An exotic-looking flower appeared individually in each of their hands except Patrick’s. It was a slightly wilted cerulean flower, except for its slightly rustic edges it looked extremely ordinary.

Due to Patrick’s lack of contribution, he didn’t manage to receive a special reward from the Trial. This was a little unfortunate but it wasn’t a futile effort. He would at the very least get something out of it, no matter how little.

Noah’s agitation was gone as he started to ponder on more important matters. He looked at Daine who was holding her shoulder, she was looking down as she was still teary-eyed. She gripped the flower in her hand tightly.

All around them were various plants and herbs of exotic quality, perfect and pristine. Roughly half of the herbs around them were common yet their freshness was something one wouldn’t be able to look down on. As for the rare herbs with extreme qualities, they all stuck out like gold in the ground.

“I apologize, Daine. I took it too far.” Noah started rubbing his head. His possessive nature starts coming to light once it relates to something he desires. He had been trying to tone it down but it gets the best of him sometimes.

Daine ignored his words, “I’ll go find someone to… where’s everyone?” She looked all around them only to not find another living soul. A place that’s supposed to be filled with people trying to earn a living had no one here.

Patrick also tried looking around but also failed to see anyone else there. He even noticed a pile of leaves on the ground of varying colors, it appeared to be the reward of one of the Trials.

“That’s weird. Any idea what could’ve happened?” Patrick asked Daine, as the only person who had any idea of the culture down here, she was the only person out of the three that could have any answers.

Noah took a whiff of the air, “There’s no stench of blood. No one died. That’s odd, did everyone just disappear?”

Daine wracked her head, “This shouldn’t be the case at all. I don’t know what happened, let’s head out.”

Before they left, Noah examined the pile of vegetation and took a few herbs that he fancied. As for the Echoing Bloom in his hand, he stored it away. Daine didn’t attempt to intervene with Noah’s actions at all, there were more important matters ahead.

Leaving the premises, Daine led them out of the area when they finally heard something odd. It sounded as if it was a strong thud, force against force.

Running towards the source of conflict, they both saw two figures duking it out full force. A girl carrying an insane look in her eyes as she gnashed her teeth attempting to rip out her opponent’s neck. And a red-haired youth clashing against her at every moment, it was clear that he was biding his time to inflict a lethal attack.

“Sefi!” Daine shouted out.

Noah had his hands behind his back, he didn’t have any intentions of interfering in this one. Lucas wasn’t someone that needed his protection after all.

An ominous ruby glow covered Sefi’s body, embodying the madness to strengthen herself. This ominous glow stuck to Lucas’ flesh trying to penetrate his skin yet couldn’t. As soon as Lucas felt his hand slowly turn numb, he clawed the infected flesh apart from his body.

From an open wound of mauled flesh, it could be seen that Lucas’ body was regenerating itself in real-time. It was completely unbelievable that he could do this. That was the case until Noah glanced at a pendant that Lucas had been hiding this entire time.

Their battle had caused Lucas’ clothes to rip and tear apart, revealing his extremely trained body. Numerous scars and wounds covered his body like a tattoo. Swinging side to side, an orange pendant was accompanying him.

From within this strange pendant, bits of Malum exit it and enter Lucas’ body. From this, it was clear what the pendant’s effects were.

“A healing Fragment, those are really rare,” Noah noted, that such a valuable Fragment wasn’t something just anyone could have. Injuries for a Solver are extremely detrimental. Having a safety net would let a Solver be a little bit more risky with their decisions, netting them with greater rewards.

Noah noted that Lucas had both a healing Fragment and a Combat Technique that also focused on regeneration. This was quite an irritating opponent to face against.

Sefi was growing more and more impatient as time went on. Her opponent was extremely annoying to deal with, any attack she launched caused damage to her opponent yet he just healed it all right back up. Meanwhile, all the attacks he caused her were although minimal, adding up.

Lucas’ fighting style was playing extremely safe, taking the path that would let him escape the opponent’s grasp. Although he might have his limbs broken or a hole appears in his chest, he could just heal it all up.

“The difference is too much, right?” Lucas mocked her. He waited for Sefi’s fingers to dig into his shoulder, taking this opportunity to kick her thighs, weakening her stance. Sefi was taken off balance yet she made sure to rip out a chunk of his flesh as she went down.

With Lucas jumping away and Sefi trying to rip him apart, a large section of Lucas’ shoulder was taken. This didn’t matter at all as his shoulder visibly regained its mass once again. No matter how much damage Sefi inflicts, it would be rendered null.

As for her, despite only taking weak attacks, they were piling up on her body. With no Combat Technique to properly control her Malum, it was essentially a waste in this battle. As for Lucas, he only uses Malum which he needed, ensuring that he would be able to outlast his opponent.

