As we decided to restart everything, I decided to finalize the battle against the true spirits. However, even if I can face them in battle, Marco and Maria can't take them head-on in their current state. Even a true spirit can simply wipe them out without even trying. But simply, we had a way to level up Marco and Maria from their current state, same goes for Elesia.
As we already know, Marco and Maria have a connection with the retainers, their source of powers. Luckily, Elesia turned out to be the 3rd person to have a connection with the retainers. When a retainer lends their powers to the lower layer beings in order to take over their potential physical body, they slowly lend the powers to the lower layer beings and then take over their body. Some lower layer beings hold the body of a transcendent that allows them to transcend layers and reach higher layers, and which is why, while being a higher layer being, some of them try to take over the body of a transcendent. The question is, how will someone survive this?
While they slowly lend their powers to lower layer beings, they create an equal standard deal that allows the lower layer being to take over the upper being's powers as soon as they lose their consciousness or mental strength.
And that was my center point of goal. I brought out a plan that would allow them to take over the retainers' magic power. It didn't really take much time for me to figure out things I never wanted to figure out.
To make a plan for the ritual, I had to go through Marco, Maria and Elesia's deepest past that's unknown to everyone around most of the layers. I went through some interesting stories, some stories that made me smile, for a moment.
To meet the retainers, the vessels need to visit a dream world that exists in the 5th layer, where the retainers meet their vessels and talk about whatever they want. To conclude my plan the way I wanted, I prepared the three of them to visit the dream world.
The dream world mainly exists in a crack that exists between the 6th and 5th layer. It's a world that exists without the concept of magic power.
Which is why, anyone who enters the world will automatically become a normal existence, regardless of their existing layer and authority.
Like I planned, we gathered in the secretive world. After Raizel's death, the secretive world turned out to be the place we always gathered in, more of a meeting place for us than anything else.
I began to speak as soon as all of us gathered there. With casual weather, everyone seemed to be fine in their mind and sounded pretty fresh as they were smiling brightly.
"So everyone, you guys are aware of the plan, right?" I asked with a smile.
Marco, Maria and Elesia nodded.
"Well then, it's time for you guys to go ahead and shine. Just forget about my existence, I won't be anyone to help you guys there." I yelled at their nod.
"It's going to be your game with your chessboard, you'll be the players that will outplay the retainers to gain what you're going ahead to achieve." I added right then, smiling a bit afterward.
Without waiting further seconds, I created three magic portals in front of the three of them. Marco and Elesia entered inside the magic portals without waiting further. Maria narrowly stared toward me and smiled, "I don't know if I will win or lose but, I believe I can do it. But if I fail, don't forget me, just keep me in your heart, as your sister." She said while smiling.
She put back her gaze toward the magic portal and stepped inside. As they entered the portals, I closed the portals and began to prepare my own in order to go back to Zeldia. I smiled a bit and spoke to myself, "Go ahead and win, it's your game, it's a game of death and survival. Survive and be a worthy comrade, a worthy comrade for Raizel's next step of journey." I said.
A magic portal appeared in front of me. I stepped inside and disappeared along with it.
The secretive world became nearly empty out of the absence of mortals. Some whispers appeared to be heard from the presence of some birds but ultimately went back to casual silence right afterward.
As the three of them were sent to the dream world, their magic power completely perished from their bodies as they landed there. The dream world was extremely beautiful, a world filled with endless flower gardens all around. The blooming flowers created an incredible perfumed presence. The sky of the dream world wasn't really casual like the other worlds. Unlike them, the dream world held a purple bright sky. The flow of wind of the world was pretty high rather than casual.
As the three of them landed in the dream world one by one from different portals, they gathered with each other there.
Maria smiled a bit and spoke up.
"Dream world indeed, I've never seen such beauty anywhere else, not even in my dream. It's incredible." Maria said while keeping her smile.
"Truly. However, I'm afraid this beautiful land won't stay beautiful for long." Marco replied, his tone sounding worried in the later part.
