Mystical Journey

Many months later, in the Ender Kingdom

More than ten gigantic white hot air balloons floated in the blue sky, pulling banners filled with celebratory words and messages of congratulations for the Totem King finals behind them.

Elite participants from various countries stood in their respective lines on the War God Plaza in the middle of the Kingdom, waiting on the plaza quietly.

The surrounding areas were filled with people, including aristocrats, civilians, artisans, and merchants; more than half of the population of the Kingdom had gathered here. From above, all four corners of the area looked like they were filled with dark stretches, that were actually the tops of human heads. Although everyone was merely discussing and exchanging information among themselves softly, the noises they made was still loud enough to form a distinct hum.

There was an exquisite silver diamond-shaped carved fence in the middle of the plaza, that cordoned off a circular area where Totem User finalists stood. Each of them possessed unique styles, and while some of them had calm expressions on their faces, others appeared malicious, still others were either gentle and polite, or completely indifferent.

All of them had their trusted subordinate deputies behind them.

Since the King of Ender had organized many competitions in the past, he had built up a fine reputation for himself all this while. If that was not the case, the elite participants from various countries would not have hastily believed that he would put up such a generous sum of wealth as the prize for the finals.

A white, hollowed out sacrificial altar carved with various patterns was placed in the center. Below the feet of the golden War God statue, two thick books were placed on two sharp thorn-like white-gold platforms, while two sacrifices stood behind the books and flipped through their pages, loudly chanting prayers for the finals.

More than ten beautiful young girls stood on the side and held vases, sprinkling some of the clean water that had been soaked with flower petals on the foreheads of all of the participants gently.

Next, the participants and representatives came forward to greet the audience, while their bodies activated rings of different Spirit Lights naturally. These were recorded by specialized note-taking officers, in order to prevent impersonations or replacements.

Finally, the inspection officer came forward to individually check the permitted items that the participants had brought with them.

The concave black main door of the Eternal Night Palace was slowly pushed open.

"Let the finals begin!!"

An old feeble voice was amplified and echoed through the sky above the entire Ender Kingdom.

Bang bang bang!!

Suddenly, white-gold fireworks exploded throughout the sky, before tiny white-gold lights fell on the ground like gentle raindrops.

A bell toll echoed from afar. The female sacrifices sang the eternal hymn of the Giant Divine Statue loudly, as their voices turned into physical, silver colored, transparent music notes that floated in the sky.

The sages stood on top of the Kingdom’s three holy pillars and released all of their strength simultaneously. Three crisp tearing noises could be heard, before three white-gold light beams shot out of the ground and pierced through the sky, extending through the clear sky above the fence towards the infinite universe.

Only then were the finalists led into the Eternal Night Palace by the guides.

At this moment, the world leaders were paying close attention to the Ender Kingdom’s movements. Numerous analysis, reports, and forecast texts were constantly placed on their desks.

Radios broadcasted the whole course and reported all of the movements that happened at the scene in real time.

Among the group that was entering, a figure in a long black robe raised his head slightly, before the corners of his grey metallic-like mouth curled into a faint arc.

*******************

On top of an ashen cliff, somewhere between the Three Territories

Black Prince sat leaning against a pile of overlapping ashen rocks on the cliff. His entire body was covered in a suit of black armor that made it impossible to see his face, except for the faint gleam of red light that flashed through his eyes that gave off a wild, beast-like violence.

There were two other people on the cliff. One of them was a tall man, with long black hair that reached past his shoulders while a large black horse stood beside him. Thick black smoke would appear around the man and the horse’s bodies occasionally.

The other person was a woman, clad in splendid attire from head to toe. She wore an exquisite red gown with a long train that dragged behind her and a dark silver fan-shaped crown on her head. A strange, evil-looking smile flashed on her beautiful pale face from time to time.

"Divine God Palace Master and the King of Ender’s plan trapped Hellgate for a full year. Now, it seems that Hellgate was unable to find Divine God Palace Master, and decided to go directly to Ender’s Eternal Night Palace instead. Who can be sure of the winners and losers this time?" said the woman in the red dress in a soft voice. It sounded as if she were speaking to herself, but also seemed as if she was asking the other two a question.

"Ender’s chances of winning are less than thirty percent," answered the knight with the black horse quietly.

Black Prince raised his head and glanced at the Black Knight. "I refuse to flinch, even if the situation has truly reached its most dire point." His voice was hoarse, resembling the low roar of a wild beast.

"With the core of the Three Territories as the foundation, our numerous Precious Heirlooms as the bones, and the Origins of all three of us as the blood, we must swear not to let Hellgate or the others escape from the Eternal Night Palace!" said the woman in the red dress as she lifted up the strands of hair from her shoulders gently, without a trace of seriousness or worry on her face. "We don’t know how much protection power will remain in the Three Territories after this."

The three people from each of the Three Territories had their own ideals and wills. Obscuro Society’s Hellgate would perish if he continued to resist, and after Phiroth was destroyed, the decline of Ender would occur again, before their Three Territories would befall the same fate next.

At the crossroads of life and death, the leaders of the Three Territories would finally meet again.

All three of them became quiet at once. None of them opened their mouths again as they were all waiting for something.

After some time, three slender white light beams lit up in the sky from afar, and pierced through the clouds.

