Chapter 1226: Guardian

The fifth spiral was easy.

You toss a coin, bet on how it goes. If you win, you get to the next spiral. If you lose, you lose the wager—at least one rank of your divine path per person.

The reason it's tough was naturally the set up being an outcome of luck. But that's only a superficial understanding.

Nothing here really worked on luck. It's all skill. And skill in the powers of order and chaos.

Varian bet his rank infused the coin with his order and chaos powers. He didn't even bother using the sliver powers here. And he wagered three ranks of his Adept Powers.

[Bet commencing]

An invisible and unstoppable force swept Varian. A portion of his strength vanished into thin air. The void was obvious, like someone had just ripped out his muscles minus the pain.

Maria wanted to be the one taking the risk and seeing him like this, guilt filled her face.

"Don't worry about it." Varian didn't look back, though sweat trickled down his face and his body shuddered from the abrupt weakening.

"It'll be back in 3, 2,—"

The coin landed.

There wasn't any deviation in the angle, preventing any room for arguments. The bet was complete.

Varian grunted as his strength returned and moved on.

— — — —

The sixth spiral, also the final one, was simpler.

There was a large sealed door standing between them and the center of this ancient structure. On the plain white door, the seal was the inscription of three intersecting triangles.

"Leave it to me." Prince Sohan couldn't bear being useless any longer. He burst out with full strength and attacked the seal.

An extremely tiny cracked appeared on a triangle.

"..." Bella who wanted to step forward to join halted and sighed.

Sohan, however, looked back, focusing his gaze on Varian and said with a solemn expression. "I'll get this done. Just a few hours. Take some rest."

Maria thought it was fair. Since Varian literally carried them here, they should do their part when they could.

Moreover, those two spies couldn't have gone far. Even with someone as absurd as 'Baldur' could only take them this far, others stood no chance.

Maria swung her spear and aimed at the seal. "Yeah, take it easy, we'll clear this."

Varian would've appreciated their enthusiasm any other time. He had no shame freeloading a bunch of royalty, especially after helping them so much.

But the situation was urgent.

The wedding ring which was blinking violently so far stopped three minutes ago. All communication was cut off.

Varian's heart was thrashing against his chest and his throat had already gone dry. He didn't want to assume the worst. No.

He hoped Sarah was fine. Perhaps it's just some location or treasure that blocked perception. But maybe, it's because she fell into a dangerous place that locked her out.

Eitherway, he had to reach her.

Varian was no stranger to close saves. He himself would've died if things were just even one second off and he saved many that would've otherwise died a second later.

More than anyone else, Martyr Skad, the man who gave up his life to block Mirage Queen for two mere minutes taught him how valuable time really was.

"Move." Varian's tone wasn't harsh but it was certainly forceful.

The surprised heirs stopped their actions and stepped aside in confusion, wondering if they offended him somehow.

Varian walked to the seal and placed his palm on it.

Like a small stream, dreamy white and deathly black lights rushed out of his palm and drilled into the seal.

Even though the heirs felt a mysterious power in the air, they couldn't identify what Varian was using.

They assumed it was one of his many treasures, but for some reason, it made them feel small.

With a push of his palm, three lines appeared on the crack and then it began to shake.

Varian stepped back and watched the great door crumble with impatient gaze.

When it did, he bolted out.

Not to be outdone, the heirs followed.

— — — —

The center of Lost Spiral, once hailed as the hive of secrets and the nest of mysteries, was said once said to be a small galaxy in itself.

Legend goes that the vas galaxy—including all the stars in it were compressed by a god into a planar surface—and used as the center of this spiral.

As they stepped onto the floor that looked like pure glass containing twinkling stars, Maria couldn't dismiss the myth anymore.

There was something incredibly bright at the center of this region—brighter than even the greatest stars she'd seen.

'A celestial is like a star, my child. But a divine ranker? A divine ranker is brighter than ten, thousand stars.'

The nagging words of her grandma suddenly made more sense. The moment she stepped into this place, a sense of humility filled her soul, as if she was a lowly being walking into a holy temple, whose existence was descareted by her mere presence.

It's like an invisible pressure spread throughout the region, making everything more mentally exhausting.

That's the case for her, Bella, Sohan and—

"Hm?"

'Baldur' didn't seem to be bothered by the pressure. Was he even feeling it?

He looked around frantically, his eyes bloodshot, chest heaving up and down as he clutched at his hair.

Maria subconsciously stepped back.

No matter the situation, 'Baldur' had always been calm. Even when they were chased down by Reaper on the 29th floor, he was just worried but didn't go emotionally unstable.

But now...

"Haaa!"

"Haaa!"

Heavy breaths rang in silence.

"You're kidding me," His voice was low.

He clenched his fists with a crushing grip and growled. "This must be a joke, because if it's not—"

A thick killing intent exploded out of him, shooting into the sky like beam of light.

A crimson sky materialized for a moment, negative emotions that'd corrupt even Sovereigns if they're in the vicinity flooded the place.

Varian took one step forward and vanished. With a surprised yelp, Maria followed.

A few seconds later, she saw him and three others.

The floor didn't even have a single pothole but the aura reflecting off was enough to instantly kill even a rank 4.

Violent aura storms swept the area, shockwaves of attacking clashing with them and changing their courses.

Varian stood frozen like a statue.

"Fucking..." Maria cursed as she drew out her spear, as did Bella and Sohan.

A humanoid creature, whose body was enveloped with a light of black and white power—the familiar power of Order and Chaos—was facing off against the spies.

Neither Hollow nor Slaughter Shade had serious injuries. But they weren't exhausted either.

With each blow exchanged, the humanoid creature came out on top and inflicted damage. However, the two spies who should've been panicking were very calm.

'How did they even get here so fast in the first place?' Maria was shocked and realized that just like her who was entrusted 'special treasures' for the task, they too must've been given treasures and even more than what she received.

"Huh? How did you even get here?" Hollow, in the body of Captain Light, looked at them in surprise. "But don't worry, you'll die soon."

Slaughter Shade turned his gaze onto Varian. This bastard was the reason his brother was cruelly killed in Centaurus! "I'll enjoy crushing you."

Maria sent him a message. 'W-We'll let them fight it out first and then attack.'

Varian, however, paid neither of them any attention. He was staring blankly at the humanoid creature, his sword unsheathed at some point and his grip on it growingly so hard that his palm started to bleed.

"You!" Varian stared at the humanoid creature with rage as he growled, blood leaking down his lips. The wedding ring's signal last came out of this thing. This damnable thing!

"Give it to me! Give me what you took!" He screamed.

An emotionless voice rang in the void.

[Kill the guardian to retrieve its possession.]