"This is a prison? This looks like heaven," Langa exclaimed, looking beyond the gate.

Merreddyd shook her head. "Trust me, it's not. I actually didn't want to bring you here because one of the prisoners wants to talk to you,” she told him. “I wasn’t going to grant his request since he may know you, but you haven’t met him yet.”

”What does that even mean?” Langa asked in confusion.

”You’ll understand later. Come on. Put on your Deiform Artefacts," Merreddyd said, her hand on the gate. "This place is mentally taxing and exists to restrict the freedom of mortals."

"I always have them on," Langa replied, showing her his left hand, on which he wore the Deiform Ring and the Deiform Amulet.

"Good. I don't want to lose you," she said, pushing the gate open and flying inside.

Langa stepped onto the golden street, and three things happened instantly. His karma pooled inside him, Adtonifulmin's Shroud covered him, and he felt the oppressive embrace of the Void for a mere second before it was gone.

[You have entered the Void Domain: The Deiwos Clan Caciere]

[The Onslaught of The Dark Void is watching you.]

Langa gasped. This was an actual void territory, not a pseudo one like the ones voidents created with their Void Gems. The last time he'd experienced a true void territory was during the tutorial, and back then he nearly lost his mind. Why wasn't he being affected now? The Void Star inside him was quiet, so he wanted to ask Merreddyd if the Deiform Artefacts were protecting him, but he got distracted looking at their surroundings.

Around them was a pure white mineral garden, however, the atmosphere reeked of despair. The streets they walked on were paved with golden tiles, and the walls of the distant tower were illuminated with a golden light. What struck him the most was the overwhelmingly high number of maestrils with chainlike tattoos on their bodies walking around the garden, supervising what appeared to be mortals dressed in dark brown robes, tending to the garden.

Langa looked around in confusion. “Why are maestrils the prison guards? Won't they drain the prisoners’ karma and escape into the Tower to terrorise innocent people?”

“Balance must always be maintained, Langa. The Quartenity is in charge of this place, and the maestrils are the chosen vessels. Don't worry, they are bound to this place by system contracts and they can't leave," she said, disdain in her tone. "Chaos is invested in punishing voidents because they steal the power of the void to seal corruption in their Void Gems and wield corruption," she said.

"How is that different from what he does with his Void Eruption in coorupted worlds?" Langa asked.

"Because when he releases a Void Eruption, it is to seal corruption, and stop it spreading. He sends in maestrils to feed on the karma of corrupted beings...well, they end up feeding on all karma so there is that," she said. "He doesn't gain anything from the voidents."

"Oh." So if he gained karma from voidents, would he support them?

"The point is voidents disrupt the creation-corruption balance, ya, and that's what The Great Quartenity was created to maintain. Whether he likes it or not, that is Chaos' job," Merreddyd said.

The maestril wardens watched the two of them walk by hungrily. Their eyes flickered to Langa but stayed mostly on Merreddyd. It made sense, after all, she had way more karma than he did, and maestrils fed on karma. Langa could hear many voices crying out all over the mineral garden, trying to beg him to free their souls, and the voices made it hard for him to breathe.

"Don't look into the prisoners' eyes, Langa. Focus on me," Merredyd said, her voice sounding like it was coming from far away. "Let's talk, ya. Isn't there anything you wanted to ask me?"

Langa blinked, trying to focus his mind. He knew she was doing this to distract him so that he wouldn't get lost in the void territory, so he grasped for something to talk about. “I’m from a lost world, so I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask about your eyes,” he said after hesitating for a second.

She tilted her head to the left. “Did you not have blind people in your world?”

“No, we did,” he clarified. “But I guess I figured in a world with magic and gods, then there'd be no disabilities.”

“Ah,” she said. “From Mavalisticus, to the curse of the dragonkins' infertility, to karma-attenuance, among others, there are some things the deities cannot, or rather will not, fix.”

“Dragonkin infertility?” Langa asked. He knew that Liv’s mother was a dragonkin.

“It's a long story," Merreddyd said, flying right in front of him, feeling her way along the clouds with her cane. "An old cautionary tale passed down amongst all the original races about the dangers of kintolerance."

