The woman's eyes were solely fixated on the shapeshifter in Arthur's hands. Clear hostility was emanating from her half-golden eyes, which made anyone who looked at them fall into a bottomless abyss.

Karima disregarded everyone and, step by step, she made her way toward the powerless distorting thief. When she got close enough, her lips opened and a chilling voice could be heard.

"Give back the scepter."

The woman didn't seem to realize that the thief was in no position to answer as his throat was being held by Arthur and his body was broken beyond repair.

"Scepter? What scepter?" questioned Arthur but the answer he got was just silence and a quick glance from Karima.

When she appeared, the sand giants and the enormous floating hands seized all kinds of assault, seemingly being ordered to stop.

"It's pretty obvious what happened. He stole something precious and this is the God's retaliation… or the God's wife." Edward fell on his buttocks and took deep breaths as he held his hurting chest. Fortunately, Midolf appeared next to him and used his Life Energy, healing the mortal within seconds. Although it was his Zero Gale that inflicted those close-to-fatal injuries, it was just a self-defensive magic cast on the fake Shen Shen, who he had thought it was the real one.

"I don't care about the scepter! Where is Shen Shen?"

Arthur asked again, this time his killing intent rising to the skies as a scarlet aura spun around his body, causing even Edward to cower back in fear.

The thief opened and closed his mouth a few times but didn't reply, not because he didn't know where she is but due to the absolute dread dominating every fiber of his being.

The parasite was about to use Dark Extraction but, all of a sudden, a domineering force enveloped his body and attempted to push him away from the shapeshifter, however, he managed to stand his ground and not be affected.

A slight frown appeared on Karima's body, she used her powers again while exerting more force but it didn't end well as her body was attacked from the left side.

Zaarae, still wearing her armor, kicked Karima, sending her flying out of the boat, though the latter managed to stabilize herself and dash back again only to be blocked by the Empress.

"Karima."

The legendary fighter glared at Zaarae but didn't attack, her eyes focusing on the woman before her as she deeply thought about something.

"This isn't a matter related to you, Empress."

"Oh." Zaarae chuckled, crossed her arms and said, "So you know about me? That'll make it easier. Back off while I'm being nice… that scepter or whatever can wait, there are more important matters at hand."

"Without the scepter, this land will perish. The longer it takes to return it, the worse it'll become here. All the people living here will be killed by the aftermath. My husband didn't create this land just for it to kill millions of innocents."

"I don't care about their lives. We need to know where he hid Shen Shen first."

"Shen Shen?" Karima knitted her brows and closed her eyes for a few breaths before resuming.

"Is it that blue-haired young girl? She was thrown into that corrupted pit. Not long ago, your 'associate', the Black Devil, jumped inside too."

"The pit? What pit?"

Arthur let go of the shapeshifter after tightly binding him with thick dark chains, threads and increased gravity. His expression was inhumanely twisted as he had hoped Shen Shen would be alright.

"It's a small mud pit not far from the capital. I don't know its origin but it's dangerous."

The Empress stared at Karima for some time before reluctantly nodding her head and turning toward Arthur.

"We don't need him anymore, let us go."

Arthur didn't stubbornly hold onto the shapeshifter. He teleported next to him, swiftly possessed him before throwing his limp body in front of Karima, who landed back on the boat's deck.

Two minutes later, the silver Spirit Boat flew at where the mud pit was situated. As for the shapeshifter, Karima held his ankle and dragged him toward an unknown location.

…

It took the speeding boat approximately two hours to reach the mud-spit, which was a bit suppressed by the chaotic sand.

"What's this? Does it lead to Hell or something?"

Edward, who was feeling better and more energetic, looked at the mud and hideous faces with a tinge of curiosity. Though, unlike him, Arthur and the two mythical beings were keeping their distances from this ominous pit.

"It's a stretching portal mixed with contained resentment. It's the first time I'm seeing something like this."

The Empress explained what she knew to Arthur, her finger emitting a faint purple light which tried to penetrate the mud but failed.

"I've called Timos to investigate. I don't think we should enter it, at least not until he comes back."

Zaarae held Arthur's shoulder, stopping his advance while speaking with a serious and worried tone.

"We don't know where it leads and how dangerous it is. It seems to be similar to Void Magic and is affecting my life force, which is illogical considering my existence as one of the Twelve. How about this… let me go first and you wait here for 24 hours."

For an inordinate amount of time, Arthur maintained silence and, at the end, he sighed and agreed as he, too, felt the ominousness of the pit to the point that even his Dark Magic was pulling him away from this area.

*********

Hours passed since Zaarae's departure, Arthur, Fariya, and the rest camped a distance away from the pit. It was slowly but surely expanding, even more after the golden sand went back to the ground. Karima must have gotten that scepter back, as for the shapeshifter, his fate is probably worse than death.

Arthur was barely holding himself from jumping back. Furthermore, Edward was very talkative and couldn't be silenced by anyone. He was just too nonchalant and uncaring about the situation.

"I mean, how could you live like this everyday? Isn't it way too thrilling and pain-inducing? Even when I was on the run, it wasn't like this."

"Can't you just shut up?"

Arthur coldly berated the mortal, who turned a deaf ear to him.

"The first part of the prophecy is mostly done but how come this pit was never mentioned? Should I try to cut it?"

He took out his orange plastic scissors and walked toward the pit but was eventually stopped by Midolf.

"Fuck off to the back, will you?"

************

After passing through the strange portal, Zaarae found herself in a place that shocked her to the core. It was a battlefield but, most importantly, most of the corpses belonged to none other than her creations, the parasites.

The sky was painted with a gradual gloom and the land was barren and corrupted to its very core.

"This is my realm?"

She creased her brows and stretched her senses but apart from some weak corpse-eaters, there was no one of importance around. A few seconds later, her form vanished as she dashed toward a specific direction.

The Empress was surprised by the fact that her realm was connected to the Land of Golden Sand through that pit.

As it was her realm, Zaarae was able to move freely around without being restricted to the Spatial or Time laws. In just seconds, she appeared in gloriously city floating in the darkened sky.

The first one who appeared to welcome his liege was none other than the Archmage Emir. A wide smile was plastered on his face as he knelt before the woman, his face showing nothing but absolute veneration.

"My liege, you've finally come back!"

Zaarae waved her hand and looked around before asking.

"Did Timos come here?"

"The Black Devil? No."

Hearing this, the woman got even more confused. Before Emir could react, she vanished again and stretched her aura over all the realm but found no sighting of Timos or Shen Shen.

******

"Master, I think we should depart immediately."

Radolf walked to Arthur and respectfully and signaled his twin companion to come convince the parasite too.

"What's wrong?"-Arthur

"Master, the thing is…" Midolf dropped his head, not daring to meet Arthur's eyes.

"If you still want to reach the Garden of Words, I think that now is the perfect time."

Arthur pondered for a dozen seconds before shaking his head and retorting,

"I need to jump into the pit. The Garden can wait."

"No, master, it cannot. The lands at the North are being subjected to abnormal change so the laws of Life and Death are weakening. If you enter the boundary between the two then it's now or never."

Radolf briefly explained the situation before briefly pausing and hesitantly adding,

"I'm sure that the Empress will find and protect Shen Shen. Please do not divert from your original goal. The Garden is mandatory for your evolution, it will answer anything you ask it. If you ever want to find where Shen Shen it, then you can still ask it."