When Ian saw the green crystals growing out of the golden Diary of Solace, he shuddered, feeling a presence behind him.

“I guess you don’t want me to touch the diary,” Ian mumbled, turning his back to see the identity of a towering shadow covering his entirety.

“Not yet,” Krystol mumbled under his breath.

A muscular green Elven warrior with the masquerade mask appeared behind him. The brass knuckles were adorned with intricate Elven runes, likely enchanted with powerful magic. The masquerade mask he wore obscured his facial features. Despite his intimidating appearance, the warrior remained still and silent, watching Ian with an intensity that made him feel uneasy.

As the shockwave hit him, Ian struggled to regain his balance, his eyes fixed on the warrior who was already moving towards him. The warrior was too fast. Ian quickly ducked and rolled away from the warrior’s follow-up punch, barely avoiding being hit. As he scrambled to his feet, Ian noticed the ring of sharp green crystals around the area of impact. He knew he had to be careful not to get hit by that deadly weapon.

Ian quickly spun around, aiming a horizontal strike toward the warrior’s torso. The warrior effortlessly blocked the attack with his knuckles. Before the dust settled, Ian saw the incoming jab from the warrior. Ian raised his sword to block the incoming attack, but the warrior was too fast. Upon impact, green crystals grew on the sword, disintegrating the sword.

The warrior gave out a roar before it disappeared into Ian’s eyes.

“Seriously?” He asked himself, taking a glance around the room.

Ian’s muscles tensed as he felt the wind shift to his left. He didn’t have time to think, only to react. He twisted his body, narrowly avoiding a vicious swing from the warrior’s gauntlet. But there was no time to celebrate his evasion, as another attack came from the right. Ian pivoted on his left foot, ducking under an uppercut that would have shattered his jaw.

The green Elven warrior moved with a speed and precision that Ian had never encountered before. His strikes were relentless, coming from every direction. Ian’s eyes struggled to keep up, but his body moved on instinct. He dodged, weaved, and parried, narrowly avoiding each strike.

Sweat dripped down Ian’s forehead as he tried to gain some distance. But the warrior was unrelenting, pressing forward with each strike. Ian knew he needed to find an opening, a moment of weakness in the warrior’s defense. He took a deep breath, steeling his nerves, and prepared for the next onslaught. He felt the movement of the wind on his left, relying on his pure instincts to dodge the incoming blow. Then a sidestep to the left to dodge the uppercut. Ian’s eyes couldn’t keep up with the attacks of the warrior.

Using the Lepus, Ian retreated far away from the warrior, trying to reposition himself. He quickly scanned the area for cover, but there was none in sight. From the knuckles, the warrior joined his palms, lighting up the ancient runes on it, to unleash a single large vortex that could slice through anything in its path. He reached for his crossbow and fired a few bolts at the warrior, hoping to disrupt his attack. The bolts collided with the vortex, causing it to split into smaller wood pieces.

The vortex stirred up the dust from the remnants of the fallen crystals and the surroundings. The warrior kept his guard up, looking around for the single human. The warrior turned around, his eyes glowing with anger. He raised his palms once again, charging up for another attack. Ian quickly got up, his heart pounding with fear. He knew he had to act fast if he wanted to survive. As he neared the warrior, Ian leaped into the air, ready to deliver a fatal blow. The warrior swung his arms, unleashing a barrage of smaller vortices at Ian. Ian twisted and turned, dodging each one with agility, and landed right behind the warrior. With a deep breath, he gathered all his strength and charged toward the warrior, his dagger held high.

Ian let out a large cry after smashing the mask of the last crystal monster, making it disintegrate into nothingness.

The lifeless Krystol finally got up, unsheathing the sword from his waist. Ian wobbled slightly as the effect of the adrenaline died down.

“Don’t fall on your feet. A warrior of your caliber shouldn’t kneel.” Krystol’s black flames burned stronger than before.