"I love old stories," Langa said, remembering his father's stories. "Please tell me, it will help me not to get lost in the void territory."

"Alright. The priests used to say that from ancient times the dragonkin have always been kintolerant puritans. They, along with Demonkin, Angelkin, and the Lost Race, were among the first mortals to ever exist. Because of that, they despise halfkin and any children born outside their race are considered inferior. After the 11 000th Great Divine Corruption War, a gifted dragonkin king named himself the Dragon Slayer and led a revolution where the dragonkin hunted down their kinned beasts, the dragons, slaying them for the power of eternal youth. Because of that massacre, dragons are rare creatures to this day,” she said sadly.

Langa listened intently as she continued. “Leviathan, The Sea Dragon King, The Neutriarch of Water, was angry with the dragonkin as the blood of the slain dragons cried out to him for salvation. He used their karma to curse the dragonkin with Obsession and infertility. He made it so the likelihood of them reproducing with their own kind was less than 0.0000001%. Even with other races, their chance of conceiving a child is less than 5% but they don't want to dilute their blood, ya,” she said. “Currently, in the entire infinite multiverse, there are less than one hundred known dragonkin enclaves. They are a dying race hell-bent on breaking their curse. It's difficult, though. Any deity that tries to lift the curse risks war with The Neutriarch of Water.”

”Oh, that’s harsh,” Langa said. "Why should innocent descendants have to suffer because of their ancestors?" He was cursed with the Brand because of something an ancestor did too.

“The elders leading the remaining enclaves are mostly the survivors who benefited from the longevity of slaying dragons for eternal youth. They haven't changed at all, ya, so I don’t think Lord Leviathan was harsh enough,” Merreddyd said, her karma flaring.

Now Langa could understand why Synn was wary of Liv as well as why no one seemed to like Vavuciadsforenkka. "I see," he said, returning to the topic at hand. "So your eyes were cursed too?"

“Yes. My mother gazed upon the face of a fallen angel while she was carrying me, and we were both cursed with blindness,” she said. “There is no cure for it, except for me to Ascend to deityhood."

Langa had been surprised when he found out what angels were in this world when he'd been researching demons because of the 36th Floor. Angels were children of gods with other gods. They were as rare as demigods since, in order to form a union, the karma of the gods had to be compatible. They were normally classified in the same rank as seraphim, neither mortal nor immortal.

The golden garden opened up, and more prisoners came into view. About twenty people were tending to the gardens under the watchful eye of maestrils. They picked the gemstones and put them in baskets, but every time they picked one, a new one regrew. It was an unending cycle.

“Grion Fidser?” Langa asked when he suddenly recognised a prisoner he knew.

A goblinkin that was bent over picking up a white gem turned around at his name, and the look in his eye chilled Langa.

Fidser was the first voident Langa ever hunted. He was not a criminal mastermind by any means, but he had stolen Anarchist's Opus Key from the Accari Crows’ guildmaster, Amalgam. He was smart and tried to make enough money to cut his losses and run before he was caught. Throughout their fight, he’d kept calm and composed, but this goblinkin staring vacantly at Langa didn't even look like the same person.

He turned away from Langa and continued to pick up the gemstones.

“What happened to him?” Langa asked, disturbed. “He’s only been imprisoned for less than a month.”

“Oh, that? He’s Strapped. His soul isn't really here,” Merreddyd said nonchalantly.

"What's being Strapped mean?" he asked. He'd briefly heard Synn and Di Etta talking about it before.

"It loosely means their souls are suppressed. Here they harvest mavale crystals and flowers, keeping their mana locked up. The lack of lucents in mavale gardens messes with prisoners' mental lucents and combined with the Chaotic Mind Debuff of void territory, it's a disaster in their heads," she said with a shrug. "This is barely a worthy punishment for their crimes, though."

Mental and mana torture made Langa uncomfortable. "Is everywhere like this?"

“No. Compared to mavale mines, this place is tame, at least their bodies won't succumb to Mavalisticus. This gardern is where the G and F-rank voidents work off their sentences," she said. "The higher-ranking voidents are forced to participate in the Infinite Challenge against their will," she told him without explaining further. "You'll understand when you begin it. If they love corruption so much it's only fair that they spend the entirety of their sentence trying to clear corruption in uninhabitable places.”

