Maric's eyes were tightly closed.

This should have been pure darkness that Maric couldn't possibly remember, after all most people couldn't possibly remember dreams when they were asleep.

But one cold night, the dream Maric was having felt very real. He could even feel a burning feeling in his hands, and his face felt frozen.

With his eyes constantly blinking, Maric looked at his hand that felt burned, it wasn't because of the fire or anything but maybe because some of his blood had frozen causing his body to react.

He then moved large fingers that were definitely not those of a child, they looked like those of a teenager. A thick black glove was attached to his hand, only it was clearly not enough to protect human skin from extreme cold.

'What is this?'

Maric began to question what might have happened. Due to limited knowledge, he couldn't think of anything.

The only thing he understood and felt at the moment was a body that was heavier and bigger than he remembered. But he clearly knew that this was his body that had grown normally.

While cleaning the white coat with warm fur on the collar, Maric then forced his body to stand up from its current position.

His eyes now looked around and found all the surrounding plains covered in ice and snow, the white mist in the sky was very thick while blowing a strong wind that was very cold.

The cold wind blowing around caused Maric's body to start shivering. But because of the warm coat he was wearing, he was still able to endure.

He couldn't remember how he came to wear this white coat. It was a coat that he had never seen before, a coat that could not have been produced by anyone without the use of a sewing machine, this was clearly absurd.

While moving his legs, Maric tried to look around, he was getting more and more confused by what he saw. On an ice-covered plain, there were the remains of a very old building.

"Marble columns..."

This also proved that perhaps in the distant past, there had been a civilization that grew in this frozen land, but it was clearly very ancient.

Instinctively and out of curiosity, Maric then placed his hand on the half-collapsed large pillar, he wanted to check if there were any clues left there.

But he couldn't remember anything. After finishing and finding no clues, Maric then turned his head to the blue and white iceberg.

There Maric then saw something, so he now focused his eyes on one point for a clear view.

A magnificent castle stood tall against the mountain, a castle that was probably very large if Maric saw it up close.

Every building around it seemed to be built for giants, each building was scattered in different places but it could be clearly seen that they were all connected to the same place.

Because of the location and position, it would usually signify a certain symbol. It also means that the castle, or someone who might live there, looks down on the plains below. A ruler must have lived there while keeping an eye on the world below including Maric here.

At first glance, Maric saw some kind of bright light shining from inside the castle.

"There's someone living there? No, maybe it's actually not just one."

Maric began to suspect that the castle might be occupied by more than one person. He then tried to approach the castle but the blinding light suddenly brought him into the darkness.

After a while in the deep darkness.

Maric's consciousness had now returned. Immediately he felt a feeling that was the opposite of what happened a moment ago.

It should have been cold because of the snow and ice, but what Maric felt now was purely heat. It was obviously a natural reaction of the human body feeling the warmth of the air fed by the fire.

It was really burning.

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A city with a palace as big as a mountain was burned by a huge fire. Maric could understand that he was somewhere else, a place unrelated to the castle on top of the mountain and the frozen ice plain.

Why is this happening? What is really going on? Maric also questioned what was really going on.

He then looked at his bare hands without wearing black gloves, he also checked what he was wearing.

The white coat with a warm fur collar was now replaced by a pitch black hooded cloak with a long scarf around the shoulders.

Unlike what he wore before, this black robe did not have a strong enough aesthetic vibe, but there was one common resemblance, it was the feeling that Maric's body seemed to be comfortable in the clothes, indicating that he had worn it many times.

A very familiar feeling.

In the midst of his confusion, Maric's eyes then looked up at the sky, the large tower connected to the castle was still standing firmly right above his head.

Just then he heard many voices that disturbed his ears. Voices that were very loud and full of despair. The voices then disappeared instantly as the red flames continued to burn.

The blazing fire created a shadow of an object that was exposed to the light. From there, several footsteps coming from a group of people wearing black hooded robes approached Maric.

For some reason, Maric seemed to have seen those people but he couldn't remember.

