Daniel immediately dashed out of the white castle, and once outside, he glanced at the two portals that had just appeared in mid air.
He quickly tried to push his spiritual sense towards the portals, but before he managed to, two individuals walked out of the two portals. Both of them humanoids, and both of them with a size slightly bigger than three meters in height.
The individual which came out of the black portal seemed to be a middle aged man. He was clothed in a tightly fitting black robe. His hair were pitch black, just like his short and well kept beard. His eyes were as black as the night, and there was no distinction between the sclera, the pupil, and the iris.
Opposite to the previous individual, the one that came out of the white portal, was a young man. He appeared to be in his early twenties, and had light blond hair. He wore a robe similar to the one the black-robed man wore, and had a pair of golden eyes which emitted a white smoke.
Finally, Daniel's spiritual sense reached the two portals.. And right then, he felt the profound essence of corruption which was emitted by the black portal, and the pure spiritual essence emitted by the white portal.
The two individuals were facing each other, completely ignoring Daniel, the rest of his group, or the large number of monsters that had amassed at the edge of the lake.
Of the two, the man dressed in black appeared to be calmer, and showed an amiable smile on his face, while the man dressed in white appeared almost arrogant, and had an aloof expression on his face.
"I am the herald of corruption. I speak for the Sovereign of corruption." Said the black-robed man.
In response, the white-robed young man said "I am the third spiritual emissary. I speak for the Spiritual emperor."
"To open a connection to the spiritual plain in a world claimed by corruption, is a grave violation of the deal." Said the black clothed man while smiling. He didn't seem to be taking the white-robed man seriously.
The white-robed young man noticed his opponent's behaviour, and with irritation, he said "You are mistaken, this world already possessed a spiritual seed. I've left it here myself thousands of years ago."
"Incorrect.. The spiritual seed had perished. A third party activated it by force, and infected the world with spiritual power." Responded the black-clothed man while smiling creepily, and showing a white set of teeth.
"It has not. This young man has immortal power within his body. He is a subject of the Spiritual emperor. It is within his capabilities and rights to activate a spiritual seed." Rebutted the white-robed young man.
Without losing a beat, the black-robed man's smile widened as he said "Nice try, he belongs to one of Iewah's worlds. Which I don't need to remind you, does not belong to your Spiritual Emperor."
Not knowing what to say, the white-robe young man said "Retreat the corruption from this world herald.. You don't want to start a war for this, do you?"
"Do you think that I can bear the punishment of losing a world? No. Sever the spiritual connection, and leave this world. Otherwise, it's war.. My lord will understand.." Responded the black-robed man with a smile still present on his face.
From how it looked from Daniel's perspective, the white-robed young man was in the wrong.. He had no idea of what agreement they were talking about, but from the context, he could guess what they were discussing.
And that was, the hegemony of this world.
The more Daniel listened, the more everything started to make sense.. Why the wasteland world did not have any sort of spiritual connection, but had been invaded by essence of corruption.. Why his world only had a partial connection to the spiritual plain just like the dragon had mentioned, and how merging his two essences had forced a connection to the spiritual plain to open.
What Daniel could make out of the story.. Was this.
At first, this world did not possess either of the two essences.
Thousands of years ago, the white-robed young man had left a spiritual seed in it, which Daniel had guessed the "grey teardrop" mentioned in the mages' diary to be, within what now was the wasteland world.
The spiritual seed had landed in the island, within the territory of the group of mages, which at the time, were simple warriors.
Instead of developing their spirit, and reaching a level which could allow them to open a connection to the spiritual plain, the sudden acquisition of power made them become crazy.
Believing to be chosen by a higher power, which was in fact true, they started to decimate the world's population.
The massacre they had caused, instead of aiding the method of conquest of the Spiritual Emperor, had aided the method of assimilation of the Sovereign of corruption.
For that, an incredibly large amount of death was necessary.
Once fulfilled the requirements, various portals to other corrupted worlds had opened, causing the world to end up in this state.
Back in the present, Daniel had fulfilled the requirement for the opening of a spiritual connection between the spiritual plain and the wasteland world in the mages' stead.
Now, two contrasting powers had taken control over the same world, and that, was a matter that required the herald of corruption and the spiritual emissary to personally appear, and discuss the problem between each other.
Another part of the conversation that had left Daniel dumbfounded, was the mentioning of Iewah.
From the way they talked about him, he was an entity at the level of the Sovereign of corruption, and the Spiritual emperor.
Daniel's train of thought was interrupted by the next words that came from the white-robed young man.
