“Okay, so like this. Like that. And finally like this.”

Light enveloped Sanya, the bell shining responding to her will. The shape of the barrier started from a sphere and went to a cube. The top surface of the cube began to decrease in area, leading the four edges to convert to a single point. The final figure was a pyramid. Finally, the barrier turned back to being a sphere.

Sanya, who was wearing a pajama, smiled at her progress. ‘I can change the shape much easier now. I will not be collapsing like the other day.’

Sanya was doing her daily training in order to find out more about the bell. She was already able to change the shape to another one with ease now. As long it was a simple one, though.

‘Before trying to challenge much more complex forms, I should try to find out how to make things pass through the barrier.’ She touched the surface around her. Her fingertips tried to pierce the strange matter, without success. She then took out a pen from her pocket and poked the tip directly against the barrier. She could feel the pointy end putting pressure on the surface.

Her eyelids closed as her focus was entirely on the portion in contact with the pen. She pushed the pen forward, the grip around it firm. Her face twisted as she explored the unknown possibilities inside the bell.

After a few minutes, her arm started to become numb due to the intensity she was putting. All of sudden, her shut eyes shook lightly. ‘...I notice some kind of response there. Is this it?’

“Like thi-! Woah!” Her body moved forward as she felt the disappearance of the earlier resistance. However, her arm was stopped by the barrier. She looked around a bit confused about what happened. She seemed to have succeeded and not at the same time.

‘Wait, where is the pen?’ She then caught sight of something on the floor, a meter away in front of her. It was the pen, clearly outside the barrier. Joy filled Sanya’s face before being replaced by confusion once again.

A new idea popped up. She held her chin with a thinking expression. “What if the bell can decide what can go through? This would indeed make a lot of sense. I stayed inside the barrier more than half an hour last time. I don’t think the volume inside was big enough to have as much air as I breathed in. So, the bell automatically allows the air to pass through and not the rest…”

She gave a glance at the barrier in front of her. Her hand reached out like before. Just as they were about to touch the surface she tried to ‘move’ the part inside the bell while thinking about her hand.

“!” The hand breached out!

Sanya was momentarily stunned before smiling. “I see! So, this is how it works!”

She then decided to do another test. A small condensed ball of paper and a coin were sent upward without the shield deployed. She somehow managed to put respectfully enough strength to ascend them at the same height, meaning that they would fall at the same speed.

When the two objects arrived at their highest peak, she activated the bell and deployed a cubic shaped barrier. After less than a second, the ball of paper and coin reached the surface. However, only one of them broke through.

“Ouch.” The soft ball of paper hit Sanya’s head before stopping on the floor. She lifted her head to see the coin over her. She nodded while crossing her arms, her lips curled upward.

‘It seems I can control it.’ She closed her eyes and opened her palms while dismissing(?) the barrier. The coin fell right into her hand like it had been calculated all along.

‘...’ Sanya’s cheeks flushed red. She thought the way the coin precisely fell inside her hand was cool, however she could not but feel silly.

“Nah, I thought it was quite cool actually”

Sanya hurriedly turned toward the voice. But, the scene before her left her speechless.

“...”

“...”

“Mister...Barostl? What are you doing here? No, how did you enter my room?” Sanya retreated a step and activated her barrier, enveloping herself.

In front of her was Barostl sitting backward on her chair, a pot of mint choco ice cream in one hand, a giraffe spoon in the other. He was scooping ice cream, but when he saw Sanya’s concerned expression, he lifted both of his arms in the air with a friendly face. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just here to talk to you. I was not trying to sc-”

“Sanya? Are you still up?” Cathia’s voice resonated from outside the door along with two knocks.

“!” Sanya felt cold sweats on her back as panic overtook her. She immediately made her barrier disappear. Meanwhile, the sound of the doorknob being turned was heard.

‘This is bad!’ As Sanya was about to tell Barostl to hide, she found herself unable to do so. For the simple reason that Barostl was no longer inside the room.

“...What?”

“Sanya?” Cathia opened the door and saw her daughter alone in the middle of a slightly messy room.

She was silent for a moment before speaking in a gentle voice. “...I know that you are nervous about tomorrow. This is an important day for both you and Talia. But, don’t worry. I’m sure everything will be fine. Besides, I will also be here!”

