After taking a short rest on top of the ledge at the end of the long chamber, which was completely empty besides the open entrance leading further into the underground complex, Asterios and the others continued forward.

It didn’t take long before they came out of the stone corridor decorated with torches of three colors again. They entered a smaller, square room with nothing in it too. The walls were blank and no one could see any other ways out.

Then, the floor rumbled and part of it began sliding to the sides somewhere around the middle of the chamber. The four even shutters uncovered a deep hole and everyone watched a circular platform rise from it about one meter into the air.

When it was fully extended, four sides of the circle started releasing clicking noises and gradually uncovered four sets of spiraling stairs, one in each direction, letting people walk onto the platform if they wished to do so.

After the last steps were revealed, everyone thought that was it, but the chamber trembled again and the noise of stone scratching over stone filled the air. Slowly, eight simplistic black thrones emerged in a circle on top of the raised platform, all facing inside.

They had very geometrical and symmetrical shapes, made purely of rectangular blocks of a dark mineral. In less than twenty seconds, they were fully out and the rumbling stopped. It was the end for real this time.

“So, did everyone else notice there are exactly as many thrones as us here?” Miria asked, staring at the eight seatings currently towering over them.

“But, there’s seven of us,” Radir replied.

“Looks like it counts Umbra too,” Asterios explained.

“What now then?” Svertaniel asked. “I’m fairly sure it’s another trial just like before but it wants all of us to participate. Do we go one by one or all at once?”

“It would be safer not to have everyone there at the same time,” Silvia suggested. “In case something unexpected happened.”

“Let me take a look.” Asterios nodded at everyone and climbed the short stairs.

Amongst the eight thrones, he didn’t find any pulpits or other places that could require him to use the scale again. Selene had fetched it back for him after he had cleared the previous chamber. Everything was perfectly smooth and identical. It kind of reminded him of the throne in his source but these didn’t have any inscriptions or draconic designs.

He chose to pick one and sat down. Almost immediately, a green line lit up under his feet and shot towards the empty middle, illuminating a little bit of what seemed to be some magical formation, previously completely invisible. It quickly became obvious to him they needed others on the seats to reveal it.

Asterios announced that things looked safe and everyone joined him on top of the raised platform. They listened to his explanation and thoughts, soon agreeing to carefully fill in the hidden array.

One by one, more lines shot towards the center as each person took a seat, lighting up more of the magical circle. Like most things in this weird underground facility, they assumed one of the three colors associated with the Founders.

Everyone hoped to complete the formation before all thrones were taken but things were calculated perfectly to match their number. Umbra had to perch his raven form on the last chair and add the final piece to the glowing picture.

In an instant, it shone strongly and everyone’s heads dropped all at once while Umbra’s shadow lost its tension and spilled over the hard seating.

※ ※ ※

Radir took a deep breath and stretched with a prolonged moan. The warm confines of his bed whispered sweet words to his ears, seductively luring him away from the thought of leaving the comfy bliss of velvety sheets.

A set of slender fingers brushed over his chest and he finally opened his eyes, glancing to the side.

Right next to him, lay a gorgeous woman with cerulean skin and long straight silvery hair. Her eyes glowed in light blue just like his did in weak red. Two horns curling to the back sprouted from the sides of her head.

“Trouble getting up?” She smiled softly as her angelic voice filled his ears with a piece of heaven.

Radir smiled back at her and shifted his body to bring himself closer to the woman. They soon found themselves in a tender hug, greeting each other with a passionate good morning kiss.

“I could remain here forever with you by my side, Lorraine,” he answered after they parted.

The woman chuckled and playfully slapped his cheek. “Liar. You wouldn’t be able to survive five minutes without getting back to your seals.”

He chuckled too, shaking his head. Without giving a reply, Radir sighed heavily and sat up, turning to step off the bed. It was early morning, announced by the faint sun rays coming through the open window and the partially illuminated crimson sky.

The sheets shuffled behind his back and he peeked over his shoulder, catching the sight of Lorraine’s alluring figure as she tied her hair behind her back, walking away from the bed. She glanced at him after she was finished and showed a playful smile.

“Don’t forget about dinner today at least. It’s a special one.”

“I know. I promise I won’t.”

