'Speed casting is difficult, especially for an advanced spell. It takes such a huge toll on my body. My magic energy is almost exhausted as well,' Yu thought, as he analyzed his own condition.

He looked at Dargon. The latter's expression was frozen. His face was contorted in surprise, disbelief, and anger.

Yu grinned, but a grimace appeared on his face instead.

'Hah! Do you think I'd let you talk so much for no reason? I was buying myself time to regain my energy. Well, I learned something important about Zetearophs and the Crimson Abyss… Killing two birds with one stone, I suppose,' Yu thought as he clenched his fist.

He must act quickly. The Time Prison spell that he cast on Dargon will not last indefinitely. He did not have enough energy to sustain the spell for long.

Yu got up with much difficulty and stumbled towards his Master's body.

A gust of wind blew at that moment.

He froze at the strong stench of blood. His body shook uncontrollably. His mind went blank. He was transported back to the time when he was in a dark, dank, cell.

It was cold. He hung from the ceiling as his blood drained from his body like slaughtered cattle. The blood flowing against his skin was incredibly warm in contrast to his cold body.

His mind floated in and out of consciousness. Sounds were muffled and his vision was blurred. For some reason, he could smell the strong stench of blood clearly. The smell was infused into each and every one of his pores. It haunted him for many years before overcoming it.

The same stench at the present moment triggered his traumatic experience.

"... child. My child!" A gentle and concerned voice rang in Yu's mind. The stench of blood was blown away by a gust of wind, replacing the rust-like smell with fresh fragrance from a prairie after a light downpour.

"Shirin…" Yu gasped and said telepathically to his contracted Air Elemental Spirit.

"Are you alright, my child?" Shirin voiced her concern.

"... Yes, I am. Thanks, but please don't call me your child. I am neither a child nor your child," Yu panted as he regained his senses.

Shirin chuckled. Slight sounds of birds chirping echoed in her laughter.

"You'll always be my child no matter how old you are. I've decided on that since I held you in my arms that night," she said cheerily.

In her heart, she was relieved that Yu managed to give his usual retort when she called him her child. It seems he was not affected very much by his past trauma this time.

Yu shook his head to further clear his mind. Fortunately, he managed to snap out of his fear with Shirin's help. Only a short moment had passed.

Under the dim moonlight, he saw the wound on his master.

'Just one blow!' He exclaimed internally.

Yes, just one blow was needed to kill his Master. This shows how monstrous Dargon's strength was. Yu could not win even if he went all out against Dargon.

The pool of blood that appeared to be black glistened under the dim, silver moonlight. Yu's breath got caught in his throat. His breathing was erratic. He clenched his fist and was somewhat grateful that he could not see the dreadful dark crimson color of blood.

'Master…'

There was no time to grieve. He had to escape. Yu would never agree to Dargon's plans. He reached a conclusion that he will be a puppet that had to dance to every rhyme and rhythm as Dargon wished. Not to mention, Grizz was involved too. He shuddered at this thought.

Yu collected his thoughts and took a deep breath. He glanced towards Dargon again and confirmed that the magic was still holding. He was lucky that he only lost concentration for a very short moment. Otherwise, the spell might break and his efforts will be for naught.

He closed his eyes and steadied his breath and attempted to clear his mind from disturbances. He was about to attempt something that he had only thought of, but not done before:

Multicasting.

Casting a new spell while maintaining the magic from another. No one had ever attempted this, not even his grandfather, from Yu's knowledge.

Humans only have one mind, and can only multitask to a certain degree. Even if a person was able to apparently do two things at once, in reality, they are only rapidly switching their attention from one task to another.

Multicasting was of the same notion. Multitasking with tasks that require high degrees of concentration.

Yu had a plan. He will cast a teleportation spell first to increase his distance from Dargon as far as possible. The Time Prison spell will break after about a minute when the magic supply was stopped. He had one minute to cast another spell that conceals his bloodline so that Dargon will not be able to track him.

'Right, sounds like a doable plan,' Yu thought.

However, there are many things that could go wrong. He did not have time to think about this and brushed away this little uncertainty that bugged his heart.

After conditioning his body and his mind, he collected the remaining magic energy within himself and plunged through the barrier that separates mind and magic.

He opened his eyes. A pair of golden iridescent irises glowed in the dark. His Estavan bloodline was fully activated. Magic essence within his blood boosted the purity of his magic energy. He had a higher capacity to cast advanced and complicated spells compared to regular mages.

A large magic circle appeared underneath him and his Master. It shone with a silver radiance. It was a mesmerizing sight to behold. Unfortunately, there was no one to admire the sight.

[Spacg: Telrtasi]

Once again, runes swept along the edges of the magic circle. They shimmered as spatial element energy collected on the magic circle. The elemental energy from the surroundings and the magic energy from within Yu vibrated until they reached resonance. The runes clicked into place and the spell was finally released.

This whole sequence happened in less than a minute.

His surroundings changed immediately.

"Aaaaargh!!!" Yu screamed his lungs out. The pitch of his voice changed as his voice broke.

Before he could regain his breath, ripples of magic energy coursed through his entire being. He felt as his every fiber of his body was ripped to shreds.

