Ethanial scanned the wood from afar. It was thicker than he thought. He could not see any traps inside from there. He decided it was best not to waste time and entered the wood quickly. It was already evening now. He needed to fight the monster before the sunset because most monsters could see even at night when the humans did not.

The wood looked quite ordinary. Ethanial saw different kinds of bugs and worms all over the place. As he kept walking, he felt certain tension around his ankle. He halted his feet and looked down carefully without moving a single inch. There was a thin green thread crossing the path. One end went into a hole in a tree. He could see a small metal glinting inside.

"Poison arrow. Are they really trying to kill me?"

He stepped back and walked over carefully. He kept watching down and intensively scanned the place where he stepped. Suddenly he heard a whoosh sound from above. He knew it was too late to look up so he threw himself away immediately. It was by an inch, a rock as big as his head fell to the place where he was. He swallowed a big gulp as he felt relieved. His head would be smashed if he was a heartbeat late.

He stood back while rubbing the soil off his trousers. He looked up the cliff. It was not far.

"One more trap up most and I will reach the cliff."

He resumed carefully. This time he scanned both up and down. He saw nothing suspicious except a pile of leaves. Although leaves were lying around everywhere, there were more in that specific area. He approached and pushed the leaves with his sword. It was a pitfall with wooden stakes inside. He smirked confidently.

"I thought so."

He hopped over and smiled proudly. Soon he reached the wall of the cliff and found a flag. But what shocked Ethanial was the thing guarding the flag.

It was an old banyan tree as big as a hut. It engulfed the poor tree inside till it was not recognisable. Its roots were swinging down to the earth and creeping on the ground. Some roots reached the nearby tree and already encompassed it. The circumference of each root was as massive as his arm. But above all those magnificent sizes, what petrified him were the faces of men and animals embedded within.

"A treant! I never thought I would see one in my life. It is evening now. I don't have time. It will wake up soon."

Ethanial ran to the flag as quickly as he could. Before the monster awakens, he must get it. A treant of this size was nearly impossible to beat when awake. One might cut off its root unlimited times, yet it regrew immediately until one ran out of breath and swallowed it. No one knew where its heart lies. Its only weakness was 'inferno ultimata', an advanced fire spell. The catch here is that using such spells inside a wood would burn the surrounding trees, engulfing oneself in one's own flame.

The flag was only three steps away now. He gritted his teeth and stretched his arm to reach. But luck was not on his side. A root suddenly swung toward him from the front and attacked him. He had no choice but to roll to the side and dodge. Another root immediately crept up to his feet so he jumped away from the monster.

"Hell! It is awake. Damn. It was right before the tip of my hand. But considering only a few roots are moving, it must still be in a daze and not fully awake. I have some time."

He had two options. Slowly approached and stole the flag or forcibly took it. But its roots were infamous for sensing even a very small tremor. He had no confidence in his stealth.

Ethanial decided it was best to forcibly get inside and retrieve the flag, then ran back before it fully awake.

"Divination!!"

He rushed to the flag as he cut down all the roots coming to him. Even with the enhanced sword, it was hard to cut the roots the size of his arm. Soon he reached the flag. he stretched again to grab it. Unfortunately, a root slapped his hand down and another root grabbed his leg throwing him away. He was hit by a tree and fell. Dejected, he imagined his death by the monster. Never in his life, had he heard warriors won against this monster.

In reality, it was the spores talking. Banyan monster released its spores into the surroundings which made one imagine negative thoughts.

While Ethanial was struggling in the woods, Leila was in the middle of a civilization. She was inside a room built of bricks, decorated with beautiful flowers, magnificent ceramics and majestic furniture. The bed was as big as the one she saw in Duke Castle. Its legs were made of gold. The sheets were pure white. She believed this room was grander than the Duke's.

There was a bathtub in front of the bed in the middle of the room filled with warm water and jasmine buds. The fragrance was so sweet. Two servant girls from the temple, who were wearing all white, washed Leila thoroughly.

"Erm... I also took a bath this morning. I had cleaned myself well so you don't need to do it again."

"Yes, my lady. But this is also part of the ceremony. So don't be embarrassed."

"Truly, with such a beautiful body, you don't need to be shy showing."

Another girl concurred. But it was still embarrassing for Leila. Her nanny stayed when she took a bath but she always washed herself. She never asked her nanny to do it.

A girl rubbed her shoulders and rose to her neck. She wriggled as it tickled her.

"Please be careful with my neck. I am sensitive when you reach it from behind."

"Oh. Sorry. I shall do it from the front."

"Thank you."

The girls washed her thoroughly and dried her with a white towel. Then they dress her in a very beautiful white cloth decor with fine gold threads. It was so thin she could see through it. They wrapped her around with it like a doll.

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"It is finished, my lady. Please drink this herbal medicine. It is to prevent birth so that you do not bear any child of Mordu'."

"Because no woman is pure enough to bear a child of Mordu'."

"You are right, my lady. Be careful. It may have an unpleasant taste."

"Yuck!! It really is unpleasant. Can't you make it sweeter?"

The girls laughed at her reaction. She also smiled back at them.

