‎"You know... I think I'm at my limit..." Rullein breathed heavily as she looked up at Rasmus. "How many rounds do you want us to do? It has been three days..." She asked, her voice trembling, unable to keep up with Rasmus' stamina.

‎"You're tired? That's new. You were fine in the past three days doing this nonstop," Rasmus asked as he pushed Rullein to the ground. "I didn't know a Dark Spirit could get tired," he stared into Rullein's eyes.

‎"Well, it's because of your sword..." Rullein dropped her swords and turned into a puff of black smoke, admitting defeat. She caught her breath as soon as Rasmus pulled away and let her rest. "Do you have any idea what that sword does? What kind of power it posseses?" She brushed away her bangs and stared at Rasmus swinging his sword around her.

‎Rasmus looked at Rullein and then looked at the sword in his hand, not knowing what she was talking about.

‎"Those engravings are unique, something that only Aristoria, Sanya, and the Elders know about. Those engravings will absorb the energy of everything that the sword touches. They're the reason why the sword feels so light and sharper than any blade. Also, the other effect is that whoever clash with that sword, they will be weakened depends on how powerful their attacks are," Rullein explained as she sat up and used her hands to support her upper body.

‎Rasmus knew the first effect of the sword because it was similar to what Aris made on his and her Black swords. The ability to absorb life and make the sword even stronger than before. He then looked at the blade, wondering how many lives, how many powerful beasts and demonic beasts that this sword had taken and absorbed. Rullein revealed that the sword had existed for more than a hundred years.

‎"To put it simply, the longer the enemy fight against this sword, they will become weaker while the wielder gets stronger?" Rasmus asked and glanced at Rullein. "Is that why I don't feel tired at all even after sparring for three days?" He asked with his brows raised.

‎"Yes..." Rullein sighed as she looked at her hands. "The more powerful my swing was, the more I felt tired because that sword absorbed my whole energy, my existence..." Her body slowly became transparent until she completely became a thin layer of black smoke that lingered in the air.

‎Rasmus didn't expect the sword to be that powerful. The sword that seemed to be unbeatable, unmatched, and it would give what the wielder needed. He carefully put the sword in the spatial ring and looked around at the flattened forest that had been reshaped into hills and valleys from the spar he did with Rullein.

‎Slowly the spatial space disappeared, being replaced by the real world where the forest was unharmed. Rasmus watched as the black smoke lingered around him because Rullein needed his energy to feed.

‎"That sword is called Deruyn in Orthias tongue, it means Absolution," Rullein's voice was like a breeze in the air around Rasmus.

‎"Absolution? That's an interesting name. Why did they call this sword that?" Rasmus asked, his gaze following Rullein's voice.

‎"All creatures in this world, they're all impure. Impure because they have power but always use it to harm others for any kind of reason. Power is the reason they're impure, and that impurity will be taken and to give forgiveness to them. That sword is the only thing that can make them pure the moment they lose their powers," Rullein explained, her voice barely above a whisper.

‎Rasmus knew that Orthias had always thought of themselves as the superior being in this world. Every living being that had existed in this world, they were below Orthias. He found it surprising that they believed power was a form of impurity when they believed they were superior than other races and controlled them indirectly, making them the ones who held power.

‎"Hypocrisy paradoxical..." Rasmus muttered as he looked at the sky, his eyes narrowed and deep in thought.

‎"What was that?" Rullein asked, not understanding what Rasmus meant by that.

‎"To put it simply..." Rasmus paused when he saw an oval thin black smoke formed in front of him with a pair of orange draconic eyes staring at him. "Orthias is duplicitous, a race with its own type of arrogance," he explained.

‎"Of course they are. That's the reason Aristoria left and chose to walk her own path in the first place," Rullein nodded in agreement as the black slowly formed into her body shape

‎Rasmus furrowed his brows, mildly surprised and confused at the same time. He didn't know it was the reason Aristoria walked away from her own people. He thought that the main reason she left was because of the being that brought extinction to the True Dragons and wanted to prevent that being from destroying this world.

