House of Amarin

"It should be here…" Ferrah murmured to himself, finding the treasury and its opening. It made him a bit nervous that it was looted already, but then again, his token was resonating with a potent energy source inside. Going by its strength, it had to be what he was looking for.

Entering the room, he quickly noticed those relics that were touched and disintegrated, reinforcing his thought that someone had already explored this place. The question he couldn't answer was when did it happen?

"Where is it…?" He spoke out loudly, but then a formation appeared below and above him. Red electricity trapped him in a cage while blue fire attached itself around his legs, freezing him into place. What surprised Lucian and Lia was that none of their spells managed to penetrate his skin below a surface level.

"Careful... he is dangerous!" Ferrah recognized the voice, but it shouldn't be possible. To the group's surprise, he managed to move his body even that state, breaking off the ice and turning around by sheer force, facing the three of them.

"Samiya? I remember your aura."

"Hajna?" The man named Ferrah answered back while raising an eyebrow, watching her projection and the two individuals standing beside her. "No… You are dead. You are just her construct. So you survived... what a sad existence."

"Yes." She nodded, agreeing with him before shifting towards Lia, "His original name was Samiya, a high-ranking elder in the Golden Claw Sect. He spent multiple years here as an envoy. He is… strong. Or at least, he was."

"Then you know full well it is useless to go against me." Ferrah, or more precisely, Samiya, spoke, and his voice was filled with authority. His growing strength enveloped the place; it was like putting tons and tons of weight onto their shoulders. This one move from him broke not just Lucian's prison but also blew out Lia's flames.

"So much for establishing trade routes, eh?" Lia shrugged, masking her surprise and rising worry. To her question, Samiya's answer was surprisingly theatrical.

"That can still be arranged! I don't want to fight; I just came here to secure a dangerous item before it falls into the hands of one of the Soulbound elders! We can't let them collect more; they already own three of it!"

"And?" Lia asked, tilting her head, trying to shake off his pressure, "We are already locked in!"

"The gate had been opened multiple times, did it not?" Samiya retorted, "I witnessed the most recent one when your mother reached her current level."

"..." Lia couldn't help but close her mouth, glancing at Lucian, who was ready to fight the moment Samiya made another move.

"If they get enough of them, they could even stop that… then no more advancement to that level!" He sighed, sounding as if he was worried, raising an arm and holding it out towards Lia, "You met us already. We are here to help… we are on the same side!"

"Really?" Lia furrowed her brows, "If we are, then why were my men attacked by Undead that, presumably, YOU led there? I just got the notice before we entered here!"

"It was at a level they were adequate to deal with. Training has its dangers… nobody important was in real peril!" He answered quickly, his voice betraying his rising annoyance.

"Well, it did give us a boon…" She smiled, knowing what Sion accomplished. "Sill, I don't trust you a lot."

"And if she doesn't, me neither." Lucian scoffed, and with a blast, he pushed Samiya's aura back, his red eyes flickering with lightning.

"You don't want to fight me. We are allies." Samiya tried to reason with them once more, keeping his hand stretched out, palm open, facing upwards. "Give it to me, and we can keep it safe! We are hidden from them; you are not! We have already helped you a lot in the previous crisis! Why do you think you managed to return and survive?! We have the same enemy!"

"Are you occupying that body like them… or?" Lia questioned, looking into his eyes, already feeling the truth, but she wanted him to say it.

"I was reincarnated. I was reborn properly. I'm not a soulless thief!" He responded with great indignation oozing from his every word. It was clear he detested the Undead and their methods.

"Heh… Soulless…” Lia's answer was a simple tongue click, "Ironic."

As her blue fire appeared, Samiya lowered his hand, knowing it was futile to try and convince her anymore.

“I see… oh well… I will bring you back after this." He let out a soft sigh, glancing at the ring on Lia's finger. "We will deal with the rest afterward."

"Try me!"

Before Lia could attack, it was Lucian who stood behind Samiya, red, electric claws protruding from his knuckles, aiming to skewer his body. Before they could make contact, blinding, the golden fire covered the man, coming from Samiya's body, eating away the Headmaster's magic. It made him stop hurriedly and fall back before the growing curtain of fire enveloped him, too.

"Stop," Samiya commanded, raising a hand, but to his surprise, Lia's attack that was heading towards him didn't obey. The blue ball of fire blasted against his open palm, covering it with ice right up to his wrist. "...?!"

It was a surprise that he wasn't expecting, as Lia's powers should be bound by their knowledge. Even if his words couldn't fully influence her, she should have still felt its effect… but nothing happened. That momentary pause was all that Lucian needed; he was striking, cleaving against his figure, leaving deep cuts on his body before Samiya managed to dodge. The red blood flowing from him proved he wasn't an undead, and he was telling the truth.

"Enough!" Samiya roared, filled with anger, and the whole treasury was blasted apart the next moment.

Lia hurriedly grabbed at Hajna, grasping her disc from being flung away and being lost in the broken emptiness. Lucian flew to them hurriedly, erecting a black sphere around them as a shield while they were bobbing up and down like a lost ship inside a storm, trying to ride the enormous waves in the middle of a storm.

The power Samiya was displaying spread cracks around the starry sky, turning multiple chunks of rock into fine powder and shaking up the sub-realm in its entirety. He started to look like a star, surrounded by golden flames glowing so intensely that Lia couldn't look at it directly.