Sanya understood that her mother thought she was anxious about the dinner. The couple had decided to inform Talia’s family about their relationship at this moment after all. Indeed, Sanya was nervous, but she indulged herself into trying to pierce the mysteries about the bell to avoid thinking about it.

“...Thanks, mom. But, I will be fine. I will be this the girl that I love.” Sanya smiled bashfully at her mother. She really felt blessed to have a mother so supportive...even if she was sometimes a bit forceful and blunt.

“That’s the spirit!” Cathia grinned and went to close the door. As the door was closing, she finally told her to not stay too late up.

“…” Sanya’s eyes were still on the door for a few seconds, waiting for the sound of footsteps to fade away and the familiar sound of her mother’s door closing. Only after this did she turn around in confusion. As she thought, Barostl was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, the shadow cast by the chair began to quiver. Its form deformed until a figure emerged from it. The dark matter dispersed, unraveling Barostl with a bizarre light blue hand. Upon seeing this, Sanya said under her breath. “So, this is what Talia talked about.”

“Talia told you about my powers? Either way, I don’t mind.” Barostl was speaking in a lower voice than before. He had used his other half’s power to hide, but he still had to talk to Sanya. The fact that they had to whisper was quite inconvenient. He was about to use a magical equipment to block the propagation of sounds from the room, but he suddenly had an idea.

“Hey, I need to talk to you, but whispering is a hassle. Can’t you block our voices with your barrier.”

“...What?” Sanya frowned in reply. She was still surprised by his sudden arrival, and it seemed he wanted to chat. But, what really made her think was his last words.

‘Block our voices. Is it possible?’ She still gave the white-haired man a suspicious stare. Nevertheless, if he had wanted to harm her, this would have been easy knowing his strength.

In the end, she decided to try doing what he had said. Standing there doing nothing would not help. She activated her barrier and raised the intensity of the light pouring from the bell. Through her senses, she expanded the barrier to its maximum radius. She noticed something important. ‘...I can expand the size of the barrier beyond its previous maximum radius.’

The current barrier was about 3 meters in radius in its spherical shape, which was a meter more than the previous maximum. The intensity of the light coming from the bell also picked up her interest. The first time she had used it, the light was blinding. But, it was a lot fainter now, even when she tried to change the thickness. ‘I will have a look at this later. I have something more important to do right now’

The barrier also encompassed Barostl in the process. Sanya looked at him. “Go outside and make a bit of noise, please.”

“Sure. Gotta finish this ice cream.” He successfully passed through the barrier and made the pot of ice cream appear alongside the spoon. The aroma filled the room.

Sanya didn’t say anything. She just closed her eyes and focused on the sound of the metal part of the spoon hitting against the carton surface of the pot. The sound waves hitting the barrier were her targets.

After two full minutes of total concentration and an almost empty pot of ice cream, the corner of her mouth twitched. ‘...Here.”

All of sudden, she thought she had gone deaf. Her eyes opened wide open in panic as she looked at Barostl in front if her, still eating. A few drops of sweats were sparklings on her face.

Dead silence

‘...This is so weird.’ Humans were accustomed to having white noise all the time around them. Suddenly being inside a sphere where the only specks of sounds were her swallowing her saliva and the blood circulating inside her veins, this made Sanya’s mind dizzy.

She immediately allowed the sound from outside to come inside again. She took a few deep breaths while looking at the ground.

Barostl seemed to understand what happened as he slightly gasped. “Oh, sorry. What you were doing with the bell was so impressive that I didn’t even consider that you were only a normal human. You okay? Want some ice cream? The taste is great.”

Sanya smiled bitterly and shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It was just very surprising at the moment. Anyways, come inside, Mr.Barostl.”

Barostl waved his hand as he walked forward taking the chair with him. “Just call me Barostl. My friend’s girl is also my friend.”

He entered and Sanya blocked the sound once again. She was a bit afraid that her mother would come to see her again, but it was very rare in the first place. The lack of sound made her less dizzy than before as she was prepared, but she still sat on her bed. She was tired after using the bell so much.

Meanwhile, Barostl put the chair down and sat on it, smiling like usual. “You seem tired. I will go straight to the point then.”

Sanya knew he was Talia’s comrade and seemed to be a nice guy. Regardless, his presence in her room this late was still strange. Her eyes narrowed as she put up a serious face. “If you can’t talk to me with Talia around, then it has to do with the Devourer, right?”