Merreddyd pointed to the building up ahead. "The prison tower has 10 floors. The ground floor (R) is for red players, regardless of level, who prefer to improve their alignment here instead of NPC prisons. Floors G, F, E, D, C, B, A, and S are where voidents are imprisoned according to their ranks. And let's not talk about the last floor.”

“How many of the floors currently have prisoners?” Langa asked.

“Floor R, and G to D are occupied. It’s harder to catch the C-rank voidents, even for me and Alfsol. It took everything for me to take down Khamani and tear down the Pathfinders. Besides, there are currently only 8 known C-rank voidents in our Tower," she said. "Let's go inside."

Merreddyd flew higher up along the Tower and Langa was surprised to find himself floating up below her. Once she reached the 7th-floor window, she waved her hand and the window opened for her to fly inside, pulling Langa in with her.

There was a sudden surge of karma as a maestril came bursting into the dark corridor they landed in. The breath of life Langa felt coming from this maestril’s karma was so overwhelming that it made his head spin uncontrollably, overshadowing every other sensation.

The maestril had the normal body of a mortal with the face of a warthog. If he couldn't feel the void karma coming from it, Langa would have believed this to be a regular beastkin mortal.

"Who goes there?" he roared and Langa hastily scanned the maestril.

Warden Bissilsim (Maestril Raid Boss)

Level 53

HP: ????????/?????????

Karma: ?????????/????????

Level 53? What the fuck was going on? Even if she was Tier 3, Merreddyd didn’t stand a chance against him. The maestril could kill them both and drain their karma with very little effort!

“It’s just me, Bissilsim,” Merreddyd said, unfazed by the creature’s appearance.

Bissilsim stopped walking and looked at her. "Ah, Guardian Knight. I wish you would follow the protocol and come in through the entrance door. I could have accidentally killed you thinking you were an intruder,” he said as he licked his lips, a hungry look on his face. “And all that delicious karma on your soul would be mine.”

Merreddyd tilted her head to the right. "Why would I walk through the entrance when I can fly?"

“Hmm? What’s this? Did you bring me a snack, Guardian Knight?” The maestril asked, looking at Langa. “There’s not much to eat on him, but even only a few thousand karma is karma, I suppose.”

Merreddyd ignored his taunt. “Quit your jesting and leave us alone. I’m here to see Prisoner 46B, is he here?”

Langa frowned. Why wouldn't a prisoner be here in prison?

“Of course, my lady,” Bissilsim said. "The Venerable One's favoured is currently enjoying his peaceful slumber. I had an interesting conversation with the honourable player, and he was much more pleasant than you, Guardian Knight."

Langa didn't understand why a maestril was being polite to a player. Was it because she was The Unrivalled's Chosen? Did that mean even the agents of Chaos knew better than to mess with her? The maestril stepped aside, and Merreddyd led Langa along the corridor of the B-ranked floor with cold walls and crystalline metal inscribed with all manner of dark runes. He wondered why they were on this floor when she said only voidents up to D-rank were locked up in this prison.

It seemed his questions would soon be answered as they reached a massive door guarded by two stern-faced bull-like maestrils. The maestrils’ eyes betrayed their hunger for Merreddyd’s karma, even when they bowed to her. With a nod from Merreddyd, the door opened, revealing a large chamber behind crystalline bars.

An old person lay on the floor, with crystalline snakelike chains encircling his wrists, ankles, and neck that kept him restrained. His long, unkempt hair fell over his face, partially obscuring his eyes. He wore tattered red robes, yet the air around him seemed alive.

Merreddyd waved her hands, and the crystalline chains loosened. “Are you awake?” she asked.

Langa couldn’t tell what race the player was as he sat up. His wild red hair was matted and streaked with grey, his skin was dark brownish-grey, and his eyes were dark green. There were three scars over his left cheek, winding over his nose like he had been clawed by a particularly nasty cat.

What puzzled Langa the most, though, was his karma. It was alive and lashing out as if it wanted to escape the prisoner, and it reminded him of the way Liberty’s cadence acted, independent of its owner. The difference was that while Liberty’s cadence was intent on inciting fear in her victims, this prisoner was a beckoning disaster, inviting Langa to come closer.

