Glenn's eyes were stuck on the two parts of the dark greenish pearl falling in a myriad of black dust, the remnants of the flames produced by his axe burning out slowly.

Having delivered the most powerful attack of his life, the young man fell, with nothing to catch him or stop his fall. He crashed on the cold mirror-like ground, rolling for a few meters before finally stopping.

The mystical strength previously inhabiting him was gone, replaced with a deep sense of jubilation. The purple glow on his left arm dimmed down before completely disappearing. The young man laid on his back in a cross position, his arms wide open.

"...Hahhh, hahh..." Glenn slowly caught his breath as his heart rate slowed down, and the adrenaline flowing in his veins receded.

He closed his eyes, knowing that the fight was over. With habit, he plunged into his Mana Heart, discovering a new development.

A third circle of runes now surrounded the Magellanic Clouds, but this one wasn't of the same neutral, grayish color as the first two circles. Instead, this Third Circle was made of golden runic letters shining bright in the light emitted by the stars of the Magellanic Clouds. Rays of light were reflecting against the gold, creating a myriad of golden-colored tints.

'Is this gold thing because of the Goddess' influence or simply my natural disposition?' The young man pondered, baffled by how beautiful this spectacle was. Nonetheless, that Third ring of runes could only mean one thing.

"Holy shit, I broke through!" Glenn blurted out in disbelief. He rubbed his eyes and checked again, but the third circle remained. He smirked, the corner of his lips trembling before he let out a laugh of relief. His stress and worries vanished like snow in the sun, replaced by the happiness of finally breaking through the wall that had blocked him for months.

"Congratulations on becoming a True Initiate, Glenn!" Diamanes praised him, genuinely happy for his host, "Bravo, I would even dare to say. Ohhh, but we have so many things we can finally talk about, now!"

The entity seemed very excited, making Glenn think of an excited teenager who just learned of the most exciting gossip. The young man took one deep breath, smiling widely, before rolling and pushing himself from the ground.

He walked with a bright smile toward Tarana and Wilbur, who were still recuperating from the harrowing experience of practically dying and coming back to life. In doing so, he noticed that the black goo was completely disappearing, sinking into the ground unnaturally. The knight was sitting while hugging his knees, his face pale and eyes widened. He was biting down on his nails fervently, his gaze lost in the distance.

"I'm never listening to my uncle again, never..." Wilbur mumbled, rocking himself like a baby. Glenn didn't give him focus on him, instead pulling Tarana up to her feet. The lady grabbed the hand without looking, before realizing she was touching the purple arm that looked like the limb of a demon back when Glenn was fighting.

She jerked her hand back, fright mixed with confusion filling her eyes. Glenn looked at his left arm, wincing when he saw that the purple had progressed even further on his arm, up to his biceps. The weird inscriptions had also deepened in color, making them more apparent and giving it a closer look to an actual tattoo. Glenn smiled awkwardly, pulling his hand back and scratching the back of his head in a pitiful casual act.

"What, not a fan of tattoos?" He asked jokingly, trying to lighten the atmosphere. Tarana only stepped back, her hand resting on the hilt of her falx sword, while Wilbur was startled and hid himself in his knees.

Glenn's eyebrows creased while he sighed before he shook his head dejectedly. He looked back at the heart he cut down, seeing its last reminders transform into ashes. Without the support of the main "organ", the dark branches had fallen to the ground, freeing their victims.

Glenn suddenly recognized one of the falling figures and moved quickly toward it. The man was face down, so Glenn had to turn him onto his back. He was careful with his movements since he had no idea whether the man was alive or not. And indeed, Javier, the hunter from the Southern Continent, was lying there, his face paler than ever and his left hand missing.

The young man approached his ear from the chest of the more-than-pale man, listening for any sound, and sighed in relief once he heard the weak beating of a heart. He had no idea of how the dark branches connected to their victims, but there didn't seem to be any visible traces on Javier's body.

Glenn sat down, breathing out slowly. He felt as if a weight was off his shoulders, but he didn't know the source of such relief. Perhaps it was to know that their companion was still alive, or simply that they had indeed survived this crap. He couldn't tell.

He checked all the other corpses, but Javier was the only survivor, probably because he had been taken in the latest. In addition, he stayed in this captured state for not that long, so there shouldn't be too many sequels.

The young man froze when he met with the corpse that talked to him, asking to be "hacked down". His eyes were opened widely in pain, blank and glassy. Dark, viscous liquid was flowing from every one of his orifices, tainting his checkered shirt.

