A sense of imminent danger prompted Felix to swiftly erect a barrier of ice in front of him. The elements around began to whirl chaotically, with an elemental storm centering around the temple, rapidly spreading in all directions.

As the golden soul lunged at Felix, the grand and majestic palace instantly collapsed, and the elemental windstorm ground the marble sculptures into dust.

“How dare you, a lowly being, resist the great... Ah, what is that? No!”

The ice barrier only briefly hindered the advance of the golden soul, but as it tried to pounce on Felix, something that caused it agonizing screams emerged.

It was a nail-sized, dull gray crystal shard, seemingly broken off from some unknown crystal. This unassuming shard appeared from Felix’s heart, and immediately a massive surge of deep gray energy burst forth, powerful enough to halt the elemental storm.

The deep gray energy, with its terrible corrosive and devouring power, swallowed up even the whirling elemental storm.

“This is the power of the ancient gods, not a plague.” The golden soul screamed in absolute terror as the deep gray energy entwined around its body. Its golden soul began to dim, and the entwined part even turned into a pitch-black color.

“Ah, let me go, I will submit to you, I will be your servant, no, no, no, don’t consume me, I’ll give you everything.”

The golden soul pleaded in terror, even swearing to surrender everything, but the deep gray energy’s devouring pace didn’t slow. With the last wail of the golden soul, its body was completely tainted into pitch-black.

Felix watched incredulously as the events unfolded, as if recalling something.

The elemental storm around had ceased, but a new storm of deep gray mysterious energy was gathering around him. This energy, never satisfied, devoured the elemental forces of this space.

Eroding, assimilating, and finally merging.

The entire space began to tremble as the elemental energy collapsed, fracturing the ground and shattering the sky.

Felix, standing at the center of the storm, was somewhat dazed.

But soon, he was captivated by what was happening before him.

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The eroded golden soul, now like a black sculpture, began to crumble as the world collapsed around it. Starting from the arms, the sculpture composed of the golden soul broke apart, leaving only a black core, resembling a crystal, within a few breaths.

The deep gray crystal, having devoured the elemental power like a whale, began to slow its pace, seemingly sated, and started infusing the remaining elemental forces of this world into the pitch-black crystal core.

As the elemental forces infused, the pitch-black crystal core pulsated like a heart. It expanded, elongated, and the black glow gradually converged and fused.

Shattered pieces, resembling sword hilts, emerged from the deep gray crystal. These metal fragments merged into the black core, which then solidified along the lines of the fragments, gradually taking shape.

Eventually, a pitch-black, ink-like single-handed sword appeared before Felix.

An unexplainable attraction.

Felix felt a call, emanating from the sword before him. Unconsciously, he grasped its hilt, feeling a tearing pain as if the sword had pierced his heart.

But soon, he felt a connection, as if the sword were an extension of his own body.

In a daze, Felix uttered the name of the sword: The Lost Enchanter.

The space shattered and collapsed, with all free-floating elemental energies pouring into the deep gray crystal at Felix’s heart.

Felix felt a loss of control over his body, only able to silently watch the world collapse and be absorbed by him.

After an indeterminate amount of time, he finally regained control of his body.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw the ceiling of the carriage. Everything was as it was before he fell asleep.

“Was it a dream?” Felix shook his head, puzzled, and sat up. He froze immediately.

Because he touched a sword.

It was a pitch-black, single-handed sword.

Written on it in an unknown language was The Lost Enchanter.

Felix didn’t know why he could understand this ancient text. But he seemed to grasp its meaning.

Below the pitch-black sword lay a pile of deep purple crystal powder.

With trembling fingers, Felix slowly reached for his heart.

He felt a small, hard object. Trembling, he unbuttoned his shirt and saw a deep gray crystal the size of a fingernail at his heart.

It turned out none of this was a dream.

Stepping out of the carriage, dawn was breaking. After a night's rest, the spirits of the entire caravan seemed to have recovered.

The mercenaries surrounded the caravan, and at the call of the leader, the convoy began to slowly move forward. They were not far from human civilization now, safe once they entered the human kingdom.

The kingdom nearest the human world's outskirts was the Griffin Kingdom, home to the finest army in all of humanity. They trained two battalions of griffin, these fierce birds carrying knights patrolling their territory.

As the first transit hub of the human kingdoms, the security order of the Griffin Kingdom is well recognized.

"Last night, what did you do?" Marilyn quietly approached Felix, her gaze heavy as she looked at his pale face, and whispered.

"I retrieved something I had lost." For some reason, Felix shrugged his shoulders, showing a faint smile.

He gently pulled out the Lost Enchanter’s Sword from his waist, and said in a deep voice:

"I can feel it. The time for me to reclaim everything is approaching."