Chapter 141: Anthony Mitchell’s POV — 1

[Anthony Mitchell’s POV. 18 Years Ago]

"To become a Superior Awakened, you have two options."

Officer Ronald held up one finger.

"One. Kill a Nightmare level creature and hope it has killed a Superior Awakened in its life. If it has, you consume its characteristics, and you become one."

A second finger.

"Two. Get the eye of a Devil level creature, and look at some part of the Abyss through it. Then consume a bit of Chaos while keeping absolute cogitation. Do that, and you become a Superior Awakened."

He let the silence sit for a moment. Nobody in the room moved.

I was standing with my three partners.

Eva, 28, arms crossed, calm in a way that looked practiced.

Petra, 24, who hadn’t blinked in a while.

Khan, 36, the oldest of us, jaw set like he was chewing on something.

And me. I had just turned 20, which made me the kid again.

"Now let me be clear," Officer Ronald continued. "This is dangerous. Very dangerous. Killing four Devil level creatures is not child’s play. And what’s more horrifying is the Abyss. If you fail at the Chaos, you lose your identity. You don’t die. You become mindless."

A shiver ran down my back and stopped somewhere near my skull.

Not die. Mindless. I would have taken dying.

I kept my face still. I had been doing that since I was six.

Five minutes. That was all that remained before we went back to the Realm of Evil. It would be my third time. I had already gone twice, and I had come back both times. This one was supposed to be the last.

I didn’t want to become a Saint. I had no dream of godhood, no hunger for a title. Gold Core was just the next step, and everyone kept telling me it was mine to take.

We were standing in a plain room inside the headquarters of the G-Agents. Stone walls, no windows, one pentagram etched into the floor, and a lamp that hummed.

Officer Ronald checked the clock on the wall and nodded.

"It is time."

We nodded back. Nobody said anything else. It wasn’t the kind of moment where you say things.

The pentagram lit up with golden mist, soft and slow, rising to our knees. I stepped inside with the others, and the floor disappeared.

When my eyes opened, there was only mist.

Thick, pale, everywhere.

I could see my own hands and not much beyond them. I stood there waiting for my breathing to settle, and that was when I noticed the tree.

It stood off to the side, huge, with pale leaves that didn’t move even though I could feel a breeze.

Something was coiled on one of its branches. A serpent. It was eating its own tail, slowly, patiently, like it had been doing it for a very long time and had no plans to stop.

’What...’

I took a step toward it.

Bam!

I hit something solid. An invisible wall, flat and cold, right in front of my face. I put my palm against it and pushed. It didn’t give. It didn’t even feel like it noticed me.

I tried to go left.

Another wall.

Right.

Same thing. Whatever was protecting that tree, it had decided I was not allowed any closer.

I stood there for a while, looking at the serpent, and the serpent kept eating its tail.

And then I was looking at the ground.

I wasn’t sure why. I had been thinking about something a second ago.

A tree, maybe. It had felt important. But the thought slid out of my head like water through a net, and when I reached for it there was nothing there. Not even a hole where it used to be.

’Whatever.’

Perhaps it was not in my fate to go there.

I turned around.

Eva, Petra and Khan were already spread across the clearing, looking at the terrain. Eva was crouched by a rock. Khan was scanning the horizon with one hand on his weapon. Petra stood still and listened.

They were looking for a place to stay. Right. That was what we were supposed to be doing.

’I should help them.’

I walked over, passed the group, and went to the edge of the clearing, where a cliff dropped off and bent around the side. I looked behind it.

I stopped.

There was a forest.

A real one. Tall trees with thick green leaves, soft light coming down through the branches, moss on the roots, even the sound of something small moving in the grass. It looked like the kind of place you would take a picnic.

It made me question the name of the realm.

’The Realm of Evil.’

I had been here twice.

I knew what this place did to people. Beautiful things in here did not stay beautiful. I took a slow breath and composed myself. Panicking wouldn’t help, and I was the youngest. If I looked nervous, they would worry.

"I think we can stay in this forest for tonight," Eva called out behind me. She had come up to the cliff.

"This place is too suspicious," Khan said, coming up beside her. His eyes were on the trees. "It’s possible a very high-level creature is lurking in there."

"But it’s not like we have a choice."

"True," Khan admitted. It sounded like it cost him something.

I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t have an opinion that was worth interrupting them for. I had learned a long time ago that the quiet person hears more.

"Sigh." Petra stepped forward. Her voice was soft, almost delicate, but she had already made up her mind. "Anthony and I will try to find a better place. Meanwhile, you set up the camp."

I blinked. ’Me?’

I looked at her. She didn’t look back. She was already walking.

"Alright. No problem," Khan said, shrugging off his pack and kneeling to open it.

And I followed Petra along the edge of the cliff, away from the camp, into a realm that had just been kind to us for no reason I could see, at that moment.