Outside the Palace boundary

"There is a barrier surrounding the palace miss, our fighters are unable to move through it. The leader is even using the highest-grade weapons we have."

"Call your White Horse Troop leader. He needs to get his show-offs in control."

The discussion was taking place in a tent enough to accommodate less than 10 people, the tent for all the important meetings to take place. It was about a hundred or so meters away from the blood-red barrier surrounding the place they intended to take over.

"Yes miss" The guy dressed in soldier's attire bowed lightly at Vanshika and Sebastian and walked out of the tent. There were about 20 tents near this.

"Don't worry too much, your sister would be fine."

"I know that."

"I know you were not ready for this since your sister is still with the masters but that is the safest place for her to be. The masters will certainly protect her. And this is the best time to attack this place-" Sebastian didn't tell her about what happened in the end. Vanshika and he had been planning for this day since they entered this system.

After planning every step thoroughly these two managed to decipher the demon prince's plan. Exchange Anik and Ashleen for the stronger King and Queen, younger people to experiment on was going to make it easier for the masters to understand the demon's strengths and weaknesses. Even the capture of the queen was according to the demon's plan, he now wanted to use the information those two would have collected against the masters. Everything worked as planned until Ashleen's skill discovery. This was the variable these two failed to think of. But this could have been used for their purpose if not for Anik's poison.

Vanshika still thinks everything is according to the plan. Sebastian talked to the masters before their 'fake capture' about his proposal. These two were going to defeat the demon and in return, the masters would let go of Anik and Ashleen.

Sebastian and the demon are the only ones who now know that the plan failed. Sebastian didn't get to talk to them and those two got captured. Queen and King were nowhere to be seen though. Most probably the masters decided to betray the demon. But given their ideals, this seems less plausible.

"because the host body is not here and the demon is weakest either when he just leaves the host body or gets another host body. She's not here so either he fits the former situation or this is the place in which that demon is confined, he may have nested into another person's body so he fits in the latter situation. Either way, it's the best time to strike. You've told this to me about twenty times since yesterday. Are you hiding something from me? Your tone becomes unusually soft talking about my sister. Did something happen to those two?"

What these two didn't know was that the demon left her body days before this conversation took place.

"No, of course not. You should have some trust."

"I do, but not in you. Someone who got influenced by a kid and then a book to plan an entire plot against someone who doesn't even get the stuff you are so righteously fighting for. That's absurd." She said looking at the book in her hand. 'The Sweet Death Vol 2 (1st revision)'

"It's not a fight against your sister, it's with the demon."

"Whatever-" She knew something had gone wrong and since yesterday she was working alone without telling Sebastian her real intentions. Their strong bond has been weakening every second since yesterday.

Someone walked into the tent, laced up with heavy armor from shoulder to toe. Only his face was visible as he had his barbute under his arm.

"What did you call me for? Don't you know I refused to work under someone like you?"

"I have no interest in talking to someone who wants to look like a warrior so much that he can't remove his armor even when there's no need to wear it, but I need to intervene since you are too useless."

"What do you mean?!" He said holding the hilt of his sword.

Neither she nor Sebastian showed any strong emotions or responses to this person's actions. Since the day they met him they've realized that this guy is too insecure with himself and making him even more insecure is the key. Make him freak out with the truth and then sugarcoat a lie and have him work.

"The barrier is made by the demon and his mainstream skill is magic. Use your sorcerers. What do you think you can accomplish by hitting the barrier with your high-grade weapons?"

"Demon is here?"

"That is something you don't need to think about."

The guy was silent as if stunned by a stun gun but recovering quickly he walked over to her, "Why do you think I'll take your advice?"

"Aren't you very smart?" Said Vanshika looking him eye in eye," I'd expect no less from a smart and strong person than to do what I just said."

Sebastian added," We know you already had this in your head before you came to us. You are way older and more mature than us, I know you won't act like a teen but instead, you'll do what's best."

The guy humphed proudly and walked out of the tent and ordered the sorcerers to break the barrier and asked other soldiers to back down. The head sorcerer who had been telling him the same thing sighed and signal others to follow him.

"I dislike this guy, if it was not for his strength and strong connections I would have never brought him with us. Anyways the barrier would most probably break before dawn." She added after a moment of silence "We'll send our strongest people along with his troops to get the main people down. As for the healer lady, I have an assassin for her."

"Why are you attaching importance to her?" Asked Sebastian.

"You don't want their general and representative ruler to get back on their feet again and again, do you?"

"And what have you planned for us two?"

"Talk."

"Huh?"

"You'll know when the time comes."

"..." Sebastian was silent for a while before speaking again. "I'll go check on others then."

"Okay." Vanshika looked at another notebook lying on the table. She had scribbled on it the entire last night thinking about what could be done to get to her sister as soon as possible. Once this demon thing is over she'll either leave her palace or make her sister leave hers so that they can stay close to each other. She did everything she could to not let the writings in the TSD Vol 2 from coming true. When telling Sebastian that he was dumb for believing what's written in a childish book, she was being a hypocrite. She was the one who took it seriously first and made it look important in his subconscious. She knew that Sebastian later on realized what she did but both of them kept quiet about it.

