----

To everyone's shock, Apollo reached the top of the staircases in no time at all. In mere minutes, Apollo arrived before the ceiling created through mirages. However, Apollo was astonished by the surreality of the wall.

"It feels so real. If not for Fuhrer's earlier information, then I'm afraid I would take this ceiling for truth."

Despite passing his hand over the ceiling, it was identical to the stones below. But, Fuhrer warned him of this property. Unlike the floor, which was created by using mundane materials, capable of being found anywhere, the ceiling from fabricated from Essence.historical

This Essence was gradually purified and hardened many times over while also being reinforced by the injection of its master's intent. Thus, what remained before Apollo was a concoction of utmost mastery.

Something that he could not bypass or penetrate. However, that couldn't be said for another person.

"Furcas, I leave these matters up to you," Apollo uttered before stepping aside, which allowed Furcas to move closer and inspect the false ceiling closely.

It was silent for quite some time as Furcas gazed upon the ceiling with impervious focus. Gradually, his pupils split and increase in number; a sign he was activating his specialty.

"Ah, I see. This is quite a tricky issue they have laced within this matrix," Fuhrer muttered while fascinated with the marvel before his eyes. Unlike many other energy matrices, the one before Fuhrer held three functions.

The first function was purposed with gathering essence from within each individual room. It was subtle and wouldn't be detected unless the victim's perception was abnormal and skipped boundary. However, such an occurrence was too unique. Perhaps not even 1 in 100 million people would have this ability.

Meanwhile, the second function made it so that exit from the room wasn't granted until a certain amount of Essence was gathered from the individual. This was true whether they chose a "treasure" to take from the room or not.

As for the last function, it was even worse. It was linked towards Fuhrer's apprehension of destroying the entire formation by force. There was a latent self-destruction feature weaved into the intricacies of the matrix to prevent any assailants from attempting to rewire it.

If an attempt was made, then starting from the lowest ring of rooms, they would implode continuously until the lower floor was no more. But there was another dilemma. As the lower rings started to self-destruct, the ones above would consequently increase their essence drainage.

So, instead of a meager absorption, it was quite possible for the victim to suffer ailments from having a massive amount of Demonic Anima sucked out of them.

Fortunately, Furcas had already constructed a solution by the time he became privy to this information.

"My Lord, this will rest upon your shoulder. The only way to bypass this matrix would be for us to have you destroy it from the inside. Therefore, I suggest you enter that room right there," Fuhrer said, pointing towards a room on the far left side of the staircase.

Although it seemed inconspicuous, it was a room on the highest floor. That alone should be a testament to its importance. Not to mention, the pressure on this level was immense, so the absorption should be of a similar level as well.

"If you say so," Apollo said with a nod. Without hesitation, Apollo moved to enter the room. Since it was an enclosed space, he already knew how he would advance with his actions. It was only a matter of whether the matrix would learn of his presence fast enough.

But Furcas had also accounted for this issue as well, "Lord Fuhrer and Valac, you two need to enter as well in you humanoid forms. Conceal your demonic fluctuations until you experience a sensation of being dragged down. That will be your cue to reinvigorate your energy."

"Ah, so that's your plan; you wish for this restriction to weaken itself of its own accord? Very well, it should be a workable plan," Fuhrer admitted while agreeing to go along with.

He chose the room opposed to Apollo's before entering. Valac, however, entered the room before him and wore a scowl the entire time, "Tch, only thinking of me when I'm of use! Otherwise, I'm never the one to be volunteered for fun."

"Oh, shut up already. Your time will come in the future. Just do as you're told unless you want the Lord to reprimand you again with the authority of the old master," Furcas scoffed with a tinge of annoyance in his eyes.

Valac wanted to retort, but he didn't. Instead, he entered the room.

Meanwhile, as they entered their respective room, a youth with an exceedingly handsome appearance, along with vibrant black eyes and wild crimson hair flowing down his back, arrived next to Odessa.

Based on the look he gave her, there was no farming in his eyes. In fact, it almost seemed as if he felt superior to her, "Is this the rumored Supreme Child of Darkness? Now that I witness him firsthand, he is quite interesting indeed."

Upon hearing this voice, Odessa reacted by clenching her first and narrowing her eyes. Obviously, there was some bad blood between the two, because Odessa moved away immediately.

"What gives you the gall to appear before me, Alistair?" Odessa snarled, summoning two orbs of white light in her hand. If one looked closely enough, one would realize the core of these white orbs seemed to be constantly creating something.

"Hoh? That's simple. How about under the premise that I'm stronger than you and can very much do as I please. Oh, how about because I have an interest in you and shall claim you without fail? Most of all, this guy has piqued my interest and I wish to confront him," Alistair responded with overflowing arrogance.

In response, Odessa seethed! "I-impossible! He is already mine. Get your grimy little snake hands out of here and find somewhere else to intrude upon."

A faint chuckle was heard, disrupting Odessa's display of anger, "Why don't you make me? It'll be much more worthwhile if you don't just talk and instead back it up."

Black flames erected around Alistair as two small rifts tore open by his shoulders to reveal two obsidian rapiers. Each of them was ravishing beyond belief, capable of stunning one to death.

Literally, Alistair had once killed by immobilizing his enemy with the beauty of his weapons before killing them with a single stab of his rapier. Since he hailed from the Braum Family, as with all of their offsprings, he was a master at utilizing a rapier.

However, when those black flames appeared, Odessa paled. After all, Odessa and Alistair's situation was unique. There had never been two Paragons with two completely opposing powers.

While Odessa could breathe life into her own, Alistair was nothing more than a reaper. Those flames he wielding were the culmination of death! Even the power Erebane wielded paled in comparison to how dreadful the atmosphere around Alistair felt.

Gradually, Odessa stayed her hand, causing the energy above her palm to disperse.

When Alistair saw this, he gave a smug smirk and canceled his own energy as well, "That's what I thought. Now back to this young man; what do you mean he is yours? I don't detect any kind of binding contract with him. So, in my eyes, he's still free game to rope in."

"It doesn't work that way! He doesn't agree to be binding by contracts like that. Even if you try to force him, it won't work. And, I'm warning you now.. DO NOT FORCE HIM," Odessa said. It seemed like she was angry at first, but that wasn't the case.

In fact, she was keeping both Apollo and Alistair's best interest in mind. After all, he was aware of how insane Apollo's behavior could become. Perhaps even offending a Supreme Family might not be too extreme of an offense for Apollo to commit.

She wouldn't put it past him to do extremely foolish things when his anger roiled.

Thus, if Alistair provoked him far enough, Apollo maintained the possibility of mobilizing his Demons to do away with Alistair.

"Are you trying to test my bravery? There isn't a soul in this world that I wouldn't test. Much less someone who had caught my eyes.

All Odessa could do was frown at Alistair's stupidity. A few breaths later she sighed and muttered to herself, "Don't say I didn't warn you beforehand." After a pause, she thought about Apollo's earlier words and nodded, 'I'll just have to have faith in your word. What else can I do?'