However, as to confuse her even more, his hands lifted up in the air with a shrug of his shoulders. “I’m here to find out if it’s related.”

“Related? Related to what?”

“Her wanting to die. The fact that she wanted to commit suicide fifty years ago.”

Sanya’s heart skipped a beat, followed with her gaze landing on the ground. The past week, these surreal few days. This completely made her forgot that Talia had wanted to put an end to her life.

Her girlfriend might be strong, smart and confident now, but she was still the same girl that had been bullied for the meaning of the color of her hair. The same girl that had run from home in order to never come back.

After several seconds, Sanya lifted her head. The will in the depth of her eyes indicated her intention to clarify the reasons behind this. “Do you know something about it? She vaguely talked about it the day she had come back. From what I know, she doesn’t exactly remember. She accepted Lord’s offer just because there was a possibility for her to become stronger. But, she didn’t touch the subject after...It was almost she was hiding something.”

Barostl listened and took over after hearing her side of the story. “I see. I was there the first day she arrived. Lord told me that she was full of potential. His eyes are never wrong when it comes to this, so I accompanied her on the first days. Her growth was indeed incredible, but her will to push her limits was really the most astonishing thing. Strength was all that mattered for her.”

He lifted a finger to bring Sanya’s attention. He continued. “And, this is the problem.”

“...What do you mean?”

“No matter how you see this, her absolute will to thrive for power is incompatible with her wanting to die, don’t you think?”

Sanya thought for a second before replying. “It makes no sense, but this is what happened. Do you have an idea?”

Barostl stopped smiling all of sudden, making Sanya discomfort. She hadn't met him before today, but not seeing him smile felt disturbing for some reasons. Nevertheless, he spoke up. “After what happened with the Arklan’s magic crystal, we first thought that this was the Devourer’s first manifestation. You told us that there was no such thing on earth, so it should be right. However, it might only be true for the Devourer.”

Sanya was a bit lost right now, making her head tilt. Barostl somehow made some gestures to ease the comprehension of his words. “The Devourer seems to want things to make the person stronger. Its body is composed of this strange dark mist. But, it’s not like some kind of disease she got at the Stellar Temple. She had it inside her before going onboard. What we don’t know is if she is only a host for the Devourer or if it’s a part of her. Her suicide attempt might be the origin and the key to the mystery. After it, her will to die turned to a will to become stronger….Well, all of this is a hypothesis.”

Sanya was listening and could not help but think that something was wrong. “Why not ask directly. I mean, it’s not like she has no clues herself.”

From her point of view, talking and solving the problem immediately was more efficient than dragging it for no good reason. This trait proved that Sanya was really Cathia’s daughter in this aspect.

Barostl shook his head with a wry face. His seemly delicate body slumped forward on the back of the chair, his head resting on top of his crossing arms. “The first time we asked she told us she didn’t remember what happened. The second time she said the same thing, with the difference that her complexion was saying the contrary. The third...Well, we are not even sure if the Devourer appeared a third time. However, the dark mist sure did. After that, she only told us that everything will be fine. Not very convincing though.”

“The dark mist appeared without the Devourer? What?” Sanya’s tone indicated her confusion. But, she didn’t let him reply directly.

“Do you have footages, please? I saw the first and...second time the Devourer showed up, but I know nothing about this third time.” She recalled the gruesome scene where this giant black monster tore apart a humanoid being, followed by the bloody feast.

“Haha, I sure can show you. Unlike the second time, this is not too violent.” He made the thin transparent device that he had used to record Talia in her cute outfit this morning. The flat of the object faced upward. Sanya could not help but think that it looked a lot like the thing Lord had given her.

The face lit up, sending a 2D holographic screen, the size of a sheet of paper, floating in the air a few centimeters above it. “This was just after Talia had defeated the evil being who took a step into transcendence. She had been transferred to the medical department to heal her.”

Inside a big room with walls giving a metallic luster.

Talia was inside an open medical pod, the top of her armor torn open. The armor was pierced on the side on the stomach. Black blood was leaking from the cross-shaped wound, soaking the different layers constituting the futuristic armor. Her ragged breathing and sweat pouring from every pore of her body were enough proofs that the situation was urgent.

Beside her were Lord and Turiul. The look of the father and daughter’s faces was grave.