"It has begun… That’s Eternal Night Palace’s Moon Scar light…" The woman in the red dress looked towards the beams in the distance.

The Black Knight mounted his large horse and shook the reins before, the large smokey horse moved in that direction immediately. The sharp sound of its footsteps could be heard clearly above the static while it entered the depths of the man’s heart. Moments later, the giant horse jumped off the cliff and began to trot through the sky normally as if it were walking on level ground.

The red gleam in Black Prince’s eyes flashed suddenly when he stood up, before he gradually turned transparent.

A green light flashed beside the woman in the red dress, before a cold but handsome swordsman appeared. He held the woman’s waist with one hand, while the sound of a sword echoed beneath his feet and a green light screen flashed and appeared out of thin air, pulling both of them towards the light beam hurriedly.

************

"It has begun…"

Clad in a white robe, a white-haired old man with a white beard stood in front of a little wooden house in a remote mountain forest in the East Continent.

He raised his head and looked at the continuous drizzle in the sky. His gaze seemed to have passed through the clouds, allowing him to look at the shapeless changes behind them.

Two youths in identical white clothes stood behind the old man. One of them had silvery eyes and was carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on the old man’s long robe.

"This is the first time you’ve come out to bask in the sun in such a long time. What bizarre things are you about to say now, Mr Noah?" It was obvious that this was not the first time the youth had heard this old man speak.

The other person was an even younger male youth who only smiled after hearing the things that had been said.

"I’m not joking this time, Stone." The old man had a serious expression on his face.

"Wasn’t that what you said last time?" Beckstone was dumbfounded.

The old man turned around and grabbed Stone by his wrists suddenly.

"Don’t mind me, just go and do the things you were supposed to do. Wasting your time on an old dying person like myself just isn’t worth it." The old man’s face was unusually solemn.

Beckstone and the other youth finally realized that the old man was truly being serious this time.

He stopped his tidying actions and met the old man’s gaze instead.

"Mr Noah, are you doing this wholeheartedly?"

The old man let go of his hands and became silent for a moment.

"The Moon Scar Light has appeared. Therefore, the things that were prepared by us old people and both of our Presidents should truly be of use to you now…"

Beckstone’s heart sank for a moment. The Terraflor Society President had died because of Hellgate, while all of the involved Elders were captured in one go. The only person left in the whole Terraflor Society was this heavily injured old fellow who only had a few months left to live.

Although Hellgate had kept to his promise of letting Terraflor Society go, the commanders below him would not release them so easily.

Stone did not have a close relationship with these old people. He only returned this time to accompany the previous Thunder God Hannet to look for a place to nurse his injuries, but never expected to save Mr Noah by accident. After getting to know each other for a period of time, Noah gave all of his knowledge and assets to Stone. Their teacher-student relationship and Stone’s own interactions with this man made him acknowledge Noah as a wise old man.

However, when he realized that the President and Elders had already expected an ending like this long ago and had even made preparations in advance, Beckstone’s heart was slightly heavy.

"Take everything from Terraflor Society and go… Go to the Eternal Night Palace… Stop Hellgate," said Noah in a low voice. Suddenly, a pointed sphere like red gem was gently placed in Beckstone’s hand.

"Hellgate’s goal is the Door to Heaven, so it’s unnecessary for us to block him from the front," said the other youth suddenly. "Pulling open the Door to Heaven requires a great price to be paid. Therefore, as long as we wait for the right moment, we’ll get a chance to work together and kill Hellgate!"

"That’s right, Mr Noah. Why do we have to stop the appearance of the Door to Heaven?" Beckstone was not confident enough to make a move at this moment either. Their forces were too weak, and if a face to face confrontation occurred, Obscuro Society would crush them easily.

Noah exhaled slowly.

"Hellgate has no intention of using his own powers to pull the Door to Heaven open. His true goal is to use the Eternal Night Palace’s power! Now that Phiroth is dead, if the people who are coming to get Ender die as well, no one will be able to stop Hellgate’s desires anymore!"

Both Beckstone and the other youth became faintly gloomy. Regarding the death of their President and Elders, they were not emotionally moved at all. After all, they were too far apart. However, after listening to Noah explain the current situation, both of them began to form clearer judgments of the larger picture in their minds.

"Hellgate has already promised to let our Terraflor Society go, so why do we still need to continue going in?" Beckstone’s question concerned his greatest doubts.

"Let Terraflor Society go?" A mocking expression appeared on Noah’s face. "What he wants, is an obedient Terraflor Society; a secret association controlled by his people. He doesn’t want an organization of previous enemies like us that will definitely cause trouble for him in the future. Moreover, it’s not like we wanted to cause trouble for them. On the contrary, they were the ones who would never let us go…" Suddenly, Noah smiled mysteriously. "Listen… They’re here…"

At the same time, the sound of soft footsteps echoed throughout the mountain forest, while beast-like roars could be heard occasionally.

Suddenly, a grey membrane layer appeared across the sky.

Clang!

The sound of moving chains rang out throughout the sky at once.

God Cloud’s figure floated out slowly and appeared in front of the little wooden house. His head was completely bald while his body was surrounded by thin black chains. Meanwhile, his falcon-like gaze focused on old man Noah’s body instantly.

"Never thought that there would still be some scum for me to clean up, Noah Counterman."