Chapter 224
It was the final page, and the moment he flipped it, all he saw was a black page, completely void of white. It was dark and blank.
The sensations in his hand reached an extreme as he felt a strong pulling force from the book.
He tried to suppress the book with his abundant espera; however, it seemed to have absolutely no effect on it. The force ignored his efforts as if his energy was nothing.
The force intensified until he was no longer able to pull back.
‘This… can’t be good,’ he thought, watching helplessly as his hand started to sink into the book—the page seemed to be pulling him in.
A tide of an unknown force, neither espera nor dark espera, washed over him as his body was forcefully pulled into the book.
At this moment, Oliver’s expression was calm. He knew panicking would not solve anything, and since he had decided to take the risk, he was going to follow through to the end.
The world around him seemed to warp, twisting as though reality itself was being rewritten. The book expanded and expanded until it turned into a pitch-black square that seemed to distort space itself.
Oliver disappeared from the scene, from the underground basement, as if he had never existed in the place, along with the book.
Oliver opened his eyes as he felt himself falling into a pitch-black pit with no sky or ground; he seemed to be falling endlessly.
The sensation was both familiar and foreign, like tumbling through a dream he couldn’t wake from.
His expression was chillingly calm as he traced the outline of his fingers.
In the next instant, his eyes changed colors, like brilliantly shining suns. His sight pierced the never-ending darkness.
It was a scene that could send chills to any spectator…
A figure falling into the endless darkness, nothing visible—not even the figure itself.
However, a pair of eyes remained untainted by the darkness. Eyes that seemed to devour the very void around them. It was as if nothing in the world could obstruct those eyes as they stared up.
Those eyes seemed all-knowing, nothing in the world could be hidden from them… be it abyss, be it the boundless heavens…
Everything revealed its deepest secrets before the gaze of the endless cosmos.
‘Fascinating…’ Oliver thought, his mind racing through the possibilities.
The world before Oliver was no longer a blanket of darkness; he could see everything. It was like watching a curtain pull back, revealing the intricate workings of an unseen machine. If asked what was happening, he would immediately answer that he was traveling through space.
He was falling, or perhaps more accurately, traveling through a space tunnel to a place far from the underground basement.
‘So they intended for me to be transported somewhere else?’
Was it a trap? A portal to another dimension? He didn’t know, but the excitement outweighed the uncertainty. He wondered if that’s what the man was thinking. But what was at the end of this space tunnel?
He doubted even the man knew; after all, he had not allowed them to complete it before subduing them.
He wondered where he would end up.
His heart throbbed with excitement rather than fear—all he felt was endless anticipation.
A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He popped his fingers as he kept falling deeper and deeper into the tunnel, ready to act in any situation thrown at him.
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Mystic Purge Clan
At the grand courtyard where the mistress of the clan resided, all was as calm and silent as ever.
Ophelia sat with her eyes closed as if in a meditative state. The sky above her was clear and devoid of clouds, a bizarre but acceptable sight for someone of her level.
A sudden gust of wind blew as the trees shivered against the unexpected winds. The unnatural shift in the air sent a subtle tension across the courtyard.
She opened her eyes at that moment and calmly looked up.
“His fate has changed drastically again. What happened?”
She spoke in a tone neither low nor high, as if making a judgment. Her voice, though steady, carried a weight that made the very air around her tremble.
She knew what it meant. Just recently, she had altered the paths in his fate to match what she wanted them to be.
But not even a few days had passed since then, and Oliver’s fate was once again back to how it originally was.
An utterly chaotic and messy cluster of countless paths, with no definite beginning or end, almost as if…
As if… the world could no longer determine a general direction for his fate.
Her eyes flickered as she wondered what had caused this to happen. Such unpredictability was rare, even for someone like her.
She didn’t think anything significant had happened in the past few days…
Or… had something happened?
She had been in her courtyard, and unless a matter was of utmost importance, no one was allowed to enter.
A bell suddenly appeared in her hand. She rang it twice, producing an extremely gentle and melodious tone.
Tinkle! Tinkle!
Two soft high pitched sounds were produced. The sound resonated, as if it was echoing through dimensions.
The bell disappeared, and a few moments later, a visitor appeared in her courtyard.
“Madam Ophelia, how may I be of service?”
It was an old man with robust features, dressed in blue robes bearing the symbol of the Mystic Purge Clan.
Ophelia’s serene gaze fell on the old man.
He was an elder responsible for serving her and keeping her informed about clan affairs when she asked.
If one paid close attention to his voice, they would recognize him as the same elder who was present when Oliver was born.
He held a very high position in the clan as an elder.
She never bothered to know his name or identity. In her eyes, only their utility mattered. In front of her, all positions or names were meaningless. Was there anyone with a higher prestige than her in the entire clan?
To her, this old man was equivalent to just another of her countless servants.
“Tell me about the situation outside.”
Her cold words echoed heavily in the eerily quiet atmosphere.
The elder’s heart shook for a moment before he calmed down. Even after countless meetings, he could not fully relax in Ophelia’s presence. She was too formidable and full of prestige.
Each day, she seemed to grow even more terrifying.
“Yes, madam. Recently, the demons from the eastern borders have appointed a new general—”
“Stop.”
The elder was instantly silenced. Ophelia had ordered him to stop speaking, and he did so. He was only there to obey, not to question.
“What has happened with Oliver?” she asked, simple and straightforward.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, signaling this was the only question that truly mattered.