Vorshade slipped aside, avoiding all the blades of Will rushing toward it. Within its own Domain, Vorshade could shift to anywhere it desired; it instantly moved to the front of Richer and swung its sword down with a heavy strike. The blade, wrapped in mana, pierced through Richer’s Will defense and hacked deep into his body. The strike made Richer scream in pain. Even though his body could quickly regenerate, the pain remained unchanged. Richer could not die from being wounded, but the agony slowed him down, affected him and that was precisely Exitus’s plan.

  Boom.

  With its near-invincible shifting ability in battle, the magic, even Richer’s Will could not catch Vorshade. Moreover, with its unique Ability, every slash it delivered brought forth a heart-piercing agony that left Richer struggling to endure. Vorshade’s pain-inducing Ability could be considered a natural nemesis to beings like Richer.

  Richer once again regenerated his severed arm, sweat dripping down his ferocious face. Every strike Vorshade delivered pushed his nerves to the brink. Richer did not want to prolong the battle any further; he turned his gaze toward Exitus, intending to kill the summoner instead of wrestling with the summoned creature. He created a mound of earth beneath his feet and caused it to explode. Dust billowed outward. Vorshade’s vision was not limited at all, it “saw” everything through the energy on their bodies. It dispersed the dust and slashed toward Richer’s figure ahead.

  Richer stood motionless like a statue. The slashes tore his body apart, yet strangely it did not regenerate. Boom. The body collapsed and crumbled into a mass of sand, revealing a small hole beneath.

  Bang. An explosion erupted behind Exitus. Richer leapt out from underground, wrapping the boy in earth and sand. The sand enclosed Exitus into a large sphere, then detonated. Boom.

  “Ha ha ha ha! What a careless mistake, boy! Now everything is over. I shall take the last wish in your place.”

  Richer burst into triumphant laughter, but his grin suddenly froze. The sand scattered away and before him was not Exitus’s mangled body, but a white skeleton. That’s right. Within its Domain, Voshade could not only shift, it could swap positions with anything. Including Exitus, and even Richer.

  Exitus stood calmly in the distance. As Renes’s disciple, Exitus possessed an exceptionally sharp sense. Even though Richer had tried to leave most of his mana in the dummy and then hide his true body underground, Exitus could still catch a faint ripple of mana beneath the earth, allowing him to predict the enemy’s movement. He had quickly ordered Vorshade to swap positions with him.

  “It seems you’ve laid all your cards bare. Just now, you used the spells from the two remaining cores at the same time.” Exitus coldly analyzed. The basic spell Burrow allowed Richer to move swiftly underground, and the intermediate spell Sand Coffin was what he used to attack Exitus.

  “So what if you know? You still cannot kill me. As long as the Golem exists, I am the embodiment of immortality.” Richer sneered. They would eventually exhaust their strength and mana, but he could regenerate endlessly. This battle was far from ending. He even glanced at Drake being knocked away, he merely needed to hold on until Drake died.

  “A hamster, isn’t it?” Exitus suddenly uttered a meaningless sentence. But that seemingly meaningless line made Richer shudder. Unpleasant memories flashed through his mind. Richer unconsciously touched his right eye; only he knew that it was merely a false eye. Fear crept into him, how could a stranger know this secret? He had clearly killed everyone there.

  “How do you know that name! Impossible, I did everything to conceal it!”

  Exitus coldly looked toward the Golem. “Forbidden Spell” was an extremely powerful form of magic that could only be engraved into the fourth magic core. Richer’s Forbidden Spell allowed him to summon and bind with the Golem, turning him immortal but everything had a weakness. The Golem’s core was that weakness. The caster of this spell must sacrifice a part of their body to create a linked core between the two sides. Richer had already lost his right eye, so he did not need to remove another part of his body. Right now, Exitus only needed to destroy Richer’s right eye and the magic core hidden inside the Golem’s right eye simultaneously, and the Forbidden Spell would be undone.

  Richer laughed loudly. He did not deny it. He was trapped here within Vorshade’s Domain; whenever he attempted to escape, it always swapped his position. His mistake was underestimating both Exitus and Drake. He never expected someone to endure for this long. The distance between him and the Golem was far too great for proper coordination. But Richer would not lose. He only had to keep Exitus from getting out.

