Chapter 1093: Section 1094: The Disappearing Flame
“Vifette, are you telling the truth?”
The one who had spoken before was “Twilight’s Glow” Vifette from West Dimosha, whose words caught the sidelong glances of everyone present.
Vifette nodded, “I can basically confirm it.”
The crowd was momentarily dazed; Vifette might not be the strongest among them, but his character was acknowledged by all the wizards present. Vifette was not one to lie, and though there seemed to be some room for maneuver in his words, that was just his style of speaking.
Angel had been marked by the Thief of Time? It was unexpected to everyone, yet it also made sense.
Angel’s speed of cultivation was so fast, and his alchemy was almost capable of breaking through the mysterious gates, his potential had already been recognized by everyone. It seemed logical that he would be valued by the Thief of Time.
“The Illusion Demon lineage is truly thriving, Sanders was regarded by the Thief of Time, and his top apprentice, Sumishe, recently stepped onto the path of True Knowledge. And now, this Angel…” someone exclaimed, unable to deny that Sanders had outdone everyone present in his eye for disciples.
Astonishment mixed with admiration filled the wizards, all reflecting on Sanders’s good fortune. Only Monty, standing at the forefront, remained silent. The expression beneath his mask was evidently somber.
He had felt appreciation and admiration for Angel before, but now, Monty’s eyes betrayed a touch of envy.
Aside from a select few, no one knew that he had been abandoned by the Thief of Time. No matter what choices he made, the Thief of Time no longer appeared.
It was for this reason that Monty had adopted an unorthodox approach, seeking to break through a critical phase by hunting the descendants of a Demon God.
But now, a Wizard Apprentice insignificant in the eyes of history had been marked by the Thief of Time, causing the balance in his heart to collapse instantly.
Sanders being marked by the Thief of Time was bearable, but why was he, Monty, outdone even by a Wizard Apprentice?
What was it about this apprentice that made him worthy of the Thief of Time’s attention?
Monty closed his eyes deeply, aware that his emotions were misaligned. He knew he needed to adjust them, but whenever he thought of the Thief of Time, his resentment kept bubbling to the surface.
This had become an obsession, and even a demon in his heart.
“Lord Monty, what do you think of Angel’s future prospects?” asked Vifette, his tone carrying an indiscernible implication.
Suppressing the resentment within, Monty answered in a calm voice, “Being marked by the Thief of Time has its pros and cons, but in my view, the cons far outweigh the pros. The pursuit of truth is an indelible conviction for all wizards and a faith that renews itself on the long journey. Anyone who hinders us on this path is an obstacle, and that includes the Thief of Time.”
Monty’s words made everyone pause. To them, the Thief of Time was mostly seen in a positive light, and they felt that Lord Monty seemed to share this view before. It was unexpected that his genuine thoughts were such.
Vifette said with a smile, “I think so too. Lord Monty is quite right, only the path to truth should remain untouched.”
After finishing, Vifette slowly faded into the shadows, blending completely into the crowd around him.
Monty, however, took a long look at Vifette, calming some of his restless thoughts.
As time passed, the crowd gradually fell silent. Although they no longer discussed Angel and their expressions returned to normal, their hearts were still not at peace. The impact brought by Angel was too great; the current silence was nothing but speechlessness following the shock. They firmly believed that this storm, still brewing, would soon bring an unimaginable impact to the Wizards’ Realm.
…
Unaware that he was the center of a whirlwind storm, Angel was currently somewhat flustered as he controlled the ice sphere floating beside him.
This was because the closer the Throne of Flames’ descent approached, the more vigorously the flames danced.
The Flame Mark behind Angel’s right ear had previously inexplicably released a large amount of flames that swirled around him, which he could neither control nor retract, allowing them to stir trouble as they pleased.
The only good news was that these flames, although swirling at his side, previously followed a fixed trajectory. Thus, Angel had suspended the Icebound Hex that insulated Toby in the ice sphere above his shoulder, where the two would not conflict.
But not long ago, the flames suddenly became much livelier, no longer following any trajectory and instead darting randomly around him. This caused the ice sphere to almost be singed by the flames.
Now, with the Icebound Hex charging energy, if it were to be disturbed by the flames, the outcome was unpredictable. Angel hastily drew the ice sphere into his embrace, but during this process, the lively flames still harassed him, leading to his flustered state.
Finally, Angel secured the ice sphere in his arms and incidentally released a frost spell to isolate it. Only then did he relax.
Yet, after all this was done, the flames swirling around him suddenly vanished.
This disappearance didn’t mean the flames returned to the mark; instead, they retreated into an unknown realm and disappeared into thin air.
