The waves surged, and the tide rushed.
Kai Adler saw this scene as soon as he opened his eyes.
He touched his chest; the feeling of being pierced by an arrow was still there, but there was no wound.
Where was this?
He looked around.
He found himself standing in the air above an endlessly boiling sea, with angry, roaring seawater beneath his feet stretching into the distance with no end in sight.
Looking up, the oppressive black sky seemed only a few meters above his head; black mist filled the air, and red lightning roared within the mist.
The seawater was a dull deep blue, and two colossal figures could be clearly seen confronting each other beneath the surface.
A giant dragon, completely black, roared silently at the bottom of the sea; a pair of fleshy wings covered in black scales seemed to blot out the sky and sun, each flap causing surging waves, and the ferocious spikes on its body looked fully aggressive.
Facing it from a distance was a large, unknown bird with spread wings, colored white and gold; even at the bottom of the sea, it could not hide the soft white light it emitted, and its magnificent tail feathers, longer than its body, fanned out in the current, looking gorgeous and noble.
The two colossal figures confronted each other at the bottom of the sea; black energy and white light intertwined, crushing and pressing each other, causing the surrounding seawater to shake incessantly, even making Kai's brain buzz.
A roaring sound echoed through the space; red lightning from the black mist overhead sliced through the air and struck directly toward the seawater; compared to the two forces, the lightning's power seemed small, but it seemed to carry divine might, causing both the evil dragon and the giant bird to crane their necks and cry out in anger toward the sky, yet the sea surface became much calmer.
Is this… his "soul space"?
He first heard the concept of "soul space" from the Old Man.
According to Grindelwald, when a Magician is on the verge of death, his soul will leave his body, and at that time, the Magician will have a chance to face his own soul and arrive at the so-called soul World.
But when most Magicians see the soul World, it only means one thing: they are already dead, with no possibility of return. These Magicians have only two choices: one is to live in reality in a soul state, and the other is to explore the unknown World of death.
Only a very small number of special circumstances allow a Magician to see the soul World without truly stepping into death. It is said that if a Magician can still live safely after seeing the soul World, then his soul will sublimate, and his Black Magic will also improve.
But no one can confirm such a mysterious legend; after all, up to now, Magicians who have seen the soul space have all become ghosts—beings that are alive but not really alive.
The Old Man once mentioned a possibility, which is to "become the Master of death," but that is another legend…
Kai blinked. So, he was about to die?
No…
The reason he had Boingo shoot him with the bow and arrow from Dio's room was because this was a scene he saw in a prophecy. Although he didn't see what happened after he was shot, he saw the following scene: in the morning light, he was sitting in a restaurant chair, peeling shrimp for Hermione, with the Weasley family beside them.
This meant he survived and was in good condition; otherwise, the him in the prophecy wouldn't be so leisurely.
Although he had arrived in the soul space, it was definitely not a fatal situation. Otherwise, he could have just stabbed himself with a small knife and still seen the soul space.
Then the key must be the bow and arrow used to shoot him…
The roaring sound attracted his attention. Looking up, the black mist overhead was pressing down extremely low, so low that he felt it could collapse at any moment.
He knew this was not an illusion; the black mist overhead represented the Obscurus. Although it was currently suppressing the evil dragon representing Grindelwald's ownerless Black Magic and the giant bird representing the Prophecy Power, when the black mist descended and touched the ocean representing his Black Magic beneath his feet, the black mist would instantly devour the ocean, along with the evil dragon and the giant bird.
At that time, he could be called "Lan Kai" or "Hong Kai," but he would definitely not be the current Kai Adler.
Clearly, his soul space was a mess right now, and what he needed to do was untangle this mess.
The question was, how?
He tentatively used a levitation Black Magic, but failed.
He couldn't feel any Black Magic?
The next second, he reacted. He smiled, and with a thought, his whole body slowly sank into the sea.
As soon as he entered the sea, Kai felt no discomfort from being submerged; instead, he felt right at home, like a fish in water. After all, this was his own Black Magic.
But the Black Magic, which should have been easily controlled, was now incredibly obscure under the pressure of the two powerful forces. He tried to use a Black Magic; as soon as the Black Magic responded to him, it was shattered by the turbulence stirred up by the evil dragon.
Kai realized that although it was frustrating, in his own soul space, he temporarily couldn't utilize his own Black Magic.
