End of Reminiscence.....Back to present

"Aargh"

A groan filled with annoyance and pain echoed out in a plain grass field stretching for kilometres, white clouds partnered with an expansive blue sky radiating with a purple and green hue giving it an ethereal touch beyond which laid the sun, shining brightly.

And in the midst of this lay a boy looking to be 12 years old with black hair, lightly tan skin and deep black eyes whose depth felt skin to an abyss.

The boy was lying on the ground looking up towards the sky with a profound frown on his face, his expression twisted as he tried to endure the backlash from using an unimaginable amount of mana.

Yes–it was Lazarus Blackthorn now disguised as the very person whose body Demon Duke Azeroth had used as a vessel for the past few years and also the person who was tagged as the bastard of the Blackthorn family, Quin Blackthorn.

The body belonged to none other than quin Blackthorn but now because of using his body as a disguise, which was made possible by the use of the Grimoire, Laz was currently experiencing a pain which could only be described as–Excruciating.

"It feels like i am being skinned alive...not that i know how that feels"

"Hah~"

"So where am I now….eek"

Laz tried to get up but his body refused to move…or rather the pain made him refuse to try.

Looking around all he could see was a plain grass field, with nothing on it.

"Where am I…In heaven?"

Laz scoffed as he looked up and remembered what had happened a while before.

"Haa…and i had to be deported out of the Labyrinth, and there i was thinking about going through all the other trials to ransack the rewards" 

Laz thought for a while before shaking his head.

"On second thought–No, thank you, i almost died if I had been anyone other than Lazarus then i would have certainly seen what real heaven looks like in 4K" 

Laz then looked at his own torso only to see…..

"...and why the hell am I half naked!?"

Laz almost skreaked, but then calmed down instantly.

"Why in the hell am i acting like a prepubescent girl, this is not my real body" 

Sighing Laz looked at the tattoo-like thing on his body, a crimson snake with the body seemingly made out of chains and its head resembling one of a basilisk's, but it was a lot smaller than the one he had on his true body.

This appearance was just like a fancy wrapping on his real body nothing else, he still had the same abilities and skills like his real self, no real boost to anything, what's more it actually put some restraints on Laz's body.

"Still, having a way to disguise myself is really handy"

And no–before anyone asks I do not look like Quin, his appearance was a bit different than mine, he wasn't nearly as handsome.

Cough!

Laz coughed dryly as his thoughts were about to stray.

Now that I have some time, and I cannot move, I can finally inspect my body.

Which I previously couldn't because of a certain demon.

Laz relaxed all his muscles and closed his eyes, feeling the mana inside his body.

His eyes which seemed to be floating inside an never relenting darkness opened slowly revealing a stream of ethereal azure which seemed to be flowing throughout his body, this was mana.

Following the stream laz reached a location in which many streams of azure just like the one he followed seemed to meet and flow collectively towards a selective location.

A sphere the size of a human fist which was white in colour with strands of azure and crimson and a hint of black mixed in it.

This was…The Mana Core.

'Ho! So this is what a G ranked mana core looks like'

Laz thought, although his thoughts didn't last long as his eyes…his real eyes opened abruptly as his body shook violently.

"Huh! What the–" 

Laz couldn't react in time as something the size of a car hit him, sending him flying.

Crash!

Thwack-!

Laz's body crashed onto the ground, rolling on the ground he used his legs and hands to stop himself as he instinctively jumped up and landed on the ground in a crouching position.

"H-Huh!? I can move"

Laz was bewildered as he couldn't move a muscle a moment ago but now….

"Wait what?"

He looked up towards the sky as the sun which was shining brightly was about to set and two moons were rising from two different corners of the world.

"Just how long have i been out for"

Laz mumbled in his stupor, but he didn't have much time to think about that as the something which rammed into him again charged towards as Laz finally saw what it was.

"A pig?"

And what he saw confused him even more, a huge black…pig was running towards him.

That somehow sounded wrong.

Laz thought again while scratching his neck.

Laz immediately looked around for a place to hide but the car sized pig already reached him about to headbud him into oblivion.

"Tsk…"

Laz clicked his tongue as he jumped out of the pigs way and rolled on the ground.

Shhhh…

The pig however sliced across the place where laz was previously standing and turned around before charging at laz once again, this relentless game of tag persisted for a while….

A minute passed 

Half an hour passed

And finally….

…..Laz was breathing heavily as he had been running for a while, and finally it came into view, trees.

But they were still a bit farther away but before reaching the trees he had another hurdle to pass…..

…..a river.

Laz looked at the river and then at its flow, it was fast and violent.

"Could it be…." 

Laz suddenly thought of something before a grin appeared on his face and with a smile which reached from ear to ear Laz turned around and looked at the approaching monster before ... .jumping into the river….

Which leads to a ... .waterfall.

SPLASH!

#############################################

ATTENTION!!!

THIS CHAPTER MARKS THE END TO THE PRELUDE OF THE NOVEL, FROM THIS POINT ONWARDS THE REAL STORY WILL START ALONG WITH THE VERY FIRST ARC OF THE NOVEL.

"The Academy ARC"

I WILL BE SKIPPING ALMOST 5 YEARS FROM THE LAZARUS'S TRAINING UNDER CYRUS'S GUIDENCE, THE TRAINING WILL BE SHOWN TO YOU AS SMALL FLASHBACKS THROUGHOUT THE NOVEL, ALONG WITH A MAJOR EVENT.

AS YOU ALL MIGHT ALREADY KNOW THAT THIS NOVEL IS PARTICIPATING IN THE WSA 2023 COMPETITION, AND I WOULD LIKE TO REQUEST YOU SLL TO SUPPORT ME IN MY ENDAVOUR AND WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN SUPPORTING ME UNTIL NOW.