She nodded at his reply and left the bedroom with a captivating step which pretty much forced Radir’s eyes to lock on the woman’s bare, jiggly butt as it disappeared behind a corner.

He stared at the empty spot for a moment longer before shaking his head and standing up too. Quickly jumping into his shorts, he dressed up. Grabbing his briefcase, he walked out of the room and soon headed outside.

The pair’s house was located on top of a grassy cliff, surrounded by a beautiful view from the veranda in front of it. The constant hum of waves crashing into the rocks far below filled the air alongside the humid scent of an ocean.

He gave the fleeting horizon one short glance before quickly walking away. With a hurried step, he entered the lush forest behind the house and followed a narrow path leading further into the woods.

After a few minutes, Radir found a big rock amongst the trees. The trampled path led straight into the stone, disappearing in it as if the creator of the line had walked into the gray wall repeatedly for years.

Not slowing down his approach, Radir waved his hand and a bunch of glyphs danced around his fingers. Before he slammed into the rock, it blurred and shimmered, revealing a sealed entrance to a cavern. He stepped inside and the illusion returned behind his back.

On the other side, Radir found his extremely spacious and complex workshop, littered with all kinds of unimaginable devices and artifacts with one single purpose—to aid the owner in the pursuit of knowledge in the field of arcane labeled as Sealing Magic.

He sat by a wide desk and brought out a bunch of schematics from the briefcase, immediately getting to continuing his research on the current ancient array he had been working on.

For hours, Radir moved various appliances and tools over the sheets of yellowish paper, noting down plenty of runes, drawing countless lines, and comparing an unbelievable amount of symbols between numerous old books.

Everything was done in complete focus and silence, in a workshop in which walls were decorated with hundreds of tapestries depicting all sealing arrays known to the races inhabiting this realm. There had been no formation he had been unable to analyze and overcome, as he was the Sealing Sovereign.

Radir took a deep breath and laid down the pencil he had been using. He was almost done. Just a little bit and he would finally have it. But, the clock on the wall clearly showed it was ten minutes before dinner. There was no more time to continue.

Shoving the schematics back into the briefcase, he quickly left the workshop and paced back home. With the building in his sight, he already smelled the incredible aroma of dishes escaping through the kitchen’s windows.

He hastily dropped the briefcase into the bedroom, grabbed a fresh set of clothes, and rushed to the bathroom to wash all the sweat accumulated over hours of intense thinking. In five minutes, he came out like new.

Without wasting any time, Radir jogged towards the veranda in front of the house and saw Lorraine just placing the second dish on a small, round table by its edge, which was set up with a fancy touch. A small vase with a single rose and two tall candles decorated the view.

The woman smiled at him. “You aren’t late. That’s new.”

“I promised.”

He moved behind her and held the chair like a gentleman. She thanked him and gestured for Radir to join her on the opposite side. They sat together and started the meal with a beautiful view down the cliff by their sides.

They chatted occasionally as they ate, laughing together a little. Radir kept bringing up tales of how he had managed to solve the unsolvable mysteries, making the woman smile warmly at him. She listened attentively, nodding to his words.

Then, after their dinner, they stood up and walked closer to the balustrade. They gazed into the ocean with their arms wrapped around each other’s waists, enjoying the pleasant breeze and the sounds of seagulls coming from a distance.

Lorraine rested her head on his shoulder. “Who would have thought that the wisest, most famous and well-known sealing master of this realm lives in such a tiny house in the middle of nowhere.”

Radir chuckled. “It might be small but it holds my whole world inside.”

She glanced up and met his eyes as he smiled at her. With a smile of her own, Lorraine began kissing his neck as her free hand brushed over his chest.

He gently intertwined their fingers and squeezed her palm. “Thank you.”

Stopping briefly, Lorraine raised a brow at him. “What for?”

“The chance to see you again.”

She chuckled. “You see me every day. How is today special? Besides our anniversary, of course.”

He just stared into the distance with a faint smile.

“Even if this is all fake, words still can’t describe my gratitude.”

Lorraine frowned, taking her head off Radir’s shoulder and turning her face towards his. He also repositioned himself and they stood in front of each other. Radir’s palms cupped her cheeks dearly as he stroked them with his thumbs. A wide smile painted his lips.

“Radir?” Lorraine called out to him with slight worry.