So, what was the use of Dio's bow and arrow?
As if sensing his thoughts, the space suddenly changed again.
An invisible ripple instantly spread from the depths of the sea throughout the entire space; everything affected by this faint blue ripple—the evil dragon, the giant bird, the seawater, and even the black mist—was stained with a faint layer of blue.
Red lightning frequently appeared within the black mist, and the evil dragon and giant bird also began to become restless.
Kai directed his gaze straight to the deepest part of the sea, where the ripple began to spread.
He hovered in the sea of Black Magic; on his left was the raging evil dragon, and on his right was the proud giant bird.
In comparison, he was as tiny as an insect; the two colossal figures would turn into dust with just a slight crush.
He felt this new power, as the faint blue ripple spread out in the sea.
The ripple covered the evil dragon and the giant bird, surprisingly causing them to slowly calm down.
"Good."
Kai smiled faintly and spread his arms; with him at the center, the deep sea suddenly churned up a massive vortex, breaking through the surface to become a tornado that shot straight into the sky, with the wind howling furiously.
The evil dragon, the giant bird, and the black mist were all swept up by the tornado and enveloped by the seawater.
A human shape gradually appeared behind Kai…
Bang! Crack!
Wood splinters flew everywhere; Selene's body crashed through the wooden door and hit the wall heavily, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Wiping away the blood from her lips, her icy blue eyes swept over Ciel in the corner.
Ciel lay in a pool of blood with three daggers in her chest, her breath now faint. Although her Vampire physique temporarily ensured she wouldn't die immediately, if she didn't replenish her blood soon, even a Vampire would die after bleeding dry.
Although this woman was always sarcastic toward her, Selene couldn't just watch the other person die.
However…
Selene raised her pistol and aimed it at the tall man slowly walking toward her, her eyes filled with solemnity and a hint of despair.
The man's name was Dio Brando, or simply Dio. He wore a black bodysuit with a yellow jacket over it. He was tall and imposing, with handsome features, possessing the unique charm of a Vampire.
Looking at Selene now, his eyes held the playful mockery of a cat playing with a mouse.
"Hohoho, truly a Vampire. You can still move freely after losing so much blood. Killing you like this seems like a waste."
He looked into the woman's eyes.
"Your subordinate killed my subordinate. How about you fill the void yourself?"
Selene took a deep breath.
This man was too strong. The key was that despite being injured in multiple places during the fight, she still didn't know what his ability was. She only knew that the man's speed was so fast that she couldn't even hear him, let alone see him with her naked eyes.
The only thing she was grateful for was that Dio's attack methods were limited, consisting only of heavy punches from his Stand and throwing knives. Only by relying on her Vampire physique had she managed to hold on until now.
Throwing knives?
Selene had a flash of inspiration.
Even if Dio himself was too fast for her to perceive, there was no reason why the thrown knives would be too fast to perceive…
If he could truly throw knives so fast that she couldn't perceive them, she would have been smashed to pieces by that force long ago.
But each time, the throwing knives seemed to appear in front of her out of nowhere, combined with a "speed" too fast to perceive.
A hint of horror flashed in her eyes; she seemed to know the other person's ability.
Could such an ability truly exist?
Manipulating time…
However, her first thought was that this ability couldn't be used continuously; there must be an interval, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to struggle at all.
She reached for her lower back, where there was a grenade. It was a very special grenade, a weapon she had confiscated from a Werewolf.
…That was a UV grenade.
This was her trump card, but also her last resort.
Once she used this, it was unknown what would happen to Dio, but she and Ciel would definitely be burned to ashes by the burst of UV light.
She could only gamble on Dio's carelessness…
Selene narrowed her eyes and weakly sat down on the ground.
"You said you want me to be your subordinate?"
"Precisely," Dio said, putting one hand on his hip and looking down at Selene, "I can also grant you unimaginable power."
"It's the power called Stand."
As he spoke, he had already taken out the grenade.
"Of course, as long as you come from my room…"
As soon as the words fell, a feeling of palpitations arose from the depths of both their hearts simultaneously. That oppressive feeling, as if they had encountered a being of a higher level, made both of them look toward the depths of the castle at the same time.
Selene was more sensitive to this feeling because it was the same feeling she had when facing a Vampire elder.
No… it seemed even higher…