As the two passed through the portal, they were transported into another location, every wall were made of concrete, there are no windows and it is quite dim with the sources of light coming from several sconces all over the place.

This seems like an underground location as it's also not that spacious, just some wooden chairs and tables all around, and yet, there are these chilly gusts of wind that comes from god knows where. The atmosphere feels heavy as the two saw another pair aside from them. One of those people, a young man with slim physique who is seated, wearing a black, long tailcoat who looks just like a butler with his outfit and had a short but rather quite messy, orange hair. However, the peculiar thing is that he have a metallic visor devoid of any detail that completely blocks his vision. This man, even with his vision seemingly completely blocked, is looking directly at them with a maniacal smile.

"Yo! Guys!" The young man shouted excitedly. "Can you wait for a minute…? The leader is finishing up some matters, you see…"

For some unknown reasons, the way that this man talks, while sounding rather friendly, sent shivers up their spines.

"Cipher, stop scaring the newcomers." The other person interrupted, this man looked quite muscular, wearing the same kind of black robe as the former two.

"Oh, come on, Nexus, am I scaring them?" He replied playfully with the same creepy smile. "Anyway! Have a seat! The two of you..." With a brief gesture of his fingers, two nearby chair moved quickly behind the two.

"Thank you..." Gale said hesitantly as they both took seat cautiously on the harmless wooden chairs.

Without anyone speaking for a while, the silence sure felt deafening and it also seems that Nexus is receiving some metal transmission.

Moments later, Nexus opened his right palm towards the center of the room and a similar portal from before opened up.

With their hearts up in their throat, Gauntlet and Gale watched as the emotionless, menacing, genius leader of the Seraphims stepped out of it.

"I hope I'm not too late..." The man, codenamed as Visionary, is simply wearing simple clothing consisting of just black cargo pants and blue plain shirt. His black, wavy hair fluttered slightly as he took his careful steps. The mismatched colors of his eyes, orange and green also make him even more menacing paired with his emotionless, rather young face. In the Seraphims, his words are absolute, with his authority being surpassed only by the seven leaders of their organization itself.

It felt baffling that a leader of such military group is wearing minimally like this, but yet, this is no ordinary military group. This is the legendary Seraphims, the most well known, yet unknown military group in the tower, since their victims get to know who they are, yet very few lived to tell the tale and spread information about them.

With a handkerchief, Visionary wiped the blood off his hand nonchallantly before looking towards the two as he threw the blooded piece of cloth aside.

"The two of you failed…" He said with no hints of emotion, no anger nor frustration towards the latter's previous loss. He continued as he walked around them.

"Two against one, and you lost. Care to explain?" He spoke once again, yet there's no hint of emotions, the beats of the two's hearts are at an all time high, it is even audible by everyone in the room due to the stifling silence.

"We… we're outclassed in every way. We deeply apologize, leader!" Gauntlet sincerely apologized as he knelt down and smashed his head onto the hard floor, prostrating himself in hopes of being forgiven, Gale also followed suit out of fear.

"You think I'm some kind of lunatic that will kill you just because you failed a single time…? Is that how everyone in this group views me?" For once, Visionary finally showed a small bit of emotion, as he looked around in annoyance.

"N-no! Leader!" The two shouted in unison, their voices quivering, on the verge of tearing up as their fear heightened.

"Leader! They're just scared of you because of how powerful you are!" Cipher shouted sarcastically, since he and Nexus are from quite a distance away.

"Bullshit... I can't kill these two even if I wanted to due to the Penalty, anyway." Visionary said calmly.

"Well… That"s fortunate then, If Voidwalker or Demonic are here, they would have pushed for a punishment." Cipher shrugged.

"But I understand why you two lost… I watched and saw everything, from speed, power, and technique, you are outclassed in every area... But that person is practically a nobody, and yet you two lost."

"He's not a nobody, leader..." Gale spoke as he raised his head and proceed to just kneel next. Gauntlet also followed suit after a second as the former continued. "I don't know who he is exactly but he's surely a person from the floor 191. Furthermore, he's using a sacred lost technique known as Everlasting Sword. I don't know how he acquired that technique… but I am positive of what I saw."

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Cipher then interrupted again, "That's curious, right?" His smile widened. "A sudden influx of unknown individuals arrived at floor 1, and an unknown person is now wielding a sacred lost technique. I know Everlasting Sword, I have info of it laying around somewhere in my Memory Castle, but that's for later. I wish to see it in action first, how about it, let's watch it, leader?!"

"I give you permission to scan their memories from before and after the recent battle."

"Thanks!" Cipher tapped his forehead with his index finger and sighed a few moments later, "That was great, want me to project it?"