He started blinking a bit faster. “You are as beautiful as the day I lost you.”

“You are starting to creep me out a bit, Radir. Did you have an accident in your workshop again?” She placed a hand on his forehead to check for temperature. “Come inside and rest for the day. You might have overworked yourself again.”

Lorraine pulled his arm but he did not move. Radir shook his head as she glanced at him.

“It’s time for me to go.”

“Go where?” She looked visibly more and more worried.

“Back home.”

She tugged on his clothes stronger. “Our home is just behind me.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “If our daughter knew I let myself be trapped in such a simple illusion as this, she would kick my ass until it bled. Just like you used to when I was always late.”

Starting to panic, Lorraine hugged him tightly. “What are you talking about?! Radir?!”

He brushed her face more as a few tears rolled down his cheeks.

“She still hasn’t fully forgiven everything I had done. I can’t join you until she no longer bears any resentment towards me.”

His smile grew and Radir leaned forward to peck Lorraine’s lips.

“Wait for me just a little bit longer. I promise to join you soon.”

“Radir?! Radir! Radiiiiiiiir!”

The man extended his arms to the side and disappeared in white light with a wide smile on his face.

※ ※ ※

Svertaniel woke up in his dark bedroom, filled with fabrics and lines in various deep shades of purple. He quickly stood up and slid the curtains covering the window aside. It was the middle of the night, his favorite time of the day.

With a single snap, his magical grimoire floated into his hand and opened, releasing purplish smoke from between its black pages. The thick mist enveloped his body and formed his dark clothes.

Closing the book with a soft thud, Svertaniel recited a few words in an ancient language and a Void Door emerged from the ground in front of him. Admiring the swirling surface filling the tall rectangle for a brief moment, he stepped through it.

His body materialized inside a vast space, open like the night sky. Various beasts and monsters of different sizes floated around, minding their own business. Eldritch monstrosities could be spotted in the far distance, also tending to their abyssal needs.

Svertaniel whistled and a giant turtle with dark sapphire skin swam to his side. After releasing a deep noise from its mouth, it lowered its sizable shell for the man to jump onto it. He quickly obliged and the beast zoomed forth at an incredible speed with Svertaniel casually standing on top of it.

The duo of travelers traversed the Void in relative silence. Only the sounds of other entities and the voidal storms they passed interrupted it. The turtle knew the Void like the inside of its own shell and navigated through the space with ease.

After a few minutes, the beast stopped. Svertaniel waved his hand and another Void Door opened in front of him. Nodding at the turtle to wait for him, he walked into the swirling surface.

Lantern light hit his face instantly after arriving back on the Demon Continent. Svertaniel materialized in front of the Adventurer’s Guild building in a big demon city. He swatted some void dust off his shoulder and moved inside.

The adventurers went silent the moment he entered, all turning towards the newcomer. He roamed his eyes over the people gathered inside and they lowered their gazes when he passed over them. The crowd parted quickly and made way to the stairs leading further into the guild.

Without a word, Svertaniel paraded to the stairs and disappeared from the main lobby. He headed straight for the guildmaster’s office, knocking lightly on the wooden door at the end of the corridor.

A manly voice invited him inside and he walked in.

“Svertaniel. What business brings an EX-ranked adventurer to my humble guild,” the man began, gesturing at the chair in front of his desk.

Svertaniel dismissed his offer with a wave of his hand. “I came to give you a heads up on my next target.”

“Oh? You located the relic?”

“Yes. And I’m going to retrieve it for my Lord.”

The man nodded repeatedly. “I see. I wish you good luck then. Not like someone of your level needs it, but anyway. Where is it?”

“Salty Peak.”

The guildmaster’s face paled instantly. “You don’t mean…”

“If those criminals won’t cooperate, the peak might remain existing only in the city’s name.”

“You can’t erase a town from existence because they stole some old artifact!”

Svertaniel scoffed. “I didn’t come here to ask for permission but to give you time to prepare in case things don’t go as planned.” He then raised a brow at the man. “Don’t worry. You know I would never harm the innocent. That is not the way.”

His grimoire opened and the pages began flipping in a quick motion, releasing dark purple mist into the air. Svertaniel closed it abruptly and disappeared in a puff of purplish smoke. His figure soon reappeared in front of the guild and he walked back through the Void Door.