A very cowardly way to battle yet it was obviously effective. It doesn’t matter if you used your fists or a gun, as long as you managed to kill your opponent then it was all the same.

Sefi was clearly losing her ground, the accumulated amount of stress on her body was causing her to break down. Her violent aura was slowly easing down against her will.

“It’s time to end this. Combat Technique, Culled Future.” Lucas plunged his right hand directly into his left arm, digging deep into his arm. He ruthlessly pulled inside, causing an unsightly line of ruptured skin to appear. Blood poured out of his arm, causing the floor to be tainted with his blood.

Sefi’s instincts reacted faster than her brain could. Throwing her pride away, she ran away, the sensation of death was far too solidified to fight against.

Lucas took in a deep breath as blood poured out faster and faster to the point that he felt lightheaded. He looked at Sefi's running figure and snickered. “The Combat Technique, the Fragment, and the personality of the person should all come together as one. The perfect trifecta.”

“Not to mention not having a Combat Technique, your personality does not align with your Fragment. What a complete waste.” Lucas sighed, he saw Sefi as a completely wasted product.

Before they could even blink, Lucas already appeared before Sefi. He winded up a punch directly into her gut. She could feel her inside break and be torn apart. The force was so great that it could even be heard all the way where Daine and the others were.

Sefi felt the impact so great that she vomited blood on Lucas’ clothes. She kneeled down in complete defeat, she had lost her consciousness. The ominous red aura around her dissipated.

Noah’s ears perked when he heard Lucas speak of what he had noticed about Sefi. The personality and Fragment do not match?

Noah’s eyes glanced back at Daine. “That makes much more sense now.”

“What?” Daine felt Noah’s gaze on her and felt uneasy. She was trying to suppress any emotion on her face. Although it was a secret she had just spoken out about, she acted as if she didn’t understand.

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“Nothing, let’s get your sister some treatment. Luckily, I took a herb that could bring someone to a dead-like state. That should save enough time before anything serious happens.” Noah took out a green herb with sleek stems.

After dealing with Sefi’s matters, Lucas came forward to greet Daine with a bright smile on his face. “Tell Rion I did well, yeah? I want the next shipment half off. Now that’s done, that sobered me up, how about it? Treat me to another drink?”

Daine had conflicted feelings about the entire incident. She didn’t want her life to be this complicated.

“I’ll carry her,” Patrick spoke up, this was the least he could do. With how this situation was playing out, he carried her on his back.

