The sound of the soft sigh was like a wedding melody, uplifting and spiritual. Forus felt as like his wife had returned to his side and was hugging him from behind, whispering to him about their olden memory.

Countless transparent hands manifest itself around him, blocking most of the bloody spears. Some of them were caressing his body, giving out a friendly and familiar aura. Most of them went forwards to intercept the ruby spears, nullifying their destructive power.

A faint and invisible pair of eye gazed at Forus, savouring his features and committing them all into its consciousness. Its gaze contained the yearning for a companion, and its touch stirred a profound emotion from his past.

Although the invisible hands could stop the bloody spears, it wasn't able to stop the greenish droplet or could it destroy the spiritual seed within his right eye. Forus had to stop using his Death Aura and focus them into suppressing the empowered spiritual seed again.

The empowered seed instantly sprung out a pale flower that came out of his right eye, rooting itself permanently onto his right eye. The pale flower had a group of yellow pollens, continuously emitting out a unique fragrance.

Now that the seed had become a flower, its root had also extended deep into his body, causing its removal to become much more difficult than before. The flower was also subtly influencing Forus, making him more sensitive than usual, invoking his suppressed emotions.

Before long, all of the bloody spears got obliterated by the transparent hands smoothly, but once the pentagram arrangement got crushed, the transparent fists didn't continue to retaliate. They slowly faded away, not doing anything other than necessary.

"Because of my respect towards my only rival, Ocelia Coruscare, I will not pursue this matter." Glacies snorted before waving his hand, causing the raging blizzard to die down and disappeared. Only then were the spectators saw the panting Abicel lying alone.

Due to his declare, Forus Ander subconsciously looked at Ocelia Coruscare, who was also staring at him. Her face was smiling brightly, inviting him to come and see her. However, her gaze only served to hurt him. Forus felt as if endless daggers were stabbing into his heart. The sensation of bittersweet was enveloping his mind.

He quickly turned his head away, avoiding eyes contact with her. He felt as if he was back in his past, seeing his lovely wife's figure overlapping with the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. Such a blurry scene had forced him to ponder about his tragic past again, making him rewatched how his family fell from their peace and entered the abyss.

Merely a thought about his incompetence ability caused Forus to clenched his fists, silently vowing to take his daughter back before everything was too late. With his resolution will, Forus frantically bit his tongue, almost tearing it apart. He used this torturous pain to regain his rationality.

"Don't worry, my loved. I will always be there for you." A soft reply echoed his mind, causing him to tense up. He could feel that the strange string of fate that previously caused him to undergo an unbelievable experience started to crawl towards him, desiring to connect him with her again.

Seeing the approaching string of fate, Forus waved his hand and forced some of the bluish flames, which was burning the protection of Lord Phasma, to move towards him, helping him defend against the strand of fate.

The act of dividing the force of the bluish flame created a small gap of power between it and Lord Phasma, creating an opportunity to relax his pressure. Once he established his foothold, Lord Phasma began to resist the might of the all-consuming bluish flame, pushing it back into the cauldron.

"Something is wrong." Glacies Ninguis furrowed his brow while observing the unexpected development. He saw Forus started struggling against the figure of the old man and suddenly divided his bluish flame to protect himself from something invisible.

Although at first, it seemed as if he was acting on his emotion when he attacked Forus without any warning, he was aiming to get rid of the potential enemy for the Ninguis Family. From the performance that Forus displayed, it was clear that he was gifted in the art of alchemy and would become a great asset for the Coruscare.

Using the moment when Abicel got injured as an excuse to launch a life-threatening strike to finish him off, Glacies almost succeeded if Ocelia didn't interfere with her spell. Even then, his last resort still slipped away from her protection and struck into Forus' right eye, causing a tremendous disturbance inside his body.

It was natural that he was able to detect the strange seed that rooted within Forus, as it continuously emitted the wooden element into the air, forming an invisible spack that attracted attention from others.

However, the fact still stood as he failed his plan and let Forus live. The second chance wouldn't be there for him as the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't tolerate the blatant act of murder under their watchful eye, even more so when the victim was the talent that they desired.

It was an exceptional tolerance showed by them that they didn't pursue the first attempt to kill their participant. If Glacies didn't have the backing of the Ninguis Family, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron wouldn't turn blind eyes easily. After all, the power of the Steel Cauldron that spanned across multiple countries must not waver under any circumstance.

Ocelia Coruscare also didn't do anything else other than watching her lover struggled cold-heartedly. She felt and knew that her dearest one would never fail at these things, as the string of fate that almost connected them was still shining brightly, implying that their future would continue to entangle with each other after this disaster.

Mabilis Sagunien, who was watching the situation from the sightline, was trembling in awe and fear at the sight of the exchange between a true strike of the first-ranked sorcerers. After all, he was still a third-layered sorcerer apprentice. Seeing the actual power of the genuine sorcerer would help him gain insight into the might of the true sorcerers.