The turtle carried him again while he admired the fascinating creatures of the Void. In less than half an hour, they reached their destination in the middle of the empty space, and Svertaniel jumped off the beast. As they both floated in mid-air, he dismissed the turtle with a smile and stepped through another Void Door.

This time, he walked out of the gate high in mid-air with a single mountain under his feet. He floated amongst the clouds with an unamused expression. It was still the Demon Continent, just a different part of it. A city was built in a giant spike of salt, his current destination.

The sun was slowly setting up and the sky was pretty clear so he was decently visible on the red background. He opened his grimoire and took a deep breath. A complex circular formation materialized in front of him and Svertaniel shouted into the array.

“You have ten minutes to bring out The Dark Lord’s Scepter! I know it’s in your possession! I can feel it! There’s no use lying!”

The booming words echoed strongly over the whole region. Svertaniel activated another technique allowing him to peek into various places inside the Salty Peak. He observed the people’s reactions on a dozen magical monitors of purple shade.

Then, a bunch of spells and projectiles rushed his way from below.

Svertaniel snorted. Hardly any of the attacks would reach his position before losing all their potency. But, those that did cover all the distance were swatted aside by a lazy motion of his hand, sending a powerful wave of purple energy to get rid of them.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Closing his eyes, Svertaniel spread his arms to the sides and partially up. His dark grimoire floated in front of his face and locked itself in place with the open pages directed to the sky. He began muttering deep, incomprehensible words which brought ominous symbols onto his skin, flowing from within the book.

The markings released a horrific, dark purple glow and mist, gradually turning Svertaniel into a walking scroll. Barely any space on his skin was left uncovered by the sinister script. His eyes then shot open and he slammed the grimoire shut, sending a tremendous shockwave around himself.

“Feast on their souls, Eater of Worlds!” Svertaniel shouted in a mighty tone.

Another, much stronger explosion of spiritual energy blasted from his body and the air became silent. Nothing happened for ten seconds. The dozen magic screens were starting to show demons laughing at his failed spell.

And then, the sky cracked.

A tear of incomprehensible size appeared in the air above Salty Peak and burst open with loud shattering noise and millions of purplish particles. A colossal eldritch maw with uncountable rows of teeth as big as a four-story industrial warehouse descended onto the city with an earth-shattering, sinister roar.

The abyssal monstrosity soon hit the ground and swallowed the town and its surrounding areas as a whole, closing its gargantuan jaws around it. The Eater of Worlds then retracted back into the Abyss, leaving a deep crater with countless sharp teeth marks behind.

The tear quickly healed up and closed, disappearing from the sky as if it had never existed there in the first place. The air was again filled with silence.

Svertaniel nodded his head and floated down into the created funnel. He dropped onto the damaged earth and snapped his fingers. The scepter shot from under the ground and flew into his hand. With a satisfied smile, he opened the Void Door and left the place.

The moment he reappeared in the Void, a bone-chilling voice resounded in his mind.

~I can see that you have it.~

“Yes, I do, my Lord. I’ll gladly deliver it to you if you allow me.”

A different gate appeared in front of him, much darker and almost pitch-black, and Svertaniel stepped into it with no hesitation.

He appeared in a soul-sucking space where happiness literally couldn’t exist because it would be devoured. A planet-sized entity towered over that realm like a god. It had a roughly humanoid shape with countless huge tentacles flowing down its face.

~Good. Now, bring it to me, child.~

Svertaniel was going to offer the artifact to the Lord but he froze when he noticed the entity. He immediately hugged the scepter and pointed a finger at the being.

“You! You are not the one! Who are you!?”

~Preposterous. I am the Lord of the Ab—~

“Shut up, you impostor! You are not him! You don’t possess even a speck of the majesty his shadows do, feelers-for-chin!”

~You!~

“I’m going to tear this realm to shreds and return to my Lord! Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Svertaniel created a small breach in reality, shoved his hands inside, and pulled to the sides with all his might, screaming his lungs out. He tore the fabric of the realm so hard that he accidentally caused an interdimensional collapse, undoing the small dimension through a blast much more powerful than an exploding star.

Just as the heatwave hit him, his body disappeared in white light.