The handkerchief quickly propelled itself on the King, covering his entire face, suffocating him.

"Get off my face!" the King shouted, trying hard to remove the garment away from his face in vain. ​​

Graven act quickly and grabbed the vase from the King believing that his brother's spirit was trapped inside it.

Unknown to them the black liquid was already oozing in the floor, in the ceiling, in the wall and they're all over the room.

"Master! Watch out!" the leader of the leaves screamed.

Suddenly, the black liquid was already on Graven's shoes, climbing fast upward, covering his whole body.

The King wield his hand and thick black smoke covered the entire room.

Graven laughed. "Fine! We will die together!" he said before the black liquid silenced him.

A few minutes later.

The black liquid takes over the whole room from top to bottom burying the King and Graven in its thick darkness.

Meanwhile...

Outside the castle.

The golden leaves successfully pulled out all Graven's men into safety outside the castle including the King's men.

Terros immediately killed the King's men without mercy using his spell of death, a cloud of black smoke that suffocated the men to death. He looked at the rescued men. "Where is your Lord Graven?" he asked in an agitated voice.

"Grandpa, we didn't see the Lord inside the castle. We only see the talking leaves bringing us to safety!" one of the men replied.

"Shiit! He's still out there!" Terros groaned in frustration.

Elva addressed the leaves. "Did you see Graven?" she asked them.

"Yes, Goddess! He was imprisoned inside a room with no door. We didn't linger there because our job is to locate his men and bring them to safety. Everyone we saw in the rooms, we brought them outside! But some of us remained inside the room along with the Master to protect him," the leader of the leaves said.

"Alright, return to where you see your Master the last time and bring him here!" Elva commanded.

"Aye, Goddess!" the leaves said and flew back towards the direction of the castle.

Elva released a deep sigh. "The Plan A... didn't work!" she said worriedly. Because if the plan works smoothly, then she would have already been talking and negotiating with the King right now giving enough time for Graven to find his brother's spirit and escape along with the leaves before the King realized that he was being tricked.

Plan B was established just in case the King changed his mind and no longer wish to talk to her because he detected early that it was a trap. The handkerchief would suffocate the King right away once it hears the ear-splitting sounds coming from the leaves giving enough time for Graven and the leaves to escape, but the King is powerful, he can always wield his power and find ways to prevent Graven from escaping!

Elva massaged her temple in agony.

Veronica looked at the goddess worriedly and asked, "Are you okay, Elva?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just worried that Graven might encounter a mishap while escaping the King," Elva replied.

"We can go back to the forest so that you can rest there and wait for good news," Veronica suggested.

"No. I'll wait here until this is over!" Elva spoke adamantly.

"Okay," Veronica said helplessly.

Elva looked at Terros. "I know that Graven instructed you to burn the castle right away after his men get out of the castle safely, but... let's just wait a little bit... maybe my leaves will return with good news for us," she said.

"Okay, we'll wait!" Terros agreed. He looked at the men and asked, "Did you see Luke's spirit in there?"

The men looked at each other and shook their heads. "No, we didn't see Lord's Luke spirit even once during our captivity!" replied one of the men.

"I see... did anyone of you have wounds on their body or suffering with something?" Terros inquired.

"We're fine!" the men replied in unison.

"Have your power returned already?" Terros inquired.

One of the men summoned his weapon in his palm. A sword appeared in his palm!

"My power is back!" the guy exclaimed in happiness.

"Alright, listen up, guys. Returned to the headquarter now, this is what your Lord Graven instructed me! Horace and Calder are waiting for you there!" Terros commanded.

The men bowed their heads at the goddess and Terros. "Thank you for saving us!" the men said in a voice filled with gratitude.

"Don't mention it!" Terros replied.

A few minutes later. The fifteen men vanished from the area.

The trio fixed their attention to the castle, they wore a grim expression on their faces while staring at the castle.

"What's taking them so long to find Graven?" Elva asked worriedly.

"I'll go inside the castle and check!" Veronica volunteered.

"No. Stay here!" Elva stopped Veronica. "I'll go there on my own!"

"Girls, stay here! Don't go near the castle!" Terros said. "Let me be the one to check what's going on down there," he said.

"Fine!" Elva said.

"Girls, please stay here and stay alert!" he warned them.

Terros was about to hover back to the castle when suddenly the leaves returned and brought with them a figure of a man covered in black thick mud from head to toe clutching a vase in his arm. The leaves lowered the man gently to the ground.