The prisoner's shackles loosened; he knelt on the floor, and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse, as if hot oil had permanently burnt his throat. “Guardian Knight,” he said, his whole body shaking. “Sizone... please.”

With a sigh, Merreddy produced an empty, clear container from her inventory and lifted it. Silver liquid tears fell from her unseeing eyes, and she collected them into the container. The prisoner trembled as his eyes watched her longingly.

Merreddyd placed the container in his hand through the crystalline bars, and he reached for it carefully. As if he had conjunctivitis and this was a relieving eye drop, he poured her tears into his eyes. His body convulsed, and he moaned before he bit his lip, showcasing long yellow teeth as if he were trying to restrain himself. After that, the prisoner lay on the floor, twitching as his pupils contracted.

“Na’koma can you hear me?” Merreddyd asked, wiping her eye with a handkerchief.

“He is asleep, Guardian Knight,” the prisoner said.

“Wake him up! We need to speak to him,” she said coldly. It was strange hearing her talk like this, given how friendly she had been to Langa.

The prisoner‘s green eyes looked at Langa. “Hmm? Why is he in the Caciere? He is not a Guardian.”

“Here’s here because you asked to speak to him,” Merreddyd said impatiently.

“Langa,” the prisoner muttered. “Langa. We haven’t met yet, not outside of your-”

The way in which the prisoner said his name as if he were familiar with Langa made him uneasy.

“Na’koma, wake up or else I’m leaving. I have better things to do than speak with this aberration. You’re sated for the time being, aren’t you?” Merreddyd said as she cut him off. "Wake up!"

The prisoner closed his eyes. When he reopened them, they were no longer green, but blue. His hair curled in on itself, the scars on his face disappeared, and his red hair turned white.

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Only when the prisoner’s eyes looked at him did Langa finally recognise him. He’d seen those blue eyes burning under his mask in his hunting videos. This was someone he'd heard of before and watched plenty of times with Aquila and with Undkese.

“Na’koma? The voident hunter, Na’koma? The Black Fist? Why is he here?” Langa asked sharply. “Why is someone people in the Tower revere as a voident hunter locked up in a prison for voidents?”

Even though Merreddyd had her back to him, he saw her stiffen, and Na’koma flinched. “Langa, calm down,” Merreddyd said gently.

Sure, Black Fist Na’koma used dark magic, and his reputation as a voident hunter who never captured his prey alive was widespread. But he had always fought hard, as if he hated voidents more than anything. Langa knew videos could be edited to give off a certain impression, but he had admired Na’koma’s methods, thinking he was authentic. But was he actually a voident himself?

Langa’s head was spinning a mile a second. Whatever faith he had in the Guardians started to fall. “He's a B-rank voident? Why do the Guardians let someone who has a Void Opus run around the Tower pretending to be a bounty hunter? How many people did he kill for that Void Opus? How many innocent children-?”

“There is no Void Opus in this Tower," Merreddyd said stonily, her voice cutting through his tirade like a knife. "I will not allow that to happen. The highest-ranking Void Gem in this Tower is a Void Ruby. As long as I am a Guardian Knight, I will not allow the voidents to succeed in creating a Void Opus. I would break the fabric of time first.”

She sounded so confident that Langa decided to use his Team Player title on Na’koma, to confirm his alignment. He wasn't ready for what he saw, though, and he immediately unequipped the title because it felt like someone was pouring hot coal inside his brain.

Name:

Currently: Na’koma Zuberi

Race:

???

Age:

67

Character:

Player

Level:

28

Class:

Chaotic Berserker

Available Karma:

11 752

Total Karma:

280 125

Deity:

[Chaos-The Onslaught of The Dark Void]. - Disciple

Highest Floor

17/101 (Deiwos Towers)

Attribute:

Dual Wraiths

Available Respawns:

1/3

(Respawn Zone: Floor 16: Elis Grove)

Two things stood out the most in his status: The first was that his race was not shown, and the second was his deity. People had speculated that perhaps Na’koma was Unbound as he never praised his deity, nor tried to bring him glory, but no. Na'koma was the second person in this Tower directly bound to a member of The Great Quartenity. No wonder Langa's head was on fire. The higher the rank of the deity, the harder it was for Langa's title to read through their Shroud.

