The meeting continued for about three hours more hours till the red sun was now above them. The red rock kept the cathedral's interior cool despite the piercing rays outside, making this the perfect shelter for such a place.

So, the conditions weren’t as bad as one would expect an afternoon in a desert.

No one was out for patrol since Rita and Shin could warn them of something approaching miles before they even reached them. Currently, everyone was doing as they wished. Most were resting and getting their armors repaired, while the rest were training outside.

The sounds of ringing steel constantly made it to her chamber, but Luna was barely bothered by the training outside.

Her eyes were staring at the ceiling with a cold expression. Her thoughts were still fixed on that secret message in the shrine.

She had already addressed this to everyone during the meeting but Len suggested that she might need to take a look at it with the help of an oracle like Shin. And when they went down to the shrine, Luna chose not to stay behind because the idea of having her qi sense cut off didn’t settle with her.

‘How is that rock here?’ Luna asked herself. Now that she was relaxed, she had managed to remember where exactly she had seen this specific type of material before.

In the archives back at home, Luna recalled coming across a few books with notes talking about materials that were capable of blocking qi. Those materials were rare with a mystical nature that rivaled life itself because that’s what qi was, the energy of life.

One of those materials was Styx stone which was described as a pitch black material with a smooth reflective surface just like the one in the shrine. This specific stone had the quality of opposing life due to having been born from the banks of an underworld river which dead souls used to cross after death.

Since no one had seen this stone-like material on Earth, it was easy to pass it on as fiction. And most people treated it like that.

But now that she had seen and learned of existence, Luna was growing more worried by every minute.

‘Where did they find all that stone to make a shrine? And wouldn’t something like gold be more worthy material for a Servant of light?’

Frustrated, she turned over and stuffed her head in the white pillow given to her. She was supposed to be resting but these looming questions and thoughts kept her mental gears running not stopping.

Luna wanted to know…she needed to know why she forgot…what she forgot. And why did she have to forget that information?

Raphael said there is an anomaly among them, a threat that could be a danger to Corruption, the being.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Did that mean that person was a savior since corruption was killing more and more humans every day? Where did corruption come from anyway?

In the comfort of her bed, Luna stayed silent as the afternoon continued. She was only hungry for answers, and yet, a new question was brought to her attention each time she felt like she was at least getting one answer.

Soon, her body gave in to the alluring comfort. Now that she had dismissed the suit, the tiredness and fatigue hit her like a tsunami. Luna could no longer fight the urge to close her eyes.

…And so, she closed them and let sleep take over.

**

Meanwhile, in another chamber…

Snow had his legs crossed while seated on a makeshift carpet. He had his eyes closed, meditating as he let the zenshi from his first Soul Gate move freely across his relaxed muscles. His scarred broad chest was exposed as it rose and fell steadily while he focused on trying to break through to the third gate.

Out of everyone here, he was the closest to becoming a summoner since Len had only mastered her Aura recently. It would take her some time to open her second gate, and time was something they didn’t have at all.

And, as the strongest one here, he had taken it upon himself to try and finally break to the third gate after years of intentionally being stuck on the second. They needed more force if they were to win the upcoming battle.

Keeping his breaths steady, he began to circulate more and more zenshi through his body. With a clear mind, it moved perfectly, touching every cell in his body with a warm feel. To open a third gate, one needed to form a connection with the Void, the source of all summons. This next step was usually hard because the Void was very hard to sense. No one knew exactly what it was. But forming a connection with it granted Ascenders the power to call up creatures they’ve bonded to.

Once the zenshi was done connecting with the entire body, he dove into his soul and started to visualize the zenshi into a string to create a link with the Void.

He imbued the string with purpose: Protect like every Ascender. Then searched deep for any glimpse of the void. He needed to sense its presence first before anything else.

Blue sparks danced beneath his closed eyes as the eerie presence of death filled the room.

As soon as he felt the ominous invisible presence, his Aura manifested and the string of zenshi connected with the weak presence of the void. It felt like he came into contact with a water-like wall in his soul.

But before he completed the connection, the zenshi string disappeared and a sweet voice sounded in his left ear.

“You want to kill more people…?”

Snow’s eyes snapped open, breaking his concentration which automatically paused his ascension.

Immediately, his eyes turned dark as he stared at the apparition floating in front of him. It had the face of a beautiful girl with short brown hair, lustrous green eyes, and intelligent eyes staring back at him. She was wearing a white sleeveless party dress that showed too much skin.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I am your Aura, silly. I appear every time you manifest me,” she giggled like a child.“I am Death. ….Don’t tell me the face I chose still bothers you. You killed her a long time ago…”

Snow hissed and forced himself to look away. This time around, he had something else on his mind.

“You’re worried about what that mortal girl was reading. Don’t worry, you won’t die, my dear Servant. I won’t let you…”

“Why did you translate them?” he suddenly asked, his voice tight. “What made you think I wanted to know?”

“Because you will have to. You should understand that I am not just an Aura, and you’re not just a human.”

Snow’s breath trembled out of fear. “At least let me warn her. Let me warn them about the True Celestials…I know there are rules. But Luna needs to know what she's walking into. Please..."

Up until now, Snow had kept to himself the abilities behind his Aura...if it could even called that. His second Soul Gate weathered him with the concept of death, a piece of the god of death. Because of that, he knew things mortals shouldn't know. Things like what was written on those murals Luna scanned.

The apparition stared at Snow with an emotionless look. She pitted her servant and almost felt like she was going to regret what she was about to do. She then opened her mouth to speak. But instead of a response, a single word escaped her mouth.

“Forget…”

As soon as he heard that command, Snow froze and the fear in his eyes vanished in an instant. The emptiness in them was quickly replaced by surprise.

“Death? Why are you here?”

“To open a third Soul Gate, your Aura must always be active while opening it. When you do, you will receive a death creature and it will help you feed me more souls while you grow stronger.”

With those words, she disappeared and Snow was left alone once again.

He stayed quiet for a while before returning to his meditation without having a single memory of what he translated while with Luna and his conversation with Death.