"You are ready to serve God now my lady. I shall break the news to his holiness. Please wait here."

"Yes. Thank you. Erm ... Can you tell his holiness to wait a moment? I need to leak."

Leila noticed their expression. They smiled back but she saw them annoyed by her request.

"Right after the bath?"

"I am sorry. I just happened to drink so much water from home because I was nervous. You can wait outside. I will wash it quickly myself. You don't need to redo all that again."

The girls looked at each other. They also don't want to do it all again but they are scared of his holiness.

"Please hurry. We will wait."

"Thank you. Emm... Can you look away? It is embarrassing. Thank you."

After she made them look away, she tipped her toes to the dress she wore from her home. She reached into the pocket inside and took out the small bottle her nanny gave her. This was the only time she could pull her trick.

"Hey don't look. It doesn't come out easily because you are here. Please don't make it worse." Leila yelled at them as she suspected one of them turning her head.

As the girls came back to reclean, she held her breath and tightened herself so that it did not wash out by water.

"My lady, please relax."

"How could I? It is by instinct."

Frustrated, the girls just did their job quickly. Only when they went out to call the Great Ayeegyee, Leila could breathe.

"I made it."

"Fricking hell!! Let me pass will you!? I need to take it so that I can fight a Templer and beat the crap out of him. Then I will become a Templer myself and marry Leila. So don't you stand in my way you fricking tree!!!"

With desperation, Ethanial lashed out his anger at the monster. He cut the roots like a madman. Soon he reached the flag and ran away with it. Unfortunately, he stepped on one of the roots and fell flat on his face.

"Shit."

He got up immediately but it already got his leg. It pulled him in as it tried to engulf Ethanial whole. He dug the ground quickly and held onto it. But his desperate attempt failed and dragged in. As the last attempt, he threw the flag away and took out the dagger from his waist. He stabbed the dagger hard to the ground and hooked it.

He made it. It stopped the momentum for a while but the monster resumed immediately. He tensed all his muscles and held firmly to the dagger. He then closed the knee to his chest and tried to cut the root. But he could not bring his knee in. He took another deep breath and tried again. This time he put all his force toward the muscles in his abdomen and brought it toward his chest. As soon as it was in his sword's reach, he swung hard and cut it loose. Finally, he was free.

He immediately rolled to the side dodging another root by a split of hair before it grabbed him again. He collected the flag and quickly ran off from the area. By the time he got out of the woods, he saw the sun going down on the horizon.

"I did it." He breathed loudly. His chest looked like a pigeon.

When he returned, a young handsome man was sitting on a log, playing the sword.

"Oh finally. I have been waiting for you. Well, I did the course within half a candle. You took... Emm... More than two? Not so bad for a commoner."

Templer Clement welcomed him with mockery. Ethanial returned with a jest.

"It seems the Temple doesn't want to feed their new kids to the treant anymore. It was morning, right? I doubt you even noticed there was a treant monster in the woods."

Ethanial was right. Since the competition was held in the morning, none met the doom of banyan-treant. Templer Clement looked at the guards confused. The guards had no idea either. Only the high Templer knew the truth.

"Well done. You may rest for a bit while Sir Clement is preparing for the dual. Templer, you shall wear your armour and ready yourself."

Templer Clement whistled. A lad ran to him with a breastplate. The sigil of the house Clement was also embedded proudly.

Ethanial saw the sigil and breathed out in annoyance. Even if he win, beating a royal ass from Easton would make himself an enemy to a powerful house. But he had no choice. He must for the reunion with Leila.

"Both parties ready?"

The two glared at each other and nodded as they stood face to face.

"Fight!"

"What is wrong with this cloth? I can see through everything."

Leila let out a sigh as she waited for the great Ayeegyee. Unfortunately, Ayeegyee heard her complaint and he came inside right at the moment.

"Because all beings must bare naked and be true with complete transparency, honesty when presenting themselves to the lord Mordu'. You shall not feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. Let go of your pride for that is a lie. Let go of your joy for that is a lust. Let go of your body for that is a gift. Before Him, know that you are nothing but a creation of his. He sees everything of you."

His words stroke her in fear. He was tall, taller than the duke. Not as old yet. But his hair started to turn grey. His beard was bushy, a mess. He wore a very plain grey robe.

He stared intensely at the curves of her alluring body which was covered only by a very thin cloth. It was like he saw her naked right through it.

Then suddenly he looked up the roof and mumbled words she could not understand. Leila felt he was calling something as the candle lights flickered without wind. She then heard a whosh and saw his eyes turned all white. It was the mark of Lord Mordu'.

She shredded in fear and turned away in a desperate attempt to hide herself. She heard stories that no one can hide the truth in front of lord Mordu'. What if it is the truth that he can truly see inside a person's mind? What if he finds out she has been lying?

Seeing how scared Leila was, he smiled contently and smacked his lips. He approached her slowly and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Oh, poor girl. Did I scare you? Yes, you should fear the almighty."

He pushed down her shoulders and forced her to kneel in front of him as he took off his robe.

"Now before me, Lord Mordu', knee and serve."