Leaving

Time froze. The commanders turned away and faced each other. The soldiers turned towards each other. Leona and Smith faced each other.

"You can speak the human language?" Smith asks Blitz softly, his voice warm and assuring as Blitz rubs her head onto his chest, replying meekly "Yes father."

"Take note, don't call the woman standing next to me 'mother' next time alright?" Smith adds on, gaining the disapproval of Leona as she says "What do you mean by that?"

Smith smiles awkwardly, but before he can even come up with a proper reply, Blitz answers "It'll be fine, my eyes possess the ability to see those who intend to harm me and those who are the closest to me. From what I know, the one that glows with a blue aura is my father while the person that glows with a pink aura is my mother."

"Mother!"

After a long story meant to be mentioned in the future was over, Leona's cheeks were blushing again as she stands next to Smith, her arms interlocking with his as Blitz rests on his shoulders.

Regaining his composure, Smith tells everyone "Let's go through the door, that should lead us to the exit."

The soldiers and commands follow closely behind him, closing up any gaps in between as they hurry to leave this place, they weren't sure if their generals were laying in wait for them, but they know that for every second they spend here, it'll be another moment of torture.

Passing through that door after Adagio regained his consciousness, he sees the path to another foresight level, one that allows him to create illusions and use them against others.

"You're the first group to have ever found the correct door within the time frame of one month, most of the people who participated will end up going insane usually or they'll just get transferred out of this place against their will." A soldier clad in black armor appears from the wall, passing through it like a ghost as its fully covered helmet besides the few black gashes for breathing.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Smith asks, the others standing behind him ready to make a move if the need arises.

"You don't have to worry, I'm not your enemy. I'm the 109th guard assigned to protect this place and if you guys didn't pass as well, then I would have perished to the existence of time after a thousand years just like the others before me." The guard states, its voice cold and devoid of emotions.

"It doesn't matter, just cut to the chase and let us know how to leave this place!" Before Smith can even speak, Blaze impatiently questions the guard to give the directions, only to realize that his body was levitating in the air, contained in a spherical blue barrier with a spiral pattern.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm speaking." The guard says again monotonously, ignoring Blaze as he continued to finish what he had to say.

"As reward for being the first group of people to have passed the trails within this castle by plucking up your courage to explore the unknown, I have been entrusted to all of you and will be your loyal servant from today onwards, a servant at the Demigod second realm. My growth potential may have been sealed and unless one of you manages to step into the fourth transformation Demigod realm, the seal will remain in place until the day all of you vanish, as I follow my masters." The guard explains everything in one breath, his voice never changing as his sword remains sheathed to the side.

"Very well, you'll follow me from today onwards as my personal guard." Smith tells the soldier, the commanders understanding that Smith was a person of wisdom, not one that engages in brawls just because he has combat strength. If necessary, being able to devise a decisive strategy might be dependent on that tiny fraction of assurance that brings about the concept more quickly.

It doesn't just benefit Smith and his fiancee Leona, but the whole army as well in terms of war. The commanders and soldiers themselves may be contended if they get the opportunity to have such a strong servant that can swear eternal loyalty to them, but they know that their ambitions lay further ahead. They might not covet the cultivation base of the Overlord realm, but they hope that they can become an elite army of Demigods.

"Yes master." The guard gets down on his knees, bringing his fists together.

"From today onwards, I shall call you dark knight. Do you get me?" Smith asks, the sharp tone in his last part of the sentence surprising everyone.

"Yes master, I promise to always put your life before mine and the life of your loved ones before yours." The dark knight answer surprises everyone, maybe he isn't really as foolish as they had expected him to be.

"Very good, now then, lead us to the exit." Smith didn't use any words of courtesy, his orders were direct and straight to the point, but if one intends to pick any negative aspects about his manner of speech, they'll be surprised to realise that he was already treating him fairly compared to most mistreated servants.

Back in the main world, Ash was still flabbergasted and was about to lose control of himself when the sound of people stepping through portals surprises him as he regains his composure.

"Generals, I'm glad to announce on behalf of both armies that we've made it out alive without suffering any casualties, I've also signed a contract servant to serve me for the rest of my lifespan, tying his own lifespan to mine." Smith was the one who stands out, not just to represent Nightin's side of the army, but the commandment formed between them was being represented by Smith, someone who is just supposed to be a strategist left unnoticed by both armies.

"You managed to get someone beyond the Demigod realm to become your servant? That's pretty impressive of you." Nightin compliments, surprised to see Leona standing so close to Smith as he asks "Are the two of you together?"

Leona's cheeks blushes, her head burying itself deeper into Smith's embrace as Blitz gradually reveals itself from the wrist exit of her robe.

Blitz didn't know why, but the young man standing before her is giving off a strong sense of familiarity, one that makes her feel curious as to who he really is and feel attached for some reasons.

When Nightin saw the little thing, his heart skipped a beat as memories started to surface in his mind, he thought he had forgotten about this ever since William pulled him out of the nightmare, but now his worst fear, his nightmare was actually approaching him with its docile face and tiny claws.

"Are you Blitz? How can you even exist? You were supposed to just be a figment of my imagination and we had already waved hands and said goodbye ever since we ended that war, we promised to never meet each other again unless another calamity is in stall for us." Nightin tried to keep calm, but the more he thought about it, the more rampant his thoughts were as he shouted towards the sky in pain.

"That's right, the only reason as to why I'm in this form is because I was severely injured on the way here, those archangels tried to kill me before I can deliver the information and even though I made it here, my cultivation base fell to the Demigod first transformation stage, but I'm practically useless right now unless there are some sun stones that I can absorb and enchant into sun energy."

When Blitz was talking to Nightin, its petite body was trying not to lose balance as it gradually leaped onto Nightin's arm, the seriousness in its eyes and the tense atmosphere says everything, something must be up.

"I see, so that's the secret that they were trying to keep from me and if what they were expecting was eighty years worth of time, then those filthy archangels are gonna prove them wrong in just forty years. That's all the time I have left to fulfill my ambitions and step into the legendary 108th star realm which no human cultivator has ever reached. If only us humans have the innate talent comparable to those archangels that cultivate with their holy water as plain water, those archangels had the advantage in terms of territory, cultivation background, cultivation resources and a wider view of the cultivation universe."