“Let’s just… keep moving…” Daine took them to explore the city even more.

~~~

The following few days were relatively quiet. Fiona noticed Noah and Sefi’s disappearance. With such a predicament, Professor Ferial didn’t change her stance on the rules at all. Despite such an obvious flaw with their plan, she didn’t give up at all, continuing to find even more Perfect Clears.

“We managed to find 23 Perfect Clears so far, keep going! We still have two weeks left!” Fiona raised everyone’s morale, something she had learned in her change.

On Arin’s side, the loyal meatshields that Marlet had sent over. Without fail, they were all Bind Solvers. It was clear that these 12 Bind Solvers were quite unsatisfied with how they were taking orders from such a little kid.

Arin stood in front of these Bind Solvers with a scrutinous eye. Compared to his expectations, the age range of these Bind Solvers was on the younger side. Instead of the average of being around 40 years old and above, they were all around their late 20s.

If they were all Bind Solvers at such a young age then it meant that they were no doubt talented. Though not to the point of being unbelievable geniuses.

With such strength, they would mostly be able to carry on as long as they don’t offend anyone too outrageous. This was how terrifyingly powerful Bind Solvers were, not to mention twelve of them.

Understanding that they were all strong, he didn’t mind that part at all. The only thing he was slightly confused was that… they were all women.

“Is that it?” Arin looked down on these women.

A girl wearing a crown walked forward. It was clear that she was the leader of this group. It was also clear that she was extremely angry at how lowly she was placed in the organization’s eyes.

“Sir Arin, as ordered, we will aid you in completing these Trials for a limited duration. That was the agreed upon contract, anything else outside this agreement isn’t allowed.” Undeniably, these twelve women all had seductive figures that could easily tempt any man.

Arin didn’t care what they were thinking of, there was only one thing that mattered to him. “How loyal are you?”

“As I said, we will aid you.” The girl with a crown bowed down, submitting in front of him.

Arin raised his hand, motioning one person to come over with a specific set of tools. From the looks of it, they were all materials needed to enslave someone.

“Do it,” Arin ordered.

As this person came over to start the process, the girl with a crown shouted out in disagreement. “There’s no need to do this at all!”

“I think otherwise.”

“There’s no way we would disobey our higher-up’s orders! Adding on the fact that your father personally ordered this, we wouldn’t dare revolt at all!” She spoke out all the facts.

“That’s the thing, you fear my father…” Arin walked over closer to her. “You don’t fear me. There’s no telling what you’ll do inside these Trials.”

She clenched her fists tightly. She looked behind her only to see the obvious emotion of fear dawning in their eyes. They didn’t want to be enslaved like this.

She bowed her head, even making an audible slam as her head met the marble floor. “Then just enslave me! My people will listen to my orders, obediently!”

He looked at the shivering Bind Solvers behind their leader. He couldn’t help but feel disgusted with how soft they were. If a group this spineless could gain the power of a Bind Solver then he was starting to doubt whether there really was a shortage of resources.

“Do it. Mark her.” Arin wanted to get this little play over with as soon as possible. He didn’t have a lot of time left to deal with the Trials. At this time, he wanted to get a Fragment and gather as much Essence as possible.

The girl with a crown helplessly let the man before her brand her. It had a different symbol than the one that the man had. If anything, it had similarities to the ones that were branded on Noah, Sefi, and Patrick.

She never felt such shame before. Even being treated like a waste wasn’t as bad as this. Regardless, she still needed to greet her new owner. “S-Sir A-Arin… my name’s Emilia. Please keep your word.”

“Don’t use ‘sir’ just call me by my name.” Arin started walking off to the area where the Trials were held. “Who’s the weakest link?”

“What?” Emilia was taken aback by what Arin just said. “Weakest link?”

Arin narrowed his eyes, “I’m not going to repeat myself.”

Emilia didn’t expect Arin to call her out like this so suddenly. She looked back behind her to see a particularly smaller girl among her group. She looked down as if she was guilty. It was clear that she was the so-called ‘weakest link.’

“It’s this girl, Maya.” Emilia pointed at the girl looking down. Based on her physique and looks, she was much cuter than the rest of them. But this had a drawback, it was clear that she focused more on being flirtatious than being physically strong.

“Let’s get to it. I’ll give you a detailed list of what you need to do.” Arin started writing down all the steps he wanted the little girl to do. After that, he casually threw it at her and pointed at the Trial he wanted her to enter.

