye demanded from its host such as negative emotions, acts of murder, the stench of death, and many more. Cultivating every single form of Darkness Eye would require a large amount of these negative energy.

Therefore, cultivating Darkness Eye was extremely dangerous. Under the influence of a large amount of negative energy, Darkness Eye would be extremely powerful. However, if the negative energy was not controlled properly, it could potentially backfire.

Precisely because Wizard Leo had forcefully activated the fourth form of Darkness Eye, he had suffered its backlash. If it was only once, he might have been able to endure it but instead he had activated it twice. This time, he was unable to endure the backlash and ended up being consumed by Darkness Eye.

Thus, in his last moments, Wizard Leo had forcefully sealed the third and fourth forms of Darkness Eye.

If Darkness Eye were to be cultivated all over again from the beginning, it would of course be a very complicated and dangerous process. However, there was one major benefit that could be derived from Darkness Eye being alive and sentient, which was the ability to continue the cultivation of Darkness Eye from where its predecessor had left off. 

Basically, merging Darkness Eye was quite simple. As long as Darkness Eye was infused with fresh blood, it would take root and firmly penetrate into the Spell Caster's body. With Dark Magic Power for sustenance and negative energy as power, it would grow stronger day by day.

On the other hand, if the host failed to suppress the power of Darkness Eye, then he would be consumed instead.

Once Merlin had thoroughly understood the special characteristics of Darkness Eye, his heart hesitated even further. Even Wizard Leo had warned him not to cultivate Darkness Eye unless and until he had no other choice.

After all, Merlin had witnessed Wizard Leo's aftermath from the legendary curse. Ever since the Spell Casters' most glorious era, countless Spell Casters had tried to cultivate Darkness Eye, and some had even cultivated it to the fifth and sixth forms.

However, without exception, all these Spell Casters had died from a variety of inexplicable reasons. According to legend, the power bestowed by Darkness Eye was cursed, and its fierce reputation was earned from the amount of bloodshed associated with it.

Curses were often illusory in the sense that those who believed tended to see its manifestation whereas those who did not believe tended to remain doubtful. Deep in Merlin's heart, he did not quite believe in cursed powers. On the contrary, he believed that the Spell Casters failed to control Darkness Eye.

Even the respected Wizard Leo was unable to control Darkness Eye especially after the cultivation of the fourth form. Perhaps even right from the start, Wizard Leo had been suppressing Darkness Eye with all his strength, and that was why he would not leave the Wizard Tower.

"Hurry, once we get out of the forest, there's a Runic Magic Circle of the Dark Magic Region nearby. We can use the Runic Magic Circle to return to the Dark Magic Region directly!"

Wizard Envia led the way as he was more familiar with this area, especially the Runic Magic Circle which was close by. He had been through this route, so naturally his guidance was trusted by the others.

Suddenly, Wizard Envia stopped walking and his expression turned thunderous. He fixed his gaze on a figure standing outside the forest. Under the sunlight, his entire body looked as if it was covered in a sheen of light.

"Kleis!"

Wizard Envia gnashed his teeth, anger spilling from his voice. Unexpectedly, even though the rest of the Wizards of Ozmu had retreated, Kleis was still waiting for them.

Merlin's head jerked up violently, a look of hatred flashed across his eyes. Indeed, the figure standing before them was Kleis. This time, however, there was only Kleis and Silver Sword Heulier.

"There's a Runic Magic Circle not far ahead, so I knew you would be passing through this route and deliberately waited here for you! Merlin, I've told you that we'll meet again. Last time, you were saved by Wizard Leo, but who's left to save you now?"

Kleis said to him mockingly. As a former Spell Caster from the Dark Magic Region, he was naturally very familiar with the Runic Magic Circle scattered outside the region, so he had deliberately waited here for Merlin and the others.

"Kleis!"

Suddenly, Merlin took one step forward and raised his head to meet Kleis' gaze.

"Kleis, when Wizard Howl was in the Dark Magic Region, I made him a promise, which was to kill you!

"Oh?"

A fierce look flashed across Kleis' eyes. He abruptly felt that the sky turned dark.

The sky did not in fact turn dark, it was just a feeling within Kleis' mind. He could sense that Merlin seemed somewhat different compared to when he was in Blacksand Fort. Back then, Merlin could easily be vanquished by him, but the situation felt slightly different this time around.