"I invoke the intervention of a judge, due to the impossibility of deciding to which faction this world belongs." Said the white-robed young man while suddenly smiling.
On the other hand, the smile on the face of the black-robed man disappeared. In its place, a serious expression had appeared.
He looked at the young man and said "Impulsive.. No wonder you are just the third emissary.. You do know that a judgement almost always ends up in the destruction of the world in question, right?"
"I am aware." Responded the young man with a disinterested tone. It appeared that the survival of this world was of less importance than his own next meal.
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Daniel, which flew at their height, and said "Hold on a second, why are you discussing the destruction of this world?!"
The black-robed man turned to look at Daniel, and after assuming his usual amiable smile, said "It is a choice dictated by the honorable spiritual emissary.. So kind.. He would never want you to LIVE in a corrupted world.. It seems that it is better for him to destroy you all."
Daniel turned to look at the white-robed man, which said to him "I don't care about this world. My job doesn't require me to, and I am not incline to."
Daniel felt the anger grow inside him. He then said "Is there no other way to solve this? Does this world need to be destroyed?"
"Actually.. There is another way.. But I am not sure that the young representant of the spiritual emperor would have the guts to accept.." Said the black-robed man to Daniel, while also making sure that the spiritual emissary could hear him.
"What is it?" Asked Daniel with urgency.
"Letting the world's population decide.. Of courses."
The white-robed young man narrowed his eyes at the herald of corruption, and said "You are proposing a resolution in which your side holds a large advantage.."
"How exactly?" Daniel asked to the young man.
"Through war."
The resolution through war proposed by the black-robed man was not a simple war. It was a world-wide conflict that would see the two opposite factions fight for the control over the world.
In this case, everyone which had been corrupted would belong to the side of the Sovereign of corruption, while those who cultivated the spirit, would belong to the side of the spiritual emperor.
This also meant that, if the white-robed warrior were to accept, Daniel would have to face not only every single monster that inhabited this world, but his companions too.
After a few moment, an idea came to Daniel's mind. He then said to the spiritual emissary "I can do it. I only need a handicap in order to even things out."
"Why would I accept?" Asked the white-robed young man.
"Because if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have a world to compete for. This world would be his, and that's that." Responded Daniel with a bit more anger than intended.
The spiritual emissary turned to look back at the herald of corruption, and said "Would you agree to it?"
"Of course," Responded the herald of corruption "we are not savages." He then turned to look at Daniel, and said "What are your requests?"
"First of all, I need six months of peace to prepare. Secondly, everyone I purify from corruption, becomes part of my side.. Third and last request, the war doesn't end after the extermination of either of the two sides, but after the death of either me, or the king of the monsters."
The black-robed man looked at Daniel with interest, then, he turned slightly to the side, and said "Have you heard what he said?"
Suddenly, the king of monsters appeared in mid air. He was covered by a black cloak, and his face could not be seen.
While kneeling respectfully towards the herald of corruption, he said "Yes, your honor."
"Very well.. It is custom during this kind of events that the champions ask for a reward from those they are representing." said the black-robed man before turning to look at the king of monsters, and saying "What is your request?"
"Your honor, I would like to be closer to the Sovereign of corruption.. Please allow me to live in one of the main corrupted worlds" Responded the king of monsters with anticipation in his voice.
Daniel turned to look at the white-robed man, which asked with an annoyed tone "What is your request?"
After a moment of consideration, Daniel said "A way to travel through worlds, and a map that includes my world of origin.."
"Fine." Responded the spiritual emissary with a dismissive tone. For him, doing what Daniel had asked was nothing. He then turned to look at the herald of corruption, and said "I agree to the resolution and the terms proposed."
"Very well."
After receiving a confirmation from the spiritual emissary, the herald of corruption turned towards the black portal, and went right in. On the other side, the spiritual emissary did the exact same thing.
The two portals closed behind their backs.
Daniel looked at the king of monsters, which turned towards the large army that had amassed around the lake. He then shouting a command which caused them to disperse.
The king turned back towards Daniel, and muttered "Six month.." Then disappeared.
Daniel let out a huge breath of relief, then, flew back on the island in which the rest of his party were waiting for him with eyes filled of admiration and gratitude.
Since when they had heard about the possibility of their world being destroyed, they had started to, once again, lose hope. But thanks to Daniel, which had changed the fate of their world once again, they were able to have a chance to fight back.
That was all they needed. A chance to fight for their world.
If they were to lose, their world would have to keep existing as the corrupted world they had always known.. But if they won..
A chance was more than what they could have hoped for.