Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

[Return Scroll

Status: Ineffective

Reasons: The power of the Serpentine Devil permeating every inch and corner of this forest has managed to enclose this place in a barrier that disables the effects of scrolls like such and blocks others from stepping out of its confines. To maintain this barrier, five of the serpentine devils must continuously supply the barrier with the demonic energy that the Serpentine Devil bestowed upon them. In the five regions of this forest, all of the return scrolls have lost their effect. Though, every other scroll still works.

Solution: Destroy the carriers of the devil's power to break free from the Heaven and Earth sealing barrier]

His exclamation came as a shock to many, and Oliver couldn't help but ask.

"Did you find anything?"

Just what was the cause of his surprise, he wondered.

"I did, but I believe none of you would like to hear the details of it," Elliot replied with a smile that was not only on his face but also in his eyes. "It's a massive conspiracy, after all, against all of us."

"Conspiracy? W-what kind of conspiracy?"

His words came as a shock to them, enough to root them to where they stood.

"Please tell it to me," Oliver asked, a desperate look on his face. He wanted to know about it now more than ever, know the reason why many of his companions had to die.

Elliot raised his head to look at the darkness swirling above his head, saying the following words after he did so, "The devil spawn had even invaded our ranks and set up a trap to confine us in this place, intending to hunt down the new generation of magicians from the academy to the very last man, including fools like you whose family spies took the bait, causing you all to appear here."

"By devil spawns, you surely don't mean them, do you?" The younger of the twins twitched uncontrollably, his legs shaking violently.

"You heard me right." Elliot said, "It's the serpentine devils, and we landed right where they wanted us to be."

Harley's legs turned to jelly, a look of devastation appearing on his face as he said, "Haha, how the hell is that possible?! Why would our families send us to our death."

"You fool. Is it not obvious for you?" Elliot shook his head, his eyes narrowing as a small huffing laugh escaped his mouth.

"It's because the serpentine devils managed to fool even them," Oliver said, saying the words that none of them wanted to hear.

"Though, why are you overreacting?" Elliot said while looking at Hurley who kept on muttering the same thing: "Don't lie to us."

"Sorry, my brother had a bad time with them," Sean said as he dropped next to Hurley and hugged him, whispering that everything will be fine again and again in his ears.

"Bad enough to traumatize him," Finley added as he patted his younger version on the head.

"Did they torture him? Is that why he has white hair while you have black?" Elliot said while looking at the man with green eyes. He was considerate enough to use his power to not let Hurley hear his words.

"Yeah," Finley nodded.

Oliver added while looking at Elliot, "Can you please be considerate?"

Elliot yawned at his words, then said, "From the very start, before we even entered this place, before the magician academy even found out about this settlement of the spirit race, we had been dancing to the devil's tune. That's a truth that no silence can change. And it's in our best interest if we start preparing ourselves to fight them to the death.

"After all, no help will come for us from the outside world, and even if we meet the conditions to pass our trials, we still won't be able to step out of this place."

According to what he managed to understand so far, the serpentine devils were behind everything.

Firstly, the academy found out about this place only because they let them know about it. Secondly, the person who leaked the method to create the life-saving treasure was either a serpentine devil or someone working with them. Thirdly, they were certain that the academy would send their younger generation to this place, so they also leaked the information about this place to the magician families. Why did they do that? Well, they wanted to get rid of not only the younger generation of the academy but also the families. The more deaths, the merrier, Elliot thought, believing that this might be the slogans of those bastards. However, they were about two things, and that was him and Theo. And he was sure that he and his friend would make them regret their decision.

"What do you mean?!" Arthur asked. As luck would have it, he had already taken down the monsters mentioned in his kill list. Not only that, the owners of the tags were his companions that died under the claws of monsters. He managed to retrieve the tags from their body and hence, completed all the conditions necessary to move on to the housing society of the spirit race. However, he needed to go to the copper statue to do so.

"They had erected a barrier around the forest, one that we can't escape but the others can enter."

Hearing his words, the eyes of Oliver, Arthur, and their teammates widened like saucers.

"How could you be so carefree even after knowing all that?" Oliver asked after some moments, unable to understand why there was a smile on his face.

Elliot glanced back at him, then said, "You're nuts, right?"

'You're the one with a little too many screws loose in his head!'

Of course, Oliver didn't say it out loud as he feared his retaliation.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Lucy, Tia, and Julian returned to the team.

"And what's wrong with him?" Lucy asked, wondering what made Hurley so terrified that he hunched over and buried his face in his knees.

"Nothing too serious," Elliot replied with a nonchalant expression on his face. Lucy, Tia, and Julian didn't know what was going on, and because of the way he spoke those words, it felt as if they were simply talking about how dark the night was. Something far from the truth.

"It's too damn serious, alright," Oliver said, his voice filled with dread.