This also confirmed something Langa had been afraid to confront for a while. His title allowed him to read the information of mortals through the Shroud of deities lower ranked than Adtonifulmin or Adtonifulmin's master. Chaos was a member of The Quartenity, the highest-ranked gods outside of The Creator, yet Langa could see through his Shroud. So Adtonifulmin’s master really was more powerful than The Quartenity.

Langa took a deep breath and calmed down. Now wasn't the time to think about that.

“It’s okay, Merr, don't get angry. Hello Langa, it's been a... ah... this is our first meeting, isn't it?" Na’koma said, his voice icy. "First, let me assure you that I’m not a voident. This prison is the only way to control my... Brand,” Na’koma said. “I can't say more than that, but please just know that the Guardian Knight protects my kind from persecution by letting us destroy ourselves in here, instead of out there.”

Langa had no idea what Na'koma was saying, and it didn't seem like he was going to elaborate either. He closed his eyes. He, of all people, shouldn't have jumped to conclusions about Na'koma's alignment. If someone found him using his Void Star, they would assume he was a voident too. There had to be a reasonable explanation for this.

“Your kind? Is it because you are a Disciple of The Dark Void?” Langa asked, calming down. "Is that why you can use void magic?”

Voidents used unauthorised void magic, disrupting the chaos-order balance, but as a disciple of Chaos, Na’koma would naturally be able to use void magic, especially if he was Branded.

Both Merreddyd and Na'koma were startled, and Na’koma fixed him with a stupefied gaze. “How did you know that?”

“I can’t say any more than that,” Langa echoed the prisoner’s earlier statement, just to be difficult.

Merreddyd giggled, and Na’koma’s eyes were unfocused for a second before he said, “Yes, it is partly because of The Dark Void’s power. Master says that I can trust you and he is interested in you.”

But can you trust him? Langa wanted to ask. Instead, he folded his arms and cleared his throat. “Tell him I'm not interested. Besides, I'm taken," he said instead.

[The Deiwos Clan god: The Lackadaisical Herald of the Lightning Storm, once again warns The Dark Void to stay away.]

[The Onslaught of The Dark Void, laughs]

Langa turned back to Na'koma. "Merreddyd said you wanted to see me. Why? We’ve never met.”

Had Chaos told his Disciple about Langa? The gods were unable to share unknown information about mortals with other mortals, though. He frowned. Did that rule apply to The Quartenity as well? Surely, The Unrivalled regulated them too, right?

"Every time someone uncovers something related to the Legacy I am inheriting, I can feel it," Na’koma said. “I wanted to see you because there was something in Psike's Grotto that belongs to my Legacy."

"What are you talking about?" Langa asked, even though he knew exactly what the item was. He wasn't stupid enough to hand it over for free, since, even though he couldn't equip it, he knew it was valuable. That was why he hadn't sold it. "I sold everything I couldn't equip from Psike's Grotto."

Na’koma's gaze was sharp, and his eyes locked onto Langa as if he could see through his soul. "Even without Motyan confirming to me that you obtained the item," Na’koma said. "I can feel it on you."

Motyan again? Who the hell was this Motyan and why did he keep telling people about Langa? First Synn, now this guy?

Langa snorted. "So what? Surely you don't expect me to hand a hard-earned item over to you for free, do you?" he asked. "I doubt you can take it from me by force since even without the backlash, you're locked up."

Merreddyd's karma observed them, her hand resting on her cane.

The old man's eyes narrowed. "For me to bargain with you, I need to see the item's effects."

That was fair, and since he was still behind bars, there was no danger in showing it to him. Langa reached into his Feathervault bag and pulled out the pair of gauntlets he’d taken from Psike’s treasure chest.

[Hdragucjy’s Berserker Gauntlets

Rank: Uncommon

A pair of gauntlets especially designed to control the 14th Affinity from consuming the newly Attuned.

Effects: Zimu Berserker

When Zimu Berserker is used, the effects of the 14th Affinity are amplified and more control is possible. The special stat: Endurance will increase by 15% for 60 seconds.

