“Siegfried, you bastard. What aspect of this one made you think of a child?”

Kiriel felt the urge to smack Jamie on his head. At the same time, she remembered the sentence in the contract.

-If the item cannot be obtained, all the contract clauses are automatically destroyed as a condition of returning a blank slip.

Such a condition shouldn’t be used. No, there was such a condition placed for the transaction to be established this time.

At first, Kiriel had no thought that her blank slip would be returned. Her wealth was so great that it was difficult to count, so it was impossible not to pay money to get things.

But instead of spending money, Jamie got it for free.

Siegfried and Jamie, both of them.

“What the hell happened for you both to bring back the blank slips?”

“It is complicated to explain. Let’s just say that something huge happened in the auction house.”

“Kuk. Gehenna. How can an auction..”

Kiriel frowned at the auction house which didn’t take money.

“But is this alright? Gehenna is someone who never runs a business which loses money. I’m sure they’ll do anything to find those who stole it.”

Kiriel knew of Gehenna.

The man who ruled the back alleys of the northern continent was a vicious human. Jamie replied with a smile.

“It wasn’t stolen, so there is nothing to be tracked.”

“Now what new news is this?”

“You aren’t really curious about it. So let’s head back to talking about the deal. I don’t have time.”

Jamie didn’t want to bring back the entire story.

Kiriel, clicked her tongue, no matter how she looked, Jamie didn’t seem like a child.

“.. wasn’t the contract placed with a blank slip?”

“Don’t plan on escaping.”

“Ugh.”

Jamie tried to see if he could get a free pass.

“What do you want?”

“You, call me Miss Kiriel.”

Kiriel had never been pushed back in her life. She took care of everything by herself, but it was impossible for her to enter this psychological warfare.

However, this kid was acting like he did such deals several times in his life.

“Then how about this, the thing you wanted was in the auction house?”

“Yes.”

“Surprising.”

She thought that the kid wouldn’t enter the auction house since the item was bought for free. She was even more curious now. What happened for both of them to enter the auction house and get their items for free?

“How high did you bid? It must have been a lot..”

“Eight hundred million.”

“.. what?”

“800 million gold.”

Kiriel couldn’t say anything, she thought she was hearing it wrong.

800 million gold. How huge of a number it was.

She had done many trades and businesses in her life, and the deals which crossed 500 million could be counted on her fingers.

But 800 million.

“You shouldn’t make fun of adults.”

“I swear on my soul, it isn’t a lie.”

The magic in the soul contract could be felt. Jamie’s words were true. her head was confused now. what kind of thing could cost 800 million gold?

Even the item she wanted wasn’t worth that much. Even if the fragment of Aion was sold, it wouldn’t be going for 500 million.

“What can you give? I don’t need money.”

It was good to have money, but Jamie didn’t need 800 million gold.

Kiriel’s winkles grew.

Even if Jamie asked for it, Kiriel didn’t have 800 million gold right away.

‘But if it means to meet my son.’

Having decided that, Kiriel opened her lips.

“I will give you a staff. A staff which is the only one in the world, so it will be worth 800 million.”historical

“.. Miss Kiriel isn’t talking about her staff, right?”

“Huh. This one is a simple wooden one.”

As Kiriel snapped her finger, a case of luxurious decorations appeared.

A powerful force could be felt from the red gem in the centre.

Magic stone. A very high grade one too.

The red one in the centre was holding and sealing the case.

“Is this the one?”

“Yes.”

Kiriel placed her wrinkled hand on the case. As mana gathered on her fingers, the red gem on the case flashed and the seal began to open.

With a click sound, the lock was released. And the case opened slowly which Jamie couldn’t help but admire.

Kiriel smiled as she took out the staff.

“Name is Beyond Avalon. It is a staff made by refining the magic stone brought from the vortex of the mana which exists in the centre of the ‘Lake of Tarink’, which is a sixth ban.”

Lake of Tarink!

That was a recently banned place, discovered by the explorers. At the centre of it was a huge lake, where there was a vortex which rotated vigorously 365 days a year.

A huge amount of mana comes out from the vortex, but the occurrence couldn’t be identified or related to anything, and so far, ‘only a vast amount of mana was condensed’ was found out.

The problem was the nature of the vortex. The particulates generated from it acted as a terrible poison to the human body giving incurable diseases and painful symptoms like skin necrosis.

Even now, no antidote had been created, and the Sword Master who tried to explore it was unsuccessful.

And therefore, it was one of the 6 Bans on the continent.

“The magic stone was found in such a place?”

Jamie couldn’t understand it. It was a forbidden place because it couldn’t be explored, but this woman had a magic stone from there?

If such things could be found, people would have been talking about it.

“There are too many secrets in this world, child.”

“You mean..”

“It doesn’t mean that Lake of Tarink was taken down. It was too powerful to be there, and the current human power can do nothing.”

