"Loumil! Haha, what brings you here?" Blightsun Yomen laughed as he arrived. "You called me, and I am here. Now tell me, what's the so-called urgent matter?"
"We want to meet Arkhen," Loumil said. He paused a bit before continuing, "And also bring him with us."
"Bring him with you? Stop dreaming," Yomen rolled his eyes. "I even tempted him with my daughter, you know? But that boy… He is on a mission, and he won't stop until he finishes that mission or dies doing it."
Yomen shook his head unhurriedly as he continued with a sigh, "He is a wholly different beast."
"Just take us to him. We'll handle the rest," Loumil rolled his eyes.
…
After a day of an arduous journey, they finally arrived deeper into the nightmare land, where a huge camp was created by peak powerhouses.
All of them were Paragon knights except for Arkhen.
After asking about his location, A middle-aged woman led them to a small house.
"For three hours every morning, he would sit cross-legged on the terrace of his house. He should be up there," the woman said with a smile as she pointed at the terrace of the house.
"Thanks, lady Sophia," Yomen nodded with a smile.
"No need to thank for such a thing. But let me warn you, Arkhen wouldn't move out of this Nightmare land. Many have tried and failed, including me," Sophia said with a wry smile and left while shaking her head regretfully.
Cyrus, Loumil, and Yomen jumped and arrived on the terrace.
"T-This…" Cyrus was stunned upon seeing Arkhen.
Arkhen's hair had turned white. His body was the same size, but Cyrus could feel an unknown pressure when looking at Arkhen.
A strange feeling welled up in him and overwhelmed him.
He didn't know what Arkhen did, but a burst of admiration rose in him when he saw the current Arkhen.
"Marvellous… Truly," Loumil muttered after laying his eyes on Arkhen.
"Right, but he is pushing himself too hard," Yomen muttered. "Though without that, he wouldn't show such excellence."
Arkhen opened his eyes. They were calm like the Dead Sea, as always.
Yomen had seen Arkhen multiple times here and always saw those same eyes. Calm on the surface, but a raging storm rampaged deep in those eyes that were not easily visible to others. One could only sense it.
But Yomen was soon surprised, for he saw ripples in the always same eyes of Arkhen.
When he traced the gaze, he saw Arkhen looking at Cyrus, causing his curiosity to burst. 'Interesting.'
"What's up, Arkhen?" Cyrus said with a smile as he walked towards him. "You changed a lot."
"Mhmm," Arkhen nodded. He glanced around a bit in search of someone but didn't sense any presence aside from theirs.
Cyrus noticed that and wryly smiled, "Grace is sick. A peculiar illness struck her, and it's not getting better."
Arkhen frowned and got up with a hint of alarm in his eyes, "What happened?"
"That's the problem, young man. We don't know the problem responsible for her illness," Loumil said as he sighed.
"Twilight Priestess told you to bring you to her, so we are here. How about it? Will you come and check up on her?"
Yomen shook his head as he knew that Arkhen wouldn't move. In the next second, his jaw slammed into the ground.
"Let's go," Arkhen said with a nod.
…
"What?! Arkhen is leaving with two people?"
"Who the fuck are they?!"
"Damn, so he is finally leaving… But I am glad, actually. He needs a rest. Such a fine young man. He needs to take it slow."
"Indeed."
Everyone was in an uproar, and all of them quickly went to see him.
Even those older paragons admired Arkhen even though he was young.
"Arkhen! All the best, buddy. If you have some problem, then don't hesitate to call me."
"Yeah! And when you want to marry someone, don't forget my beautiful daughter!"
"Shameless! I introduced my daughter to him first!"
"Shut up, old fogey. Your daughter is older than him."
"Take a proper rest, young man. This world can't afford to lose you."
Cyrus and Loumil were dumbfounded, while Yomen laughed seeing their expressions.
"You two haven't seen Arkhen's true form. He has earned everyone's respect and admiration, including mine."
Arkhen was paying attention to no one, and everyone was used to it. In his mind, he was only thinking about Grace.
…
Ten days had passed since Cyrus and Loumil left Twilight Valley.
Grace was drinking medicine every day, believing that it would work.
Alas, her condition was not improving.
Her parents also came here to visit her four days ago. Grace was happy to see them and also cried a lot.
But her condition didn't improve afterward.
"I think I will die soon…." Grace muttered while lying on the bed.
"Don't say such a thing, lass," Lorail said as she lightly hit Grace's head.
Lorail decided to stay with her daughter while Vanis returned since he was busy as an Emperor.
"Seriously…" Rina also shook her head hearing Grace's inauspicious words.
Suddenly, Lorail and Rina heard multiple footsteps before seeing Cyrus at the door.
But behind him, Arkhen walked out and entered the room.
Lorail and Rina were surprised.
"You… Arkhen?" Rina raised her eyebrows. "You sure changed a lot."
"Eh, Arkhen?" Grace heard his name and got up, only to see Arkhen with white hair and a different vibe to him.
A somewhat small but gentle smile appeared on Arkhen's face as he saw Grace and said, "What are you lying there for? Don't you want to win against me?"
Grace wryly smiled before sighing, "As you can see, I am plagued by an unknown sickness and will die soon, haha."
"Don't joke like that, "Arkhen shook his head. "You all be fine."
"Haha," Grace chuckled. "But you changed a lot. What's with this new hairstyle and white hair? They look cool, though."
Arkhen touched his hair and wryly smiled as he said, "I don't know, they just became like that automatically."
At that moment, Rina said with a smile, "It's time for Grace to get some fresh air, so let's sit outside."
…
They sat and talked about various things. Grace and Arkhen also revealed their antics of having fun at various places as everyone laughed.
"So you were doing all that," Lorail was speechless.
Suddenly, everyone sensed a presence and looked at the entrance of the courtyard house.
"Priestess?!" Rina was surprised.
Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m fre𝒆webnov(e)l.com