CHAPTER 87: TRUTH OF THE MYSTERIOUS VOICE

Danver was standing with his eyes closed and gripping his black iron sword with both hands. His upper body was bare, revealing his sturdy body with defined muscles and various scars left from the wars.

He was in his personal training room as the walls were made with special rocks and engraved with spells and arrays to make them unbreakable. But there were long sword slash marks on the wall in front of him, showing his skills and prowess.

Just then the doors to the room opened and Drake entered. Seeing Danver focused, he didn’t disturb and waited patiently at the side.

Danver’s sword started covering with mana so dense that it seemed like flowing water. As it covered the whole sword, he opened his eyes and slashed in front of him.

An arc of mana jutted out from the sword at breakneck speed and hit the wall in front as dust spread out from the point of impact. The arrays and the spells activated as runic circles appeared and glowed bright. Slowly the dust settled and a long slash mark could be seen on the wall, longer than all the previous ones.

"Still not it." Danver sighed helplessly. Not achieving what he wanted to.

"My lord." Drake bowed, giving out his presence.

"What’s the matter Drake? You look a bit worried." Danver asked with a smile.

"I’ve got some news regarding Duke Argon." Drake said in a grave tone.

"Has he arrived already?"

"No, my lord. It’s regarding his aim of coming here."

"What is it?" Danver got serious now.

"Before coming here, he was at the Gandolfs. Duke Argon and Duke William had a long conversation as he stayed for two days there."

"As per the sources, Duke William has offered something invaluable in return for him talking to you about the succession." Drake said.

"So, they have finally started making their move. I guess Hela is getting desperate."

"He’ll be quite aggressive during the talks. I think you have to be prepared my lord." Drake said in a worried tone.

"Have you sent the message to Anna and Layla?"

"Yes, my lord. It would have arrived by now." Drake said as Danver nodded.

"The third young master is also with them. Since he can wield mana now and has garnered quite the achievement in Frostbane, I think you now have a strong point to counter Duke Argon in the succession talks."

"It’s not that simple Drake. If what you’re saying is true and he really did receive such a valuable gift from duke William, then he’ll make sure that he fulfills his part of the deal." Danver’s brows creased in worry.

"What should we do then my lord?"

"We have to offer him something far more valuable or I just have to remain strong in front of him."

"But...what can we offer?"

"Do you have the information on what duke William has given him?"

"I’m sorry my lord." Drake bowed, apologizing as he couldn’t find that information.

"Nothing can be done then." Danver sighed helplessly. "We can only wait and see then. Try finding about the gift from your sources in the meantime. I’ll think of something."

"Yes, my lord." Drake bowed and turned around, about to leave when Danver spoke.

"What about the assassins Hela had sent after Luke?"

"They’ve been taken care of."

Danver nodded in response and Drake then moved out of the room. Danver held his sword up again and closed his eyes as he stood motionless. Mana started covering his sword and then, he slashed in front again.

*****

"How long has it been?" Shatun asked.

"Three hours...why are you still here? Call your brother, I don’t like being with you." Lamia scoffed at him.

"You want to die prison girl?"

"I told you to stop calling me that, you bastard!" Lamia yelled in fury, she would always get triggered when Shatun calls her prison girl, resurfacing her memories of that time.

While they were fighting amongst themselves, Ames was levitating cross legged in the air, and in front of him was lying the body of a nightmare class scorpio. Its body was red in color and the pincers and stinger larger than the killer ones.

Two chakras were spinning behind him and sucking the naraka in, radiating out from the beast’s body.

He had crossed the threshold and unlocked the root chakra. though both the chakras were black in color, the newly formed root chakra had a tint of red in it, distinguishing it from the sacral chakra.

He was like this from three hours, his eyes were closed and body was levitating in the air, but his consciousness was not here.

A translucent form of his soul was floating in an unknown land. The surrounding was dark, filled with black clouds as lighting fell below continuously and deafening thunder kept sounding.

In front of him was a figure bound in chains between two huge pillars, had dark skin, his grey hair long enough that they fell on the ground, red pupils, a long grey beard and black patterns all over his body.

"So...you’re finally here." The man said in an ancient and gruff voice.

"Who are you? How can you speak with me...and what is this place?" Ames asked, confused and curious.

"This is a realm far from where you are. A place of no return for the living...and my domain."

"I can speak in your mind because what you are cultivating is the naraka chakra. A dark form of the prana chakra. and you are in front of the one who created the naraka chakra system." He said with a grin.

Ames was shocked. "Then...how old are you. The book seemed to be quite ancient." He asked skeptically.

"The book...so you have one of the volumes of the book of samsara." The man said, which made Ames know the name of the book that he held so long with him.

"The books are divine. They were probably created with the creation of the universe. I’m no god boy. I made the chakra fit myself, and instead of prana, I embraced naraka."

"Who are you then?" Ames asked again, his curiosity rising.

"Hahahaha!" the figure laughed in a low voice. "I’m the first demon. Endless darkness SHIKAMI"