As I returned to the spectator view that was broadcasting the castle Marco was in, Marco appeared to continue his argument with Azir.
"No matter what, no matter how strong you are, there will be a person who will destroy you. So without a doubt, there is a concept of demise in every single being's fate." Marco said while smiling. He sounded pretty casual but the causality in his tone appeared to be a tool of his game. He was saying all these for some certain purpose, not just some words that are coming from his soul.
"As you can see, I'm ascending for some certain reason, not to survive but to change. Unlike you who want to ascend just to survive, I'm doing the thing that will actually change the history, change the stories." Marco added.
While speaking, Marco was taking some long breaths as his voice was extremely deep and a bit broken.
Marco continued speaking in the same tone, "And look at yourself, you are doing everything just to survive and then, you are still going to die if you continue like this. Think about yourself, think about your will, is it really strong enough to keep you intact in higher layers?"
Azir shouted out of frustration, "Of course my will is. I'm strong enough to ascend higher than anyone else. No matter what, I will definitely ascend to the highest layer."
Marco laughed a bit and said with a smile, "You don't even have the will to put a battle up against that pathetic Absolute Spirit, how are you supposed to believe that you can win? How do you even believe that you have the best will?"
"Shut up, you can't stop me like this." Azir replied a bit loudly.
"You can shut me here, you can kill me and take over my body. But think, how strong is your will, is it really good enough to overcome the will of beings that can kill an infinite amount of entities with similar strength as the Absolute Spirit? Can you really overcome them?" Marco said while smiling.
"An infinite amount of Absolute Spirits?" Azir said calmly out of his consciousness. Something bothered him suddenly. In his eyes, he saw the presence of the Absolute Spirit, a person in shadow whose presence was so effective that countless retainers around him were screaming out of their pain from the pressure of the Absolute Spirit, their bodies were being shattered into nothing, they were being destroyed into nothing but mists. That person's entire body was covered by an extremely dark shadow. Azir began to sweat as his expression appeared much more dense as his eyes were.
"I know how you feel now but you know what, the stories are much harsher than you know." Marco said while narrowly glaring toward the sweating Azir, and took a long breath afterward.
"You already know that I'm not a being from the 6th layer. My root existence belongs to a higher layer. So, I know the cruelty of the higher layers. I know the way they destroy a mortal, I know how cruel they are. They won't kill with a little piece of steel called a sword. They will shatter your soul, then cut your body parts apart and then, they will fed your soulless body to beasts, your body will be nothing more than a toll to fill some beasts hunger."
Marco took a long breath and bring a narrow smile in his lip.
"That's what you call the most cruel way of destruction. A true meaning of chaos and foolish nature." Marco added calmly. His voice appeared even more intense and deep.
While he was speaking, Azir's imagination began to reach the things Marco was trying to show him throughout his sentences. In front of his eyes, he began to witness the visual scenes of the destruction, of the cruelty Marco was talking about. He was witnessing his death, torture over his body and, the true meaning of cruelty.
As he was sweating, he now pressed his head pretty tightly with both of his hands. He screamed loudly, "Please stop, Stop!"
"Can you imagine those? Can you really withstand all that destruction?" Marco continued speaking casually while smiling.
His words began to repeat continuously in Azir's ear. The more he heard those words, the more Azir's mind worked faster. Azir's eyes slowly began to lose their strength, the glowing eyes began to shut down slowly as his hands began to fall from their pressed state. In a few moments, Azir's entire body fell to the ground as he totally lost his consciousness.
Marco smiled widely while looking toward Azir's unconscious body, "No matter what, a mortal can't take such pressure of cruelty in a state with human class capability. You are no different, my dear retainer." Marco said with a smile, concluding with a sarcastic tone in the latter part of his sentence.
I smiled with glowing eyes. The happiness on my face was even brighter than my smile. I lifted up my gaze toward Marco's face and spoke up, "Well done, fool."
As Marco stepped out from the castle following the exit, he casually lifted up his gaze toward the sky and smiled a bit, closed his eyes and took a long breath.