He walked back in after a few minutes. Vanshika looked at him entering and went back to her resting position with her head on the table.

"Vanshika, I need you to explain your plan to me."

"Later?"

"No."

She raised her head and opened her notebook, moving it closer to him.

"First thing we can't hurt commoners. second, this palace is pretty huge, we need to surround it. Third playing safe when you have the privilege to do so is the best thing to do. We have more than enough people to take down the people left here even if the demon managed to sneak out the previous rulers we still have probability siding with us. But since our opponent is someone who has lived for more than what we can imagine we should not take him lightly. You said the demon is with Ashleen as you felt the aura when she was taken to the monument. If your information is right then we still have a chance, Demon is remarkably weaker outside the underworld without the host body."

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"Okay..."

"We'll send the strongest ones from all directions, once we get the ruler, we win. The demon can stop ten, twenty, or even fifty people but we have way more than that now. We also managed to find some of the best sorcerers through that guy, we are going to use them against the demon. All we need to do is get the representative ruler as Ashleen is not here, that would make everything way easier."

"That is not what I expected from you..."

"You expected something with many twists and turns?"

"Yeah, but I get your point as well. He is really old so most probably he would have just seen through our plans. Making a plan he can't do anything about even after knowing is best for now."

"You are sort of right." Her reason for this plan was not just this in reality.

...

Next Day

"We are about to break the barrier sir," Said the head sorcerer dripping with sweat from head to toe.

"You worked hard, I'll make sure to award you properly once we win" The actual skills of this leader were not war-related instead he was supposed to be filthy 'rich'. His skill made him have the things he thought were important in unlimited quantity.

The sorcerer didn't have any energy to reply as he was still using his mana to generate barrier-breaking spells but he looked satisfied.

"We have discussed the plan last night Mr. White, so we'll leave everything to you now." Said Sebastian walking towards him.

"I knew you could do nothing without me."

"Of course sir of course." He stood there for a while watching developments and walked back to the tent.

...

A few minutes after these people entered the kingdom, a soldier came running back to Sebastian and Vanshika.

"What happened?" Asked Sebastian.

"Th..they have te- tear gas," the guy speaking was barely standing at this point "And... And that girl there... head sorcerer said to be careful of her, everything happened so quickly-" "You ne..need to help them"

"I don't believe that everyone got affected by the tear gas," Sebastian said looking at the person in front of him suffering visibly. His eyes were red as he was barely standing. He was having a hard time breathing.

"Leave him alone, we should check this out."

"So, the demon didn't try to hide."

"What about the girl he was talking about?" She said as they were hurrying towards the crack.

"I think-" Before he could finish they heard more loud sounds of all kinds from the battleground. Both of them ran towards the barrier and as they were about the pass through the nearest crack in the barrier someone waved at them frantically from there. It was the leader of white horse troops. Sebastian went over and brought him out and walked him to the tent.

A Few Minutes later

Sebastian and Vanshika walked out of the tent and a purple aura surrounded them. Vanshika used her magic to lift both of them higher from the level of poisonous gas they just learned about and moved towards a red sphere at least 20 feet from the ground.

"You are here."

"We are."

Ashleen opened her eyes, there was a faint ridicule in her eyes. "I didn't expect you to come after all your cards failed." But she had her eyes low.

"Why are you so sure about that sis?" Asked Vanshika. As soon as the words fell from her mouth, a faint blue barrier covered the entire surroundings even up ahead of their tents.

"Because I can see everything." She said in a low voice. What she meant was more than clear to both of the listeners. The place they were sent to after the selection ceremony had records of most of the primary abilities one can have.

Another dark red aura surrounded the area 30 meters from their surroundings. It was the demon king's new barrier.

"We should talk" Said Ashleen as she raised her head to finally make eye contact with her sister. There was a small moment of weakness that Ashleen felt when she looked at her sister. Maybe she had her 3rd person's perspective on for too long.

Ashleen started floating towards her room and the other two followed. Akansha was clueless and looked at her with worried eyes. Don't worry she's my sister. Akansha received this message through Mayday Trust. She was stunned. Her sister, she has been fighting her sister. When she took a closer look at Vanshika she indeed looked like the girl she saw in the selection hall. Akansha felt a bit upset.

As soon as they entered the room, Vanshika pushed Sebastian out of the room.

"What happened to you?!" She looked at her extremely worried.

"Heh? I thought I was wearing makeup" Ashleen said and walked towards the mirror, she indeed was wearing makeup, "Why are you acting so weird?" Ashleen asked.

A faint purple aura surrounded the room to make the room sound proof but it was shattered immediately.

Mr. Demon don't be so anxious, I'll tell myself if something is wrong. Ashleen told the demon.

Vanshika created the barrier again. A tissue appeared in her hands as she walked towards Ashleen.

" My goodness, you are strong enough to make random stuff appear... Hmm, you should be two levels above me in the strength hierarchy" Vanshika ignored her and walked towards her bringing the tissue near her face "Oe oe where are your manners?" Said Ashleen backing away step by step.

