"Adrian?"Thalia was watching him.Adrian kept his left hand close to his side and tried to ignore the heat burning through it. The leather glove reached all the way to his elbow, hiding the golden glow of the Holy Mark from view."I'm fine.""You don't look fine.""I'm fine, Thalia."She kept watching him for another second before finally looking away.Adrian focused on the problem instead.He hadn't used Necromancy since arriving in Pandora's Rainforest. The Holy Mark shouldn't have reacted. It had always responded to his Necromancy before, and he hadn't used any of the other branches of Dark Arts either.So what had triggered it?The heat disappeared as suddenly as it had come.Adrian glanced down at his covered hand.Nothing.He didn't like that.In his first life, strange things had rarely happened without a reason. On a battlefield, a sudden silence could mean someone was waiting to attack. A missing patrol could mean an ambush. Even a small change in magical pressure could mean

Adrian walked for fifteen kilometers before the passage finally ended at another entrance. After the dragon skull gateway at the beginning, he had expected something just as dramatic this time. Instead it was a plain wooden door with a doorknob, so old and worn out that one kick would have knocked it off its hinges. He felt disappointed, and he almost kicked it anyway. But he stopped himself, because careless actions were exactly what got people killed inside Sera's Labyrinth. A door this simple made him suspicious, since nothing else in this place had been simple so far.There weren't any skeletons along this last stretch either. That meant none of the people who had died in the earlier chambers had ever made it this far. Adrian understood that, but it still bothered him, because the walk had felt like a casual stroll for him. Even the three green eyed guardians hadn't given him much trouble. If the path was this easy, why had hundreds of people died on it? Or maybe the Labyrinth was

Adrian walked a few steps behind Sister while she went barefoot through the forest. She kept turning her head left and right every few seconds, and the white halo above her floated along with every movement. He didn't understand why a machine would look so curious about some bushes and trees. Maybe Sera built her to act like this, or maybe she picked it up during all the years she spent alone in the dark. Either way he still felt like it was still strange, and he couldn't stop watching her.He kept looking at the halo anyway. The Holy Mark and the halo both ran on Holy Mana, and they reacted to the Archon Blade at the same time, so he was almost sure they came from the same source. That meant everything Sera made had the same foundation, even though one was a mark on someone's arm and the other was a girl who walked and talked. Adrian still felt like he was missing the biggest part of it. Who was this woman that could make both of them, and why did nobody write her name down in three

Nathan didn't move. His hand was still on his sword, but he didn't draw it, because he knew it wouldn't help him right now. He had been a Cardinal for many years, and he had never seen anyone kill twenty one men that fast without him noticing until it was over. Even the Saint's own guards couldn't do that. What kind of person can do that, and how is she standing there so calmly with her hands folded in front of her?The dead men started to get up. They stood one after another with the rotten bone still sticking out of their throats, and then a bear and a few wolves walked out from the trees with their eyes completely black. Nathan studied all of them carefully. They didn't wander around like normal undead, they stood in a straight line and waited for her to give an order. Controlling this many at the same quality was something very few necromancers could do, and most of the ones he knew about were Grade 7 at most. She was higher than that, even though she looked like an ordinary maid.

Nathan stayed on his knees in the dirt and looked at the boy for a long time. He had heard a lot of strange requests since he became a Cardinal, but nobody had ever asked him to teach Holy Magic to a Dark Mage, and the boy had asked it so plainly. Nathan still felt like he heard it wrong, even though he knew he hadn't. A dark mage who tried to bring out Holy Mana would burn his own body from the inside, and Nathan had already watched two people die from it. So why was this boy so calm about it, and what does he know that nobody else knows?"Let me make sure I understand," Nathan said slowly. "You want me to teach you Holy Magic.""Yes.""Me. A Cardinal of the Holy Order.""That's what I said. I don't see what's confusing about it."Nathan looked at the boy's face and couldn't find any sign that he was joking. He looked serious and a little bored, which made Nathan feel even more confused. Most people who asked a Cardinal for something were either nervous or greedy, and this boy was ne