Abdin waved his hand and changed the topic. "I want you to visit these three villages..."

He repeated his previous orders to the young man and he promised him Ki if he fulfilled them, just like before. He hadn't yet decided what to do with the Will of San or the three thousand and five hundred men they were about to present to Silver Mask.

Even though the sect had failed to invade the castle, still, they were bound to fulfill the promise they made to the man.

But, instead of ruining their chance to see it through, Abdin wanted to see what Silver Mask would do with the men he had been rallying. That was the only way to get rid of the problem in future loops.

After he was done with Tairen, he strode to the entrance gate where Juwaira was stationed.

Just like in the previous loops, the princess had cultivated at an insane pace. She needed only a little boost from him to reach her peak before they would have to face Biyakis as a whole.

Along his way, he passed by a building. The building looked like any other on the block, but one look at it and Abdin frowned.

The Ki in the building had lessened by about thirty percent. Moreover, there wasn't anyone inside feeding off the Ki to lessen it like that.

He didn't stop even as he noticed all this, instead only taking a mere glance at the building without betraying anything in his eyes and then walking past it toward his destination.

A few minutes after he left the block, he stopped.

"What is the meaning of this?" Someone was stalking him.

He turned and faced the other end of the street where a man was seated on a horse.

Even though his words didn't betray any fear, his heart had begun to pound. Sweat poured from his back.

The man had a silver mask on his face, the same color as his horse.

For the first time, Abdin faced Silver Mask in the castle. The last time he saw him in this loop was when the man destroyed the gates of the castle. Juwaira and her team were there closing up the hole left behind by him.

After obliterating the gate, the man turned around and disappeared into the forest without engaging in the battle. No one knew where he had gone to and no one had seen him again, until now...

Ever since Abdin started his journey on this continent, Silver Mask had always come to the castle but never this close. If he ever did come this close, he had never been encountered by Abdin.

What was it that caused this change? In a world trapped in a time loop, anything happened for a reason. Nothing would ever change without Abdin doing anything to cause it.

Abdin wouldn't accept that the wicked smile he gave Laluri earlier on in the loop had caused this change. A minor alteration could cause a bigger change, but it wasn't the case now.

He believed Silver Mask had tracked the scent of his dead comrades trampled on by the castle. During the previous loop, two women from Nànata had found Abdin by tracking his scent. He was killed by Silver Mask as a result.

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If these women could smell the souls of their dead comrades on him, it wouldn't be out of place if Silver Mask also did.

A man's scent wouldn't change, and everyone had their peculiar scent. But Abdin didn't expect the dead to leave their scent behind on him.

The loop should have helped him clear the scents, but unfortunately for him, the loop was tied to the castle and him.

That meant the scent would always be there and they could track him down anytime.

Something that caught his attention was that in the previous loop, he wasn't found until about five months into the loop. But now Silver Mask had tracked him down in less than a month.

"What is your name?" Silver's voice crept into his ears. His tone was still the same - as cold and uncaring as an ancient cemetery - but no movement was visible on his covered face.

Abdin grinned. He could block the man's will inside the Castle, even at his current cultivation.

"You can call me Commander. I am the leader here. And who are you?"

Silver Mask didn't respond. It was clear Abdin didn't speak his true identity. The man stayed quiet for a long moment, probably wondering about how Abdin had been able to block his will, or perhaps, thinking about his next question.

"You murdered more than ten thousand of my men. I didn't see you do it."

So it was that many?

Abdin took a glance towards the man's eyes, wanting to gauge his expression, but unfortunately, everything was concealed behind a mask.

"Me, killed your men? When? I have never seen you until today," Abdin replied.

"But here you are, lying to me," Silver said. He was probably not convinced of Abdin's guilt, but all his questions so far had stayed unanswered, and that had made him believe Abdin had a hand in it.

His path led him to this place. The castle caught his attention and he decided to study it for just a while before he would move on.

He had noticed that the stone used to make the castle was different from the one normally used in this realm. And that had perked his curiosity.

When he wanted to gauge the strength of the black iron gate, he had used only a tiny drop of his power. Seeing how it turned to nothing so easily, he lost interest in the castle and moved on.

Soon after he left, he received reports of his men dying.

He had since felt the aura of his men from Abdin and to some extent the surroundings. But it wasn't clear and the castle was releasing the same otherworldly aura. He wrote it off as Abdin not originating from this realm. There were many hidden people like that in this world.

But then the reports came and he decided to turn back to the castle and observe Abdin.

Abdin had already returned to the Castle. So Silver Mask teleported through the wall and into the castle.

A few minutes of observation had revealed to him that Abdin was carrying the scent of the soldiers reported to be dead. The young man hadn't been from another realm, rather he had gotten that peculiar scent from the number of men he had murdered.

But how did it happen? Silver Mask narrowed his eyes in amazement and disbelief. This had been the first time in his whole life that any man had ever taken him unawares. So he decided to hear from Abdin.

Abdin would die, that much had been decided already, but he wanted to know how such an inconsequential man have had the nerves to attack his men.

"You have two options: first, you tell me whatever I want to know and earn a quick death; second, I will drag out your soul and interrogate it - you should know that a soul won't lie and won't have an easy death as well. Pick your choice."

Abdin was prepared. Very few would have noticed it but he had made some changes while drawing the castle's summoning seal.

He did that just for this moment.

With everything that had happened, it wasn't difficult to guess that Silver Mask would come. He hadn't summoned the castle in the previous loop, which had delayed their encounter.

Abdin put aside all pretense.

"What do you seek for in Biyakis?"

He knew he wouldn't get any answers but he couldn't help but ask. A level 6 empire's ambassador attacking a level 1 empire was utterly unbelievable.

Instead of replying, Silver Mask's figure blurred and disappeared. He reappeared in front of Abdin, his left hand in the air already.

Abdin's gaze was still on the man's last spot, where his afterimage was still visible.

His mind was telling him that Silver Mask was still there, while the castle assured him that the man stood before him at that moment.

Abdin dodged to the side but he met Silver's fist waiting for him there.