Whoooooooooosh.

A massive stream of fire erupted outward, hot enough to make steel boil, however, for Wain and Marlis it was only a pleasant warmth as though on a sunny summer day.

"Fire is your territory isn't it?" Wain asked with a slight smile on his face as he turned to Marlis.

"Well, my fire is different than usual, but in general you're right. Let's go, I can't wait any longer, I want to see where your road will take us!" Marlis said with an excited look before going inside.

Wain nodded and followed her.

The gate closed and disappeared as amidst the open space there was only emptiness again. If the Code of Light and Darkness didn't help Wain, without Marlis' help he would never get to the right place as the open space like the World of Darkness was constantly changing.

Pam.

Wain and Marlis fell from the portal to a massive fire flower, with massive streams of magma flowing from its petals as though waterfalls.

"Damn... If this place wasn't so bright, I'd think I was in hell." Wain uttered with a dazed look while looking ahead.

In this Purgatory zone, everything was covered with rocks, lava, and fiery flowers as well as in the center was a giant fortress covered with lava veins that flowed through it like a small planet.

"Well, I have to make my way further, don't I? We don't have to explore this area, do we? There's not likely to be anything of interest here." Wain muttered as he asked the question to several people at once.

"Hmm? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Marlis frowned as she crossed her arms, "First we have to make sure you lead us to the right place. We have to explore the fortress and find out how many Souls Pearls are there, only after that can we move on."

'I agree, that girl is right.' Code of Light and Darkness nodded his head.

'What...? You're not sure you're on the right track yourself?' Wain uttered in confusion as he raised an eyebrow.

'No, that's not it. I'm good at navigating the open space since darkness and light are my domain.' Code of Light and Darkness said as a confident smirk appeared on his face, 'However, getting to Death Shore is not an easy mission even for me. Anyway, I need Soul Pearls or Dimension Guards Souls as a power source to build the road of light.

"I see..." Wain nodded with a thoughtful look, then he looked at the fortress and said, "Let's see what's there. Hopefully today I'll see as many Soul Pearls as I've ever seen."

Whooooooooosh.

Wain's body clouded as he turned into clots of darkness that moved at tremendous speed.

"Damn... When did that guy learn such skills? His energy control is getting better every day..." Marlis muttered with a dazed look. She sighed, shook her head, and said, "After all, he's a human, they're all terrible... Especially the Nameless King..."

...

A moment later, a dark flash and a green stream of flame appeared in front of the entrance to the castle. It was a massive wooden gate, very old, but strong enough to withstand the heat of the flames for hundreds of years.

"Marlis, am I correct in assuming that because we are traveling through open space we are constantly being chased by Dimension Guards?" Wain asked with a serious look as he placed his palm on the gate.

"Yeah... That's right. Your path is unique, but that just means it will take them longer than usual to find us. Obviously, it's causing a rift in space, and..." Marlis said in a calm voice.

"And the energy from the Soul Pearls will pass through the spatial rifts and attract the Hunters, right?" Wain said in a careless manner as he stepped forward.

"Hah, hey, don't forget that I'm the open space specialist here, but, yeah, you're not wrong." Marlis nodded with a confident expression.

"Fine... Then there will be chaos here again." Wain smirked, his eyes growing deeper as he channeled power into his palm.

A crackle.

The massive gate, for the first time in many years, moved out of the way that shook the entire castle, causing a loud rumble.

As soon as the gate was opened, a bright light burst forth that stunned Marlis and Wain for a second.

In the center of the fortress, around a massive sphere of fire, several large white orbs of purest energy hovered.

"Fuck... I thought the past Soul Pearls were too big, but these are several times bigger than them and there are six of them here!" Wain exclaimed with excited looks as he stepped inside.

Marlis followed him, but she walked slowly and carefully, looking around as she knew there were no safe places near Soul Pearls.

Tap.

Wain stood in the center of the spacious hall, stared at Soul Pearls, and said, "Looks like we got lucky this time, didn't we? Marlis, what do you think?"

"Wain... There's something wrong here, we shouldn't act so recklessly." Marlis muttered with a frowned look.

"Hmm...???"

Whooooooosh.historical

Suddenly dozens of fiery flashes erupted from the dark corners of the fortress, each one a flaming bat. They swooped down on Wain and Marlis like a whirlwind, but immediately changed their direction, for they had no purpose to harm them.

"What the hell!" Wain exclaimed as he waved his arms, driving the bats away from him, but they had already flown away from him.

The bats split into several streams, each heading for open places like windows, wide cracks, and a massive gate.

When they touched, they left fiery runes as they gradually grew larger, since after a few seconds there were more than a thousand of them.

"Shit...! We've been fucked!" Marlis exclaimed with an angry look as she stomped her foot on the ground.

"What are you talking about?" Wain asked in confusion.

"Don't you get it yet?!" Marlis shouted as she waved her arms, "They're sealing us in! We're trapped!"