"Slash."

Without hesitation, Merlin unearthed a dagger and drew a long gash in the middle of his palm. Crimson red blood began to gush out of the massive wound, covering his entire palm.

However, there was a smile on Merlin's face. In his other hand, he held a demonic blood-red vertical eye. Upon contact with the fresh blood on Merlin's hand, the blood-red vertical eye immediately squirmed like a gigantic worm, trying to burrow itself into Merlin's palm.

"Darkness Eye?"

Kleis was shaken to the core. This time, he came to kill Merlin not only to take revenge for Bluebird, but more importantly, to obtain the cultivation technique of Darkness Eye.

Right now, however, he could clearly see that the demonic blood-red vertical eye resting in Merlin's palm was Wizard Leo's Darkness Eye!

Seeing Merlin's actions, Kleis immediately understood what he was trying to achieve. His face paled and he spread his five fingers. In an instant, the invisible Spatial power expanded.

However, it was too late. In Merlin's right palm, under the nourishment of his fresh blood, Darkness Eye had securely planted itself there, sucking greedily on Merlin's blood.

Merlin could clearly feel that there was tremendous power in Darkness Eye, and strange laughter was resonating faintly in his ears. It sounded dark and malicious.

He knew that these were the manifestations of the power of Darkness Eye. If he failed to suppress Darkness Eye, he would not be able to control it properly, and would end up with a fate even worse than Wizard Leo.

However, he did not have a choice. All his powers and abilities were powerless against Kleis. He had no choice but to merge with Darkness Eye!

"Darkness Eye, exterminate!"

Merlin could acutely sense the invisible Spatial power from Kleis which surrounded him. Back in Blacksand Fort, he had almost zero resistance to Kleis' power, but now, even though it was the same special Pandora Demon Ability and the same second form, Merlin felt completely fearless.

"Boom!"

The invisible collision between the power of Darkness Eye and Spatial Blade caused a strong ripple effect in every direction. The tall trees in their vicinity were snapped in half, and trees closer to the chaotic power were even shredded into pieces.

The space around Merlin and Kleis had turned into a huge open space, and neither Silver Sword Heulier nor Wizard Envia dared to go close to them.

"Darkness Eye can be directly passed on to someone else?"

When Kleis saw that Merlin was able to wield the powers of Darkness Eye, a glimmer of interest sparked in his eyes. Now, he was even more interested in Darkness Eye.

Although Kleis was not a Darkness Wizard and would not be able to cultivate Darkness Eye, such a special Pandora Demon Ability could be studied in detail and might give him an edge in cultivating Spatial Blade further. 

Therefore, Kleis was staring at Darkness Eye in Merlin's hand with a look of pure greed.

"The second form of Darkness Eye is probably the strongest power you can wield right now, am I right? You've yet to become a Fourth-level Spell Caster, so you can't control the third form of Darkness Eye. This means that you're still not fit to be my opponent! Die, Merlin!"

Kleis knew very well about the special Pandora Demon Ability because it was the same as his Spatial Blade. It was impossible to control its third form before becoming a Fourth-level Spell Caster.

Since Merlin was not yet a Fourth-level Spell Caster, if he forcefully wielded the third form of Darkness Eye, he might be killed by the backlash instead of Kleis.

"Spatial Blade, slash!"

Kleis sneered as he swung his palm downward mercilessly. Invisible Spatial power immediately began to fluctuate and flew toward Merlin.

"Backlash? Even if it backlashed, I'll kill you!"

A hint of madness appeared on Merlin's face, and he began injecting a crazy amount of Dark Magic Power into Darkness Eye.

The seal left behind by Wizard Leo was inherently fragile in nature. Under the impact of Merlin's large amount Dark Magic Power, the seal on the third form of the Darkness eye collapsed immediately.

"Crack."

Once the seal on the third form of Darkness Eye was broken, Merlin's mind was filled with a cold, dark aura. Vaguely in his mind, there was also a gigantic blood-red vertical eye which appeared to be emitting a demonic crimson light, trapping Merlin within its glow.

There was also creepy child-like laughter which raised goosebumps.

As soon as the third seal had collapsed, the backlash from Darkness Eye began!