Unsealing Emptiness

“Can’t I remember him as well?” Blaze explained. He knew that Raven had misunderstood his words as him making fun of her.

Hearing his words, she finally settled down.

“It’s been so long... do you think he forgot?” Blaze muttered while looking down the cliff.

“...” For a moment, Raven didn’t speak as if she wasn’t sure. After a few moments, she softly answered, “... It is possible.”

Blaze had only guessed but Raven knew that it was quite possible that Ozul had actually just forgotten to pick them up.

Hearing her answer, Blaze could only give a dry smile as he mentioned, “Should we just return?”

.....

Even most of the Elders in the Nine Petals Sect feared Blaze, but he was aware that Raven knew Ozul the most, so he would only listen to her before taking any decision that might or might not anger him.

Raven didn’t answer him. She also wasn’t sure about it. On one hand, she wanted to return but on the other hand, she didn’t know if it would trouble Ozul.

Meanwhile, on their side, Alda looked confused by their discussion. She knew that Blaze and Raven were already powerful enough to become the Elders of the Sect, but they chose not to for some reason.

‘They are not talking about leaving the Sect right? Why would they...’ Alda thought. She was just about to ask Raven when they heard an uproar down the hill.

Raven and Blaze could hear some people shout all the way up here and could even feel the Mana signatures of a couple of Elders. They looked at each other and nodded before making their way towards the commotion.

“Wait! Big sister Raven! I am coming too!” Alda shouted before following behind them.

. . .

*A few minutes earlier*

Ozul arrived in the Nine Petals Sect after half a day of flying.

Before him right now was a tall mountain and on its base laid all structures. He knew that it was the Nine Petals Sect because of the 5 meters tall wooden entrance that had nine petals etched on it. All the disciples also wore grey robes of similar design with the Sect’s symbol drawn on their back.

He was nearly surprised when he stepped inside since there was no Mana sphere covering the Sect. Were they confident enough or did the Sect not find all the disciples worth protecting under such a large formation? Either way, Ozul didn’t care.

He slowly made his way inside. There were many buildings; it looked almost like a city. But he noticed that all the structures were just housings for the disciples.

His figure easily stood out amongst others because he did not wear the disciple robes. Though none of them approached him.

Just as he was about to ask one of them, two people came out of the crowd and stared at him coldly. One of them was a male with slightly tan skin and the other was a woman, both with noticeable heights.

These two wore different kinds of robes with the color being yellow instead of grey. They were also considerably stronger than those Ozul had seen here as of yet.

‘Middle stage Rank-6; they could be guards,’ Ozul concluded inside his mind as he felt their Mana.

“What purpose do you have here?” The man asked, seemingly looking down at Ozul.

“I am looking for Raven and Blaze,” Ozul didn’t hide anything and answered.

Though he didn’t expect that he would have such a big reaction from everyone the moment he uttered their names. Even those who weren’t paying attention before suddenly looked at him.

“Boy, do you know who you are even asking for?” The woman spoke this time. Their expressions had turned from unamused to unfriendly now.

“That doesn’t matter. Are you going to bring me to them or should I do it myself?” Ozul knew where this was going. The more he debated with them, the more time he would waste. It was better to get it over with as quickly as possible.

His words caused the two guards to glare at him while some of the disciples also began to take a few steps closer. No one liked someone else appearing in their territory and acting all arrogant and haughty – at least that is what everyone thought of Ozul.

“F*ck off!” The man cursed before he chanted and shot a human-sized boulder at him.

The disciples watching the show showed a smug smile, imagining that he was already flattened to the ground with that single attack.

However, contrary to their expectations, the boulder didn’t even come close to his figure before it was cut down in the middle.

“It seems that I have my answer...” Ozul muttered. He was about to kill the two in front of him but then stopped as he remembered that this Sect was ultimately the Ashin family’s ally.

‘Going on a killing spree here might shake the alliance,’ Ozul thought before making his decision.