  Richer touched the ground, creating an enormous cage that covered all three of them. With his other hand, he activated Madenes’s Gauntlet, turning the entire cage into solid gold. The golden cage blocked out the sunlight, plunging everything inside into darkness.

  “With this, you will not escape. In the end, I am still the victor, no one will ever know my weakness.”

  Outside, the tribal chiefs returned once more after being blown away by the Golem. They really wanted to help, but the fighting level has exceeded their capabilities. Mys suddenly felt her head splitting open. Something was trying to invade her mind. A whisper echoed beside her ear, cold, yet familiar.

  “Don’t resist! It’s me, Exitus. Listen to what I say.”

  Mys jolted, then gave a soft smile; beneath her cloak was a beautiful smile shining like countless stars. She wasted no time transmitting the information to Drake, who lay gasping for breath.

  Drake was being crushed into the ground by the Golem’s heavy stomp. His strength was depleted, his Ascension state fading. His body shrank back to just five meters. It wouldn’t be long before his Ascension ended—and he would die, crushed into a pile of mangled flesh.

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  “Its weakness is the right eye. Attack the right eye.” Mys’s voice echoed inside Drake’s mind, giving him a spark of renewed hope. Gathering the very last of his strength, Drake roared with iron resolve as his body burst into radiant seven-colored light. He flung aside the Golem’s foot pressing down on him and hurled himself toward its right eye.

  Boom.

  Inside Richer’s cage, Vorshade simultaneously cleaved through Richer’s right eye.

  “Impossible…” Richer could not comprehend how Drake knew. They seemed to have some way of communicating without meeting. Richer had lost. He fell to his knees in despair. The cage disintegrated; sunlight once again shone on Exitus’s face. The boy looked exactly as before cold, composed, showing no joy in victory. After delivering his final attack, Drake’s Ascension ended. He returned to his human form, and the unified badge split into six fragments that flew back to the chiefs. The chiefs nodded at Mys in gratitude. They did not have much time, they needed to quickly seek a successor before returning to death.

  Exitus slowly walked toward Richer. He looked at him with deep sentiment. This truly was the strongest and youngest adversary he had ever faced. Everything Richer had done showed he possessed all the qualities to become the next Madenes. Without the support of the others, Exitus would never have been able to defeat the great king of Golden. Richer removed the golden gauntlet and tossed it aside. Casting a Forbidden Spell always carried a price; the fate of the Golem was the fate of Richer. He touched the ground, grasping handfuls of warm sand.

  “You know… my true dream was never to be wealthy.” Cracks spread across his body. Richer lay down with a bright, peaceful smile. He remembered the feeling the earth embracing him like a mother, the flowers he planted blooming brilliantly under the sun, the gentle breeze carrying a tender scent.

  “I simply wanted to be a farmer.” Richer chuckled softly and closed his eyes. His body had reached its limit, shattered and dissolved into sand.

  “I know that. But we have no choice. We were never truly free.” Exitus stood silently. Having witnessed Richer’s memories, he could somewhat understand his feelings.

  Exitus picked up Madenes’s gauntlet. The gauntlet dissolved into a mass of pitch-black energy and merged into the book within his Inter Space. Inside the Abyss, the two Jesters met. They looked identical, differing only in aura. The one who arrived was wild and arrogant. The native Jester, in contrast, was calm and indifferent.

  “My self of myself! You didn’t take over the boy’s body? Unbelievable! You are the final Wish, and yet you refuse to "Awaken"!” The arrogant Jester laughed loudly, mocking the foolishness of his other self. If he possessed that power, he would have already seized Richer’s body. Unlike the others, the eighth Wish was the final Wish. The eighth Jester had the authority to overwrite the mind of a weak child and become the one to fulfill Madenes’s prophecy.

  “Number One! I am not like you! I know far more secrets than all of you combined! And besides, I do not strip others of their choice, even if that choice is nothing but a lie.”

