Puzzle-1

There is no doubt about it. This is it, Kaisel thought. As he stood in the ruins of Ulaspas manor, he compared the drawings of the Rose, the one drawn in his personal old leather-bound notebook. The drawing didnt have any color or so, but it looked identical to the one before him. Seeing their resemblance he couldn't help but smile, after all, he was nearly there, and soon Franc Ulaspas's inheritance would be his.

He turned the pages of the notebook and read the quote once again. My inheritance, my magic, my life's work, I have left it all in that place. At my home, the place where I was accepted as who I am. Underneath the Rose, I left it all. If someone can find it, they can have it all. 

Reading those lines again, he cannot help but shake with excitement. This was it.

He had the key, this land would be his in a matter of days, his babies had almost matured and soon the inheritance of the greatest Dark Mage in the world would be his. No one can stop him now.

"Can you stop drooling over that thing and help me." Came a voice from behind. Hearing the familiar voice of Gloria, he turned around, she was bleeding.

There was a big scratch mark on her left cheek consisting of 3 stripes, the scratch was deep and bleeding profusely. She had a bloody towel in her hands from which she was desperately trying to stop the blood flow.

"Where is your crystal?" he couldn't help but ask. It was weird that she didn't use it. Usually, she always carries one with her all the time

"I kind of use it, so could you please be a doll and help me." He shook his head with disappointment. He couldn't believe her, she knew how valuable a crystal was, and they were currently on a very tight budget, yet still, she used it all, it was unacceptable.

"You used it all? Where? You know that we still haven't started farming the crystal yet, right? And yet you still used it all. That is just reckless Gloria." A smile bloomed on Gloria's face. In a second she covered the distance between them, she came closer to him and wrapped her hands around him.

"So what… Are you gonna spank me now?" she said in a sensual voice. But Kaisel wasn't having it.

"This is serious, you are not going to weasel your way out of it by using your sexuality."

She sighed, she knew that there was no way out of this. "Alright, I will not weasel my way out of it." she then took a deep breath and continued. "So why don't you cut to the chase and give me a little hit? Please just one hit, that is all I am asking." The way she asked for a hit wasn't able to hide her desperation, which Kaisel frowned. "Show me your hand."

Offended by his request, Gloria let him go, and she started glaring at him. "What? Why?" But Kaisel was not backing out, he asked again. "Show. Me. Your. Hand."

"You know what, I don't have time to argue with you, I will just ask Sara for some." Huffing with anger, she turned around. But before she could take any step, Kaisel grabbed her wrist and pulled it up. Her hand was shaking.

"Make a fist." He ordered. "Let me go Kaisel!" she struggled to get her hand out of his grasp.

"Make a fist and I will let you go."

"Let me go!" he had enough, he started applying pressure on her through her mana, and he was enraged. "Make. A. Fist. NOW!"

Gloria knew that there was no way out of it now. She complied, her fingers were very stiff, in front of Kaisel's eyes she tried her best to curl her fingers. 

I have to only make a fist, she reminded herself, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't do it, her fingers stopped curling after one point.

Seeing her fail at such a basic test made him very angry, and he let her wrist go. "How much crystal have you been using? And don't you dare lie to me Gloria, I want to know."

"I am using the prescribed amount." But then she figured that she should just apologize. 

It was not easy to fool Kaisel, he didn't have the patience nor the time to interrogate her, so he did something to make her realize the severity of the situation.

SMACK

He hit her on the cheek which had the cut. "Do not fool me, woman. Our Babies are not aggressive towards you, nor they are fast enough to scratch you like that. You deliberately got yourself scratched. You knew that I would hand over crystal as soon as I saw your state. You know me very well Gloria, but I know you as well. Now tell, me exactly how much crystal have you been using. NOW."

Gloria was stunned to see Kaisel raise his hand against her, he hardly did that, but when he does, he usually means business. She could not fool him now, she knew it. "8 crystals a month." She said in a low voice.

"EIGHT CRYSTALS! ARE YOU INSANE GLORIA? You do know that those crystals may give us power, but they are highly addictive. You were the one who was worried about its overuse, you were the one who made the rules about the quotas for the crystals. YOU! But you broke your rules yourself? How could you do that?"

"I am sorry," Gloria said. He looked at the saddened and distraught state of Gloria, his heart pained to see the love of his life in this way. But he knew that he had to be strong, otherwise they would be destroyed.

The powers that they had were never theirs to begin with, they belonged to the Franc Ulaspas. When he got these powers, he knew that one day he would have to pay the price for them. And that day he had to be strong, unfortunately, today was that day. With a heavy heart, he took out a small sealed bottle from his spatial ring and handed it over to Gloria.

"Drink it." He ordered. Seeing the bottle, Gloria became distraught. "No! No no no. I am fine, Kaisel. I truly am. You do not need to do that."

With tears in his eyes, he kept looking at her, he was not backing out. Gloria also started tearing up, but she didn't show any more resistance. She knew she had to do it. She had to cleanse her body