Trial: Arcane Truth

Difficulty: Maze

Participants: 1

Restrictions: Unable to use Malum

Goal: Take the Treasure

Rewards: Malum

Sephirah: -33

۝̷̙̤̥̊͑́Ꞡ̸̛̥̖̱̯̈́͜ꝸ̴̦͐̏̿̕Ꙟ̵̤̰̲̤̈́̀͊̾ꓶ̸̨̠̫̰̘̽̋͌̑ⱴ̵̗͈͙̥̑̈́̋̃͗ꭁ̷̩̪̽̒̄͒̔ͅꭁ̸͇̜̀ἒ̴̹̲̳̺̥́̂̆͘͝ễ̴͔̞͂̅̎̀ج̵̻̇̒̀͊ݨ̸̗̺̪͗͒̽̿̕ڠ̸̬̖͊̊ջ̷̹͈̏͛̂͋͝ͅ۝̴̫̮͈̍̔͊͂̒

֍̸̰̫̮͖̇̇͐́̈́̂́̔۩̴͍͖̮̙͙͑̑̇͌́̓̎̒̾̉͋̆͝ͅڠ̶̡̰̞̩̟̬̪̭̫̬͖̹͈̋̅̃̅̈́̈͝Ⴟ̸̰̜̮̋͌̄̀̿͘ڀ̴̧̛̥̻̟̟̮̣̈́̂́̏̌͛̍̐͐͝ͅᴥ̶̨̢̯͙̪͙͓̬͔̿͛̍ﮮ̷͇̟̻̰͇͌̿͌͋͒́̋͊̐̊̈̌̚ͅﯚ̵̛̜̣̬̎͊͒͆̌̎̾̍̅ﺹ̸̢͖͚͉̤̖͉̬̟̭̈́̅ჭ̷̡͔̤͎͐̆͌́͗̄̅̍̚Ⴕ̵̼̱̘̫͙͆̆̈́̍͝֍̵̢͎̥̻̯͐̊̈́̿̽͆́̅́͝

Ѻ̴̢̭̪͔̤͈̳̩͍̥̥͓͙͛̃͝ԩ̶̧̱̟̣̣̻͖̖̹̭̗̇̈́̓́͝₰̴̤͍̰̦͕̲̬̐̐̇̅̈́́͂̕͝͝ꙮ̸̡̱͓̦̇͐̉̒͠͠ͅⴊ̷̛͓̟͍̗̼̟̯̦̪͓͇̇͛̀͋̀͛̓̈́̌̕ⴆ̴̢̨͈͕̩̙̮̳̳͖̀̾̄͘ᾈ̸̣̙̼̏͝Ꚍ̵̨̧̼̖̮͎͕̲̘̃͂͋͐̾͛̈́͛̕͝ﬨ̶̯̬̥̮̥̳͙͛̓͛͒́͆͒ﷺ̵̢̧̜͚̫̼͓̭̥̣̞̌̑́̐̿͜͜ﮃ̶̢̻̮̓̿ꜳ̶̢̣̜͇͎͙̣̰͚͓̱̱̙͒̒͒̀̊̍̊̏̆̅̒̔͠א̶ָ̧̳̣̼̗̘̒̉͜ﮋ̸̨̧̢̗͎͖͕̹̲̙̞͕́̌̚ͅპ̷̡̦̻̱̘̪̘̰͎̙͚̬͐̏̚̚͝Ჱ̵̡̢̻̲͔͙̿͋̈́́͋̆́ڄ̴̢̆̾͌̏Ყ̶̧̞͎̫̭̞̜̱͚̩͗͆̈́̊̆͆͐̑͂Ჱ̴̡̖͚̜͇͍̓̄͒͂̾Ә̵̛̛̟̹̭̙͔̣̟̲̬̽̀́̈̐̿̇͗͠Ԗ̷̨̪̻͉̯̮̻̉̈́ǂ̵͉̩̜̔̉̀̌ʢ̶̨̺͔͓̮͔̞͚͕̻̮́̇͌ͅ҉̷̡̢̯̩͓̖̘̫̦͍͎͚͋̃́̀̄̀͑͆̒̾͆͠

It was the very same Trial that had nearly taken his life. He wanted her to do the exact same thing except for one specific order, she was to never take her restraints off. This was the only order that she received.

“Are you sure she’s loyal? Because there will be consequences otherwise.” Arin doubled back on Emilia, he wasn’t joking around. The degree of seriousness on his face even made her doubt her own comrades.

“Maya will not betray your expectations.” Emilia closed her eyes as Maya entered the Maze Trial. After she saw the specifications of the Trial, she felt that this Trial was extremely odd. For a restriction to restrict Malum meant that this was an unbelievably dangerous Trial.

Arin saw Maya enter the Trial. After doing so, Arin didn’t talk to any of them, opting to wait for the results to showcase itself. He wanted to see just how ‘loyal’ they truly were.

At the beginning of the Trial, there was a small decision in the beginning. Arin didn’t know what would change so he ordered her to choose to ‘Embrace the truth,’ the same decision he chose.

Based on his previous experience, once Maya left her cell, if she still had her iron restraints then she would immediately be transported back in time. During this time, she was ordered to do anything she wished that didn’t conflict with the initial rule. At this point, there was only one outcome.

There was a reason why Arin chose the weakest link, this was a death sentence to see just how loyal they really were. If Maya survived then Arin would simply let it be, he wasn’t going to execute a Bind Solver for surviving. It just meant that other than Emilia, he couldn’t trust the rest.

On the other hand, if Maya died with her eyes scorched and her ears bleeding, then he would be a little more lenient to them. His future actions would be affected by the outcome of this Bind Solver’s actions.

Emilia was extremely worried for her teammate’s fate. After hearing rumors of how cruel and sadistic Kian and Arin were, she couldn’t help but lament that they didn’t do these monsters justice.

Although it was common for people to be quite murderous, to be this exaggerated was still out of the ordinary. It’s always the strong ones that have crazy tendencies.

The other ten Bind Solvers were becoming uneasy. Despite clearly being much stronger than Arin, the social construct of going against their superiors shackled them. To be following the orders of someone so weak, despite being so much more talented than them, was embarrassing.

Soon enough, the results of the Trial showed itself. Maya… was dead. Her eyeballs were melted into her face, still dripping down on the floor. Her ears were stained red as her eardrums had busted from the song of the angel.

Her hands were placed together despite clearly not being shackled, meaning that she had followed through with Arin’s words until the very end. This caused Arin to smile, it seemed that Marlet really did give genuinely loyal meatshields for him.

Emilia was wide-mouthed, staggeringly walking forward in tears. She knew that death surrounded this family but for her close friend to die such a tragic death this early on for no other reason than to satiate Arin’s whims was maddening.

“She died in the way she should’ve. Noble.” Arin was pleasantly surprised that Maya died perfectly.

“Maya!” Emilia ran up to her dead friend’s corpse with tears forming down her face. “Do you have no heart?! People die all the time but… for it to be this senseless! Why?”

“Your ‘friend’ gave you eleven quite the endorsement. You are pretty loyal.” Arin started walking away, in the direction of the Maze Trials that had group participation. With a semi-reliable team to tackle the Maze Trials ahead, he was ready to get a Perfect Clear this time around.

Emilia clenched her dead friend in her arms. “At least let me bury her.” The beautiful garden that Maya had verbally expressed she liked earlier was now her new home.

“Make it quick.” These evil words made Emilia bite her lip so hard it bled. She knew that there were people who were evil but… to this degree? It was the first time she saw something like it.