Aris was with Serena, staring at the vast sea under the sunset on the deck, it was peaceful and they could no longer see West Neva continent anymore. Although they didn’t care much about the lives that they had abandoned, they felt like it was such a waste to let it go. Aris then decided to leave the deck and went into the cabin, walking in the long hallway toward Rasmus’ room.

"Hmm?" Aris furrowed her brows when she felt another energy behind the door that didn’t belong to Rasmus.

Aris opened the door and saw Rasmus sitting on the chair, reading a book while Rullein was there on the bed, with only a blanket that covered her body. She looked at both of them, noticing the disheveled shirt that Rasmus wore and his messy hair.

"You have decided to come back out after all this time?" Aris asked as she walked in without asking Rasmus’ permission.

Rullein rolled over to look at Aris, her eyes were half-lidded, her gaze was lazy. She then let out a soft groan as she stretched her body, revealing her bare skin. She slowly sat up and sat on the edge of the bed before she let the black smoke cover her body and turned it into a black see-through gown.

"Yeah, I have just regained my consciousness after what happened..." Rullein stood up and walked to the table where Rasmus had opened a bottle of whiskey. "I’m, powerless, Aris," she glanced at Aris as she took a sip of Rasmus’ glass of whiskey. "I lost all my power..."

"I know, I can see it right now," Aris nodded, knowing it without having Rullein to tell her. "So, Aristoria erased all the powers you have gained because of the corruption?" She asked.

"Yes, I’m a lot weaker than the first time we met. I’m pretty much useless right now," Rullein answered as she sat at the table with Rasmus, staring at him with a gaze filled with regret, guilt, and something else.

"You’re right about being useless, but that shouldn’t be a problem with me around," Aris said as she walked toward the table and sat where Rasmus was on her left and Rullein was on her right. "I can manipulate the Mana from air, turning it into an energy that you can turn into Dark energy," she pointed out as she offered her right hand to Rullein.

Rasmus was still in his recovery process, and Aris had been feeding him Mana to satiate the power within him. Rullein knew about that already, and so she placed her hand on top of Aris’.

Aris took a deep breath and a surge of Mana began to gather around her, her hair turning light blue, almost translucent. When she opened her eyes, she saw nothing but strings and cloths of energy mixed and entangled around her. She grasped the bright color strings and cloths with her left hand, changing their colors until they looked like a stream of water, clear and reflective but not transparent. She then pulled the purified energies from her left hand toward her right hand where she held Rullein’s energy that looked like solidified smoke.

Rullein’s energy was invasive and aggressive that it didn’t hesitate to turn the purified energy into her own because it was pure energy that could easily be digested. Aris watched at how fast and rapid Rullein’s energy would absorb them all, and she had to keep an eye out because if she made a mistake, Rullein’s energy would go out of control and would devour not only energies but also life forces.

Once Aris felt like her consciousness was fading, she let go of Rullein’s hand and separated the strings and cloths that Rullein were absorbing. She released her power and let herself rest or else she would undergo ascension as soon as she lost consciousness. On the other hand, Rullein felt a surge of power running through her veins. Even though it wasn’t as much as what she had gathered in the past year, she had regained at least ten percent of what she had lost.

"I can only do this once in three days..." Aris said under her breath, trying to stabilize her own energy. "Right now, my priority is Rasmus because his condition is more crucial than yours," she looked at Rasmus, who had been doing nothing but reading.

"That’s fine by me, thank you, Aris..." Rullein said, her voice surprisingly soft and gentle.

"You’re oddly being docile right now, and that makes you look weird," Aris reached into Rasmus’ glass to have a sip of his whiskey.

"Weird? Fancy coming from you who have a conflicting feeling," Rullein snatched the glass from Aris’ hand. "We both are disappointment, so don’t even think that you’re better than me," she said and emptied the glass in a single gulp.

Aris furrowed her brows and stared at Rullein weirdly, she didn’t know what Rullein meant by conflicting feeling. However, she knew and was aware that she had disappointed Rasmus a few times ever since they arrived in West Neva. However, to be called out like that, it made her feel a sting in her chest.

"Now that I think about it, it’s better that you keep acting docile..." Aris said as she grabbed the bottle instead and drank directly from it.

"Shut up and mind your own business," Rullein narrowed her eyes, her gaze cold toward Aris.

Rasmus sighed deeply, and both Aris and Rullein immediately looked at him. They both then became quiet, forgetting that they were in Rasmus’ space where he usually wanted nothing but solitude.

"Have Erlina or Carrion visited you, Rasmus?" Aris asked and cleared her throat as she put down the bottle.

"They both came earlier this morning," Rasmus nodded. "They want to go back to South Neva, and since they want to go there, we are going there instead of Central Neva," he added.

"Oh? Erlina did tell me that she wanted to go back to South Neva, but I didn’t ask what for," Aris looked at Rasms with her brows raised. "Is there a particular reason why they want to go back there?" She asked.

"Yes, they’re getting married, and I think they want to settle down and just focus on what they have now," Rasmus nodded and closed the book. "It has been a while since I meet with the others too, so it’s nice to meet with them even for a moment. We can also warn the South Neva Union about what happened to West Neva," he added.

Aris was surprised to hear that those two were getting married, a human tradition to tie two individuals together, something that she had never seen. She somehow felt happy for Erlina and also a sense of relief that Erlina had decided to stay away from Rasmus because things were about to get worse from here. For her, this whole situation was normal to her, but for humans with limited lifespans, she wanted Erlina to have a good life, a life away from what she was in right now.

"But, we are talking about South Neva right now. Aren’t the cultists there as well? You’re not worried that they would approach you and the angels would do something to you?" Aris asked with a serious expression. "We could bargain and made a deal with Satan, but based on what you told us about angels, I don’t think they’re as flexible as her," she pointed out.

Rasmus knew that already and he had been thinking about that as well. In Aris’ and Serena’s eyes, Rasmus had walked out of the fire alive, barely had any scratch on him, and yet he was walking toward another flame, but this time the flame was bigger and more dangerous. Aris didn’t believe in luck, and she was worried that this time, he would end up in a place he shouldn’t visit.

"I know, and I’m not planning to make a scene either. I’ll let Erlina and Carrion be our eyes in the future, to observe the cult’s movements," Rasmus answered.

"You want to put Erlina in danger like that?" Aris furrowed her brows.

"I didn’t tell her to, she volunteered," Rasmus looked at Aris as he shook his head. "She wanted to help us, and in exchange, she wanted me to repay her with a few connections from Eastern continent, especially the Asghar family."

"Why am I not surprised. She’s too ambitious for a human," Aris crossed her arms, remembering how ambitious Erlina was. "Then, what about Videl? Are you not worried about his whereabouts? You’re not afraid that something would happen to you and about the bet?" She asked, and her expression became more serious.

"How big is this world, Aris?" Rasmus asked with his brows raised, remembering what Sanya had told him earlier.

"Too big to explore, and looking for him is like what you call a proverb of looking for a needle in a haystack. But it’s not impossible if we can track his energy," Aris answered.

"The world might have turned into chaos before we can even find him. It’s better to not spend our time looking for him," Rasmus said and looked out at the window where the night had taken over the sky. "Let’s not think about that for now," he muttered.