.....

After hours of walking in the same direction on the map and taking small sitting breaks, they all blankly stared at what looked like a dead end.

"What the actual h.e.l.l...." Ivery looked at the map closer and looked down in front of her

"What do we do now....?" Danya sighed and looked down at the enormous hole in front of them, still in slight shock that this is what they found after walking several hours

"Wait..." Ivery noticed something strange happening with the map

"What?" Yannel asked

"Look.." Ivery pointed at the blinking blue glowing dot on the map

"Isn't that where we are now?" Luther asked

"It is." Ivery nodded

"So..we do have to go down there after all?" Danya frowned

"Seems like it." Ivery sighed

"How could going down a giant hole in the ground lead us to Ridgefall?" Yannel asked Ivery

"Honestly...I don't know." Ivery was clueless, she put the map inside of her hanfu

"But if we want to get to Ridgefall...this is the only way." Ivery said

"To make sure it's safe for you two..." Ivery looked at Yannel and Danya

"I'll go down first..." Ivery unhesitantly let herself fall forward into the hole

"Ivery!" Luther's eyes widened, he reached out for her but it was too late

"Master!" Eness shouted with worry

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.

"Eos...are you sure you can find them like this?" Xia impatiently asked

"Since I'm being blocked from sensing them, ritually tracking someone with their own possessions is another method of finding them." Eos told Xia, holding a golden hairbrush in her left hand and a black s.h.i.+rt in her right hand

"Although black magic is needed to do this." Eos closed her eyes

"ƒιηєѕнєм υηαмι яєgєℓℓєм." Eos chanted

The brush and s.h.i.+rt in Eos's hands quickly turned into black sand. The black sand floated up and created a circle in the air in front of Eos.

"...." Xia stared in awe

Just as Eos opened her eyes, in the center of the sand circle an image swirled around.

"It's working..." Eos smiled

"Good." Xia grinned

Eos looked into the sand circle and her smile instantly dropped as soon as black nothingness appeared in the sand circle.

"Impossible..." Eos gritted her teeth together

"What's wrong?" Xia worriedly asked

"I see nothing..." Eos said

"This was supposed to show me where they are....but it is showing me nothing.." Eos angrily waved her hand and the sand circle dissipated

"Is there any other way to locate them?" Xia questioned Eos

"Yes...there is one last way..." Eos nodded

"What is it?" Xia looked at Eos eagerly

"A sacrifice..." Eos answered

"What type of sacrifice?" Xia asked

"The sacrifice of both of the target's blood relatives." Eos said

"Blood relatives?....You mean to sacrifice people of the Vandell and Castiell bloodline.." Xia looked up at Eos

"If I cannot track them from their magic, I am going to have to track them through relative blood..." Eos said

"How do you need to sacrifice them?" Xia asked

"It's a bit too...ghastly for a young girl like yourself to know the way the sacrifice has to be carried out." Eos smiled

"Tell me..." Xia didn't care about how gruesome or horrifying their deaths would be...

"I need both of the sacrifices hearts and heads." Eos said

"Oh.." Xia was a bit shocked to hear it

"Luckily for us, both of those emperors have no shortage of children." Eos laughed

"Wouldn't it be better to sacrifice both of the emperors instead? I have a grudge against them both anyway..." Xia grinned

"Oh? What has the emperor of Fresia done to earn your grudge?" Eos asked

"He promised me that I would definitely marry into the Vandell family...and clearly that didn't end up happening..." Xia angrily thought of Erdel

"I thought you weren't in love with that prince anymore." Eos said

"Oh I'm not, but his father lied to me....as soon as Inanna stepped into somewhere she didn't belong...he was so quick along with Julian to annul my engagement and rearrange it so that Luther would be engaged to that blonde homewrecker." Xia said with malice filled in her eyes

"It doesn't matter to me who I need to sacrifice, all I need are their blood relatives." Eos smiled

"How are you going to sacrifice them? Do they have to be here for it to work?" Xia asked Eos