Glenn kneeled and closed the eyes of the man, before letting a sigh. He shook his head and turned back toward Tarana, who was kneeling beside Javier, giving him first aid for his cut-off hand.

'Well, that was one hell of a fight! How did you do it?' Diamanes asked impatiently, back to speaking into his host's mind. Said host shrugged, smiling mysteriously.

'Why don't you look through my mind?' He taunted him, happy to get one over Diamanes.

The entity didn't wait for even a second as it went and dug inside Glenn's memories, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the reason for his host's breakthrough or any souvenirs linked to it. It was as if a bit of his life disappeared without any reason.

Diamanes struggled for a few more minutes before giving up. Glenn laughed maniacally in his mind, clearly mocking him.

'Well, well, how does it feel to be on the other side, huh?'

'Shut up! Damn it, there is no way you could hide your memories from me unless a god intervened... How the hell...?' Diamanes despaired, going back to scavenging Glenn's memories for answers. If there was one thing the entity couldn't support, it was to leave his curiosity unfulfilled. The corner of the young man's lips twitched before he looked at the ceiling.

Well, there wasn't much to see. It was only darkness for as far as his eyes could go. That brought up quite the important issue of: how the hell were they supposed to get out of this hole?

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The answer soon came by itself when a rift of light broke through the darkness above them. Dirt fell on the faces of the team, before the ceiling crumbled down, not supported by the mysterious power of the heart anymore. Glenn grabbed the Half-Moon axe and slipped it into his belt.

"It's...It's coming down!" Wilbur yelled, before receiving a bit of dirt in his mouth and coughing it out. Glenn rushed beside the two, grabbing the barely-tended Javier and throwing him on his shoulder at the same time.

Tarana stared at his purple arm, opening her mouth but not saying a word, before finally shaking her head dejectedly, and pointing her hand toward the falling ceiling. The rifts of light widened, pierced by thick roots that rushed toward the group.

"You got your ability back?" Glenn screamed over the chaos, his arm over his head to protect himself. Tarana nodded, too concentrated on controlling the roots to say a more developed answer.

'That means I can use magic again!' Glenn twisted his right hand, aiming above their heads. A blue, round, and transparent shield appeared, blocking the rubble from falling on them.

The roots rushed down while ignoring the falling rocks and dirt, soon arriving at their feet. Tarana jumped on one of them, inviting the others to do the same.

Glenn sat on a thick root, tightening his hold over them with his legs, since his left hand was used to keep Javier on his shoulder and his right hand maintaining the magic shield.

The roots trembled when everyone was finally installed, Wilbur hugging a root with all his strength.

"If there is one thing I can't take away from him, it's his survival instinct..." Glenn muttered, the corner of his lips twitching. He cast a last look behind at the enemy he slew, jumping in fright when he saw a row of persons and animals staring back at him.

"What the..." He mumbled in horror, his eyes wide open and his magic shield fluctuating from his loss of concentration.

The row of corpses then bowed at the same time, giving an eerie salute to the departing raid team, like puppets awkwardly moved around by their master.

The corpse who had his eyes closed by Glenn even waved, smiling with rotten teeth. A maggot popped from behind his glassy eye, and a dry, cavernous voice came out of his hardened lips.

"I'll see you again, Glenn..." The row of corpses collapsed, buried under the rubble. The young man looked back at the team, understanding that he was the only one who witnessed this nightmare.

'Did you see what I saw?' Glenn asked in his mind, hoping he wasn't simply going crazy.

'See what?' Diamanes replied with a confused voice. Glenn's eyebrows creased, and he bit down on his lips.

'No way I hallucinated that, right?' He thought, the young man doubting himself. A barely hidden snigger stopped his worries, as his expression hardened and swears surged out from his heart.

Diamanes laughed mockingly in his mind, the image of a middle finger appearing in Glenn's eyes.

'Well, want to try and get one over me? No damn way!' The entity kept laughing, ignoring his host's pleas to be serious for a second.

'Damn it, Diamanes, just tell me what the fuck was that?!?' The young man shivered, remembering the scene. His magic shield disappeared from protecting the team, so he had to cast it again, forcing him to focus back on the matter.

'Alright, alright... I think something, or "someone" talked through these dead fellows. No idea who that might be, though,' Diamanes explained with a tint of hesitation.

'The mastermind behind the placement of this Seed of Darkness?' Glenn theorized, wondering who could have such an ominous power. Talking through the dead and controlling them? That sounded like an undead lich prank... Do liches even exist in this world?

'Well...' Diamanes began uncomfortable, before getting cut off by Glenn's sigh.

'Of course, they do... ' Glenn felt as if he couldn't even get surprised anymore.