"Goddess, we finally found him!" the leader of the leaves said.

"Fantastic!" Elva said happily.

"The vase that Graven was clutching in his arm must be where Luke's spirit was imprisoned!" Veronica exclaimed.

Huge relief washed over the trio.

Terros looked at the women. "Okay, I'll burn the castle now!" he said happily and hovered towards the castle.

Terros floated above the crumbling structure and released the final spell that would transform the dilapidated structure beneath him into a blazing inferno.

Meanwhile...

Elva and Veronica were busy removing the black thick mud from Graven's face that is already in the state of drying pretty fast.

"This looks like the black liquid when getting dry!" Veronica commented.

"Yeah, it is!" Elva agreed.

When they have finally removed the mud from the face, a handkerchief was still covering the guy's face.

Then Elva's face widened in alarm. She immediately grabbed the handkerchief from the face.

Alas! The guy they were looking at is not Graven but a stranger!

"Oh, no!" Veronica said and screamed towards Terros location. "Stop! Don't blow up the castle!"

Too late, the castle was already blazing like an inferno during that time. A cloud of black smoke shoots in the air.

Terros looked behind him and saw Veronica shouting at him. He zoomed towards the women. "What's wrong!?" he asked.

"It's not Graven! It's someone else!" Elva exclaimed, pointing her finger at the stranger lying on the ground.

Suddenly, the eyes of the stranger opened up slowly and come in contact with Elva's eyes. "I know where G...Graven is, you h..have to keep me a...alive or else you will n...never see him a...again!" the guy said and loses consciousness after uttering his dying words.

Elva saw the guy's chest stopped moving. She knew that she has to keep the guy alive to know where Graven is! She opened her hand and a small bottle appeared in her palm. "We have to keep him alive or else we will never know where Graven is!" she shouted. She looked at Veronica. "Opened his mouth!" she ordered.

Veronica obeyed and opened the guy's mouth.

Elva opened the lid and emptied the elixir into the stranger's mouth.

Terros looked at the guy in total horror and shock. "Shiit! It's not Graven!" He looked at the castle already flattened to the ground. His heart was gripped with extreme remorse and guilt. He can no longer undo what he has done to the castle, it's over! "How did I make a big mistake!?" he lamented.

Veronica went to Grandpa's side and rubbed his back gently. "It's over! The castle is gone!" she said.

"But I killed Graven accidentally!" Terros spoke in a distraught voice.

"We're unprepared for this!" Elva said dejectedly.

Terros looked at the stranger's face. "I presume this is the King? Let me kill him!" he said, his eyes blazing with anger.

"No!" Elva stopped the old man. "If you kill him, we will never know where he hides Graven!" she reasoned with him.

Veronica looked at her companions. "Stop arguing about the guy, he's already dead! He's no longer breathing!" she said while looking at the guy's chest.

Elva and Terros looked at the guy's chest! It's no longer rising and falling!

"Dang! He's dead!" Elva spoke in alarm, she needs to act fast before it's too late! She waved her hand at the guy and they both vanished from the place.

Terros stared at the space in front of them. "Where is that guy? and Elva?" he asked.

Veronica sighed. "Elva was trying to bring the guy back to the Windless Mountain to resurrect him!" she replied.

Terros eyes widened. "Why would she resurrect that despicable King?" he asked outrageously.

"Because the King told us that if we want to know where Graven is, we have to keep him alive!" Veronica explained.

Slowly a small ray of hope shone on Terros eyes. "Y-you mean, t-that guy, know where Graven is? Graven is still alive?" he asked desperate for any kind of assurance.

Veronica nodded her head. "Yes. I'm beginning to believe that the guy knows! King or not, that guy knows exactly what happened during the last moment before the castle ignited into a blazing inferno. Now the question is, can Elva resurrect that guy?" she asked, breathing deeply.

Terros was shaking his head looking at the flattened castle, smoke was still flying in the air where the castle used to be.

"I want to see the castle up in the air before we leave this place!" Veronica said.

They hovered higher towards the castle.

Veronica witnessed with her eyes the moment the remains of the castle sunk into the bottom, creating a hole that looks like that of a crater. The flames are still alive, devouring hungrily whatever is left in the castle.

Terros looked at his companion. "Let's go back to our place. I need to take a rest," he said in a tired and dispirited voice.

"Okay, let's go!" Veronica agreed.

They vanished from the place.

Meanwhile...

Below the ground, in a secret passage... two people were crawling... advancing towards the area where the basement of the castle was located.