Angel stretched out a hand to probe his surroundings, and apart from a residual warmth, he could no longer feel any trace of the Fire Element.
Then he looked outside, to find that the flames in the sea of fire were also disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
What was happening?
Angel turned back, intending to ask Fafnir, but saw that her gaze seemed empty, as if staring at the sky, yet also as if looking through it to an even more distant world.
“The Throne of Flames has reached the construction stage, requiring the fire from tens of thousands to forge the throne,” Fafnir suddenly said.
“Is that the mystery behind the vanishing flames?”
Fafnir didn’t speak again, a longing look in her eyes as she watched the unknown Void.
Although the sea of flames outside had disappeared, the thick smoke and scorched smell in the air had not dissipated. At this moment, in the smoke-filled, ruin-littered Lassudral, two figures were slowly moving forward.
One was a white-haired little old man wearing a wizard’s hat, with eyebrows that drooped to his chest and a small beard curling up, looking kind though with a hint of impishness in his eyes and attire.
The other was a statuesque woman with a large skirt, her entire body glowing with a brilliance like glass.
They were Kanter and Samantha, sent to Lassudral by Monty. As the two walked through the smoky air, filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder, Samantha’s brows were perpetually furrowed.
“Why has the flame suddenly disappeared?” Samantha murmured quietly.
Kanter, “If what Angel said is correct, perhaps, the disappearance of these flames is related to that newly risen lord.”
Considering the current environment of Lassudral, the new lord was probably a fire-related demon, so any anomaly regarding flames, they naturally associated with this newly risen lord.
Samantha also harbored this speculation, but the specific circumstances would need to be confirmed after finding Angel.
“Just what sort of person is Angel?” Samantha asked. She hadn’t had a chance to enquire back on the floating ice, but her curiosity was no less than others’.
“Just a very talented Apprentice of the Illusion Series,” responded Kanter carelessly while his eyes continued to search the surroundings. Suddenly, they lit up, and he quickly ran into a ruined building, emerging again in less than a few seconds.
Now, Kanter held some strange materials in his hands and was also dragging along the corpse of a small demon.
These materials, all being special products of the Abyss, were hard to come by in the Wizards’ Realm. Kanter, seizing the chance of his rare visit to Demon City, naturally wanted to scavenge as much as possible. As for the small demon’s corpse, it was not highly valuable, but could fetch some money.
Kanter quickly dealt with the items in his hands, skinning and deboning the small demon’s corpse, and after packaging all the useful materials, he leisurely continued following Samantha.
Samantha looked somewhat dissatisfied, but she did not criticize Kanter; after all, Kanter was not from Frostmoon, and his purpose in Lassudral was more of personal interest. Among these destroyed ruins, many of which were shops in Lassudral, it was justifiable for Kanter to search for personal gains during such an opportunity.
What dissatisfied Samantha was Kanter’s perfunctory response to her questioning.
“If Angel is merely a talented Apprentice, is he worth such attention from us?” Samantha scoffed.
“You just want to ask, what’s so special about Angel… I’m not Sanders, how would I know what’s special about him?” Kanter rolled his eyes, “The only thing I know is that Sanders places great importance on Angel.”
Kanter’s reply was still noncommittal. But this time, Samantha didn’t press further.
—Sanders places great importance on Angel. For her, that was a satisfactory answer.
Samantha, being Rhein’s daughter and having lived in Barbarian Cave until that incident occurred, was very familiar with Sanders. Sanders was a cold and dispassionate man; not that he was completely heartless, but his pursuit of True Knowledge was far more intense and persistent than any other wizard’s, and thus, he was unconcerned with matters unrelated to his search.
Considering Sanders placed importance on him, it showed Angel was indeed very special.
“So does that mean Angel is a Nightmare Soul Body?” Samantha pondered silently. As a companion who grew up with Sanders, she naturally knew about the Nightmare Soul Body. She was also aware that one thing Sanders ultimately regretted was having refined away the semi-passage that connected his body to the Nightmare Realm to advance to an Official Wizard, forcing him to spend many years looking for Greya and using the Twisted Paramedic Worm to enter the Nightmare Realm.
What could touch Sanders’s heart was probably only the Nightmare Soul Body.
Samantha’s guess was indeed correct, only she did not know that Sanders had initially valued Angel for his Nightmare Soul Body, but as Angel continued to cause trouble and irrationally flip tables, Sanders, despite his cursing, had come to accept Angel as a person.
Drip—
Just as Samantha was deep in thought, a strange dripping sound suddenly entered her ear.