Zachariel stepped inside a large room. There was a wide wooden table at the center, with Lena sitting on a high chair. In front of it was another short table with couches and chairs.

Bookshelves surrounded her and a large chandelier styled like a blooming flower hung high in the ceiling.

The floor tile was the same as that of his bedroom.

“Madame.”, Zachariel bowed. He felt a similar aura from when he was inside the Imperium Court.

“Come, sit.”, Lena invited, “Do you want something to drink?”

“Thank you, Madame, but I won’t be having drinks today.”, Zachariel rejected and sat on one of the couches.

Lena stood up, “You must already know why I asked for you to come here today.”, circling her table while approaching Zachariel.

Zachariel didn’t respond and looked at her indifferently. Lena was surprised.

“Tell me, Zachariel. How could a young boy come up with a plan on dealing with an unknown enemy just by waking up from a cold sleep; while even the best mind in the Imperium was having a hard time thinking on what to do against them?”, she said while sitting on the other side of the table, facing Zachariel.

“Maybe you should re-define what it means to have the best mind, Madame Lena.”, Zachariel replied, `Strange, I feel like my head is very clear this time.`

“Hmm, clever, aren’t you?”, she closed her eyes and gathered divine essence, then abruptly opened her glowing eyes, “Are you feigning ignorance, or are you truly ignorant, Zachariel Strom?”, Lena pressured him.

Zachariel made contact with her eyes. He suddenly felt as if something was absorbing his consciousness.

[ Warning: Hostile Mental Attack detected ]

[ … ]

[ Nullifying effects ]

[ … ]

‘Whoop!’

His body jolted and threw his face forward.

Lena was intrigued by this, `He passed through that easily?`

Zachariel regained control of his body and resumed his previous expression and disposition.

“Madame, it’s best if we talk through this ‘peacefully’.”, Zachariel raised his hands in a suggestive manner.

“You think you are in the position to negotiate with me?”, Lena retorted.

“Not for now, but soon, I will.”, Zachariel threatened her.

Lena tried to respond, “You should know that-“

“The alliance of the two households was formed because you want to exploit my secrets, and use it for a future cause.“, Zachariel finished.

Lena narrowed her eyes, “Oh? What makes you say that, Zachariel Strom?”

“The power of the Summer Household is incomparable than the Strom Household. In fact, there’s no logical reason for any of this, not unless you have any ulterior motives to do so. The gratefulness thing and the protection against the Templars are only a cover.”, Zachariel stated.

“It is more of your method to trap me.”, Zachariel’s temperament became cold.

“Once the public knows that it was me who cured you of your corruption of the dark mist, the Royal Family, the nobility, the Eldens, and whatever faction it may be would pressure me to disclose out my secrets. When that happens, you will then offer me a way out of trouble, acting as the savior of the day. I would then have no choice but to cooperate with you, and compromise myself under one word, survivability.”

Zachariel coldly stared at Lena.

“You even dare to bring my younger sister over here to make her a hostage should all things fail. I thought you were a patron of justice, Madame Lena. It looks like I should be the one who should take over you soon.”

His statement infuriated Lena, “Brat, you may have seen through me, but-?!”

She stopped speaking; her mouth widened in shock. One could already see the veins in her eyes, staring at Zachariel as if she witnessed something unbelievable.

“How is… this… possible? How could you do that… and my will of justice? Monster!”, Lena exclaimed.

“Now, Madame Lena, tell me, aren’t I in the position…”, Zachariel paused, “To negotiate with you now?!”

…

…

…

After a few minutes, Zachariel walked out of Lena’s room. His indifferent expression remained and went back upstairs. The two mages noticed him and lifted the formation as he went out.

He exited the mansion and was surprised to see Helena, Victoria, and Anastasia waiting for him.

“Brother!”, Anastasia ran to him.

Helena had a grumpy look on her face.

“Brother, I went out with these two beautiful sisters earlier! They toured me inside the Imperium Capital City!”, Anastasia said excitedly.

Zachariel nodded, “Thank you, Helena, Victoria.”

Helena snorted, while Victoria gently scratched her cheeks with her index finger while smiling.

The door behind them was opened. Zachariel turned around and saw the two mages again.

They, however, did not look at him, but at Helena instead.

The leading mage bowed at her, “Young miss, Madame is looking for you. She says it’s something urgent.”

Helena pondered, “Something urgent?”

`Mother wouldn’t usually act like this. What happened?`

“Okay, I’ll go meet her now.”