He did not know where he was. During multicasting, he failed to include the end location for the teleportation spell. Such was one of the drawbacks of multicasting, there were many details that the mind can miss as its attention was divided.

Tears streamed down his face, clouding his vision. His body spasmed from the pain. He dug into the moist ground underneath and struggled to breathe. His heart, overcome by the burdens of magic, felt like it was pierced by a red-hot iron. He remained like this for some amount of time that felt like an eternity.

'One… one minute…' Yu reminded himself as he clenched his teeth.

He had overestimated himself. The magic energy needed for dual casting exceeded his reserves. To compensate, the spell used some of his blood as fuel instead. The pain he felt all over his body was the backlash from the spell.

Both his status as an Estavan and a Dark Knight helped his survival. His body was stronger than that of humans. A regular human would have died even before completing the spell. He was really reckless.

"Child…" Shirin's concerned voice sounded in his mind.

Yu forced himself to think past the haze of pain.

'Not much time left… I have to… have to… huh?'

He realized that his Master's body was not with him. His mind alerted instantly, forgetting the pain temporarily.

'Wait, the spell should have brought us both together. What happened? Why?' He was frantic.

'Damn it. I messed up somewhere. Multicasting… damn it.'

He looked around his surroundings. It was darkness all around. He lay on a patch of grass near some cold boulders. In between the boulders, a few yellowish-purple blossoms swayed in the light breeze. Silvery light danced from a nearby stream. His Master was nowhere to be seen.

Time was ticking. He could not care about his Master's body right now. However, his magic energy reserves were empty as well. He bit down and held his resolve.

'Hahaha… this cursed bloodline… To think that I have to rely on it so much,' he thought in self-mockery.

He closed his eyes to ready himself. This time, a blood-red magic circle appeared. It shone with an eerie radiance. Yu managed to only lie limp on the ground. His amber irises shone, although lacking the previous brilliance.

Tendrils of blood seeped through his open wounds. They formed ribbons of crimson liquid which danced within the magic circle.

[Bldrh: Smetlrai]

Runes flashed, followed by them clicking into place. The ribbons of blood were absorbed into the magic circle.

This was blood magic. The strongest form of magic, which also consumes life force in the form of blood. Blood used to power spells instead of magic energy. Only Estavans were able to perform this type of magic successfully due to their unique bloodline.

The eerie atmosphere persisted in the air. Yu was already losing consciousness from the sudden drop in blood volume.

He felt a sudden searing pain in his veins that immediately jolted his consciousness. It felt like his remaining blood was boiling. Screams escaped his throat as he writhed in pain.

The spell proceeded to seal his bloodline as expected. However, it did not stop there. In Yu's haste to cast the Bloodline Seal, he failed to think about the constraints of the spell. His battered condition and flustered mind did not help either.

For instance, Yu's intent was just to seal his Estavan blood. He did not specify for how long, how much, and the method to break the seal. The sole and strongest intent in his mind was to seal his blood, nothing else. The incomplete spell proceeded according to the Laws of the World.

After the spell sealed his bloodline, it continued to seal everything related: His mind, body, and soul. This was because a person's bloodline was deeply connected to all three faculties that make up a person. They exist together and cannot function without another.

'No! No-no-no-no… No!' Yu realized in horror of what was about to happen.

His memories flashed before they were sealed.

The burning village.

The girl who died in his arms.

Bleeding out again and again.

His Master's goofy smile.

Hours of physical and sword training.

An elder sister he wished he had.

People that he wished to protect.

Enemies he that wished to slay.

Dimensional rifts that he wished to close.

His fears, tribulations, and rare triumphs.

Gone. All gone. The memories scattered like torn pieces of paper blown in the wind.

Besides his memories, the Crimson Abyss connected to his soul was sealed as well. Yu would not be able to gaze into the abyss as long as the seal holds. Without power from the abyss, his body reverted to that of a normal human's.

This turns out to be ironic, as Yu had been searching for a way to seal the abyss within himself for his whole life. Little did he know that it will turn out this way instead.

Everything about himself was sealed. His entire being was reverted into a blank slate. Only instincts remained.

Yu sighed as the final threads of magic energy coursed through his body and dissipated. He felt like he was swaddled in soft blankets, lying by the brazier during a snowstorm. This feeling brought about a strange feeling of comfort that had eluded him most of his life. It brought him back to the time of innocence and safety, untainted by the ways of the world. Warmth blossomed from the depths of his heart and unattainable bliss flushed through his entire being.

Perhaps, forgetting the dreadful nightmares and tragedies of the past was not so bad after all.

With that, Yu sank into a deep and healing slumber.

Howling winds rustled the leaves in the forest. A gentle breeze brushed the sleeping youth's long bangs aside. Dried leaves swirled and gathered around a spot beside Yu.

The swirling leaves outlined a faint kneeling silhouette. A soft ethereal voice whispered.

"Sleep well, my child. You will not remember me when you wake up, but I'll always remember you. We are not connected anymore, but you'll always be in my heart. No matter what happens, you'll always be my child, and I'll always be by your side."

The air spirit sighed and the breeze dispersed. The dried leaves fluttered back down onto the forest floor. Howling winds continued their path in the skies above.

A storm is coming.