The medical pods were used to heal any physical injury rapidly by using a mix of medical drugs and potions. They were generally operated by the staff responsible for this sector. However, neither a staff member was present nor the bay activated. Instead, a few strange vials and containers were floating around Lord.

Lord’s face hardened as his hand swept over Talia’s torso, getting rid of the now broken pieces of protection. Her upper body was only clad with a sports bra, letting the two have a better view of the problem. Their faces distorted.

“Father! This is some kind of curse!”

“...Indeed. Not a weak one.”

The center of the cross-shaped wound was releasing symbols, like foreign letters, graving them right into the skin. Itself, the wound was not deep, but the problem was not here. The symbols were spreading through sub-branches and began to corrode the whole body. The longest ‘twig’ was reaching her shoulder. The spreading was slow, but steadily.

Lord didn’t waste a second. He took one of the vials next to him and poured the sparkling purple liquid onto the wound. His hand circled around, taking control over the liquid thanks to his spacial manipulation.

All of sudden, Talia cried out wriggling in pain. The liquid first seemed to take effect as the symbols were trembling and started to retreat. However, an invisible ripple spread with the wound as its center. The purple liquid began to evaporate, leaving no traces of any possible healing.

Lord’s mouth twitched. “This...is really Transcendental level magic. This ancient demon almost completed the creation of his core at the end of the battle. No High Elixir nor mortal healing magic will be able to heal her now. Even the Water of the World Tree will be useless.”

“No way…” Turiul gritted her teeth in frustration. Her eyes were shaking in front of her powerlessness. Nevertheless, she activated the cube hovering near her. A holographic control panel appeared. Her fingers were typing at a fast pace.

Seeing it with the corners of his eyes, Lord spoke up. “Calm down. Nobody here will be able to reverse the curse at this stage. Even if we were to contact another transcendent, it would still take too long.”

“Then, what do we do?! She is dying!” Turiul’s desperate shouts were not heard by anyone except her father.

Lord closed his eyes once, before opening them the second later. He seemed to have reached a possible solution after sensing something. “The curse is like a parasite. It spreads all along the cursed one and sucks whatever kind of energy the host have. It will die out only after eating the last traces of energy. But, without an ounce of energy left her entity will likely collapse. The only way to undo it is to erase it completely. I might be able to do this.”

“Wait, you mean to erase the space exactly where the curse is?”

Lord’s hands spread over Talia’s body, pupils contracted to the size of a needle. “Even if it has been a Grand Master level curse, erasing it would have been a lot easier. The problem is that the caster was a transcendent. removing the curse also means removing it from her entity. I don’t have the time to prepare the Time Cradle either.”

“...Wait.” Talia’s hand weakly reached to grab onto Lord. Her right eye opened with difficulty.

“Talia!” Turiul rushed on her side, obviously panicked.

However, Talia didn’t have the leisure to speak too much. Her eye was still fixed on Lord. “...I will cure the curse...myself.”

Lord frowned before realizing Talia’s plan. ‘It can eat a Transcendental level curse? No, is she able to control it?’

As to reply to his inner questions, a dark mist began to appear out of thin air, surrounding Talia. Its density increased while coagulated around her. Only after a mere second, the final shape was like a cocoon of black matter with Talia on the medical pod inside. The surface was like calm waves that never allowed light inside.

Lord and Turiul both had taken several steps back in astonishment. When Turiul was about to reach her hand toward it, Lord grabbed her in a hurry. “Stop. I understand Talia is important to you, but this is too dangerous.”

Turiul smacked her lips in anger in front of her incapacity to do something. Her hands unwilling retracted. Despite this, her gaze was entirely focused on the swirling mass of darkness. “...Will Talia be fine?”

Lord’s dragon’s eyes shined with an unknown light like they were able to see through anything. “The interference of the dark mist is strong, but I’m able to vaguely sense Talia inside...As I thought.”

Turiul turned her attention toward her father, only to see him amazed. “What is it?”

“The mist is eating the curse. The pace is very low, but it’s faster than the spreading. Without outside interferences, this would take between two hundred to three hundred days before total healing.”

“Talia can control the dark mist? Does it have anything to do with the awaken evil being?”