The roots finally pulled the team out of the dark space, the bright light of the sun blinding them. Glenn enjoyed the warm feeling on his skin, before feeling as if it was a little too warm. And why was there the scent of something burning ...?

When Glenn's sight came back, he blinked his eyes open to a flaming forest, the trees screaming in pain, their roots shaking and moving uncontrollably. A thick black smoke was rising over the forest, blocking the sunlight out.

What had blinded the team wasn't the sun, but the fire devouring the Blessed Grove.

'Huh, not so blessed anymore?' Diamanes scoffed in contempt. Glenn clenched his teeth, trying to find a path out through the flames, but it seemed like they were surrounded. And the roots could only bring them so far.

"Shit, I didn't survive that thing to die in a fucking forest fire!" Wilbur suddenly screeched, jumping off the root on the ground. His heavy armor made the ground tremble when he landed, and the man dashed straight through the fire, trusting his armor to save him.

Glenn and Tarana watched with baffled expressions, not uttering a word. Finally, they spoke at the same time, sharing their confusion.

"Is he stupid?"

"So he wants to die..."

Both reactions were different, but similar at the same time. A sweet but creepy voice then nudged Glenn inside his mind.

'Glenn~dear, I have the solution to your predicament~' The entity pronounced with a suave tone, making the young man shiver in fright.

"Holy crap!"

Tarana turned toward him, then at the fire, figuring he was swearing at it. Only her eyes going back and forth to the purple arm were showing her doubts and suspicions.

'Why on earth do you say it like that?' complained Glenn, before extending his shield to encompass him and Tarana. Javier was automatically included thanks to his position on the young man's shoulder. Fortunately, he wasn't too heavy. He was even a little light.

'Because it's funnier this way~' Diamanes continued with his antics, before chuckling and explaining what he meant by that.

'You became a True Initiate, and by that, opened a myriad of new possibilities using me,' The sound of lips smacking together rang in Glenn's mind.

'What kind of possibilities? I didn't "take" any spells with water properties yet, did I?' He asked doubtfully. The mouth in his palm appeared for a second, smiling proudly with all his teeth. Glenn hurriedly closed his hand, tightening it as he controlled himself from not swearing at the entity.

'I simply do not have the patience for that, Diamanes! Lives are at risk, right now!' He spat inside his mind, trying to make the entity understand the situation's urgency. A yawn echoed in his mind, making him want to rip off his hand and stuff it in the darkest, dampest place he could think of.

'Alright, alright,' Diamanes gave up after glancing into Glenn's threat, 'I'll simply state that you can use everything I "took" until now."

'Everything? What do you mean everything?' The young man couldn't help but ponder, confused and not exactly sure of what he just heard. His magic shield cracked when a tree fell on it, forcing him to push it off with a shockwave of Mana.

Tarana was trying to control the normal trees left but struggled to do so as the plants seemed to have a survival instinct of their own, fighting off the fire their way. Not exactly sure that was very efficient, though.

'Damn it, I don't have that much Mana left after that big fight,' Glenn winced. He still had enough to protect the team, but he wouldn't be able to hold forever.

'Think, think, "everything he took"... wait, everything?' Glenn's face suddenly blanked out, and he stared at his purple hand in awe. The smile in his palm had the corner of his lips rise comically high, creating a terrifying smile.

"Yes, everything," the entity whispered. Glenn blinked, then without a second of hesitation, shot his left hand forward, thinking back to that cold wave of dark liquid Diamanes swallowed earlier.

A second later, a river of liquid flew out of his hand, drowning the fire out. It wasn't black or viscous like how it was in the dark space. No, it was of a light blue reminiscent of the color of ice in winter.

Glenn's eyes and smile widened largely as let the river of cold liquid flow out, uncaring for his Mana expenses. Sizzling smoke was created at the contact of both energies, the cold liquid overcoming the fire, covering the trees and the ground in a thin layer of icy snow.

Quickly, a large area was secured with no fire burning inside, a white cloud of cold rising from the ground. Glenn jumped into the safe space he had created, his footsteps crunching the ground as he laid Javier down.

The rest of the forest continued to burn, ashes flying to the ground and settling on the team, staining the thin layer of icy snow black.

The young man sighed, before sitting down next to the unconscious Javier. Tarana, despite her fear and distrust, sat next to him as well, relaxing for a few minutes in this hell of an adventure.

She muttered a few words before resting her head against her knees, probably not intending for Glenn to hear them. But heard them nonetheless.

"It was supposed to be an easy job..."

'I guess the important word in there is "supposed"...'