Restrictions: Level 13 and Above. May only be equipped by members of the lost race or those who possess the 14th Affinity. Must have the special stat: Endurance.]

Did that mean Na'koma was a member of the lost race, or was he just inheriting their Legacy?

The moment the item emerged, the room seemed to darken, and Na’koma’s blue eyes flared. The maestrils outside the cell focused on him, their weapons drawn as his body shook again.

“Na’koma! Focus!” Merreddyd snapped and whacked him in the head through the bars with her cane.

Na’koma's eyes burned green with desire. "That's it. Hand them over to me, give them... Now... I can put them to good use."

"Why should I trust you? You're Chaos' Chosen, and you clearly can't control the void magic inside you," Langa said. "If I give this to you, the negative karma from you hurting people or whatever with it will be added on to me."

Na’koma's expression turned serious. "Do you think The Guardian Knight would let me out if I were truly dangerous? She would kill me herself. I need those gauntlets to control my Legacy. Do you have any idea how terrible it feels when someone else gets a piece of a Legacy that has become an integral part of you?” he asked.

Langa blinked. If anyone else got a piece of Tonare’s Legacy before him, he would strike them down and pry it from their cold, dead hands. That was how integral it was to him. “I don't know, If it’s worth so much, I could probably sell it for a lot on the Dent,” Langa mused, taunting him.

“That item is worth more than mere gold. I will give you this,” Na'koma said. “According to Motyan and Tibuana, this is an item that will be of great use to you.”

He fished something from his robes and Merreddyd stepped forward to receive it before showing it to Langa. It looked like an incomplete compass. It was small and round with a polished lodestone bar, that featured a distinct groove at one end, inscribed with magical glyphs.

[Mlela's Dira

Item Rank: Uncommon

Description: An artefact created by the Mlela people during their war with the Okonma, to divine the location of their people due to rampant kidnappings.

Effects:

Singular Tracking: Once bound to the findee through a personal item, the dira guides the bearer towards their location. To activate this artefact, the bearer must bind the artefact with a personal item of the findee, establishing a karma link that guides the dira.

The binding item used must either contain the findee's mana signature/karma bond/blood tie, establishing an unbreakable connection to the findee.

The groove at the lodestone's end displays letters that constantly shift, guided by magical forces, to indicate the findee’s direction and proximity.

Restrictions: This artefact will only work if there is a karma bond between the bearer and the findee.]

Langa frowned. Could he use this to find Fi Kindaro? Na'koma had just mentioned one the people Langa disliked the most in the Tower. The fucking Seer Tibuana who'd made that shitty prophecy about him. No wonder this Motyan seemed to know stuff about him if she worked with him.

“An uncommon item for an uncommon item? But you need your Legacy more than I need this,” Langa said, annoyed.

Na’koma sighed. “Fine. I will also owe you a favour,” he said. “I will do anything for you that is within my power on any Floor, anytime. Merr can Inscribe a system contract for me.”

Merreddyd gasped as if she couldn’t believe it. Was a favour from Na’koma a big deal? Langa’d seen him fight, so he supposed if he was in a pickle, he could call this guy for help. While it would be good leverage to have the Disciple of a member of The Great Quartenity owe him, he didn’t trust this guy.

Langa took a deep breath, weighing his options. “Do you really trust him?” he asked Merreddyd.

“Of course not, but because of the nature of his power, he can infiltrate the voi-dens easily, he knows the voidents from the inside out. He has access to intel that we need, so we have to use him,” she snapped. “Him owing you a favour is a big deal.”

Langa sighed. He couldn’t use the gauntlets since he didn’t meet the requirements to equip them and none of his friends did either. He took Merreddyd’s small hand and placed the gauntlets there.

“If he misuses these gauntlets, it's on you,” he said. “I will cash in my favour when I need it.”

“I’ll make him sign the system contract when I give this to him... once he's clear," Merreddyd said, putting the gauntlets away.

“They are mine!” Na’koma suddenly shouted, his eyes turning green again, his hair wild again as he lunged towards them and Langa activated Flash Step, moving back.