"The movement of the mist is still messy. It's like a newborn with trouble to eat by themselves. On the other, Talia’s power is still too unknown to be sure if it's related to the evil being. One thing we now know for sure is that the Devourer can absorb anything, be it material or not. But, if she had absorbed the new transcendent, then the curse would have no effect from the start. Unfortunately, the connection with the world had been severed by his transcendence, so we don’t know the outcome, other than the demon was killed. What did the rest of the team found out?”

Turiul’s eyes were fixed on the dark cocoon for several seconds before turning unwilling to the cube floating next to her. With a few hand gestures and typing, photos and rows of text appeared on several holographic texts. She gave it a few glances. “As we already know 94% of the southern continent was eradicated due to the final fight. The storm caused by the transcendence began to calm down and should be completely gone within the next month. The remaining refugees’ ships landed near the Dylikan Kingdom and the Silver Light Empire.”

Lord crossed his arms. The aftermath of the battle was really serious this time. As the leader of the Protectors, he would have to decide how much they would help. But before this, he asked one more thing. His vertical-slitted eyes were firm despite his inner trembling emotions. “Did they find Finistlias’ body?”

Turiul stopped in her tracks. Sorrow and anger were mixing inside her heart. “...Yes. it was lying on a small piece of land, near the ancient sanctuary. His right leg and left arm had been cut neatly. The rest was found halved in half. We believe Talia was the one who did this after he awoke the evil being. What should we do?”

No voice was heard for a moment. The only transcendent inside the room had his eyes looking forward. “Retrieve his equipment and dispose of the corpse. His bones shall at least rest in his home world.”

“...Understood.” She sent the orders to the corresponding teams via the internal system of the Stellar Temple. Having finished her tasks, she deactivated the levitating cube.

Lord turned around, ready to leave. With a wave of his hand, all the medical pods disappeared. The previously connected pipes and energy cables were sticking out of the floor “I will talk to the medical teams. The pods will be moved to a temporary room. This room has to be monitored all day long. Nobody is allowed to enter unless I give the authorization. If any change occurs, contact me immediately.”

The duo exited the room, leaving behind the mass of black matter with Talia inside.

The barrier around Sanya and Barostl shook lightly.

Sanya could not help but feel nauseous after seeing Talia wounded and so weak like that. Barostl noticed her expression. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t think it would be a shock to you. Well, people tend to call me an airhead.”

“...No, I’m fine.” Sanya calmed down. The scene was a bit hard to watch, but the wound was still not so deep. Even so, she preferred to see by herself in order to make her own thoughts on what had happened.

Barostl waited a few seconds to let her collect herself before standing up with the chair picked up. “We both don’t know the real reason behind Talia’s suicide attempt nor the origin of the Devourer. There is also a chance that it’s related to the fact that she has no ability. But, if such was the case then every abilityless person would have a Devourer or a power similar inside them. This is quite unlikely as you told Lord you never saw anything like this before. Anyways, I will look a bit into this alongside my mission. If you find something, contact Lord.”

He walked up until he was in front of the barrier. His free index went to touch the barrier, but it directly went through. The sight made his lips arc up. “Also, protect Talia. From the others and herself.”

After this, Barostl vanished just like he appeared.

Sanya deactivated the barrier and slumped down on her bed, arms spread apart. The sigh leaking from her mouth was the sign of her exhaustion.

Something caught her attention on the corners of her eyes “This is?”

There was a note and some money left on top of her bed at arms reach. She took the piece of paper and read it out loud. “‘My other side’s pride can’t handle having his junior pay for his food, so here is the money. The bread was good. Keep up the hard work!’”

She got mixed feeling upon reading this. Of course, she was happy being praised. However, this was not all. ‘I’m too weak. The barrier can protect me from attacks and that’s it. I can’t fight back. Being too dependent on Talia is not good at all.’

Barostl’s capacity to sneak up on her proved that strong people were everywhere. She didn’t want to be simply inside a ball, tossed around until Talia would show up to save her. Her inability that made her unable to help her loved one when some lowlives pushed her to the edge. Her inability to do something when her loved one was about to evaporate. The fact that she could not be here during the blue-haired girl’s most difficult moments. Her palm felt scorching hot as her fingers enveloped the silver bell attached to the choker.

...Unknown to her, something changed deep inside her. Too deep to be sensed by any ordinary person.

Something that should not have moved unlocked for the second time.

“...Barostl is right. Protecting myself is not enough. Not even close enough.”

With burning blood, her heart seemed to have been set on something.