Unsealing Emptiness

Unknown to him, the aftermath of his previous actions in the middle of nowhere was rapidly escalating.

The forsaken part of the continent was currently trembling because of a certain occurrence that Ozul had completely overlooked before. Caught right in the middle of it all was his grandfather Kure who had gone there to confirm the death of both Darcia and the Sovereign.

Meanwhile, Ozul and the duo were crossing the Desolate Borders without any worries in the world.

Raven and Blaze were both confident in their strengths while Ozul was a monster in his own rights. He had no care in the world whatever Old Gu was going to throw at them.

His concerns mostly existed about what awaited him after the tournament.

It didn’t take long for them to cross the Desolate Borders. Comparing their speed with the first time they had come to the Neutral Lands was like comparing the speed of a still water body and a running river from atop the mountains.

.....

The Neutral Lands were vast. So vast that Ozul wasn’t able to sense any other person in their vicinity. They didn’t know how many people were chosen in the first place.

Since to their knowledge, everyone had already left the Neutral City, they wouldn’t find any better place to stay for the day in the towns or the only city in the middle.

Being lazy as he was, Ozul didn’t want to go searching for a place either. He was comfortable wherever there wasn’t much light and with the help of the Ball of Purity, he could make his ‘habitat’ just about anywhere.

“But I am sure there will be plenty of abandoned buildings we can stay at...” Blaze whispered slightly in protest.

However, just as he had thought, no one cared.

Ozul had already fallen asleep on top of a tree and Raven was arranging everything inside her Spatial Rings while keeping an eye out for any Beasts in the vicinity.

Today was the last day of the time allowed by Old Gu to evacuate this land.

***

The next day as Ozul opened his eyes, he continued to feel something in the back of his mind. But other than that, he didn’t feel any different.

Unknown to him, countless experts were there to spectate just outside the Neutral Lands.

After all, Old Gu had only told them to evacuate the Neutral Lands; the scorched earth with no life of the Desolate Borders made it easy for them to decide where they needed to halt.

Most if not all the leaders of the organizations which had anything to do with the Neutral Lands had arrived to watch the show. Much less them, hidden experts from all over the world had arrived there!

Some of those faces which were believed to be dead or some of the hermits from small islands outside the continent had also decided to break their seclusions.

No matter how long their lifespans were, they weren’t immortals.

All of them understood that this competition was something they might never come across after this single time.

Not to mention them, but even the Rank-10 Mages who were peak existences in this whole world had also arrived and watched from the Desolate Borders humbly like everyone else.

No one dared to take a step inside the Neutral Lands.

Even while all the experts had gathered from different locations, they all spectated from a single point. Still, they all kept a little distance from each other.

As everyone was flying in the air, it was quite easy to notice whoever was there and whoever wasn’t.

This caused all the present to wonder why the old patriarch of the Ashin family and the only other Rank-10 Mage Darcia was missing while everyone else was already here.

Both Alver and Raymond maintained a proper distance as not many knew that they were brothers, and they weren’t planning to reveal that anytime soon.

Alver eyed Raymond quite a few times, expressing his concerns over Kure’s absence.

Fortunately, Kure wasn’t the only person missing from the ‘audience’. Darcia was also missing which divided the attention that the Ashin family received from the rest.

Just as the brothers had thought, Lammert was currently trying his best to maintain a calm composure.

‘Fu*k! F*ck! They are definitely suspicious!’ he internally screamed as he gulped a mouthful of saliva while keeping an eye on the other two Rank-10 Mages present on the scene. At the same time, he would time and time again glare in Alver’s direction while gritting his teeth.

But all of the tension here was overshadowed by the anticipation of what was going to happen next.

Old Gu had yet to make an appearance and this never-ending wait was affecting the participants the most.

While all those chosen had specialties of their own, it looked like the old man wasn’t following any criteria while choosing the participants at all. He was most likely only following his whims!

The only exception to that was the age of the chosen. If one were to gather all of them, they would notice that none of them exceeded the age of a hundred years.

Currently, there were more than fifty people inside the Neutral Lands, all waiting for Old Gu to appear and finally explain to them what was going to happen.

These more than fifty people included Mages and only a couple Fighters from all over the continent and a few were even from small pieces of lands separate from the Mainland of Egon.

“Could it be that the old man forgot it was today?” Blaze muttered in annoyance since they had been waiting for half a day already with no sign of Old Gu anywhere.

The Sun was hanging on top of the sky, declaring that it was already midday which further fueled Blaze’s annoyance.

In fact, it wasn’t only Blaze who was annoyed but almost everyone. The wait was killing them.

Just as they were waiting for his appearance at any moment, the ground suddenly started to shake. The earthquake covered the entire Neutral Lands! Such an intensity of the earthquake was never seen before!

*Goudhgh!*

It was at that point when a thin layer of ground at the edge of the Desolate Borders touching the Neutral Lands suddenly started to heat up.

This event was only noticed by those spectators outside the Neutral Lands. Everyone instantly flew back to avoid getting in the way.

At the same time, there was a strange feeling building inside everyone’s heart. It was as if something heavy was weighing on their very souls!

Even the Rank-10 Mages weren’t spared of this sudden feeling of trepidation.

But for some reason, Ozul felt confused instead since just as everyone was feeling dread, he felt his strange shadows stir inside of him.

It was strange because normally he would need to spend some effort to control this new power and get it out of his body but now he found himself spending his energy to keep it inside instead!

At that point when everyone was wondering if this was Old Gu’s doing, they were shocked to see a semi-transparent pale glass-like structure erecting from the point where it was burning before.

Very quickly, they realized it was a shield that covered the whole Neutral Lands!

“T-this...”

“Just how!?”

Everyone outside shared the same feelings as they knew best how even if they were to sell their whole organizations, they would never be able to afford to create a defensive formation this big!

Moreover, they had seen no runes etched on the ground where the shield dome had just been erected from!

‘Was the formation perhaps set up underground? But why?!’

Such questions were in everyone’s mind but they couldn’t ask anyone for answers. The only ones who remained calm were from the giant pillars like the Leonhard Dynasty, the Ashin family, the Church, and the leaders of the Mercenary Guild.

Their elders had already told them their past experiences about this Desolate Borders during the last time Old Gu had appeared. That was also the reason that this small group of people never bothered to search the reason why this place was more barren than even the deserts.

As the dome of shield was completed, no one dared to test its strength.

They had seen a few formations which would simultaneously return the attack of those trying to take the shield down, and they didn’t want to be the one to find out if this formation had such an ability.

“Gahahaha!!...”

Right as everyone expected, a peal of loud laughter rang in the air followed by sharp winds that were seemingly generated out of nowhere.

This round of laughter was so strange that even all the people outside the Neutral Lands were able to hear it!

It wasn’t overly loud but somehow almost everyone was able to hear it despite not being able to figure out where it was coming from.

Those around the Neutral Lands even suspected that this laughter may have been heard by everyone on the Mainland!

A few seconds later, the strange laugh stopped and a moment of silence ensued before everyone heard someone clear his throat.

By now, most people had already recognized that this voice belonged to Old Gu, so no one cared much about why they weren’t able to see him but still hear him.

“Well well, it seems a few of you came in person to watch the show! Gahaha! Well whatever, I will allow you to watch from above.”

The experts outside the Neutral Lands collectively released a sigh of relief.

“Anyway... Since I am here, I now announce the start of this... uh...whatever... Survival Test!”