"....." Eos looked down at Xia

"Of course, don't be a fool, how can I sacrifice mortals that aren't even here to be sacrificed? So you'll have to bring them to me." Eos responded with a smirk

"Wait-, what?! How could I manage to bring two of the most powerful emperors to you? Erdel Vandell is just as infamous as his evil crown prince for wiping enemy countries out of existence without the help of their armies, and I've witnessed the devastating power that Julian Castiell possesses....so how could I manage to somehow bring them here?" Xia couldn't believe she was being asked to deliver Julian and Erdel

"You should've thought about that when you suggested for them to be the sacrifices, I hope you weren't thinking that I was going to go fetch the sacrifices myself." Eos snickered

"....." Xia started to feel herself sweating

"If you find yourself in a bad situation, I might come to help you....but you should work hard for what you so desperately want....don't you think so?" Eos asked with a smile

Xia silently nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Don't waste anymore time, go ahead with the plan and be sure to capture both of those emperors you hold grudges against...." Eos laughed as she disappeared from the room

"Eos!" Xia looked around and instantly felt at a loss

"I guess there's really no such thing as quick and easy revenge....especially when it comes to those two..." Xia teared

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Ivery opened her eyes and couldn't see anything, everything was pitch black. Her right hand glowed and a small golden luminescent ball floated above her hand, the light from it lit up the darkness.

Ivery looked around and she appeared to be in some sort of cave...

Ivery slightly jumped when she saw the back of a person cloaked in black beside her.

"Who are you?" Ivery asked

"Who am I?" The person turned around to look at Ivery

"The real question is who are you and why are you here?" The person pushed back their hood

Ivery's eyes couldn't break away from the face that she saw. It was a woman, an extremely beautiful young woman...her honey blonde hair was long and curly, her skin was unflawed and her face was well proportioned, and her pale black eyes looked suspiciously at Ivery.

"I won't answer until you do." Ivery narrowed her eyes

The woman sighed and smiled, "It doesn't matter...you'll die here anyway."

"Are you going to kill me?" Ivery smiled back and asked

"Maybe...or they will." The woman snapped her fingers

Suddenly several pitch-black figures with glowing yellow eyes emerged from the darkness of the cave.

"What the h.e.l.l are those?" Ivery asked as the distorted looking figures slowly walked closer

"My dark servants.... or in other words, tortured and vengeful souls that are seeking for a body to possess or rip apart." The woman smirked

"And a few warnings to make it easier for you, One, don't try to use magic because they absorb all types of magic and become stronger as a result, and that'll be bad for you since black magic or dark beings inside of a non-black magic-user is incredibly painful as it is, and you don't want to fuel a raging fire do you?" The woman held up one finger

"Two, if you run....that'll only anger them and they'll desperately look for you until they've found you, the hunt could last for days, weeks, months...maybe even years....but once they find you...they'll show no mercy." The woman put up a second finger

"Three, they're really sensitive to noises since they're slightly blind...so even breathing a little loudly can send them running towards you, if you accidently trip, sneeze or cough, those incidences have killed many before you...so I'm warning you not to do that if you want to live long enough to happen to find the way out of here." The woman put up her third finger

"You make it sound like some hide and seek game." Ivery said

"Because it kind of is, but with a little twist of possible or definite death and possession." The woman widely smiled

"If I were to kill you right here and now, what would happen to these dark servants of yours?" Ivery asked with a smile

"They would die along with me." The woman responded, not dropping her smile

"So what's stopping me from killing you instead of running to hide then?" Ivery asked

"That's because...."The woman stopped talking

"Why tell you when I can show you..?" She pulled a black knife out of her cloak

The woman brought the knife up against her neck, she instantly slit her throat in that same instant. Blood poured down from her neck, she collapsed and fell on her back.

"What the h.e.l.l...." Ivery didn't understand what just happened

Ivery suddenly felt a hand grab her left arm, she quickly summoned her fan in her right hand and turned around, she positioned her fan under the chin of the person holding on her arm.