The group of cloaked people instantly stopped near Maric while spreading both hands. they seemed to want to say something in a voice that was bereft of reason and thought.

"Bishop..."

A loud voice echoed in Maric's ears.

"Bishop... As you commanded, we have finally succeeded....after a long wait of a dozen years-"

The eyes of the man who spoke trembled at an abnormal rate, as if he had gone mad.

"Finally... finally... finally... finally... finally... finally... finally... finally... finally..."

The same words kept repeating until Maric began to feel sick when he heard them.

But he couldn't do anything about it. He could only listen to the nonsensical babble.

"Bishop... .... you are the last remaining bishop... ..... we have finally succeeded... revenge is avenged..."

Words that made no sense and had no logic in them.

In front of the blazing flames, that man was in a frenzy, still continuing what he was saying. It was as if he put his whole life into a devotion to say those words before death came for him.

His voice was so heavy that Maric could clearly hear it. Maric's heart and mind shook with a speed he had never imagined. The voice now reached Maric's ears-

"....The world will now again be shrouded in darkness.... His Holiness the archbishop of The Greed...!"

After shouting so loudly, an extremely bright ray of light instantly cut off the man's head.

The headless body fell to the rocky ground and the head flew into the air and landed right beside Maric.

The shocked Maric tried to see where the source of the light came from. After a while he couldn't find anything, the source of the Light was completely covered by the growing flames.

Looking right and left, up and down. What Maric found was something very different, it was someone standing on top of a tall tower.

Since the direction in which the person was standing was opposite to the source of the Light that beheaded the poor man, the figure was definitely not the culprit.

From behind the mysterious figure, there was a large black wing like a bird. The eyes of the figure then found Maric.

Maric now observed closely, the mysterious figure looked like a girl with long black hair and pitch black wings.

However, there was something that made Maric's eyes widen. It was a white coat with a warm fur collar. There was no difference, it was obviously the coat Maric had worn when he was somewhere full of ice and snow.

"What does this mean?"

Maric was speechless.

He couldn't move his legs, and the nearby tower collapsed. Several pillars and stones fell around Maric, some stone fragments also injured his body.

Maric then fell to the ground. Fresh blood flowed from his head, and perhaps by a stroke of luck, a sharp piece of glass stuck into the ground right in front of Maric's face without hitting his body.

Maric then saw that his face was covered by a smiling white mask that was half destroyed. Being a little frightened, he immediately took off the mask and threw it. It's just that the hands he moved were not normal hands, out of nowhere several long, pitch-black hands were around Maric's face now.

His true face was now clearly visible from the reflection of the mirror. It was the face of a 19-year-old teenager who looked very similar to Maric.

The young man's face showed a kind of emotionless expression, as if the guilt and feelings that humans should have had had been lost long ago to the darkness.

But Maric knew that the young man still harbored some emotions, very complicated emotions.

Why did Maric know? It was because Maric felt it right now.

These, these complicated emotions. Maric had never felt before. A feeling where he sensed that something was sorely lacking.

He knew that he had achieved a lot, but he felt that it wasn't enough.

He had gained a lot, but of course it wasn't enough.

He also knows many things but he feels that it is not enough.

"It's still not enough... It's still not enough... at this level of damage, it's still tolerable... Not yet... Must continue..."

So many.... Less... less... less... this is still very shallow... not enough...

That complicated feeling was screaming inside Maric's mind and heart, trying to merge with his spirit. And after it fused, Maric's lips instantly trembled and he said something he didn't understand.

His words were as if he had gained enlightenment in a certain level of belief.

"Science is above the world, Nothing can defeat the majesty of science...even if the world has to burn in the process... I, we and they... will definitely... will definitely succeed this time...."

And with that voice, Maric's consciousness once again fell into darkness.

Maric's eyes opened, and he got up from his bed.

"What was that, what dream was that? What I saw just now, why can't I recall it."

Cold sweat broke out on his face. He quickly grabbed a stone from under his pillow and found that the stone that could see the future had now turned dark and the Ancient Kislev writing had disappeared.

It was the stone that Olivia had given to Maric.