"He merged fire and light!" She groaned, telling it to Lucian, who focused on protecting them. He couldn't accurately gauge Samiya's strength either, but it had to be in the Three Ri level.

"You are coming back with me!" Samiya roared as a giant, flaming hand reached towards Lia, trying to grab her from Lucian, who wasn't having it.

"FUCK… OFF!"

With his own shout, a similar, colossus, black, clawed arm grabbed at it. It was following Lucian's motion while he was concentrating and summoning all his strength. The two clashed mid-air, increasing the shaking of the broken realm, the resulting shockwave turning more and more rocks into nothingness.

"It can't take much more…" Hajna observed their surroundings with increasing worry. "This whole place will collapse soon enough!"

"Hold on tight!" Lia yelled, placing her disc into her holding bag and joining in the battle.

Lucian tried his best to battle the incredible heat and blinding light from Samiya, pressing down on him, burning not just his mana but his body, even if they hadn't made contact yet. Samiya's body, by now, looked like a 15-meter-high, flaming version of himself trying to squash some bugs.

"I will burn you away if nothing else!" Boomed the monstrosity, his voice echoing everywhere in the realm. Pulling back his hand, he was now stomping down on Lucian, who summoned a cloud of blackness, trying to push back against it.

Using her newly found power in the element of air, Lia quickly flew forward, appearing at the leg of the flaming giant and punching against it with a sharp battlecry. When her fist made contact with the blinding, golden flames, the blue fire appeared, pushing against it, trying to freeze him without much success. It was the first time that her unique fire couldn't freeze something and was resisted by Samiya's fire.

"You are still weak! Come here!" The giant laughed, leaning down to grab her, but before he could, Lucian pushed back so strongly that it made him lose his balance.

"Don't you dare touch her!" The Headmaster roared as he quickly switched up, and red electricity spread forth from his body, snaking along the golden, burning figure, trying to find a crack to invade his new form.

"Hah! You can switch your elements quickly, but you are still nothing before me! Fine! I will kill you first!"

"No, you won't!"

Lia had her own say about it, forming wind blades that carried the icy, freezing feeling she experienced when visiting the Windswept Fields. When throwing them out, she managed to cut into the body of Samiya. Lucian's lighting only needed that nuanced moment of damage to sneak in, searching for his physical presence.

"Enough!" Samiya slapped down, and a sea of golden flames enveloped not just Lia but Lucian, too. "Die then!"

It was the last thing the ancient, broken sub-realm could take, and the next moment it was utterly shattered. It sounded like dropping a glass bowl as the starry sky cracked and broke apart, splinters flying everywhere. Without a pause, No-Space flowed like water through a broken dam, washing over everything, whether Lia, Lucian, or Samiya. Not even his giant, burning form could withstand it as it was thrown off-balance, massive pieces of golden fire being torn off him.

"Lucian!" Lia screamed, seeing that the Headmaster was clearly injured and unconscious, his body severely burnt in the last attack. She herself wasn't really injury-free free, but at least her blue fire managed to protect her enough for it to be only visible on her charred hands.

All of them were being washed away by the violent waves of No-Space, and Lia watched in horror as the Headmaster's soul was being siphoned out from his body in his unconscious state.

"Hmph!" Hearing the grunt of Samiya, she saw his form shrinking, quickly dispelling it and focusing on protecting his body. It was enough to tell he was less proficient in traveling No-Space than Lucian or Lia herself. "We will meet soon enough..."

With a wave of his hand, he was about to reenter real space, escaping unhurt, and Lia couldn't do about it nothing. Or they both thought at first. The ring on Lia's finger quickly reacted to her mind, and when Samiya's hand fell, no crack opened, surprising him. Lia had no time to consider why as her attention was once more focused on Lucian, enveloping his body with her mana, trying to stop his soul from being ripped out from his body.

"Girl-!" Samiya, on the other hand, realized what was happening, pointing directly at Lia, watching a ghostly hand emerging from his own body as No-Space was taking hold of him, dragging him out of his body.

When Lia managed to glance his way, the face that appeared from the body was different. The soul itself didn't match the flesh; their features differed, and the man had long, graying hair and a thin beard. He looked way older than his current self. Samiya wanted to use his powers, but now that half of his soul was already out, it failed to materialize properly, only pushing them further apart. The last thing Lia saw was his frantic struggle to stop what was happening before his soul and body finally separated, and he was lost entirely in No-Space.

"We have to get back!" She moaned, feeling panic rising as she could not stop the same thing from happening to Lucian and only managed to slow it down.

"The ring!" Hajna said, her voice traveling into her mind, "It's locking space down as per your instructions! You have to open it!"

"How do I do that?!"

"Just focus on wanting to get back! Think of the place you have the strongest ties to! We have to go; the effect of the destruction of my home will draw the Soulbound Sect here!"

Lia felt like her mind was a complete mess, her thoughts barely connecting, and it was the first time she was so frightened. Somehow, she managed to think about going home, leaving No-Space, along with Lucian. In her mind, the image of the Academy appeared along with the Misfits' home, their tower. The next moment, she felt like she connected with the telescope and could swear she heard Somia's voice before a blinding light enveloped them, and they were gone…