"Young man… you have worked hard… It's a pity that you have become like this…"
In the dark vast space, Leon was hearing the voice of the ancient spirit dragon around him.
He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a place so dark. A light ethereal-looking spirit kept hovering around him.
"Young man, now you will be stuck here… until you find a way to go out… your consciousness will stay here in the nothingness."
It was then that Leon realized that it was the ancient dragon who was talking to him. He looked around and saw that there was nothing ahead nor behind him, not even on his left and right sides.
The darkness seemed so endless and not even a gush of the wind blew to let him know that he was still on earth. "This is not the spatial void…" Leon looked at the hovering ancient spirit dragon and mumbled.
"It isn't…The spatial void you know still belongs to the earthly realm… however, this place doesn't…" The ancient spirit answered.
"Where is this place?" Leon frowned, as the master of the Spatial King, he thought that he had already understood the mysteries of the different realms.
The ancient spirit dragon hovered once again and said, "A realm not belonging to the Spatial Void nor the earth… Not even the guardian realm, nor the heavenly realms…"
Leon was still confused. It was neither the earth nor the heavens, not even the spatial void nor the guardian realms. So what is it?
"You have been here before…" The spirit continued. "Look down and see what was beneath your feet…"
At the ancient spirit dragon's words, Leon looked down and saw that his feet were in the waters which did not make them wet at all.
Leon's eyes flashed in realization, this is the same as the realm of paths, one that the open paths could take.
"You are fortunate… your soul and body did not disintegrate after bearing my full countenance. Your open-path constitution immediately pulled your soul and spirit here so that both of you can recover."
"Now you only have to find the path out so that you can return to your body which is in a resting state at the moment. That is if you can find the way out in his realm."
"Young man… I applaud you for your sacrifice… I saw your memories, you have a child and a soon-to-be wife… but you did not hesitate to sacrifice yourself even if it entails you being trapped forever in this place…"
With that being said, the ancient spirit's voice became fainter as the light spirit also started to become more transparent.
"Now, young man… I only wish you luck as I am called back to my resting place…"
"Thank you… senior ancient dragon…" Leon bowed as he bade goodbye to the fading presence of the ancient spirit dragon.
The moment the ancient dragon's presence disappeared, Leon's surroundings became pitch dark. He did not think about which way to go and just followed the gentle push of the water-like substance in his feet.
Clip clop…
There was nothing around, only the sound of Leon's footsteps. He walked aimlessly, not even knowing when he would reach the end.
He did not know what time it was nor how long he had been walking forward.
He did not even know if he had already been walking in circles or if he was just walking on an endless path.
Woosh!
Suddenly, a cold shivering wave of breeze swept over his body. It was piercing cold, so much that Leon could feel it seep to the core of his spirit trying to freeze his wandering soul. He was confused and mystified.
The ancient spirit dragon already told him that he was not in his flesh form, so why would he even feel this frigid sensation?
Even so, he still continued to walk, not even minding that the more he moved forward, the colder it was ahead.
"Hahaha!"
"Teehee!"
"Poor one… you'll be stuck here forever…"
As the cold wind blew, Leon started to hear a lot of mocking voices around him. They were laughing at him for being foolish to keep moving forward.
"You'll never be able to go back…"
"Hehehe!"
The laughing and mocking turned to discouragement. But Leon kept a straight face and did not stop walking, his pace gradually became faster and faster.
The voices seemed to chase him even more as their voices grew louder and louder.
"Even if you are able to… your body might have long rotten and nourished the ground!"
"Who knows, they might not even know who you might be!"
"Give up and just stay!"
Leon's face became dark as he finally retaliated, "That won't happen! My child and my fiance are waiting for me…"
"Those from the earth would long forget you…"
"They would move on and live… forgetting you along the way."
"How tragic!"
"You don't know me… and you don't know them as well!" Leon refused to hear their words and continued moving forward.
This time, there was a pull from behind, preventing him from stepping forward.
"You will never get out of here…"
"Yes… you will succumb here and accept your fate!"
The voices rejoiced gloatingly.
"N-no…" Leon looked forward. He was not seeing anything but he knew there was something ahead, something beyond this darkness.
'One more step…' Leon tried his best to take a step forward, but he could no longer lift his leg up to take another step.
He could even feel countless dark ink-like hands spring out of nowhere and hold his entire body in place. "N-no!"
This time, the words of the voices repeated in his head, and the fear started to invade. His ever-frigid eyes showed an obvious sense of panic and fear.
He could no longer move forward, and the hands of darkness were holding him down. But he could not stay here for long.
'Eli and Little Han… They need me… I need them as well…'
'My parents, my brothers… my friends and family…'
'My people… they all need one more person to help them get the peace they wanted!'
'I still haven't fulfilled the promise I made in the heavens!'
'That night… I knelt to the heavens and asked the Great One to let my child be born…'
'For three days I asked the heavens to give me permission to marry my love, Eli…'
'I promised to protect and cherish the two of them…'
"And I am not yet done!" Leon proclaimed as the fear in his eyes turned into an obsession.
"Argggh!" Leon resisted the ink-like hands and moved forward. He moved his elbow and then his hands.
He twisted his upper body and then his leg.
Slowly he lifted his leg, but the hands stopped him even more!
Even so, he did not care, he moved forward no matter how hard he was being pulled by the hands.
"Step forward!" He commanded his soul to move. The tip of his toe was a few inches away from the solid ground and Leon used every last bit of his will to complete the step.
Bang!
As soon as his foot landed on the ground, he heard the sound of something breaking. Then in an instant, the voices and the restrictive hands disappeared like brittle glass.
Leon's soul knelt on the ground… even in his ethereal body, he was exhausted and his strength was long gone. But his surroundings changed, and the water-like thing turned out to be mana flow.
Everything became bright like the night sky filled with stars. Only in front of him was a large tree of light.
"Young man… you've passed." A voice coming from the direction of the tree sounded.
'Passed?' Leon thought but he did not voice out his question. 'What is this place?'
"This place is the End of The Path." The voice answered him.
"End of the Path? The Open Path…" Leon mumbled, immediately connecting the open path constitution as the end of the path.
"Yes… the ones that those who had the Open-Path's constitution could pursue. "You passed the test I have given. Now you are worthy to see the End of the Path…"
"But what comes of it?" Leon frowned, open path, and S-class mages were already considered as the epitome of power. He did not see what difference could the End of Path bring to one. Perhaps, it was also because he no longer desired any power stronger than what he had.
"It is power… but it is also an acknowledgment." The tree replied.
"I don't understand…" Leon replied. The other party's words did not make sense, nor he did not see the importance of seeing the End of Path alone.
"It is an acknowledgment from the heavens, and that you are worthy of their blessings, wielding the power that is, even more, higher than no man in Prasinos had known the SSS realm."
"SSS realm?" Leon frowned and wanted to ask.
But before he could do that, he could hear Little Han's crying voice pleading, "Daddi! Daddi! Save Mommi! Save Mommi pleeze!"
