32 "Spatia, we shouldn't be here and you know that as clear as I do!" Chronotia lectured the poor Spatia that was groveling on the non-existent floor.

At that moment, everyone stopped what they were doing. Everyone went silent. Nicholas picked his ear a bit, thinking he might have just misheard Iledoya. Though, seeing the reaction of the others, he was sure he didn't misheard.

Rutehom took in a deep breath. With it, everyone suddenly felt tense. But then…

"HAHAHAHA"

Iledoya started laughing. "Sorry, I was just joking a bit." Iledoya couldn't help but laugh looking at everyone's faces. Following his statement, everyone felt more calm once more.

"Haish. Little one, that was quite the bad joke you made. Is there really nothing that you wish?" Rutehom said.

"There is actually. I'm serious this time." Iledoya let go of his backpack and stood in front of Rutehom and Charfania. "It's nothing much really. Was just hoping that one of you could give me some color"

"Give you some color?" Charfania said. Charfania and Rutehom didn't quite understood what Iledoya meant at first, visible by how they tilt their head showing their confusion. But after a few more seconds of looking at Iledoya, Rutehom understood "Ah I see!"

"What is it grandpa?" Charfania asked

"Look at him! From top to bottom. It's only fifty shades of grey!" Rutehom answered. To that answer, Nicholas began violently coughing (No data about the past was lost in the world Nicholas came from).

"Yes! That's it! If it wasn't because of my backpack and the tree on it, I would exactly like a walking black and white painting!" It was something that Iledoya only noticed after he was in Egner town. Noticing how uncolorful he was, he had made plans to look for Rutehom. After all, Iledoya did spend 10,000 years of only seeing black, white, all the grey in between, or a shade of blue which came from souls and Death's glowing eyes, which was very tiring.

Fabric made of magic can only have color of the magic it is made from. Grey, in Iledoya's case. The only downside to Fabric of Magic, aside from the difficulty in production, would be the fact that it simply cannot be dyed. With normal dye that is. But for Painting Magic, that would be very basic.

"To color the uncolorable, to paint the impossible. With the world as a canvas, everything is a painting! Just some clothes are too easy to color!" Rutehom said with pride. It was his catchphrase as a Painting Mage.

Still in his sitting position, he reached out his hand towards Iledoya. The hand, then became dragon claws, with patterns of lines that Iledoya recognizes as patterns that only appears on Mythical Beasts and above.

Then, the dragon claws suddenly warped into many colors. It still had the form of dragon claws, but now it looked like a puddle of multiple color paint. As if actually becoming paint, the colorful dragon claws flowed towards Iledoya, enclosing him into something that looked like a mini tornado of paint.

After a few seconds, the tornado flowed back towards Rutehom and merged back into a human-looking hand, leaving behind an Iledoya who now had colored clothes. Leather-like brown in places that looked like leather, creamy white in places that looked like silk, and so on and so forth.

Iledoya now showed a face of great satisfaction. "Thank you" he bowed a little to show his sincerity.

"Please, that was but elementary magic." Rutheom replied to his gesture.

"With that out of the way, we can now discuss the next subject" Iledoya said.

"The next subject? Weren't we here to just heal the old man-- I mean uh… old dragon?" Sinov asked.

"We did come here for that, but not ONLY for that. I believe Sir Rutehom here should have an inkling at least, of who these attacking Death Mages might be" Iledoya explained. Though it might be a coincidence that both the Great Alfer Forest and Ruteshia had lands with lingering Death Magic, but Iledoya didn't want to brush off the possibility.

"Sadly, I do not know much. Only the fact that the group consisted only of Life and Death Mages" Rutehom said. But then he began to think for a while and suddenly remembered something "Right, I do seem to remember them saying something before they attacked. It was like a battlecry or perhaps a motto. I think it was…"

"'For the prosperity of the hall, may Immortality come forth !' Yeah, it's something along those lines."

Hearing the sentence, Sinov and Nicholas immediately turned towards Iledoya. So did the others after a brief moment.

Seeing them stare at him, Iledoya showed an incredulous face as he said "What? Just because I am an Immortal so it has to do with me?"

Nicholas was the first to say "Well… yeah? I mean… You're the only possible Immortal walking on this planet right?"

With a scoff, Iledoya said "Well sorry to disappoint you, I don't even understand what that sentence meant."