"There's no need, just transmit it to Nexus… Anyhow, this battle will help us in the research about these outsiders, that man who had beaten you must be among those outsiders. We've captured some, torture them even, but they don't seem to feel any much pain, they also quite enjoy it… It's a very strange sight."

Visionary sighed lightly. "We've also offered them the chance to become Divine Warriors, and surprisingly, almost most of them agreed... Not only do they not suffer any side effect from the Injections and the mortality rate is basically zero compared to usual fifteen percent we normally face, those doses are also more effective for them, although they can't take more than three dosage as of yet, as all of them that received more than that had died after."

"These new knowledge, Everlasting Sword, these outsiders... They are making me excited!" Cipher creepily shouted, as if he's being aroused.

"Take us to the Memory Castle, Cipher, I want to see what this Everlasting Sword is about… If a nobody is able to gain access to such legendary power, he might be more than he seems. But if we can have him join our ranks, it'll be very beneficial for us..." Visionary ordered sternly.

"As you wish!" Cipher knocked on the side of his head three times and suddenly, all of them are transported elsewhere. This is the inside of Cipher's mind, which he had put them all into as per Visionary's request.

In this mental world, there are multiple floating islands with castles on top of them, everything is gray and white, the surroundings and the islands being gray and the castles being entirely white as they glow ethereally and seemingly incorporeal.

They are all currently standing on top of one such floating island. In front of them is a white gate leading to the ethereal castle beyond. It slowly opened up to let them through and they walked in silently. As they neared the door, it opened up by itself and when they got inside, it's nothing but just a single endless bright corridor with endless number of bookshelves floating everywhere.

There's just the ceiling with no light source anywhere, but the floor, walls, and bookshelves itself act as a light source on their own due to the glow they emit. While walking forward, it was as if they never move from their spot despite the surrounding bookshelves moving past them, this is evident in that they are walking yet if you look above, you can feel yourself walking and still be staring at the same spot on the high ceiling of the castle.

Soon later, as they patiently walked, Cipher manipulated a bookshelf to go down. As if randomly, he pulled out a glowing block, that materialized as a proper book with no title and when opened, there are the information regarding the Everlasting Sword, as per Cipher's knowledge.

"This is it, leader." He handed it to Visionary with care.

Visionary opened the book and there, he quickly read it. He contemplated on it momentarily and with just the brief descriptions and the legends and myths in the book, he understands now that this Everlasting Sword is indeed a big thing, and uncovering how one such person is able to use an extinct knowledge will definitely be a priority in their work later on.

"This is vastly incomplete, Leader." Gale said firmly. He knows very well about the characteristics of Everlasting Sword, after all, he came from floor 191 himself.

"I know, so tell me what you know about this technique."

"It's a lost technique as mentioned before, as the legends stated, it has twelve distinct forms, each serving a different purpose and are vastly different from one another. In this book, there are five listed forms, and this is the only preserved knowledge regarding the technique, the first to fourth form are basic techniques that most other sword techniques used by other Kenshi posseses, so it's a knowledge that is widespread and well preserved, along with its fundamentals.

Gale then turned a page while Visionary patiently held the book. "But the fifth form, Lightning Chariot is incorporated in the Thunder Technique. So while it's only present in one technique, it's rather well preserved. Anything beyond those forms, I no longer have any information."

"How can we confirm it is indeed Everlasting Sword? Can't he just somehow invent a new technique on his own?"

"That may be a possibility, leader. But he'd already proven that what he's using is indeed the real thing." Gale reaffirmed.

Curious, Cipher interrupted with a smile, "How? Tell us."

"The Aura. It's an ancient way of applying mana, it isn't just some simple elemental enhancement on the weapon, nor is it a simply using mana to coat the weapon. It's described in the myths as the purest form of mana manipulation, the most potent way of enhancing your weapon and body, it's simply just known as Aura."

"Hm… I see… I want you, and Gauntlet to look further into this matter. Monitor this man." Visionary simply looked at them dead in the eye, still with no changes to his expression, causing the two to be scared shitless despite it not being the former's intentions.

The mental world then broke down and they found themselves back into reality, back to the same positions as they were before, Gauntlet and Gale still kneeling, Cipher and Nexus still seated and Visionary still standing around.

"Do you understand me?" Visionary reconfirmed calmly.

"Yessir!" The two answered hurriedly as they gulped their dry saliva, careful not to anger the leader. Even until now, their hearts are still seemingly stuck in their throats.

"Dismissed, I still have work to do, Nexus, send me back."

Nexus bowed his head lightly as he opened a portal in front of Visionary and the latter disappeared thereafter.

"You're lucky the leader like to prioritize practicality, or the two of you would've been dead meat! Hahaha!" Cipher laughed like a maniac. Nexus also opened two portals for each pair and soon after, the underground room is departed from and the meeting was finished, as if nothing happened in it.