‎"What do you mean by that? Why you never told me about this?" Rasmus asked.

‎"Because you never asked," Rullein answered. "And I also forgot about this until you mentioned about Orthias and what they truly were that it reminded me of Aristoria's words when she told me the reason she abandoned her own people," she added.

‎"She had enough with her own people?" Rasmus asked.

"Not really, but she said something about Orthias who had always been acting like a superior race which isn't wrong but she didn't share that view with them. She and Sanya had the same view about Orthias, which was why they both rarely stayed in their homeland," Rullein answered.

"So, there's a possibility that they both have some secrets that they never shared with the Orthias and their elders?" Rasmus asked with his brows raised.

"That's possible, yes. There were some things that she never told me or answered any of my questions about, like what she planned to do, the details she found in the Dragon's Lair, and her past. She never told me anything about her past," Rullein answered as she nodded her head, slowly solidifying her appearance. "I believe she had so many secrets that she didn't tell the elders or her own people. The only one that we can get all those secrets is Sanya, but even so, in the end, Aristoria chose to Sanya's side," she added.

"What kind of relationship that those two have?" Rasmus asked, leaning against the tree and crossing his arms.

"I'm not sure, they're similar to you and Aris. They rarely talked, and when they did, it was always something important. They didn't look like friends, but not look like strangers to each other either. They're close, but not that close," Rullein answered, trying to make it easy for Rasmus to understand.

Rasmus was intrigued by what Rullein told him. He wondered what kind of a person Sanya was, and he knew that both Aristoria and Sanya had two different views of the world. They both shared something in common, which was that they didn't share views with the Orthias. They both seemed to be walking in two different paths until they finally decided to go separately.

"What do you think of Sanya? You should have known her enough," Rasmus asked, slowly sitting down and leaned his head against the tree.

Rullein thought for a moment, longer than she thought. She could barely remember anything about Sanya, blurry images and memories of her and Sanya together.

"I'm not sure..." Rullein muttered, finding it disturbing that she didn't remember much about Sanya while she remembered almost every moment she had with Aristoria. "She's a mysterious one, nothing like Aristoria. I know nothing about her, at all..." She looked at Rasmus, with a confused look on her face.

Rasmus became more intrigued about Sanya, but he felt danger when he thought about her.

"Can I ask why can't you trust Aristoria? She's your mother and she loves you I know because back then she talked about you all the time in her last few visits," Rullein asked with her arms crossed, staring down at Rasmus.

"For what reason should I trust her? She didn't tell me anything about her and she had so many secrets," Rasmus answered.

"She had so many secrets? You have your own secrets, everyone must have at least a few secrets. Why does it matter?" Rullein asked back with her brows raised.

"It matters because those secrets have something to do with me, that's why," Rasmus stared back at Rullein with an unreadable expression. "You trust her?" He asked back, mirroring Rullein's expression.

Rullein hummed, glancing to the side as she thought about it.

"I do. She was the reason why I'm here right now and she gave me everything," Rullein answered and nodded.

"That's not trust, that's called owing your life to her," Rasmus said with his brows raised. "You're indebted to her, you're obliged to feel that way toward her. That's not trust, it has nothing to do with trust," he revealed.

Rullein slowly looked up, blinking her eyes a few times before she finally digested Rasmus' words. She never thought about it that way, and the more she looked at it from a different perspective, the more uncanny and obvious it was.

"You're not wrong..." Rullein muttered as she closed her eyes, finding it uncomfortable. "But, what about you? Do you trust me?" She asked as she slowly looked down at Rasmus with her dark orange draconic eyes, the eyes that were filled with the forbidden emotions of True Dragons.

"No, not yet," Rasmus shook his head, not even giving it a thought for a moment.

"Not yet? That means you're considering to trust me?" Rullein smirked as she sat down in front of Rasmus and leaned forward so that her face was close to Rasmus'.

"Yes, I am," Rasmus nodded and stared right into those narrowing and shrinking pupils of Rullein's.