[31st of May, 1547 PS]

Finally, the 24 hours were over, and the pain stopped. Henry immediately fell asleep, not even having time to read the system message that popped up.

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He found himself in a large plateau full of grass and trees.

'Where is this? I was in the Cathedral just a moment ago.'

Henry decided to walk around the strange plateau, and he finally saw a black castle in the horizon.

"Let's check it out."

As he walked towards the castle, he felt something inside him flare up, as if warning him.

'What's going on?' He instinctually reached out for his sword, only to find that he was only wearing the simple shirt and pants duo he wore at home.

'Oh shit.' Since he was unarmed, Henry was very on guard now. He decided to keep walking towards the castle, even though the thing inside him flared up even more as he approached it.

Soon, he was at the castle's gate. It was a ridiculously huge castle with strange writings all over the walls, although he recognized some of these as magic circles.

He touched the gate and it suddenly opened on its own.

'What the hell?'

The inside of the castle looked similar to the ritual sites the demon worshippers would make. It also had the corpses of many powerful creatures on it.

'A griffin, a chimera, a hydra, a unicorn, and a....dragon!' Henry had never had the misfortune of meeting a dragon, let alone fighting one. However, he had always heard about their fearsome might and how they had physical power, magical ability, and superior intelligence. To think he'd see the corpse of one.

A deep, masculine voice rang in Henry's head.

"You've finally come, "Bane of Demonkind". Hahahahahahahahaha, those pathetic lower creatures really do cling to any small hope. Just cause the weakest of the Guardians and that stupid old man who's lived most of his life as a lower creature gave you a minor blessing, you have hope? Imbecile, this world is no longer under their jurisdiction."

The corpses scattered on the ground started to dissolve into purple liquid, and the things inside Henry flared up so much that he felt his insides burning. He had just gone through intense pain though, so he held back his scream.

The purple liquids converged into a strange humanoid form that had six set of horns, six sets of wings, and six tails. It still had no facial features, but Henry could tell what it was.

'A demon. A very, very strong one. This burning feeling must be my Demon Slaying Energy reacting to him.'

"Today, I shall end you and take what those stupid old men gave you, then use it to start my own empire, independent of their stupid supervision."

The figure's hands started glowing with white flame, and he swung at Henry at lightspeed. Henry, obviously, could not even fully perceive such a strike. From his perspective, he suddenly saw the demon's hand in his chest. The white flame spread through his body, and he could feel it burning through his soul.

'For some reason, I don't feel like this is just a dream, so this probably the end, huh?'

Just as Henry had abandoned all hope, a system message emerged.

The Purest Darkness, one of the six Guardians of Infinity, has descended. He has destroyed the barrier erected by the Incarnation of Evil.

Your blesser who hid his identity had revealed it. The Origin of life has descended. The Origin of Life has healed you.

"Not today, ⬛." A humanoid figure devoid of any features and made of pitch black darkness emerged from the ground.

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"These stupid old men have come to stop you, ⬛." A tall, elderly looking pale man wearing a black suit and a red cloak flew into the castle.

"Father, ⬛, h-how? I worked so hard to erect this barrier, and it worked for a while. How did you even know about this human?" The demonic figure had formed something similar to a face now, and he looked mortified.

"We were informed by ⬛. Don't you know he blesses all who awaken unique energies in this world? It is his job to fix "bugs in the system" as he calls them. And honestly, I can't find a more suitable description for you." The old looking man in the suit said.

"⬛, no need to tell him." The dark figure warned.

"Ah, my bad. Anyways, let's finish this."

Both the dark figure and the old man threw an orb of energy at the demonic figure, who seemed paralyzed. The old man's orb was crimson red, while the dark figure's orb was pitch black. Both orbs penetrated the demonic figure's body, causing him to melt into a puddle and immediately disappear.

The Incarnation of Evil has been slain.

Henry's Demon Slaying Energy finally stopped flaring up. The wound in his stomach had healed when the old man came in, so he was finally free of pain. However, he was very confused.

"Umm....May I know who you two gentlemen are?"

Both the strangers turned towards Henry, causing him to shudder a little, as just their mana emissions were more than his entire mana pool.

The old man spoke first. "Ah, I'm a little hurt now. I just blessed you two days ago, and you don't remember me? I mean, I didn't say much, but that was because of the barrier around this world, not me being arrogant."

"Oh, so you're the "gazer" the system told me about two days ago? Umm, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, lad. You may call me Life, as your ⬛⬛ is a little too low to know my actual name."

"What about you, uhh... sir?" The dark figure had no features, so Henry didn't know their gender, although their voice sounded masculine.

"You may call me Null, it's not that far from my real name anyways. Unlike you and Life, we haven't met before. I have come both to stop this unfilial son of mine and aid you in your fight against demons. Here."

The Purest Darkness, "Null", has blessed you. Your ⬛⬛ has increased significantly.

You have unlocked the "Blessings" menu. You may see your blessings here.

"Well, lad, I'm afraid we can't stay here for long. ⬛'s barrier was only cracked temporarily, and it's almost back to normal already. Hopefully, we can meet and chat another time. Farewell."

With this, both figures disappeared, and the castle started fading away, along with the plateau.

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"Hellwalker! Wake up!"

Henry awoke to find himself back in the training room, lying on the floor. He saw Captain Eve's towering figure standing in front of him, waking him.

'What the hell was all that? Just a strange dream, maybe?'