26 Fear

When Sarah realized the immensity of the problem they were facing, she had changed her mind and was now completely on board with Simon and Eva, and wanted to stop him at all cost!

"C-can I be the one to tell him please?" Sarah asked Eva and Simon.

When Eva and Simon looked at each other and saw that neither of them had a problem with her suggestion, they agreed with her proposal.

"Ok, you can do it, but do it now and do it fast, and whatever his opinion on the matter is, ignore it and stop him at all costs, that's an order do you understand?" Simon asked her in a stern tone to make sure she would understand he was being serious here.

"I-I understand, I will go right away, thank you," Sarah said before she left and ran toward Samuel's cultivation chamber.

When she arrived and stood before his door, she forced all the hesitation she couldn't help but feel to the back of her mind and knocked three times on his door.

* Knock, knock, knock *

"Samuel?" she asked after waiting half a minute without receiving a response.

But when he was still not answering after she had called his name, she decided to slowly and carefully open his door and enter the room. But when she did so and saw what was happening inside, she immediately halted her steps and remained to stand there frozen on the spot!

Even though she was looking at Samuel's back who was currently painting in trance and had not even noticed she was standing behind him, her instincts and every single cell in her body were warning her that she would lose her life if she even dared to take a single step!

She couldn't move, her entire being didn't want to move! She just stood there like a statue, completely frozen by her fear! She had never felt this afraid in her entire life, she had never imagined experiencing the absurd amount of fear that she was currently feeling!

'W-What is h-happening!!!? Why am I s-so afraid all of a s-sudden!!? What the hell is h-happening to me!! H-Help... Someone H-Help me, p-please help me!!'

In no time, Sarah was having a full-blown panic attack! Her thoughts began to spiral out of control and her mind was going completely crazy! She vaguely noticed that she was losing her sanity and wasn't even able to think straight anymore!

She wanted to ask for help but was completely immobile and couldn't even open her mouth to say something, let alone create a spiritual link and ask for help!

Fortunately for her though, Eva expected that Sarah might let her emotions cloud her judgment and would find it difficult to stop Samuel from completing his painting, so she had kept herself hidden and at a safe distance all this time and could interfere whenever she needed.

But she was glad to see her worries seemed for naught though, as she saw Sarah knock on his door and call his name, and had eventually decided to enter his room when he left her with no response.

To her surprise however, Eva noticed that she seemed to have a change of mind all of a sudden and remained to stand there as if she was hesitating and didn't want to enter anymore.

Eva decided to give her a chance and allowed her to gather her thoughts for a minute in the hope that she would eventually make the right decision herself, without the need for her interference.

But as she was waiting around the corner and watched her standing there, she noticed that Sarah was beginning to act a little strange all of a sudden! Eva couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right here.

For a full minute long, Eva noticed that she wasn't only standing there in the exact same spot, but that her entire body began to shake as well now!

'What the hell is going on Sarah?' Eva thought as she curiously moved in closer to see what was happening with her student.

"S-Sar..." Eva wanted to call her, but now that she looked inside the room as well, her words got stuck in her throat! No matter how hard she tried she couldn't speak a word anymore!

She looked over Sarah and saw a Samuel whose entire body was engulfed in silver flames! He just stood there while he moved his brush on the canvas, without even paying them any attention whatsoever if he even knew they were here in the first place that is!

But why was she feeling this absurd and intense eerie feeling that something was wrong!? Everything inside of her begs her that she needs to get out of here as fast as she could!

'N-No! This isn't normal, m-my instincts have never lied to me before... But why do they keep warning me that I'm in danger? W-Why are they telling me that Samuel is dangerous? H-He shouldn't even be able to pose a threat to me, no matter how I think about it! He isn't someone who would want to harm me in the first place!' Eva thought but was cautious enough to pull herself and Sarah out of there while she still could.

Eva grabbed the frozen Sarah and ran back with her without even bothering to close the door behind them. Once they arrived in the living room, Simon and Anna looked at them and directly noticed their disheveled state, wondering what the hell had happened!

"Eva? What happened?" Simon asked her concerned.

But Sarah who could finally talk again now, answered before Eva could. "I'm certain...t-that is not Samuel in there!!! I-I mean... It's him but at the same time, it isn't! S-Samuel would never wish to harm me, I'm absolutely sure about it, b-but whatever or whoever is in there... I-I know it will kill me without hesitating for a single second if I even set a single foot inside that room!!!" Sarah yelled in her complete panic!

Simon's eyes widened when he heard this, he couldn't believe it and quickly looked at Eva to see if she would confirm her story. "Eva, is this true?"

"Y-Yes... I don't know what is happening in there but my instincts tell me that even I, a late nascent soul stage cultivator, will die immediately if I take so much as a single step inside that room! You should look for yourself but whatever you do, please be very careful! It isn't a friendly Ki Condensation kid you will meet in there!" Eva warned.

Simon took her warning seriously, of course, he was smart enough to do that at least and hurriedly left so he could take a look himself this time. But when he arrived and saw the painting Samuel burning in silver flames, painting like a zombie, he too felt a sudden sense of danger, albeit luckily not as intense as the rest experienced!

He could still bring himself to call his name and see if he was able to communicate with whatever or whoever it was that was in there.

"Samuel?" He called but didn't get a response.

"Samuel!!!" He yelled, this time with Ki infused in his voice, so loud that it was making the flames on Samuel's body flicker!

This time though, Samuel seemed to have heard him as he stopped his painting and very slowly turned around to see who it was that dared to disturb him!

When Simon noticed that he finally stopped with painting, he let out a sigh of relief. At least he was able to manage that he thought, but when Samuel turned around looked at him, relief was the last thing on his mind!

'T-Those... eyes!'

He was afraid! Yes, he felt fear! Something he hasn't felt for ages! He felt such so much fear that all he wanted to do was to get away from here as far and as fast as he possibly could!

But at the same time, he was also too afraid to move, something inside of him warned him that if he dared to move right now, he would die with absolute certainty!

'Can you believe it? I, a mighty late-stage void realm practitioner is afraid to move in front of a kid in the Ki condensation? W-What is wrong with me?' Simon thought.

Fortunately for Simon though, Samuel or whatever or whoever it was that stood before him, seemed to ignore him shortly after as he turned around and started painting again!

'Looks like we don't have any other option than to let him finish with his painting. Not unless we want to risk our lives and ignore our instinct by using force to stop him, sigh... I'm really growing old I guess.' Simon thought before he left the place and returned to the others in the living room.

Once Simon was back, the others looked at him perplexed. If even Simon wasn't able to stop him then no one could, all they could do now was hope that it wouldn't end as bad as Simon and Eva suspected that it would.

But little did they know...

The world was in for one hell of a show!