Kiriel is a person who exerts great influence on the world. So she knew the facts. Jamie frowned as she shook her head.

“There is no need to speak about it. You need to take this in return for the deal to work.”

Kiriel shook ‘Beyond Avalon’.

A staff with the meaning of ‘Beyond the Utopia’. It wasn’t known why the name was given, but one thing was certain.

‘It contains incredible mana inside.’

It seemed to have special powers. Other than that, understanding it by looking at it was difficult. What was certain was that no amount of gold could buy it.

And this was what Jamie wanted.

“That does the work.”

Kiriel smiled at it.

“You can’t be given this right away. Now that I’ve shown you this, now it is your turn.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you already get the thing you wanted? It was an item you would have never even tried to go and get if not for the bank slip I gave you. I don’t know how you managed to get it for free, but if not for me, you wouldn’t have even had the confidence to go there and get it, am I wrong?”

This time, Jamie flinched. Because she was right.

“But, it is also true that the slip was not used. So this time, it is your turn. Guide me to the Shadow World. If you fail, I will not forgive you, even if you are a child.”

It was the contract.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

It wasn’t that Kiriel wouldn’t keep her word, rather it wasn’t too difficult for Jamie to just help her.

And as she mentioned, the reason he could confidently go into the auction was thanks to the blank slip, so this felt like the right thing to do.

“Okay.”

“Follow me. I prepared everything.”

It felt like the space changed.

Warp.

It was true that Ars Magna was all over the world and Warp machines were installed to connect them.

‘A huge space.’

It was wide.

Seeing mana everywhere, it was a space where extended magic was used. There was a huge magic circle in the centre, and the necessary magic items were also placed there.

Kiriel flew to the centre and laid down the Shadow Sheep’s heart.

“The preparations are done. It is your turn from here. Can I leave this to you?”

“Wasn’t that what we wrote down in the contract?”

“You are too good at talking. Start.”

Kiriel stepped back and Jamie took her place. The magic circle was well made. It was like someone worked hard on it for a long time.

Jamie deployed his mana without any worries. As the mana was absorbed into the magic circle, the items on each side in the circle began to shake.

“Reversal. The back of the world. The other side of the light. Another world. Black is what you are. Not in the shadows, but the King who reigns there.”

The magic circles mana rushed to the heart. Dilated heart.

Blood vessels which had died came back to life and the heart pulsated.

Darkness flowed instead of blood.

The lines of the magic circles were swallowed in darkness. Black water rose up to the ankles.

“Allow me. Through the door.”

Wheik!

The heart burst.

The black water seeped into the magic circle and all the lines that formed a single shape disappeared without a trace. A shadow covered it.

A ray of darkness and a shadow rose from there. The black line high enough to reach the ceiling had split to the left and right.

‘.. the door to the Shadow World’.

Kiriel watched from behind and looked at the huge passageway.

Inside the huge passage, made by the splitting black lines were all kinds of dull colors swirling like chaos.

‘Such terrifying force.’

It was just an opening, but the peek through it was enough to know why no human would contact this place.

It was told that one could go through the afterlife through this place. When she heard about it, she thought this was the only way for her, and seeing it, it felt right.

‘If there is anything that could be connected to the afterlife, it has to be this world!’

A strong desire burned in Kiriel’s eyes.

The face of her son who died at a young age came to her eyes. The son who struggled not wanting to die, and a mother unable to do anything.

But, finally.

‘Finally!’

Her son was waiting for her. Kiriel started walking to the door as if she was possessed.

“Don’t.”

Jamie stopped her, he shook his head and said in a cold manner.

“We haven’t been given the permission yet. Wait.”

“Hurry up!!”

Time was running out for her. She wanted to meet her son.

“Wait. I will head inside.”

“What?”

“The permission must be obtained directly from the king.”

In the normal case, a reward should be enough.

Now they had to wait for the Shadow Spirit King to permit them, but Jamie didn’t have the patience to wait.

It was much faster to get the permission. That meant, to take the risk.

“Hurry up, go in!”

Jamie saw how Kiriel’s eyes changed.

Shrugging, he entered the door.

And came the voice.

[This aura. This power. Who are you?]

The alluring powerful voice.

Jamie smiled at the voice he hadn’t heard in so long.

“My appearance has changed, but it is disappointing that you don’t recognize an old friend.”

[.. friend?]

In the darkness, deeper darkness swelled.

First came the luxurious throne, and then was a naked woman on it, with her slender legs crossed.

With long burgundy hair and purple skin, she opened her silver eyes.

“You are..”

“Queen of Darkness, Venus. Nice to meet you like this.”

“Haha. Hahaha!”

She, the Queen of Darkness, smiled.

And then opened her lips, excited.

“Diablo Volfir has come again!”

Shadow World.

A world where the breath of the 12 Gods didn’t reach.

And it was the world where Diablo Volfir created the Black Mana.