CHAPTER 405: THE SOURCES

Idan fell to the ground after Erza’s powerful direct hit and lost consciousness for a moment.

When he woke up, an aching pain shot through his body, and he was in turmoil.

"Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale..." — Idan desperately tried to catch his breath, greedily inhaling air.

For a moment, he was confused, not understanding where he was or what had happened to him. It was only a few seconds later that he realized how he had ended up in such a deplorable state.

Finally, having had enough oxygen, Idan turned his attention to his hands. He could barely move his fingers, but he didn’t have the strength to lift them. What scared him the most was that he couldn’t feel anything below the waist. And when he tried to move, an acute unbearable pain appeared in the area of his back, near the spine.

His transformation into the Alpha of Fire had been reversed, and he was now lying on the ground like an ordinary person who had been in a terrible disaster. Like a man who could die from blood loss or suffocation, choking on his own blood.

"Where did I make a mistake?" thought Idan, being in a state of despair. He did not notice how the ground around him began to heat up.

"I am to blame for what happened to me, and I am to blame for what happened to Belle," Idan said in his mind, realizing that he had made too many mistakes.

Idan blamed himself for ignoring the possibility of Erza having a black stone capable of blocking their system.

"If the disciple had such a stone, then the teacher probably had it too."

He overestimated his capabilities too much, rushing into battle without hesitation, without considering all the possible events.

Because of this, not only he himself suffered, but also Arabel.

Thinking of Arabel and having no idea how she was feeling right now, Idan didn’t want it to end like this.

Looking up at the night sky after the dust had settled, Idan, whose thoughts were in turmoil, finally realized the changes taking place around him.

The temperature rose rapidly, and the ground on which Idan was lying began to heat up rapidly. But instead of feeling discomfort, Idan felt an unearthly force envelop his body, relaxing it and relieving the pain.

"What... What is it? What’s going on?" — Idan asked himself, trying to make sense of what was happening around him.

When the pain began to subside and his thoughts cleared up a little, something inside him awoke, and he felt a familiar but already forgotten call.

Idan, who had almost lost hope and was close to despair, did not miss this opportunity and seized it.

As soon as he answered the call, his hair and eyes turned red again as he transformed back into the Alpha of Fire.

Turning into the Alpha of Fire, Idan’s body greedily began to absorb a huge amount of unknown energy. At first, it scared him, but when he carefully assessed this energy, only two words flashed through his mind.:

"The Source of the Fire!"

***

On the opposite side of Idan, in the huge crater that had just been formed by her fall, Arabel was looking up at the night sky when the dust from her fall settled.

She could barely breathe, choking on her own blood.

Her transformation into the Ice Valkyrie was destroyed, and her hair turned red again. Now that Arabel was lying on the ground with a big hole just to the left of her heart, bleeding profusely, her hair and blood were mixed up, and it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.

At the last moment, Arabel barely managed to deflect the glittering spear of the Guardian of Light, sacrificing two of her wings in the process. Thanks to this, the blow miraculously missed her heart, but pierced her lungs, and now she was suffocating from her own blood.

Arabel was in excruciating pain, and she wanted to cry. However, she didn’t even have the strength to do that. She tried to call Idan through the mental link, the Soul Force, and in all possible ways, but it was all in vain. She didn’t even have enough energy to look inside the spatial storage, let alone use the Lovers’ Plate.

Arabel’s thoughts, which were already in chaos, were filled with panic, despair, and a lot of regrets. She began to slowly fade away.

Then came the chilling cold.

Her body began to freeze rapidly, and along with it, the bleeding and other bodily functions stopped.

Arabel, whose mind was almost extinguished, thought for a moment that she had already died after feeling this cold.

Then, her body began to be enveloped by an abundant amount of the purest ice energy.

In her weakened mind, Arabel, who had almost lost hope, heard her own voice:

"Big Sister, it’s too early to give up!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! We haven’t "eaten" Dan yet, and you’re already going to throw your hooves away? Would you give up the lead role to me?"

"Yes, yes, the Pink one is right. Until you consume his Light with your Darkness, don’t you dare give up."

These words, which sounded in her head, seemed to breathe life into her almost extinct consciousness.

"What? What was that? Pink?"

Arabel asked, suddenly waking up.

But no one answered. There was deathly silence around, and the cold filled the entire space.

Only then did Arabel realize that she was covered in a thin layer of ice, and the feeling was incredibly pleasant. The pain was almost gone, freeing his mind.

Something inside her had awakened and was calling for her. It was both familiar and unfamiliar. Arabel couldn’t say exactly what it was, but the one who had recently almost given up from despair and regret, rose up again and responded to this call without hesitation.

The thin layer of ice cracked. Her red hair turned white again, and four torn and bleeding snow-white wings began to appear behind her back.

After turning into an Ice Valkyrie, Arabel’s body began to absorb a huge amount of ice energy. With each new surge of strength, the broken wings on her back began to recover and were covered with new pure white feathers.

Arabel felt it and couldn’t believe what was happening. There was so much ice energy around her that it seemed unreal.

Arabel was convinced that it was an almost inexhaustible source of ice.

***

Erza, a fifth-rank being of Darkness, and the Guardian of Light, a fifth-rank being of Light, clashed with each other due to the nature of their existence and conflict of interests.

In the heat of battle, they did not immediately notice the anomaly around them. It was only when everything became too obvious that they paid attention to the surrounding space.

A huge amount of fire and ice elements struck them both.

At first they thought it had to do with Idan and Arabel. But after carefully examining the situation, bewilderment first appeared on their faces, and then genuine fear.

"This can’t be happening!" exclaimed Erza in rage and dismay.

"No way! No! No!" the Guardian of Light exclaimed in denial.

Following the Element of Fire and the Element of Ice, two more opposing elements appeared in the sky — Darkness and Light, the elements to which they both belonged. When they saw this, they couldn’t believe their eyes.

Their eyes shone. Erza swiftly rushed towards the source of the abundant energy of the Element of Darkness, while the Guardian of Light rushed towards the source of the energy of the Element of Light.

Anticipating the moment, they tried to absorb this energy, but suddenly faced rejection. An unknown force was rejecting them, not allowing them to absorb the abundant amount of energy of Darkness and Light that began to fill the immediate environment.

Erza and the Guardian of Light were furious. They couldn’t accept this turn of events.

By this time, Erza and the Guardian of the Light realized what was going on.

"The World itself helps them!" the Guardian of Light exclaimed. "The guy has the elements of Fire and Light, and the girl has the elements of Ice and Darkness. The World is rewriting its own laws, creating ideal conditions for these two to fight against us."

Erza’s rage quickly turned to fear.

What was happening around them indicated only one thing: the world did not like their presence, and it was trying to get rid of them.