"Calm down, it's just me." Luther slowly pushed her fan down

"Oh...don't scare me like that.." Ivery took a deep breath and exhaled

"I came down to make sure you were okay..." Luther said

"I'm fine...there was just this woman that just did the strangest thing..." Ivery turned around

"What...." Ivery slightly backed up in disbelief

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost..." The woman in black smirked

Ivery blinked a few times and didn't understand how the woman was standing up perfectly healthy and alive...

The slit wound on her neck was even completely gone..

"You...just killed yourself so..how?" Ivery said

"I can't die..." The woman said

"Ivery.." Luther grabbed Ivery's hand

"W-What?" Ivery turned her head to look at Luther

"She's full of powerful ancient black magic from head to toe....unless it is removed from her, she...can't be killed since it will continuously resurrect her.." Luther automatically sensed the dangerous magic emitting from the woman

"So..what do we do..?" Ivery asked him

"Hey...you.." The woman looked at Luther

"Hm..?" Luther looked back at the woman, he also noticed the familiar and ominous presence of dark servants behind her

"You have a special type of black magic that I've never sensed before....you're clearly a powerful black magic user..." The woman smiled

"I could say the same thing to you.." Luther sighed

"Hey girl, you can forget about the little game we were about to play....I've found something far more interesting than playing around with you..." The woman told Ivery as she looked at Luther

"Join me." She held her hand out for Luther

"I can grant you even more dark powers than you can even imagine if you do..." She said

"Pa.s.s." Luther immediately rejected the offer

"What? Why?" The woman stopped smiling

"I already have a lot of abilities that I don't even use already at my disposal." Luther responded

"Either you join me or die..." The woman evilly grinned, her black irises and white scleras quickly turned black, small black veins surfaced on her face

She opened her mouth and a black mist flowed out and spread across the floor of the cave.

"Let me think about it and discuss it with my partner for a bit." Luther smiled and pulled Ivery farther away from the woman

"Tick tock..." The woman said

The woman retracted the black mist and her black eyes looked closely at Ivery and Luther.

"Ivery, there is a way to get rid of her and those dark servants..." Luther said

"How?" Ivery asked

"I can take all of the black magic out of her body, and then she'll be completely mortal without it...." Luther answered

"Then do it." Ivery said, wondering what he was waiting for

"The black magic has to go somewhere, it has to be contained by someone..." Luther explained

"But if we want to extract it out of her...I'll have to take the black magic into me." Luther said

"You say it like it's going to be a problem though..." Ivery felt worried

"It may be..." Luther sighed

"What do you mean?" Ivery asked

"I'm already a host for a lot of black magic given to me by Hades, she has tons of ancient black magic inside of her, how she was able to obtain it...I'm not sure, but if I take in the type of black magic she has, it can possibly break my mind quickly or over time and...allow the dark part of my brain to take over me completely...making me a totally different person...more ruthless, untamed, completely evil..." Luther explained further

"....."

"We are powerful Ivery...but if we're against someone who can't die and possesses black magic that possibly has orgined from powerful dark G.o.ds, our best bet is either to leave and forget going to ridgefall if getting past her is the path we have to take, or if I take her black magic into me..." Luther said

"And we can't trouble Hecate and Hades to revive us if she happens to kill us, since they're busy working on a way to kill Eos..." Luther told her

"Let's leave then...getting to Ridgefall isn't worth you losing your mind for." Ivery held his hands

.

.

"If you're both planning to leave....you should forget it." The woman snapped her fingers

The black mist spread across the cave walls, and the hole above Ivery and Luther that was the only visible exit, sealed close.

"I've already blocked your magic....so there's no escaping.." The woman smiled

"Since you're both going to be here for a while...and since the man will be staying with me....I'll let you know a little bit about me...." The woman waved her hand and a black misty chair materialized

She sat down on the chair and unb.u.t.toned her cloak, the cloak fell on the ground and then Ivery and Luther were able to see what was underneath...