The conical hat still hid his face as he released a little Ball of Purity and shaped it like a thick stick.

No one was able to even react when the stick hit the two guards on their diaphragms.

*Hu...!* x2

Air escaped their lungs before their eyes rolled into white and they fell unconscious on the ground.

Only when their bodies hit the ground did the onlooking disciples woke up from their stupor and began to shout for help. There were a few Rank-4 Mages at best. If even the Rank-6 Mages were defeated in the blink of an eye, they didn’t have the courage to step closer to the man wearing the hat.

“Call the Elders!”

“Hurry up!”

...

Some of the disciples hid away while others ran to find any Elder. Under a few seconds, there only remained Ozul standing in the vast ground surrounded by only empty houses.

*Sigh...*

“Is it so hard to understand?” Ozul muttered with a sigh. He simply wanted them to bring him to Raven and Blaze.

‘Oh well, this will work too...’ Ozul said in his mind as he sensed a couple of Rank-8 Mages making their way towards him.

He stood there waiting for them and a while later, three Rank-8 Mages, all at initial stage appeared before him. All of them wore light brown robes as they stayed flying in the air, looking down at Ozul and their two unconscious guards beside him.

The three simultaneously landed before him. One of the Elders took the two unconscious guards and put them near a house. Meanwhile, the other two kept their eyes on Ozul.

“Why are you causing trouble here?” the bald man asked with his face contorted in annoyance.

“I am not causing trouble. I am just here to-” Ozul was about to explain when the other Elder with mustache interrupted him and shouted, “What do you mean by not causing trouble?! Have you or have you not attacked the guards?!”

Ozul never liked being interrupted either, so he stayed silent for a while before shaking his head, “Yes. I did attack them, bu-”

The Elder with the mustache only needed the confirmation and threw a giant Fireball at him, not very eager to hear his explanation.

Seeing that talking wouldn’t help here either, Ozul thrust the stick at the Elder. The stick made out of the Ball of Purity passed through the Fireball, immediately canceling it out and hitting the Elder in the stomach.

The same thing happened as it did previously with the guards and the Elder fell down unconscious.

The other two Elders didn’t have the time to react, but they did take a few steps back unconsciously.

Their fellow Elder wasn’t at all any weaker than them and they didn’t even notice what had caused him to suddenly fall on the ground.

“...This...is the Nine Petals Sect, think through your actions,” the bald Elder threatened while pointing his finger at Ozul.

“I am looking for Raven and Blaze,” Ozul didn’t beat around the bush and stated his purpose.

The Elders still had enough courage to squint at him as the other replied, “What business do you have with them? We can’t let you meet anyone unless you identify yourself and answer our questions...”

Ozul realized that they were just trying to stall for the time because he felt even more Rank-8 presences rushing towards him.

‘Sigh... I don’t like this,’ Ozul didn’t want to create such a big commotion. It would have been a lot easier if the guards had just brought him to Raven and Blaze.

Since people even stronger than these two were already coming, Ozul didn’t answer them and waited for everyone first.

One by one, Elders started to approach. Most of them were at the Initial Stage of Rank-8 while some were in the Middle Stage. Ozul didn’t even need to distinguish them since those in the Middle Stage had a slightly darker robe.

Ozul didn’t say anything and let the other two Elders whisper everything to the newly arrived people.

After a while, a Middle Stage Rank-8 Elder stepped ahead and asked, “Why are you looking for Raven and Blaze? What relation do you have with them? And what reasons did you have to attack an Elder and the guards of the Nine Petals Sect? Depending on your answers, we will decide your outcome.”

This Elder looked relatively younger than others, but they seemed to be fully supporting him as they nodded their heads.

Ozul looked at their faces and realized that all of them were convinced of being able to kill him together.

‘If this keeps on, I might lose it...’ Ozul’s hands were itching to simply kill a few of them so that they would understand their own situation.