Light burst from Merreddyd’s cane and struck the prisoner in the chest in a single flash before Langa could draw his weapon, and he slumped onto the floor, unconscious. She waved a hand and the chains snaked around Na’koma again.

“Must you aggravate him so?” she asked. If she could, he knew she would be glaring at him.

She lowered herself onto the floor, and her wings disappeared. She pointed to an empty cell along the corridor and said. “Get in here. Before you leave, I'll take you up on your sparring offer.”

She walked into the cell and he followed her, both surprised at her changing her mind and intrigued.

“I saw your interview at Tishiba Stadium. I was not going to say anything, but your fearlessness with Na'koma just now worries me. You need to learn something. You are in no position to challenge me or any other rankers. This is my Tower,” she said, her back turned.

“What?” Langa asked, standing still. She’d only cleared the 30th Floor last night; how did she already know about that? “Your Tower? Prove it,” he said stubbornly.

This cell was different in that it didn't have the mavale crystalline bars, meaning they could use mana inside it.

Merreddyd straightened up and drew a pure white katana from inside her cane. “Begin.”

Langa smiled, his heartbeat slowly picking up. “What about the backlash?”

“Don’t worry. I have locked my level, and all the pain you feel will be reduced; I won't really hurt you,” she promised. "I want to teach you something. But let's not use divine skills. I don't want to accidentally kill you."

Langa stood at one end of the empty cell and sped forward, Tonare cutting through the air between them. Merreddyd barely reacted, lazily parrying the blow with her sword. She wore a calm expression but the pressure of power from her lazy strike on the glaive pushed down on him, letting him know he couldn’t win a battle of strength.

He infused lightning into Tonare and Flash Stepped behind her, stabbing straight towards her side, but she twitched ever so slightly, and Tonare missed her by less than an inch.

Langa tried to outpace her, using his speed to move around the cell quickly, trying to strike from different angles with Tonare but even though she appeared to be standing still, he couldn’t touch her. She moved only an inch or two, effortlessly throwing his attacks off course.

She turned to face him, and there was nothing in her eyes. He didn't know how to distract her or feint to fool her gaze since she couldn't see. Could he use his jerkin to hide from her? No, the jerkin's Distortion Skill specifically worked on distorting the light and hiding him from sight so it would be useless against her.

Was she relying on the sound of his movements to anticipate his attacks? The only explanations were either that she was faster than him, dodging in real-time, or that she could read his movements before he made them.

Merreddyd calmly and easily disarmed him time and time again. She would throw his weapon back to him before he even realised it was gone and beckon him to try attacking her again.

The maestrils watched them, cheering and jeering. Langa could hear them laughing at him from outside the cell, betting karma on how soon she would take him out. He couldn't stand creatures of The Dark Void making fun of him as he grunted in pain, feeling the strength of her most recent parry.

He tapped into his stamina and mana activating his new skill, and Nahuke's Left Eye opened. He could see Merreddyd clearly, and noticed every small movement she made, and yet the Eye didn't show him any weak points. Had The Thousand Undead given him a useless skill after all? Despite his best efforts, Langa found himself unable to strike her, even though she hadn’t moved from her spot throughout the entire fight. His heart was overworking to give him the energy he needed and he was getting annoyed now, so he decided that, screw it, he was going to activate his attribute and Thunderbird’s Stunning Strike simultaneously.

With his raging heartbeat, time slowed down, and he used his velocity to rush at her, only for her hand to grab his wrist and twist it painfully with brute force, forcing him to drop his weapon.

“What the hell?” he muttered, shocked at her ability to move inside his slowed-down time.

Merreddyd raised her arm, her katana flashed, the blade stopping just short of his neck.

"You're too slow, ya," Merreddyd said, her voice amused. “Rule number 1. Never use spatial magic against me. I operate in my own time and space.”

Time came crashing back at him as she kneed him in the abdomen, the disproportionate power from her small body sending him flying.

She was toying with him and he couldn’t stand it. He gathered his mana and moved it through his nerves towards his heart. He could feel a sharp pain as the lightning came alive inside him, and envisioned the magic circle Inscribed on his chest. He decided to break the rules and try out Liberty’s gift.

