Earth's Greatest Magus

In a distant corner of  the vast universe, in a small room of a certain cargo ship.

A female acolyte could be seen lying next to a human-sized tube. She had been there for days, but she didn't seem to have any intention of leaving anytime soon.

Her gaze was fixated on a motionless body as she held onto an arm that was now cold. The expression on her face was indescribable, as she tried to contain the overwhelming emotion within.

Even though the truth was right in front of her eyes, she still couldn't accept the fact that someone she cared for deeply had left the world.

Countless memories flashed through her mind as she stared at his pale face. Memories of the time they spent together had been haunting her. The silly young boy she loved to tease so much, who eventually turned into someone irreplaceable in her life.

Numerous scenarios were playing in her mind. Each and every one of them involved him still being alive, hugging her body as she shed tears of happiness.

Her thought was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door. She was just in time to wipe the tears streaming down her check before a familiar voice was heard and the door opened.

"Klea, it's me. I'm coming in."

Despite her turbulent emotions, she still showed a smile when she saw the figure entering the room. It was none other than her dear friend, Thrax.

With Chumo still being treated for his condition, the Thracian was the one who had been accompanying her through the struggles. Upon entering the room, he approached the tube and stood beside her, staring at the lying figure.

There was a moment of silence between them before Klea spoke.

"What… will become of us now, Thrax? We.. what would we be without him…?"

At those words, the muscular warrior was silent. Not because he didn't care, but because he didn't know what to say. In fact, this situation troubled him deeper than he thought. Not only did he lose a dear friend, the situation that befell the two of them reminded him of his late wife Sara.

It was at moments like this that Thrax couldn't help but curse the fact that he couldn't speak well. The only thing he could do was take a deep sigh as he found himself wishing his Roman rival was here.

After saying those words, Klea stood up from her seat and said calmly, "Why are you here, Thrax? Are we about to arrive soon?"

"No, not yet.. I came to inform you that our former headmaster has woken up."

Hearing those words, the gloomy look on Klea's face quickly changed to hopeful. She quickly turned towards the door while saying, "I need to talk to him right now. Help me, Thrax."

With that said, the two of them quickly exited the room. However, they only managed to take a few steps before stopping in their tracks when they saw a group of people walking through the hallway towards them.

Headmaster Delbrand and the Wolf Patriarch Lucius stood before them. Together the two of them escorted the person Klea wanted to meet, Altus Dresden. The three had apparently come to see them, or rather, to see the body that had been lying in the room they had been in earlier.

The frail-looking white-beared old man briefly looked at Klea before asking her to lead them into the room.

When they realized that the supreme figure had come straight to Emery the moment he woke up, both Klea and Thrax couldn't help but look at each other. They could see that they had hopeful expressions on their faces.

Apart from the body lying in the tube in the middle, there were only five of them in the room. Klea and Thrax watched in rapt attention as the supreme being walked over to the body and inspected it thoroughly.

Klea could hear her heart rapidly beating in anticipation as she hoped for a miracle. Unfortunately for her, her hope was met with despair.

After the inspection, Altus turned his head, looked at Klea, and said, "First of all, I apologize for letting you down. I am not here to save him. Instead, I came hoping that I could bring closure."

Klea's hands tightened into fists when she heard those words. The first thing that came to her mind immediately after was to ask these people to leave. However, no matter how she denied it, she did want to hear what the supreme magus had to say.

After all, if she wanted to save Emery, she needed to know what really happened to him. Moreover, the reason as to why a supreme magus that was presumed dead would know anything about it.

The frail-looking supreme magus quickly started explaining to the two, about how a part of his soul managed to help Emery break through to the magus realm, and watch him defeat Zenonia.

Of course, such a miraculous thing came at a price. In fact, the inspection he did just now was to confirm that.

Seeing the damaged core in Emery's body, Altus could tell that the cause of his death was because the two opposing energies within his body had proved too much to handle, thus destroying his soul.

"The last thing I remember is him pushing through all the pain to save you and the others, knowing that he didn't have much time left."

Klea couldn't help but let out a long sigh, a complicated expression on her face. Given her understanding of his personality, that was indeed exactly something Emery would do. Now, after knowing the reason why Emery refused to leave with her at that time, Klea did obtain some sense of relief.

There were other questions bothering her, like the details of what Emery was doing before he came to save them in his magus form, something that seems to have something to do with the unknown person in the room, the one she had heard called Lucius. However, what she wanted to know the most from Altus' words was the words two cores; opposite energy.

When she asked about this, Altus nodded his head saying, "Yes. He managed to break through not just once, but twice; with two very different cores taking form."

"Headmaster... Elder… but there is only one of them here.. Could it be that Emery's soul is still wandering out there?" Klea swiftly looked toward Delbrand, the one who brought back his corpse.

"I didn't see any soul, not within a few miles away..."

"Didn't see.. So he might still be there!? Headmaster, we have to turn back now!!"

Klea instantly went frenzy at the possibility, so much so that Thrax was forced to hold her down. "Calm down, Klea…"

Realizing that her behavior was inappropriate, Klea quickly tried to calm herself down.

"I am sorry, elders… I–"

Stopping her words, Delbrand stepped forward and patted her shoulder saying, "I know for a fact that his soul is not there. I am sorry."

Their attention was suddenly interrupted by a violent cough by the supreme magus that forced him to sit down. Altus looked at Klea and said, "I'm sorry, young lass.. It's my fault…"

"It was I who told him the way to force a breakthrough in his advancement… by splitting his soul into two.. Even with a complete soul, not every human magus manages to form a spirit soul that could escape the body in danger. Even if he somehow miraculously could, such a soul wouldn't survive outside for more than a few minutes."

Once again, Klea felt like screaming her emotions out loud. It was not what she wanted to hear. Still unwilling to accept such cruel reality, she once again said, "What about the energy that still gathered in his broken core.. What about that?!"

Delbrand looked like he was about to repeat what he had said earlier, but then the words didn't come out of his mouth as if he suddenly came to a shocking realization. Before he could say anything, the supreme magus asked, "How long has it been since he died?"

Thinking the same thing, Delbrand quickly answered, "15 days… having energy still gathering after that many days... That's never happened before"

This time, the supreme being and Delbrand went ahead and did another inspection on Emery's body. In particular, on the energy that still gathered inside the broken core. Moments later, a curious expression could be seen on the headmaster's face as he said, "This is quite a peculiar power. It is brimming with the Law of Space.. Is this Zenonia's power? What kind of energy is this?"

When hearing those words, something came to Klea's mind. She realized that she most likely knew what the two were talking about, and her expression quickly turned to one of hope.

She had just found out a possible way to save Emery, which lies in the depths of the Earth's forest.

Not trusting the people in the room, especially the Wolf Patriarch whom she found eerie, Klea decided to hide the fact about the Khaos space. At least not until she consulted elder Fuxi or Lord Izta when they finally returned.

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Author Note

"Welcome to volume 5, The Path to Magus. Please be patient with the upcoming arc as it will include many chapters from other perspectives, namely Klea. I hope you will enjoy seeing the world from the perspective of those whom have been close to Emery along his whole journey. Thank you."