"I can sense their presence. It seems they're waiting for us in three different directions of the world." Elesia spoke up with a bit of a serious tone as her gaze sharpened ahead.
Marco smiled a bit as his eyes glowed brightly. His eyes revealed something strange yet clear, revealing his confidence brimming inside while holding the layout of unknown mystery, a mystery that would never be revealed.
"It seems like it's time for us to follow different ways. It's time to conquer our own path, with our own capability." Marco said while smiling. His voice appeared broken but he tried to make it strong as he attempted to do it multiple times.
While it wasn't really visible, it wasn't hard for me to understand as I was witnessing their activities from Zeldia. It was pretty much like a cinema for me, waiting for the three heroes to reach their goal, like a story close to a conclusion, or maybe just a part of a story. Could it be that I will also be a part of the story? Haha, I'd rather not or…
After that, the three of them headed toward three directions. Marco straight forward, Maria to the left and Elesia walked away to the right. Even though they didn't have any sort of magic power to teleport away, they simply ran with pure physical speed. It didn't take much longer for them to get there.
It seems like those physical strength-enhancing magic spells weren't really a waste, I thought to myself. Even without magic power, they were still doing great.
Haha, I'm wondering if this could be the reason for their victory over the retainers. If so, then I will definitely take some fresh cash from all of them, as a reward for enhancing their physical capabilities.
Hahaha, why do I feel like I'm forcing myself to make these tasteless jokes? I don't know. Maybe I'm trying to hide the worries from my eyes, my worries for them. Could be that I'm trying to hide them from my soul itself.
I was drinking a cup of coffee in my own garden. I was perceiving them from there. I covered my entire face with my hands and pressed it tightly, i wasn't sure about what i was doing but...something was forcing me to do it.
"Why am I worried about them? They're just part of meaningless stories, then why? Then why am I worried about them? They're worthless to me, they're inferior beings, then why, then why am I so desperate?" I whispered. I felt a heavy weight in my voice that was forcing me to speak, forcing me to express the dark weight of my worries and wonder.
I forcefully stopped myself from the whisper and meaningless thoughts and began to force myself to think of them as a part of stories, part of something totally meaningless in front of me. Then I focused completely on them and fixed my gaze on the magic spell that was allowing me to perceive them.After a few moments, all of them stopped in front of three different golden castles placed in the left, middle and right side of the world. The size of the castles was so incredibly huge that it would be easy for them to cover an entire realm just with their sole existence.
As soon as the three of them stood in front of the doors, the huge golden doors opened on their own. Following that, they slowly entered inside by walking. There was mysterious silence around. Many flame coils scattered all around inside the castles. Which is why, the silent presence was covered by the bright flame coils as they enlightened the castles.
As they continued walking toward the middle of the castles, they reached the center within seconds. Snowflakes began to appear from around the castles and gathered in front of Marco, and in front of the others too.
As the snowflakes gathered, within moments, they completely disappeared, revealing the presence of three different individuals in the three castles. They were the retainers from the 5th layer.
In front of Marco, there was a tall person with blue hair. His appearance was extremely effective, as his physique was. His glowing blue eyes stared toward Marco, standing in front of him. There was a narrow scar in his left eye. He was wearing a royal dark-red coat.
As he appeared in front of Marco, he smiled a bit. His smile appeared gentle but gave a silent message of disaster, a mysterious disaster that was silent but terrifying.
As for Maria, a woman in a royal dark long gown appeared. She had long dark hair flowing around her due to the irregular wind. She had deep red eyes. They weren't glowing but appeared really chaotic to me.
She narrowly glared toward Maria, her gaze pretty hostile even with her casual expression.
While in front of Elesia, a person with a similar outfit as Marco's retainer appeared. He had black, somewhat long hair. His eyes were closed but his appearance was bright due to the smile he was keeping, which made it radiant for me even with the absence of his eyes.
As the three retainers began to float in front of them, the three glared back with unmatched intention and desire. I didn't understand the intention they were holding, but it was intense and terrifying. It left a preview, a preview of a horrifying and deadly battle.