“I was originally a librarian,” Ian corrected him, his chest heaving as he struggled to catch his breath. His magical powers had been pushed beyond their limit, and his muscles were now screaming in protest. With a trembling hand, he reached for his dagger and tried to rise to his feet, his entire body quivering with exhaustion.

As Krystol walked down the steps of the throne, each step toward Ian diminished the light from the crystals behind him. When he reached the ground, Ian felt a gush of air blowing past his whole body, making it shiver in the sheer cold. The lights from the growing crystals went out, resulting in an eerie darkness all over the room.

“Librarian, huh? From that Luna Monolith?”

“Did you get that from reading my memories, too?”

Krystol’s footsteps came to a halt. “Your memories? Dear Ian, all of this came from simple observation. The way you wield your weapon and that outfit reminded me of that place. And let me guess, out of all the people in there, Guru Adrastos was your mentor, wasn’t he?”

“You don’t even have eyes now,” he replied, noticing the hollow eye sockets, void of the blue gleam that was once been there. In this state, Krystol truly looked like a mummy.

Ian doesn’t remember who he was before he met Princess Lucia. Nothing but his name surfaced in his mind. The power of constellations aside, he knew how to use weapons and fend for himself. It was an interesting phenomenon that he would investigate.

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“I’m not going back there. That place made me forget. But that doesn’t mean what you did was right.” Ian used his arm to stop the trembling from the other arm.

“See, the so-called ‘champions’ and ‘royalties’ can never be trusted. They are all blinded by their selfish desires and thirst for power. Only by joining me can we create a world of true peace and prosperity.”

“You’re no different. You tricked me, and you ruined a perfectly good continent!”

“Whether I intervene or not, it would have inevitably crumbled. You are a mere fool who is ignorant of the underground deals of the Iolite King and queen. By my hands, I will burn down the continent, so a more beautiful one could be reborn from its ashes.”

“With demons swarming all over the place? They kill, steal, and curse people. Is this you or the curse? Look at yourself in the mirror. You look like a corpse!”

Krystol took a few steps forward with a wave of his hands. The diary freed itself from the case of crystals. “There’s no need for illusions now, is there? The wishes of the Lord have been fulfilled. There’s only one last task left.”

“We can talk about this,” Ian said, taking a step back.

Krystol charged forward, his movements accompanied by the unsheathing of the Sculptor of Dawn and the assembly of the blue masquerade mask crystalizing over his eyes. With his dark, mummified hand, he gripped the sword’s winged hilt tightly. With a swift swing of the sword, all the light sources in the room vanished, plunging Ian into darkness. Heart racing with anxiety, Ian clutched his only melee weapons, two trusty daggers close to him, preparing for whatever was to come.

As Ian turned, he felt the rush of wind behind him and reacted quickly, dropping down to avoid the incoming blow aimed at the back of his head. Before he could even get back up, he felt Krystol’s attack aimed at his side. With a swift sidestep, Ian deflected the attack with his remaining power, his body barely managing to keep up with the warrior’s speed.

Krystol’s sword came down with substantial force, aimed at slicing Ian in two. Ian leaned back, his hair brushing against the sharp blade. He slipped right under the bottom of the blade, narrowly avoiding the attack, and appeared behind Krystol. Ian jumped up, aiming his dagger at the back of Krystol’s head. Krystol adjusted his head. Ian shifted the axis of the dagger, slicing off Krystol’s arm like chopping off a twig from the branch.

Krystol started to mutter an incantation while holding the sword near his chest with his remaining arm. The ground began to glow, radiating from his feet. Crystals began to emerge from the ground, trying to grab Ian by his leg, encapsulating him.

Thanks to his lightning reflexes, Ian barely managed to dodge it. He managed to dodge the crystals that emerged from the ground, not realizing that he was trapped in a circle of crystals. In response, he saw a giant crystal emerge from the center, crystalizing his legs and slowly growing on his body. Ian tugged and tried to free himself from the center of the crystal, but it was useless.