Sinov then cut in "Wait a moment. I think I heard something about this. Let me try to remember"

With Sinov cutting in, everyone's suspicion of Iledoya was temporarily lifted. "Ah I remember now"

She then explained "One of our groups heading towards the capital recently engaged in combat. In the report, the opponents was noted for saying something about 'prosperity of the hall' and 'Immortality come forth' before engaging in the battle. It was also noted that the opponents consisted of Death Mages and few Life Mages."

"Definitely the same kind. Was an investigation done?" Iledoya asked

"Yes. Though it was quite hard to gather information, but after a bit of interrogation, stalking, and tracking down, we were able to confirm the name and the location of the opponent's headquarters."

"Wow. How quick. Well done. So what do they call themselves?" Iledoya said

"Hall of Origin. Their headquarters is located in a neighbouring kingdom, the Nahlteya Kingdom. Specifically in a city called Victasia." Sinov explained.

Iledoya went silent for a while. He then said "Surprise me, how did the U.U acquire the information so quickly?"

Hearing such question, Sinov simply smiled and said "The very small amount of Life and Death Mages we have was scouted by them. So we decided that we would either spy on them or recruit members from the inside. And we have been successful in doing both" She shrugged as if silently saying 'these people are hopeless'

#Once again, Iledoya simply twitched to the effectiveness of this organization he made on a whim that was simply to reduce the crime rate in Egner town. 'It may appear that I have underestimated the effects of my own potion' Iledoya noted to himself.

"Hm?" Iledoya then realized "If we have members in the inside, then can you tell me what their goal is? And also their influence."

"You should ask Nelits for that. He's the boss for this sort of thing after all." Sinov said.

"Nelits? Hmm… Ah!" It took awhile for Iledoya to remember "Nelits, the Minister of Intelligence? Umu, alright then." He then looked at Nicholas and Nicholas seem to understand what he wants to say.

"You want me to bring him here?" Nicholas said

"Yeah. Bring Sinov to show you the way" Iledoya said

"Haaa… I'll be right back…" Nicholas then followed Sinov back through the portal.

After a short moment of silence, Rutehom decided to break the silence "Right, it seems I have not yet learned of the name of my saviour. Allow me to ask, what is your name young one?"

Only then did Iledoya and Lord Grun realized such. Iledoya started first "I am Iledoya. I have Immortal magic, hence I am the Immortal Mage. By the way, despite my young looking body, my soul is probably more than 10,000 years old"

"Oh? Your soul is older?" Rutehom was intrigued "I really must hear the story one day"

"I am Grun, the current City Lord of Ruteshia. It is such an honour to be your acquaintance Sir Rutehom. Your work of art is just splendid."

"Umu. You're doing well so far as the City Lord. Well done repelling those brats from Hall of Origin" Rutehom said.

"My name is Spatia, she is Chronotia, and this here is Victus. Sorry to interrupt y'all"

"Oh yes, I don't-- wait who!?" Rutehom was startled. And so was Iledoya, Lord Grun, and Charfania..

Not far from them, a portal had appeared. Three figures could be seen on the other side. Iledoya seem to feel quite familiar with two of them, the one named Spatia and Chronotia. But he was sure he has never met them before. But there was something he could tell from the magic they are emanating.

He bowed a little to greet them and said "To see the Avatar of Time, Space, and Life all at the same time. How fun it would be if even Death was here."

.

.

.

"Okay let me make something clear."

"Clear to whom?" Chronotia asked.

"To the observers of the Authorian's Sandbox of Creation." Spatia answered.

"Oh okay. It kind of looks like you're talking to yourself though" Chronotia said.

"Exactly. Unlike me who used numerous holes in space to hear on others, they can probably hear what I say with a heckin method only those powerful beings could ever think about." Spatia said. He then continued, "What I want to make clear is that, the Spatia and Chronotia that is with Iledoya is not us. They're the original Spatia and Chronotia of this world. For more details, maybe beg the Authorian?"

"You seem to know a lot about the Authorians. How did you…" Chronotia began to feel suspicious.

"Fufufu… all those sneaking in all sorts of restricted dimensions made by this Sandbox's Authorian wasn't for naught! To borrow a sentence I learned from him, 'Senpai finally noticed me' HAHAHAHA" Spatia became inflated with pride.

Chronatia facepalmed. And then she sighed. "It's nice that you weren't deleted from existence. That would be the worst case scenario. I guess my worry was for naught."

"Actually Chronotia, the truth is--

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.

.

Hearing what Iledoya said, confirmed the guess of Rutehom and Lord Grun. They immediately bowed down towards their direction. "Paying respect towards the Avatars of Life, Time, and Space!" they both said at the same time.