Not only that, from observing the battle, he could tell that Forus' sorcery was very strange and unusual. He deduced that Forus must have stumbled into an inheritance ground and acquired the ancient path of sorcery cultivation. Other than his unique sorcery power, he also had a decisive mind and ruthless characteristics.

Now that his superior mindset had crumbled down, Mabilis began to think about how to befriend Forus, instead of roping him in. After all, Forus was a genius and naturally had his pride. Mabilis wouldn't recklessly ask Forus to come under him.

While everyone was observing both Forus and Abicel, another battle that Forus had been fighting against the string of fate had gone unnoticed by others. The persistent line of destiny would extend towards Forus endlessly, only to get burnt by the bluish flame before retreating and extended outwards again.

This perpetual cycle was slowly draining Forus' sorcery energy. If he didn't do anything to break the cycle, in the end, he would exhaust himself and let the string of fate connected him with Ocelia, effectively becoming the sole property of the eldest mistress of the Coruscare Family. He would lose his will and had his personality and memory overwritten.

Seeing that the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron didn't have any intention to help, Forus gritted his teeth before stabbing his hand into his right eye, grabbing at the pale flower and ripped it out. The roots of said flower twisted violently, rampaging within his body, creating myriad pain all over his body.

Others could see the little roots twisting beneath his skin, violently rooted themselves onto his flesh and tissues, refusing to come out. The pale flower also sensed the danger of being ripped out. It absurdly rotated and emitted out the stronger fragrance. Anyone who smelt the fragrance would feel their soul relaxed and their energy flow to stagnant.

Although the pain of forcefully removed the flower was unimaginable, Forus never once let out a scream. During the whole process, he did it flawlessly and cold-bloodedly that it sent chills down the onlookers' spine. The onlookers also heard a faint cry of a lady that echoed around Forus, cursing him whole-heartedly.

Once the flower sensed its impending doom, the roots immediately severed themselves from the said flower and sealed off Forus' right eye, blocking the foreign force from entering. The said roots also began to retreat into its shell and started to condense its essence to create a newer flower.

Looking at the withered flower that was steadily leaking the wooden element, Forus used his icy elemental energy to freeze the struggling flower and slowed down its movement before throwing it into the cauldron.

The bluish flame greedily devoured the flower, which sent out a dry and pitiful wailing every time its petals fell off. The cry of the dying flower caused the other alchemists to feel sad for the flower and hatred towards Forus. After consuming the rotting leaves, the fire which was brimming with the wooden element naturally became hotter and more destructive, becoming more and more challenging for Forus to restrain it.

However, after the deadly flame consumed the pale flower, Forus' left eye was brimming with madness and ruthlessness. He instantly severed the connection between himself and the bluish flame, causing it to go berserk. His hands then manipulated the flow of his sorcery and sent the remaining ingredients into the cauldron and used his icy element to compress the container, causing its outer shell to turn red from the terrifying heat from the inside.

Seeing his abnormality, the higher-ups of the Steel Cauldron began to activate their prepared formation, creating an energy field that covered the whole testing ground, preventing any sorcery spells to leak out and injure the guests. Some of their personnel were also paying their attention towards the safety of both Forus and Abicel, after all, they wouldn't want their soon-to-be talents to injure themselves and their potential.

Finally, other alchemists couldn't take the pressure of staying near the ticking bomb any longer, many of them decided to stop their concoction and requested to come out. Only Abicel who was unconscious and Mabilis who had already prepared for the worst case was still staying near Forus. Mabilis was observing the strange process of concoction that Forus was performing, etching every single detail into his brain.

Lord Phasma who got trapped inside the cauldron was reconsidering his priority. If he couldn't take over the boy's body this time, there would be almost no chance in the future to control his body again, but if he overreached himself, he might die by the bluish flame before he could get close to Forus.

Although his original body had engraved his soul into many treasures, most of them couldn't withstand the passing of time and have decayed into nothing but junks. If he missed this opportunity, there would be no guarantee that he would have another chance to take over a body again.

After a moment of hesitation, Lord Phasma's eyes turned blood-red as he decided to gamble all of his cards into this one chance. The thought of slumbering for countless more years without any knowledge of when would he come back again had already terrified him out of his mind.

He decisively overloaded his ghostly body with Death Aura, causing his lower-half to explode. The impact of such explosion caused the cauldron to shake violently, increasing the rate of destruction caused by the bluish flame. The container was gradually crumbling into pieces.

The explosion slightly damaged Forus, causing him to lose his focus for a moment, making it easier for the string of fate to creep towards him. Although his sorcery energy reserve was nearly empty, Forus was still devoid of panic and fear. His mind was bidding for the right opportunity to save his life from the overwhelming assaults.

The closer to dead Forus was, the calmer he became. His first death had made him became numb from the fear of nothingness. If not for his promise before his demise and his concern as a father and a faithful husband, he wouldn't risk his life to become a sorcerer.