She went inside the mansion, while the two mages left.

`She works fast, I see.`, Zachariel remarked.

“Victoria, you can go ahead without me. I’ll get back to you later.”, Helena waved her hands.

“No, Helena. I’ll return to the dormitories now.”, Victoria replied.

“Okay. See you tomorrow, I guess.”

Victoria bowed, “See you, Zachariel.”, leaving the area.

Zachariel stared at the departing figure of Victoria.

“Let’s go, Anastasia.”

The two went back to the garden and Anastasia continued recounting her experiences.

On the way, Zachariel noticed that the servants were hurrying towards the large mansion.

`Hmph, serves you right, cunning woman. If the public knows her true personality, I wonder if she would be expelled as a Golden Guardian.`

…

“Anastasia, brother’s going away for a while.”

Anastasia worriedly looked at him, “Again, brother? But why?”

“Brother has something to do these next few weeks.”

Anastasia had a downcast look on her face, “Okay, brother. But you’ll come back, right?”

Zachariel twitched his face, “Yes, yes. I will.”

“Brother, bring me a present when you come back here!”

“Yes, yes. I will.”, Zachariel repeated, “Be a good girl and don’t cause trouble in here, alright?”

Anastasia nodded vigorously.

“Okay, let’s go back now. It’s already nighttime.”

…

50th Day of Exios.

Zachariel woke up very early. Lune could still be seen hanging outside.

`No weird dreams today. I wonder why.`

He was rather missing the experience, staring outside through the window.

After a while, he got out of the bed and prepared. The bathroom door was on the right side of the bed.

Zachariel went in and was astonished by the luxurious set of magical appliances inside.

`A large magical cleaner, a toilet, a sink, a shower, and a bathtub. Damn, three showers in here? What the hell?`, he was confused.

He put his uniform inside the cleaner and took a hot shower.

The warm water poured down on his naked body.

`It’s really strange for me to use those skills and spells when I haven’t even trained them at least once.`

He was referring to the Blazing Terra, Vortex, Shockwave, and other skills and spells.

`They feel natural… to me.`, he looked at his hands.

`Stop complaining, Zachariel. It’s better this way.`

He closed his eyes and slowly enjoyed the feeling of taking a shower.

“Brat, are you here?”, Von called out to him.

Zachariel stopped and went out of the shower. He took his cleaned uniform out of the cleaner and wore it.

The knocking continued.

Zachariel hurried up and went out of the room.

Von was waiting outside, bringing some sack of bags and other stuff.

“Senior, what’s this?”

“What for, brat? It’s materials, of course! You want to venture out in the wild without any necessary things? Are you trying to kill yourself?”, Von reprimanded.

Zachariel scratched his head, “Ok senior.”

Von sighed at this.

“Alright, I’ll store them in my space storage for now. Here, your polearm.”, he handed out.

Zachariel nodded and received it.

“Good that it’s still early. Let’s go.”, Von waved his hands and teleported the two of them out of the Imperium Capital City.

…

The Dark Forest. Thousands of kilometers southwest from the Medullan Forest.

Zachariel and Von landed on a muddy ground.

There were many tall trees and dense shrubs. The light from above was blocked by the trees, yet Zachariel could still see clearly down below.

`These trees, are weird.`, Zachariel noticed.

`It’s as if, they are… conscious?`

‘Whoosh!’

Zachariel bent forward, dodging a fast-moving branch.

“Brat, have fun!”, Von floated up high in the air and disappeared from his sight. It was too dark inside.

Zachariel didn’t have time to complain as more branches were sent in his direction.

He stood up straight and gathered fire mana essence, ‘Slashing Wave!’

The branches were cut, and the fire spread. However, the trees cut the parts that were on fire and sprouted another set of branches that attacked Zachariel.

Zachariel sent another attack again while fleeing away from the area.

The branches followed him everywhere, always finding a way to reach him no matter where he was headed.

‘Whoosh! Whoosh!’

The branches crisscrossed as Zachariel flexibly jumped from one place to another. Other trees attacked in front, though Zachariel reacted to them easily.

He couldn’t run in the ground because it was muddy. There was also the possibility that roots might burst from the ground and entangle him.

‘Shhhh!’

A beast snake suddenly lunged at him with its wide-open mouth. Zachariel grabbed his polearm and thrusted it fiercely in the mouth hole.

The snake adjusted its attacking stance and evaded Zachariel’s polearm.

