Luriel's eyes opened, revealing the familiar surroundings. Taking a small step in the ash filled ground, he turned around to the sight of a walking corpse with crimson red eyes staring at him intensely.
"It's- It's your fault! If only you hadn't been-"
"Enough with your bullshit!"
Luriel's voice was sharp as it interrupted the corpse's usual speech. He was tired of this nightmare already, moreover…
"How dare you act so vile while using that appearance! Hans would never say that, you're only saying that to rile me up, right? Say, you're not just a nightmare, are you?"
This was a theory Luriel came up with after experiencing it continuously for the last few days. Although it wasn't made out of mana, that thing was a foreign entity with malevolent intentions.
It was probably feeding off his guilt and obsession over the tragic event. If that were the case, it'd be easy to deal with. Suddenly his tone turned heavy.
"I… I did all I could back then." His tense face relaxed ever so slightly. "I was a burden yes, however I also saved his life back when that jaguar was about to kill him. He did it to protect me because I was weak.
There was nothing I could do, I did all there was for me to do."
After his speech, Luriel took a deep breath and sighed softly. Right… he did all he could, it wasn't something he could control.
The creature stared coldly at Luriel but didn't try to argue with him. It knew that it couldn't change the outcome either way. A light glow enveloped it as it was slowly reduced to ashes, blending in with the ground.
Luriel's head was assaulted by a sudden headache. The world around him was absorbed by darkness as he went to sleep for the first time in days. Finally, he could rest.
Back in the real world, Luriel's body laid on the short grass. His chest softly rose and fell with every breath. His expression was peaceful with no trace of the previous tension.
Unexpectedly, the shadows around him gathered in one place near his body, steadily rising to form the figure of a man. Entirely made of darkness, the only distinctive feature was his blood-red eyes.
"I see… so he managed to deal with his inner demon on his own." His voice was abnormally calm and unwavering. "Looks like I didn't need to step up in the end. Even better... My 'successor' can't be weak-minded after all."
Towards the end of his sentence, a trace of anticipation could be felt ad he stared daggers at Luriel.
Suddenly, the shadows moved once more.
-Clang!
Taking the form of chains the shadows retrained the figure. As if already expecting this, he didn't falter in the slightest, and was slowly absorbed back into the ground as the first rays of sunlight hit the ground.
Feeling the warm rays, Luriel slowly opened his eyelids, unaware of what had occured just moments before he woke up. His eyes were leagues calmer than before.
Inspecting his body, he found he had advanced once more, reaching the fourth stage Broken Vessel. Contrary to Hans' expectations, he couldn't feel much excess mana in his body.
He didn't have anywhere near enough to reach the fifth stage. After thinking for a while, he thought of some reasons as to why that is.
After the fight in the forest, his body automatically utilized mana to heal him to the best of its abilities. Even after that, he didn't rest properly, requiring mana to keep him awake and refreshed.
Then he recalled his troubles from the previous night.
"The reason I cultivate" he mumbled "is because I've already started cultivating. To not let Hans' sacrifice be in vain and live on!
This journey, I will see it to the end!"
With a determined gaze, he headed north to the core city of the empire and to his destination- Imperial Academy!