?
Standing in an open field and covered in a black cloak was Irene, with a bit of the woman's brown hair covering her solemn eyes as a wind blew from the side.
Not too cold and not too hot, the wind brought about a certain chill, but Irene could not appreciate it at the moment as she was currently staring at a pitch-black box, one with a height and width of twice the average adult.
Different thoughts went through her head as she stared at the box which now contained Seth.
"You've done a great job Irene, though we lost some level 7 mortals, the plan was successful in the end." A tired but cheerful voice sounded, Milli's form coming to a stop beside Irene seconds later.
"It must have been hell being with a devil like him," Milli said her face twisting in disgust as she stared at the black box.
"Don't worry, after he gets into Lady Minuha's hands, he'll never see the light of day again."
Hearing Milli's words, Irene looked to her left, feeling pity for the woman who had no idea of Minuha's obsession with Seth.
After what she had done Irene planned to flee to her world and hopefully never step foot out of it, and even if she ever did, she had no plan on entering Egaroth, she feared what Seth would do to her.
"My reward." Irene simply spoke.
"Here" Milli spoke extending her right hand which contained a black box.
"Open it," Irene said and without hesitation, Milli did as she said, though with curious eyes.
When Milli opened the box, what was revealed to be inside was a mere black space ring.
With her eyes narrowed and body tensed, Irene reached out and collected the ring, cautiously running her soulsense through the ring, and then with a slight fluctuation of qi from her hand, a green baby-sized green crystal appeared in her hand before her tense body relaxed.
"Lady Minuha says to tell you that after such a fruitless journey, you should want more.
She says if you come back to her, she's ready to give you more of it."
With a confused and totally ignorant expression, Milli said these words, looking to Irene to see if she could gleam what they were talking about but she got nothing from the woman's stoic face.
"Tell her I'm in a hurry at the moment, and won't mind doing business with her in the future," Irene said and adding nothing more turned around and began walking away.
Milli stared at Irene's quickly departing figure with a narrow gaze, but when she finally went out of view, the woman turned back to the black box before her, not minding the new footsteps that began approaching her seconds later.
"For a moment there I feared she would attack you, it was quite risky of Lady Minuha to trust that woman, had she turned against us, we won't have been able to do a thing," the hoarse cracked voice of an old man sounded,
With his bushy black beard the old man stood straight and firm, and were it not for the heavy wrinkles on his face and the tiny spectacles resting on his nose, one would have confused him for a strapping young man.
"Yeah, but I guess the Lady has her way of persuasion. Now forget her and check on the box, you claimed not even an immortal would be able to escape.
"I didn't say 'would' young lady, I said 'should', don't go saying things that would take my head to the chopping board, my predecessor is currently on the brink of death just for promising and failing to create a seal that could contain this very young man"
"Apologies master Tundor," Milli quickly replied.
"Hmm," Master Tundor replied as his eyes kept looking at the black box up and down and without any prompt he began speaking.
The idea of a box for instant trapping was actually created days after the invasion of the city, built to deal with the high-level cultivators that had infiltrated the inner city.
When Lady Minuha came to meet us for a way to trap this young man not too long ago, we decided to use an already proven method.
We worked on it tirelessly and with Lady Minuha's help managed to create what we have now, a black box.
Following Lady Minuha's requirements, this box…"
As he made his checks, Tundor went on ranting, Milli having no choice but to follow him around and listen to a story she had actually been part of.
…..
With the outside nothing but pitch black and the inside also black and soaked in darkness, the black box offered zero transparency.
People outside the box could see nothing of its content while those within it could see nothing of the outside world.
With its core attribute of darkness, this was how the black box was meant to function, but while Milli and Tundor could see nothing of what was going on in the black box, Seth had a clear and unhindered view of the outside.
"So you got betrayed for some more soul fruits, I never pegged Irene as the greedy type, and even then there were a ton of soul fruits in the underground cave. There must be something more to the story "Alexia said, having no worry as her figure floated beside Seth.
"Well, that's what I heard and saw" Seth growled having just explained to Alexia what was happening on the outside.
"You're a soul why can't you go out," Seth said, only making this realization now.
"It's darkness element, even I can't leave,"
With a sigh, Seth lost interest in Milli and Tundor's dumb activities and lay on the floor with his hand propping his head up while his mind was consumed in rage and chaos.
Twice, twice he had been played for a fool by Irene and that was when he was even on guard against the woman.
Thinking over everything, Seth realized that her plan to trap him had started right from the minute she mentioned the possibility of rebels.
The woman had stoked his desire to fight and from there laid out a plan that manipulated him till he was now in this stupid box.
"Won't you escape" Alexia's unconcerned and curious voice sounded, the woman floating above him?
"No need, they'll take us to Minuha. No need to jeopardize a free ride."
Hearing his answer, Alexia rolled her eyes at his unwillingness to confront Irene but kept quiet.
"You aren't mad," Seth said a few seconds later.
"Huh."
"You aren't blaming me for being stupid or cursing Irene for betraying me."
"Oh that, the both of you are currently a Seth of people with confused emotions.
I told you about her betrayal just as a warning, I never expected you to go killing or ostracizing a woman you've been passionately fucking for more than a month now"
"ohh" Seth quietly muttered, not wanting to even understand Alexia's emotions.
Like that Seth closed his eyes while Alexia; figure descended and wrapped around him.
To Seth and Alexia, the box he had been trapped in was nothing but a joke, they might have as well been given a dark room made of paper to rest in.
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