He began to infuse every symbol inside that tattoo with mana. Electricity surged inside him, and the current flowed into the magic circle as if it were a part of his nervous system too.

"Cheating, are you?” Merreddyd asked. She could probably feel the increase in his mana. The increase in mana made the maestrils outside even rowdier, shouting, and growling.

“You’re free to defend yourself,” Langa said, concentrating on summoning the Lightning Lance.

She sighed. “There’s a reason I said no divine skills, ya, but I suppose your arrogant self can only learn things the hard way.”

For the first time since he started using Lightning Lance, he felt resistance in his Faith as he tried to activate it. It was not the tattoo, the magic circle activated quickly and perfectly, but it was almost as if the divine skill itself was reluctant to go against Merreddyd. But Langa wasn’t one to let anything, not even the power of a god, control him, so he focused his will on the Divine Nexus and forced the Lance to materialise and home in on Merreddyd.

As the massive spear of pure blue lightning soared through the air towards her, the aura surrounding Merreddyd hardened, and her body grew as new armour appeared on her. The armour was blindingly bright, and her golden hair was tied back neatly as a halo appeared above her head. The armour did not seem to be made of metal, leather, or any other material Langa had ever heard of. All he knew was that it was filled with light magic that radiated unimaginable power.

All the maestrils outside the cell scattered and ran off in one fell swoop, except Bissilsim the warden. It wasn't surprising. They were creations of Chaos, and she was the Avatar of Order.

On her neck was a silver gorget leading to the black breastplate that covered her torso, with the large logo of the Guardians on it. Around her wrists were gauntlets decorated with red rubies. Below the waistguard were silver cuisses and silver greaves with black knee pads. Her katana glowed with silver energy, and she sprouted silver wings on her back as she looked down at him.

She was the Guardian Knight of Justice.

Langa felt his control on his Faith slip and the Lightning Lance trembled in the air. How could he believe in anything else when a divine angel was standing, clad in heavenly robes, right in front of him, ready to pass righteous judgment on him?

The Guardian Knight raised her holy white sword and it met the Lightning Lance in the air, colliding with it. Rapidly, the Lance became consumed, and the Faith Langa had been holding onto fizzled out, and he couldn't breathe. His mana was dangerously low, as Merreddyd turned the glowing sword towards him.

Langa couldn’t move. Oh shit, she was going to run him through with her sword! She thrust the sword onto the ground next to his head, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

“Rule number 2, Do not EVER use divine skills against someone with both a higher ranking deity than you and a higher Faith level. It’s a quick way to die, and I guess no one told you, but it can lead to karma-attenuance, which is permanently fatal,” she said. Her voice was no longer that of a young woman but that of a holy knight. "Rule number 3. If your Faith is so easily shaken, do not ever battle Anarchist because you will lose before you even begin the battle."

Throughout this session, Merreddyd hadn't used any skills except for the divine one, and it reaffirmed what Langa already knew. He was not a match for her. There was someone so far ahead of him on his path that he couldn't even see her back. Langa swallowed hard, feeling not embarrassment but admiration for the angelkin.

"You are amazing," he told her honestly. He could feel the essence of Adtonifulmin inside him, basking in The Unrivalled's holy power. It was warm and comforting, and it filled him with the desire to do only what was right. He could tell that Adtonifulmin's feelings for The Unrivalled weren't just myth or for show, he genuinely loved being in her presence.

Merreddyd looked like an extension of The Unrivalled herself and it made Langa wonder if he could do the same with Adtonifulmin’s power. Could he wear it like a second skin, and carry a godly presence inside him?

Once again, he knew the easiest way to do this was to accept Adtonifulmin's offer to be his Visage.

Langa didn't want to think about that right now, but he looked forward to the day when he would be able to fight evenly with Merreddyd because that day would come.

The armour disappeared, and Merreddyd shrank back to her normal self, tilting her head to the side, her blank eyes observing him. "You don't feel subdued; ya? You seem excited and determined," she said, puzzled. "You didn't learn anything, did you?"

Langa grinned. "I learnt that the day I cut through your armour with my spear, I will taste sweet, sweet, victory," he said.

"Fool." Merreddyd just sighed in resignation.