"I wish I could take a rest. Just for some moments, I wish to sleep a while, I want to smile, I want everyone to smile along with me." Marco said while looking toward the sky. He slowly put down his gaze toward the ground and changed his expression to casual heavy eyes with the weight of an unknown responsibility.
His voice yelled as his expression turned heavier, "But I could never do it, I couldn't smile along with everyone. I couldn't be a person with a smile, I couldn't be the fool with a smile on their face."
Marco's face suddenly covered with a fool mask as he lifted up his face a bit toward ahead. That wasn't a mere metaphor or some imagination, it was a memory, some forgotten chapter of a certain story. I don't know whose story it is but it could be that, the story is something that reminds Marco of something. Or it could be that, the story belongs to Marco himself, from some time when he used to be different, a totally different person.
As Marco finished his task there, I returned to Maria's castle. She seems really fine there as she was casually arguing with Raya. However, I knew that she wasn't someone that can manipulate or deceive a retainer the way Marco did. But I know what she can do if I give her a helping hand.
"No matter what, I know how strong I am and how much I know about everything in the story. You are a great warrior who managed to overcome the true spirits but you have to be aware of your limitations." Raya said with a smile as her voice appeared really gentle as her expression was.
Maria gently shut her eyes and smiled a bit. Then she opened her eyes again and put her gaze toward Raya.
"I'm not a warrior. I'm just a piece of magic, I'm a piece of magic that can create countless worlds, can create stories, can endure, can only hold back and guard everyone around her. I'm not a story that will destroy, I'm a story that will protect and create, create stories, worlds and everything she can." Maria replied with a smile. Her voice was so calm that it sounded like a whisper.
"But sometimes, some wrong ideas get in my way and try to be a flaw in front of my magic, try to be something that will destroy my creation. And when they do that, I'm forced to go ahead and destroy, I'm forced to be a warrior no, a protector." She added. She was taking breaks while speaking as her voice appeared really broken from the presence of her emotions.
Raya closed her eyes and smiled. She lifted up her gaze toward Maria and glared deeply, "No matter what, you can't protect your creations forever. Someday, in some moments, your enemies ahead will destroy your creation and then, they'll become murderers, they'll be the reason for your creation's destruction. You can't stop them, because you are weak." Raya spoke up calmly.
I can understand her goal right now. As Maria's retainer, she knows little about her. And she knows that like the way Marco did, she can simply overcome Maria by causing the destruction and demise of the mental strength Maria was holding in that moment. However, like I was saying, she knows little about her. Beneath Maria's soft and gentle soul, there was a strong barrier that was protecting her for a while. A barrier created not by magic but by her own sadness and desire, from something she faced for a while.
I wasn't reading Maria's mind but I know what she was thinking in that moment, actually I know what she was planning to do. It seems like I can help her with that, to make it easier.
While in the dream world, no one can carry magic power nor can use magic spells. I had to find a way to change the law in some way.
I cut off my magic view and drew a magic circle in front of me. It was a blue magic circle rotating continuously in front of me. I put forth my right hand toward the circle and touched its center with my index finger. On the other side, a huge barrier with blue glowing light appeared around Maria's castle and instantly isolated the area inside it. It was a magic spell that I've used very long ago and nearly forgot about. Inside the dream world, the blue barrier creates a different dimension that completely isolated the area from the dream world and its laws. However, there was a bit of a difference there. While the entire area was covered with blue fogs, only a single corner wasn't holding the fogs. It was only Raya who was outside the barrier area and the isolated world. While creating the area, I simply ignored Raya while crafting the area with my magic spell. So which is why, inside the castle, it was only Raya who was inside the law. It wasn't really possible for Raya to exit the area as she was bound there. If someone enters the dream world, they can't exit without completing their ritual. Which means, she was the bound one that can't use magic power there, while Maria left the law of the dream world and regained her magic power.
I smiled a bit and connected my voice message with Maria's mind. I smiled a bit widely and said, "You know what you have to do now, right?"
Maria smiled much more widely and nodded. Then she narrowed her glare toward Raya who was sweating while witnessing everything happening around her.
"My gameboard will be mine, from this moment." Maria yelled while glaring toward Raya.