"I asked what happened, don't play games with me."

"Ask your partner... and yea, don't forget I am the older one."

"I am asking you!"

"Sis stop for a second, we have other matters in our hands." She said as she walked towards her. "You know I am not good at explaining but let me tell you, you are fighting with the demon for no reason," She said and placed her finger on her forehead. The mana she passed to her was faint and pure. Ashleen had filtered it long ago and now she was at the last step of her plan.

Poisoned people should be waking up as the healer lady is done spreading the antidote long ago. If she can convince those leaders they'd understand. Aura kept entering her forehead with countless memories.

Ashleen felt something salty in her mouth. But she can't back down now. It's a matter of life and death.

Mr. Demon, in 15 seconds.

There was no reply Ashleen tightened her grip on Anik's sword as the last few of Demon's memories were done pouring into Vanshika. Vanshika stubbled and fell, she slowly opened her eyes but there was no one in sight, only a few blood drops in front of her. Ashleen was poor at sharing memories. She mistakenly shared everything that happened since the beginning. Vanshika removed the barrier and Sebastian walked in. She started crying leaving Sebastian startled in his place.

"...What happened? Where is she?"

Vanshika raised her head, still sitting on the ground. Tears were pouring down her eyes as she pointed at her table. There was a book lying on it. Sebastian walked over. The notebook had the plan she used today. She had tear gas with mild poison which acted based on how much mana one had, the more the mana intensity of the person, lethal the poison. The queen, king, and demon along with Akansha and Dhruv were supposed to look out for those who had resistance even to this poison healer lady personally made.

"Are you crying because our plan was seen though? But she already told us she saw everything." Sebastian was relieved and confused at the same time as he saw Ashleen.

Vanshika shook her head, wiping the tears. She made this plan exactly because she wanted it to be seen through. It was a plan only her sister can see. According to Sebastian, she was not supposed to be here, Vanshika knew she would be here. She wanted her to see the plan and win. She wanted to get to talk to her but she...

Sebastian walked over to her with the notebook in his hands, he squatted down near her as he handed it to her. Vanshika opened the last page, there were several letters in there.

"We were fighting for nothing, demon knew everything all along. We were used by that future teller kid you found." She said looking at him. "We are the ones who were putting everyone in danger all along."

The prince, queen, and king along with Akansha walked in as well, Dhruv kept standing out of the room. Akansha sensed something wrong as soon as she saw puffed-eyed Vanshika and blood on the ground. She looked around but there was no one.

"What did you do?"

Vanshika flew out the window towards the troops. Akansha wanted to stop her to interrogate but instead was held by the prince. Akansha didn't recognize any of the people in the room. She knew them but she didn't trust or respect them.

2 Days Ago

Earth Master and Wind Master were walking side by side towards a huge dark-shaded monument with dome shaped top in a scheduled forest.

Behind the monument was a stream of water flowing calmly. A water head popped out from there and looked at the two guests brought along with these two.

"Did you get them?"

"What do you think?" Said Earth Master with a low voice.

"You did, nice job people. So continue your task. By the way, a kid looking like Gayatri is following you about a few meters behind."

"We know." They said and kept walking.

Water Master went back into the river.

These Masters were five of the pioneer's ones to get to this 'semi-system-based world'. They became friends as their skills were each other's nemesis but at the same time if they have each other's back they knew they would be invincible as a whole. After living here for about a few hundred years they stopped participating in the scenarios and started to focus on their individual skills. They went through many ups and downs which at some points brought cracks to their friendship but surviving all this together they slowly gained the highest level of skill purity one can have and managed to integrate their physical bodies with their respective elements. They managed to stay together during 'the Fairy Tale level',' reset period', 'the strongest period', and even during 'the weakest level'. The only time they made a mistake was not recognizing Gayatri in the reset time.

This place was peaceful. All the five masters worked diligently to make it their safe space... well everyone except the Fire Master, she just had the Earth Master make her a furnace and is living in that small place even today. In front of the monument there was a small garden and right next to it was a small furnace. Another head-shaped figure made of fire popped out from the furnace, looked at them, and went back without any words. She just took a look behind them for a while. The fire looked at 'Gayatri' following them without trying to hide from them. Fire scoffed and went back. Her scoff almost burnt a few flowers if not for the water master sending a small cloud for help.

Earth Master had a big piece of grassed earth floating behind him. On it laid Ashleen's pale body. Beside her was a boy's body floating blue and motionless.

Both of them walked into the monument. 'Gayatri' following them stood at the entrance for a while before finally gathering the courage to step in, but she wasn't able to in the end. There was a strong resistance blocking her. The door closed violently in her face and she stepped back and sat on the footstep thinking deeply.

After an hour or so, 'Gayatri' stood up and started moving in the direction she came from. An orange aura surrounded her and her appearance changed to a handsome young man with subtle features. He kept moving in the same direction till he was out of sight.

Earth Master and Wind Master laid the newcomers on a jade platform as if preparing to start a ritual.