`Fuck! Shockwave!`

Zachariel pushed himself away from the snake. This gave the branches a chance to entangle him.

He gathered fire mana essence again, `Mana Force Outburst!`

A strong force swept over a large area. Burnt smell filled his nose as he was flying mid-air.

He adjusted his body and noticed the snake trailing behind him, slithering over the tree branches, waiting for a chance to strike again.

`Propulsion!`

He went after the snake, ignoring the branches. For him, an unseen threat was dangerous to be left alone.

The snake noticed this and tried to escape, but Zachariel was faster.

He appeared on top of the snake and brutally slashed downwards. The snake’s skin was cut halfway.

It growled in pain, writhing in pain.

He stepped on it, crushing its head. He grabbed the dead body and threw it to the approaching tree branches.

The branches received it and quickly absorbed the living hell out of it and continued their pursuit.

`These trees…`, Zachariel ran out of patience.

He held his polearm and swung it at a nearby tree.

‘Bang!’

Zachariel felt like he was hitting a block of stone.

`Hard, huh?!`, he gathered his dark mana essence and rapidly poured it on the tree.

The tree wiggled. Zachariel was elated at the sight of this.

The branches pursuing him backed off due to the deathly aura that emanated from him.

‘Bang!’

A figure fell from the sky, arriving in front of Zachariel. Mud flew everywhere.

Zachariel turned around, `A winged creature, and a halo on its head. Is this some kind of angel?`

The winged creature floated in the air, flapping its white feather-like wings. Its eyes and halo glowed in bright white light, while its entire humanoid body was naked.

It was almost identical to that of a female human, aside from its wings and halo.

“You foul creature! How dare you take a step inside this sacred place and wreak havoc?! Die!”, its hollow voice resounded.

The angel gathered dark mana essence, `Darkness Beam!`

Zachariel evaded it, intrigued as to why an angel would use something that contradicted its nature. Little did he knew his eyes were glowing in a shade of green.

`It must be a fallen angel.`

He looked back at it and noticed that the angel was now surrounded by dark mana essence. Its previous holy-like demeanor was long gone.

The fallen angel cackled, “Die! Die! Die!”

It let out several darkness beams, triggering explosions everywhere.

Zachariel evaded all of it, angering the angel.

“Binding Light!”, the fallen angel screamed.

A series of concentrated light went after Zachariel. Some of it penetrated through the thick bark of the trees.

`Shockwave!`

Zachariel shoved some of them. He then noticed that the angel sent out additional darkness beams as well.

`Shadow Steps! Windwalk!`

Zachariel turned around and went for the angel. He used the dense shrubs or the tall trees to evade her attacks.

The fallen angel recognized his intentions and started to distance itself, clashing from one place to another.

The numerous explosions attracted the high-leveled demon beasts.

“Look at that, Red. A daring human traveling inside the dark forest.”, a demon beast spoke. It was a huge tiger with black and white stripes over its entire body.

Its red eyes were terrifying to look at, and its long and huge fangs were comparable to the size of the tree bark beside it.

There was a scarlet red phoenix above, perching atop a huge tree. Its feather was surrounded by red flames.

For some reason, its intense flames didn’t affect the nearby trees at all.

The tiger, realizing that the phoenix didn’t respond to him, said, “You think it’s a Knight-on-Training?”

“Maybe. That Nightmare Knight was here not long ago.”, the phoenix’s silvery voice resounded.

“Oh, I thought those Knights would only recruit students from the Academy? This one doesn’t look like it.”

The phoenix didn’t respond. The tiger felt bored and turned back to watch Zachariel’s fight.

…

‘Boom!’

Zachariel was flown away.

He somersaulted mid-air and landed safely on a tree.

The fallen angel laughed, “Surrender, foul creature. You are no match for me!”, proclaiming her victory over Zachariel.

Zachariel snorted, “Darkness Beam.”

The fallen angel was shocked, “What?!”

Before she knew it, the darkness beam hit her. She was sent back towards a tree, knocking it down.

The fallen angel vomited blood, “Impossible!”

“Die.”, Zachariel coldly spoke.

Multiple darkness beams assaulted her.

“No!!!”, she screamed as the dark mana essence corroded her body. Her body slowly disintegrated and disappeared. She could not believe she lost that easily.

The surroundings were corroded as well.

“Roar!”

The ground shook.

More demon beasts were on their way. Zachariel didn’t linger and left the area.