Rutehom also said to Charfania "Charfania, quickly bow down!"

Though Charfania didn't really understand what's going on, she also bowed down following her grandfather.

While Charfania couldn't really tell who the three figures on the other side of the portals are, Rutehom and Lord Grun had their ways. With Rutehom's Guardian rank and Lord Grun's high grade in magic, they were somehow able to sense the Absolute Grade of the Time, Space, and Life Magic the three were emanating.

For mortals of the races, the Avatars of the Fundamentals were the closest thing to god as far as they knew. After all, they do have control over the fundamentals of the world. Though mostly only Victus gets such treatment. For Victus is the Avatar of Life, and those who still likes to live would of course gravitate towards this being of life.

But for Iledoya who was spent 10,000 years with the Avatar of Death… Well… He probably just see them as other Immortals. 'Wait, are they Immortals?' Iledoya suddenly thought. 'Meh, shouldn't think about it'

Victus, who was standing at the front, said to three who bowing down "Children, no need to bow down. We're here to ask for a favor and nothing more." she said so in a way that felt very soothing and pleasant to hear. It's like the feeling of a loving and caring mother that speaks to her children ever so tenderly. Since she had say so, the three then stood up.

But then looking towards Iledoya, the feeling she gave off changed immediately. She harrumphed first then said "Hmph! As a matter of fact, we already met that burning pile of old bones!"

Now she pouted then said "It was so hard for me to get #Death to notice me, then to go all the way to his realm just so we can speak about the matter. But do you know what he said to me?"

She made her best impression of Death she can and said "Ahahaha Victus, this is but just the second time we met, and you're already asking me about this. One, no I don't know anything and Two, I don't care about the matter of the Living. Hmm… except for my friend probably."

As if tired from being mad, she began to sulk instead "Sniff… I just wanted to talk with him a bit. It's not my fault we've only met twice, we have nothing to talk about and I can't just come to his realm without Spatia… sniff"

After a few more tears and complaining made by Victus, Chronotia reminded Victus "*cough*... Victus, please don't forget your purpose"

Seeing the sight of the Avatar they see as a god cry and sulk like a 'teenage girl complaining about her crush to her friend' Rutehom and Lord Grun's mouth twitched a little. So did Iledoya.

Victus regain her composure and said "Right. You're the living that became Death's friend. He said you can help me. With your magic… I see that is truly possible…"

"What can I help you with?" Iledoya said.

"It has something to do with the group all of you was just talking about" Victus said.

"Hall of Origin?" Iledoya became perplexed.

"Yes, that one. Whatever they are called." Victus confirmed. "They have grown to be rather annoying as of late and their actions are… concerning. As the Avatar of Life, they do things that I just cannot accept. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Iledoya pondered for a while "Could it be what you're asking me to do is…"

"If what we're thinking is the same, then you're right." Victus said. "I want you to get rid of Hall of Origin"

"Can you tell us more about the reason though?" Iledoya said.

"Ask your subordinate. He should be arriving any moment now."

And as if just waiting for Victus to say that, Nicholas has made a portal and appeared before them. Sinov and Nelits followed behind.

Though when Nicholas saw Victus and the others, he exclaimed "Ah, Victus nee-san. Chronotia nee-san. Spatia aniki. What the !@#$ are you all doing here?" Which immediately invited glares from the three Avatars.

Chronotia and Victus said at the same time "O-nee-sa-ma!" while Spatia said "Why am I aniki?"

Nicholas didn't bother to respond. Instead he notice Iledoya staring at him. From his face Nicholas could tell that he was saying something like 'What's going on'. He explained "Long story short, before I arrived 'Here', I was under their care a lot. And they wanted to call me to call them that so yeah…"

Spatia has been staring at Nicholas for a while. He sighed then said "Haish… If only the laws allowed, you would've reached the Absolute Grade already in Space Magic."

Iledoya was quick to pick up on something new to him "The laws? What laws?"

Spatia wanted to explain, but before he could, Chronotia closed his mouth and said "You would find out soon enough. No need for us to explain it."

While all that conversation was happening, Nelits was observing how relaxed Iledoya was in the presence of such powerful beings like the Avatars. He kept exclaiming in his heart 'As expected of Sir Founder! Even the Avatar of the Fundamentals are not a match for him!" As to how he knew they were the Avatars, well it was because Nicholas said their names.