Ivery covered her mouth, and looked away.

Somehow the woman's waist was no bigger than or even smaller than a regular sized arm, the black dress she wore even tightly wrapped around her impossibly small figure.

"Are you even human?" Luther narrowed his eyes and asked

"I've been keeping myself alive down here with my magic for 427 years." She vaguely answered his question

"You're 427?" Ivery asked

"No, little girl...I'm 849....and my name is Nephrine..." She said

"Oh..." Ivery nodded and slightly rolled her eyes

"When I was 24....I became fascinated with black magic....I was so dedicated to learning how to use the dark arts...and I started to sacrifice animals to further my studies in the craft..." Nephrine said

"But soon I realized that animals weren't enough....what I needed was human sacrifices...to complete my ritual.."

"So..that's exactly what I did..."

"After several months of starting to use human sacrifices...people found out about what I was doing, I was soon taken from my home and tied to a wooden post, to be burned alive for witchcraft..."

"And then suddenly a miracle happened just as they were about to light me on fire, all of my previous ritual's were slowly working and soon all of the black magic I needed flowed into my body."

"After I obtained that black magic...I killed all of them, one by one...until there was no one left to kill..."

"After that...I left and ran off....as I was running I wasn't paying attention and ended up slipping and fell into a ditch."

"And there was something....an object, sticking out of the bottom of that ditch...I dug it up...after sensing that it was emitting black magic....powerful black magic...black magic that the world has never seen before."

"Once I finished digging up the object, I noticed that it was a black box made of a strange and almost other worldly material, a box with four unreadable signs on all four sides."

"I used black magic to open it...and for others...it would be considered a mistake, but for me...it was a blessing.."

"Inside of the box was incredible ancient black magic, left behind by four powerful dark G.o.ds of the underworld...and once all of that magic spilled out of that box, it flowed right into me."

"As soon as it did, everything went black."

"When I woke up...I felt all of that black magic surging inside of me, flowing through my veins and spreading through my body as if it were blood."

"Over the years....the magic inside of me only became more powerful and I spent all of the years up until now locating other dark objects that contain black magic, I absorbed the magic from those

"If I wanted to, I could enslave everyone in this world to be mindless sh.e.l.ls of what used to be people, I could make them kill each other, or I can just erase them from existence." Nephrine explained

"So why don't you?" Ivery asked

"It'll be boring if I just kill everyone." Nephrine sighed

"You possess ancient black magic from four dark G.o.ds, and you reside here in this cave...? To do what exactly?" Luther asked

"To obtain more black magic of course." Nephrine smiled

"What? How could you obtain more black magic being here?" Ivery asked

"Somewhere in this cave is another ancient artifact box that holds more black magic than that man and I have combined, and once I absorb the black magic from that....I'll be more powerful than the dark G.o.ds themselves.." Nephrine laughed

"That's why my dark servants are all over this cave, looking for it, I've been preventing anyone else from finding it before I do..." Nephrine said

"Last question, why do you want all of this power? What are you really trying to gain?" Luther asked

"Those are two questions." Nephrine smiled

"Answer me." Luther demanded

"Alright, alright." Nephrine nodded

"I want to become a dark G.o.d myself...and the only way to do that is to obtain all of the power they've left behind and take it into me in order to ascend to a higher power." Nephrine smiled

"So...back to where we were.." Nephrine looked at Luther

"I want you to join me...." Nephrine smiled

"But you don't have a choice in the matter...so I can rephrase that..."

"You have to join me if you want her to leave here alive." Nephrine pointed at Ivery

Suddenly Ivery collapsed on the ground.

.

.

"Ivery!?" Luther kneeled down and checked for a pulse

"What did you do?" Luther angrily asked

"She's fine, I just forced her into a coma." Nephrine said

"Coma..." Luther's heart started to waiver

"Alright...I'll join you.." Luther looked up at her with malice in his eyes

"Wow...scary." Nephrine grinned

"Come." Nephrine stretched her hand out

Luther walked over to Nephrine and looked down at her.