  Jester No.1 fell silent. After all, they were one and the same. They existed for a reason and would do anything to carry out their mission. Shaking his head, the clown no longer cared. He had already lost. He turned into a stream of black energy and merged into No.8.

  “The rest is up to you. I hope you will complete our mission.”

  “Of course. Everything is only just beginning,” Jester No.8 replied indifferently. The Jester’s voice faded, and the Abyss once again sank into silence.

  At the SeaBloom Academy, Renes was still the same as always, a drunkard and nothing more, lying comfortably on the headmaster’s chair. His job was simply to wait until someone came to replace him. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in his room. It swept through quickly and vanished just as quickly, leaving behind a small letter and a black bag on the table. Renes did not stop it, nor did he sense any hostility from the visitor. Renes stepped forward and picked up the letter. The very first lines immediately caught his attention, pulling him out of his half-drunken state.

  “Dear Teacher Renes, long time no see. I write this because I must go very far, far away. To me, Seabloom is perhaps the only place that can barely be called home. Please take good care of Thane; he is my only disciple. He is a Champion with tremendous potential and may be a pillar of humanity in the future. We may meet again soon, but in a different role, on a different side. And of course, when that time comes, I will not hold back for your sake. Thane is carrying Ossa's blood inside him, even though he hasn't realized it. Please help me to give him this badge and this piece of paper. Tell him that only open the paper when death is imminent."

  “P.S.: You need to grow stronger, Renes. The last time I saw Mulock, he had formed a strange pact. It was the first time I saw a Druid enter a contract with an artificial creature. But I cannot deny, the dragon he contracted with is actually quite strong. I could kill him easily, but I think it’s better for you to be the one to do it.”

  Folding the letter, Renes sighed. After the battle in the capital, the Alliance had stepped in and discovered the nightmare energy. Exitus was undoubtedly a Wish holder. His wanted posters now covered the entire continent of Veynar. In the black bag, there were a silver-gray badge and a carefully folded piece of paper.

  After the battle ended, Hesmor seized the territory of Golden and expanded its borders. The Ossa tribes were given back their lands and became part of Hesmor. Aster became the youngest puppet emperor in history, controlled by the Triangle Order, an alliance formed by the three great clans. Under the immense pressure of The Triangle Order, Voga and Melor set aside their old conflicts and joined forces to create a noble and royal coalition known as the Two Hands. Hesmor was no longer ruled by two kings as before. It had become a battlefield of power between the Triangle and the Two Hands.

  Golden Richer was also confirmed as a Wish holder. When the nightmare energy dissipated, all the solid gold reverted to its true form. The golden palace became a mound of rotten, foul flesh, the gold traded across the continent also returned to its original shapes. Disgust and horror spread everywhere. Every faction, ally or enemy, understood one thing. The prophecy once again echoes in their ears like a terrifying melody.

  "The age of Madenes would return"

  Once all eight Wishes were gathered. Madenes would rise again, becoming an entity surpassing even the gods. He would grant his followers endless power, enough to reshape the entire world.

  In the Abyss of Nightmares, on the tenth floor, Exitus fitted the gems he had gathered from the elite monsters into each socket. With the power of Vorshade, it was not difficult for him to slaughter them all. When the final gem was placed, a deep boom echoed. The massive door began to tremble violently and then opened into a realm of darkness.

  The boy stepped inside, letting the nightmare energy flow through his body. The Abilities within the pages he had collected had gradually remade his flesh, allowing him to adapt with ease to the power of this place. Exitus walked deeper and deeper. The darkness slowly faded, replaced by a space filled with shimmering golden light. In the distance, he saw a familiar figure standing there, smiling at him. It was Jester, yet strange. Though the appearance was identical, the feeling was entirely different.

  “Who are you” Exitus asked calmly.

  "Jester" was surprised. He noticed it. Jester did not answer immediately. He stroked his beard and studied the boy closely. The red glow in his eyes quickly shifted into a blinding gold.

  “What a clever boy. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Guardian of the tenth floor, the embodiment of greed, the embodiment of the desire to seize all things. I am the wish of eternal wealth.”

  “You may call me Avarus.”