"Anyway, back on topic. Nelits, tell me what have you gathered on the Hall of Origin" Iledoya's voice reminded Nelits of his purpose.

"Right away.

Hall of Origin is a group of mages who seek the path of Immortality by using Life and Death magic. Their headquarters is located in Victasia city, Nehltaya Kingdom. Their members consist only of 3 types of people. Life Mages, Death Mages, and Nobles who would do anything to be Immortal. Another reason for being in Victasia is that the city itself is akin to a holy ground for Life Mages, exactly the type of people they need.

So far, it seems they have been successful. 4 of their upper echelons are immortals. But our spies seem to have come to a consensus which is 'When compared to Sir Founder, they're nothing!' but they have not elaborated further on the statement so far.

From what they have gathered, they are 2 ways or 'Paths' as they call it, for them to become immortal, which is to use either Death Magic or Life Magic. Namely 'Death Path' and 'Life Path' respectively. Another thing they noted is that they might have a powerful being backing them up, but it's still under investigation. Something that is equally or more powerful than the Avatar of the Fundamentals.

I believe this all that we have found out about them" Nelits ended.

Everyone took some time to ponder the information they just received. Except for Victus. "What about the things they have done in their pursuit of Immortality? Did you not find out about those?" Victus questioned.

Nelits was quite taken aback by the question. He browsed through his memory for a while to get the answer "We don't know much about that. I'll have my subordinates find out about that in the next message."

"That won't be necessary." Victus said. She was a little unsatisfied by that fact. "Hall of Origin has done some bad things, messing with the natural order of Life. I don't want to explain much so I will just say, I have lost count of how many villages and small towns they have massacred. It's that bad."

Some shivered at the thought of it. Just like how Death monitors the Death of everyone in the world, Victus monitors the Life of everyone in the world as well. But unlike Death who just receives the dead, Victus has to monitor them as they live as well.

If even Victus who monitors all life says she has lost count, that just goes to show how many and how far their influence is.

Charfania, after being silent for quite a while, sheepishly asked "Um… Why are they killing so many people?"

Of course everyone turned towards her when they heard her question, which just add on to her shyness.

"It probably has something to do with their method of achieving Immortality." Iledoya said. Iledoya is now very interested in both their knowledge, and in destroying them. When Victus added "Right, I'll pass on the spells for Absolute Life Magic if you help me" that just added more reason for Iledoya to march right into their headquarters and give them a taste of their own medicine.

But then he remembered something, he still needs to help Nicholas with his plan for vengeance. But Iledoya's thirst for knowledge is something he has a hard time keeping down. Turning towards Nicholas he was about to ask "Hey umm… Nikelaous do you mind if we..."

"No." Nicholas cut him off. "We could go there after 'dealing' with that noble. Wouldn't that be a lot more time saving as well?"

Of course Iledoya can't ignore the fact that it was much more time-consuming than he wanted. "Do you really have to kill that whatever-his-name-in noble guy? Don't we have a lot of time in our hands anyway?" Iledoya said.

"Okay first of all Iledoya-san; the noble's name is Earl Duvos, and second; you're the one with a lot of time in your hands." As if realizing something, he added "And Chronotia nee-san as well. She probably has the most time in her hands."

Iledoya ran out of reasons that could possibly convince Nicholas. No matter how he thinks about it, it just makes sense to go to the capital first. But as if the impersonification of luck was on Iledoya's side, Nelits said "Umm excuse me for cutting in… But Sir Nicholas here just said something about 'dealing' with this noble called 'Duvos'?"

Both Iledoya and Nicholas turned towards Nelits. "Yes I did. Is there something about him?"

"Hahaha, then I believe is should be quite unnecessary for Sir Iledoya and Sir Nicholas to argue anymore" Nelits smiled as he said so.

Nicholas widened his eyes. "Could it be that… He's somehow connected to Hall of Origin?"

"Oh more than just that, Sir Nicholas. I have this… umm… 'report', that just came in that a spy sent me" He fetched out a small paper from his pocket then read out its content

"Boss, I'm so sick of this guy! Just because he recently became an immortal of the Hall, he keeps on shouting s@#$ like 'HA! Bow before me peasant, I Immortal King Duvos is gracing you with his presence!' AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH I'M SO SICK OF HIM! If it wasn't because he somehow became a king from being an earl, I would've taken his title already"

Of course, the content brought a wide smile to Iledoya's face. A smile that when directed towards Nicholas, he could only sigh and say "Fine…"

[edited by ed, as per usual~]