"Good boy...now stay still.." Nephrine stood up from her chair

"Stay still?" Luther raised an eyebrow

"Yes....so I can extract and take all of that powerful black magic inside of you..." Nephrine waved her hand and sent Luther flying backward and his back hit the cave wall

The wall crumbled from the impact. Luther immediately fell unconscious.

Nephrine pressed her hand against Luther's chest and she evily smiled.

.....

"It's me that'll be extracting that dark power from you..." Luther dove his hand into her chest

"Augn..." Blood spilled out of Nephrine's mouth

"Y-You...t-tricked...me.." Nephrine gritted her teeth

"Yes...that's right but I'm only about to do the exact same thing you were about to do to me." Luther instantly began the extraction...

"Argh!" Nephrine cried as the pain from the black magic inside of her was being forcefully pulled out

Luther bit his bottom lip as he equally felt the pain of the black magic flowing into him.

Nephrine's black eyes reverted back to normal and soon Luther's purple irises and white scleras turned black, and black veins began to surface across his skin.

Nephrine's dark servants quickly disappeared from the cave. And Luther pulled his hand back after the extraction was complete.

Nephrine collapsed on the floor, dead....for good.

"Ah!" The black magic quickly spread and merged with Luther's current black magic

He fell to his knees as the black magic soon became apart of his own magic...changing it, enhancing it.

"There it is..." Luther sensed a powerful trace of black magic inside of the cave

He held his hand out and deep inside of the cave, a large box was ripped out of the stone walls of the cave. The box flew quickly through the cave and into Luther's hands.

"So...it seems that I'm a perfect living container for black magic..." Luther sinfully grinned

Without Luther doing anything, the box instantly opened. The black magic inside of the box instantly forced itself into Luther's body.

Luther fell on the ground on his back, and his black eyes remained open as the black magic from the box continued to flow into him.

"This...may...be a little too much..." Luther felt all of the black magic surging within him

Luther sat up after laying on the cave ground for an hour, letting the magic within him calm down.

He turned his head and saw Ivery still lying unconscious on the ground. He snapped his fingers and almost instantly Ivery's eyes opened.

She sat up and saw Luther a few feet across from her.

"Luther..." Ivery noticed his pitch black-filled eyes

"I did what I had to." Luther said as he stood up

"How...do you feel?" Ivery worriedly asked

"I'm fine...it turns out that I'm completely compatible with black magic, so there are no adverse side effects.." Luther explained

"But...how does this affect your powers..?" Ivery asked

"You don't want to know." Luther answered

"Why don't I want to know...?" Ivery asked another question

"I'd rather not scare you with the truth..." Luther blinked a few times before his eyes cleared up and reverted back to normal

"I already told you that you don't scare me." Ivery stood up

"I might now..." Luther sighed

"Just tell me, I won't run away from you." Ivery rea.s.sured him

"With my original black magic given to me by Hades, merged with several types of ancient black magic left behind by other dark G.o.ds, separate from my infinite attribute abilities...I have new, scarier dark powers, and I sense that it added and even changed some of my infinite abilities and enhanced the unchanged ones..." Luther explained

"And Erebus still holds half of my power until I turn 20..." Luther said

"I'm now deadlier than I've ever been..." Luther stepped closer to Ivery and held her chin with his index finger and thumb

"I could probably even go against Eos now..." Luther said

"Are you sure that you still want to be with me...after knowing this?" Luther leaned down closer to her

"Can you be with someone that can take your life as easy as blowing out a candle?" Luther painfully said to her, his voice cracked as he tried to muster the strength to say those words

"Kiss me if you'll accept me....you can teleport out of here and leave with Yannel and Danya without me if you don't accept me..." Luther snapped his fingers with his free hand and disabled the magic block Nephrine put on the cave

The hole they came down instantly opened back up.

"So what will it be?" Luther asked

"....."

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