A thick layer of crystal grew on his body, reaching his torso. Ian used the dagger to stab the hardy crystal, only to see it being deflected off the surface. Looking up, he saw three blue crystals materializing into thin air. With no time to lose, Ian searched for the mummified elf, who was busy chanting his spells.

With a swift throw, the dagger escaped Ian’s fingers, propelling itself straight toward the elf. Despite reciting his incantations, the elf managed to sidestep to avoid the fatal blow, but Ian was prepared for that. He followed up with a second blade, aiming straight for his skull. The elf took the blow as the surrounding crystals shattered.

Ian couldn’t see what happened next, as the crystals surrounding him disintegrated into nothing but dust. He landed on his feet, barely able to stand up. When his eyes got used to the darkness, he noticed the mummified elf right in front of his eyes. Ian wanted to take a step back from the fright, but he couldn’t. The presence of the figure before him was too menacing. His mummified finger pressed against Ian’s chest.

“Close the Abyss portal or not, that doesn’t matter anymore. Those who seek would eventually open them once more, to learn about the truth hidden from plain view. You are a warrior that can survive until the end. Take the Diary and run.”

“Wait, I still have questions! Will she end up like this? Are you a Creation or a mummy?” Ian yelled, recognizing a similar pattern.

The mummified Krystol ignored his question and slowly turned into a pile of dust with a diary laid barren before him. Ian bent down to pick the Diary up. Beside it, he noticed five crystal rings glowing in colors of pink, blue, and yellow.

Wondering what it was, he picked up the five crystal rings and stashed them in his pocket. He can learn about them later. Probably some library or magic shop would be able to identify them.

Ian lay on the dusty ground with one of his hands grabbing the diary. “I guess that’s done. There’s still one more thing left to do.”

His eyes turned over to the Abyss portal, but his muscles wouldn’t move. “I wonder if I could just do it tomorrow. What time is it?”

A loud sound erupted from the ceiling as pieces of the Abyss crystals dropped to the ground. Ian let out a sigh. It was difficult not to notice a blue reptilian creature. The magnificent blue dragon soars over the bright blue sky, its mighty wings beating in unison. Its scales gleamed in the dusk light, each one reflecting the bright blue color that gave the creature its name. The powerful body of the dragon was agile, with a long tail that swished gracefully behind it.

“Right. It’s evening now. And the dragon comes in right after the chief enemy is defeated.”

It held its head high, gazing down at the human lying on the floor. The blue dragon lowered its head and gave a low grunt while baring its razor-sharp teeth. Ian felt that its breath could blow him away, but he continued to play dead, hoping that it would perhaps go away.

“A human? Why would a human be here?” an elvish voice asked.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a small, blue-haired elf jumping off the body of the dragon. His eyes widened. Beneath her cuffs and skirt, his eyes couldn’t help but notice the metal right arm and the left leg of the elf. She was small-sized in comparison to the dragon. A black blindfold wrapped around her eyes and her face had doll-like features.

“It’s alright, Rudavark. I’ll talk to him,” the elf replied.

The Night Mistress’s insignia, three stars above a closed eye, hung around her neck. “What are you doing in front of an Abyss portal, human?” As she neared the boy, she kneeled, her face going closer to the unmoving boy.

“Your name? What are you doing here? It’s dangerous.”

“Before you can ask for a name, you should first introduce yourself.” As Ian spoke, he studied the features of the blue-haired elf. An amputee elf was very rare since they were known to be appraised as noble beings. Harm rarely came in their way, unlike a mere human like Ian. The metal was made of obsidian, most likely an elf with high status. What gave her nobility away was the bright symbol of the Goddess of Night.

He couldn’t help but notice the slight tremble of her lips as she heard his voice. Ian turned away, choosing to ignore the quivering of her lips as mere imagination.

“My name is Euriel, the Champion of the Night Mistress. I have come here to close the Abyss portal,” she declared, placing her hand on her chest.