Location: Wilderness south of the Welshmar Republic

A luxury carriage rattled down an old, dusty trail, illuminated in blinding lights, mostly sunstones and magical torches, as the sun started to set in the west. Inside it, Lord Reu suddenly hissed in pain as he dropped the crystal he had been fiddling with, small blisters appearing on his fingertips.

The green, jade-like crystal hit the carpeted floor, but before it could set the grainy material alight, Reu quickly picked it up by using his spirit energy.

"What in the seven hells?" spat Reu, his eyes wide with shock as he watched the cracked crystal start to repair itself and grow in size.

While this phenomenon wasn't unheard of, primarily if the one it was bound to have a significant breakthrough, it was thought to be impossible for a soul crystal to fix itself after suffering so much damage.

However, the crystal repairing itself wasn't what shocked him. The green colour faded from the gem before half of it turned red, the other half blue while bolts of white lightning flickered under its surface.

Lord Reu's mouth opened and closed a few times, his mind-jarring at what he was witnessing. After a few moments, the crystal started to settle and rapidly reduced in temperature.

"My Lord?" asked one of the nearby knights, who had heard Reu's shout as he had been escorting the carriage atop a warhorse nearby.

"A guardian and a primordial beast?" mumbled Reu as he ignored the knight's question, his mind still not able to accept what he was seeing.

While it was possible for powerful beasts to have a human form, as well as mate with humanoid species, the offspring would always be cultivators, only having a few, small benefits from the beast's bloodline. There had never been a recording of a half cultivator, half primordial beast and most, if not all, believed it was impossible.

After a few breaths, terror and joy appeared in the man's eyes as he stared at the crystal in awe before chuckling in a slightly maniacal manner. "There will always be a balance. Trying to become a god? Pfft, how could they not retaliate? This foolish endeavour was certain to fail from the moment you abandoned your humanity, Jex."

====

Location: Ninty seven miles outside of the Welshmar Republic's capital.

Flying at a speed that could crush any core ranked cultivator, let alone a mortal, the angel-like man felt his chest pocket warm up. Behind him, ominous, rumbling thunderclouds could be seen getting closer.

Without slowing down in the slightest, the man took out a strange, card-like slab of metal. It looked ancient, the passage of time wearing down its edges, but the bright, golden letters on the top 'Nyx' shone in a mysterious light. Just below that was a small, half embedded in the metal, was a dull, blue crystal.

Stolen story; please report.

A small arrow, pointing behind him indicating the position of the being it was tracking.

To those who had worked in any risky, life-threatening business, the status card, attuned to a soul's energy, would appear to be nothing more than an everyday object but to the man it was apparently something he treasured.

With a violent flicker, the blue light disappeared, turning the crystal translucent.

Sighing, the man looked at it in disappointment without reducing his speed. The air resistance not even causing his hair to waver. "What a waste. It -."

Just as he was about to start cursing the waste of the collected essence of five hundred souls, the crystal exploded into colour, causing the man to flinch and drop a few meters in height.

A crimson red, the spiritual signature of a primordial beast alongside the blue of a cultivator circled each other like yin and yang.

Yet, even though this broke common sense, only the sentient, humanoid species being able to become cultivators, and would cause an uproar if it was known to the world, that wasn't what caused the man to startle.

An ice-blue, almost white, lightening-like ring circled the two energies, the spiritual sign of a guardian, as black, almost unnoticeable lines crisscrossed the gem, like a net.

Due to this shock, the man couldn't help but stop beating his wings for a moment, the sudden drop waking him from his stupor.

At precisely the same time, the clouds rumbling behind him had abruptly stopped as if they had hit a brick wall.

"Gods damn it Nyx," the man started flying again, but his shocked face couldn't help but break out into a dazzling smile. "Such a tease. Always giving me more to research at the worst possible times. I swear that when I get my hands on you, I'm not going to let you out of my sight until I have wrung every secret out."

The man had the strong urge to turn around and grab Nyx, sacrificing a level or two of his cultivation to stop her exploding her core but he quickly reigned in the impulse.

Not only was it not worth it, not by a long shot, although he was one level higher than the guardians, there were also twelve of them. Without using all of the treasures he had collected, or paying a huge price, there was no way he could win.

The storm behind, the one that had been chasing the man ever since he left the capital city, suddenly reversed, heading back towards the capital as if the devil was chasing it.

Sighing, the man's speed slowed to a maintainable pace. However, it was clear by the facial expressions that he deeply regretted being forced to flee without his prize.

====

Harrold had been mourning his sister silently, two streaks of tears falling down his face when suddenly, he felt an extremely heavy force as he was pulled backwards.

Turning around in shock, ready to attack whoever had done it, Harold paused as he saw that the hand that held the back of his collar was connected to granny, her face twisted in shock as she stared into the sky.

Following her gaze, Harold looked up and couldn't help but swallow hard, the grief for his sister being pushed under the growing fear crawling up his spine. "What..."

Above them, ominous red clouds, with flickers of crimson lightning, rumbled. However, that wasn't the strangest part. Bright blue, almost white, lightning started mixing with it, seemingly competing to get to the swirling vortex of darkness at its centre.

"The vortex is the tribulation of a cultivator by his strongest element." muttered Granny, not really paying attention to the prince.

"The red, the crimson tribulation of a primordial beast's birth and..." Granny swallowed hard, "the blue is the ascension of a guardian."

"But how?" Harold didn't know as much as Granny, and the surrounding Royal Guard so wasn't as shocked by the events, yet he still knew enough to know that the tribulations were like fire and water, never to mix.

Granny's eyes reluctantly tore away from the sky above and lowered to Nyx's still body, a flash of insurmountable greed appearing in her eyes as she flicked her hand out, a golden talisman speeding off into the distance unnoticed.