At the same time, Asher and Elsa pulled their weapons out of the Mana monster boar's eyes. Blood and putrid brain matters coated their weapons, but both Asher and Elsa weren't both much by this.

Elsa began indifferently shaking the gore off her short sword.

Asher began doing the same but while also commenting, "I'm still feeling some residual ringing in my ears. But overall, that went well."

Elsa didn't bother looking towards Asher as she made sure her sword was mostly clean. She did reply back to him, saying, "Hm. It was decent enough. Your footwork and senses still need some work. But, I suppose that issue will get handled later today."

As Elsa finished talking, she was done shaking off her sword.

Judging that it was clean enough, a blue flash glow sparked from Elsa's right palm, and Asher was able to spot a far more nicely designed ring than his in her hands.

When the blue flash appeared, Elsa's short sword was magically brought back inside that ring.

Her eyes took one glance back at Asher, telling him then, "I shall be taking my leave first, Asher."

Asher was prompted to look down at his digital watch, noticing it's already 11:15. "Time sure does flies…."

He looked back up, but Elsa was already walking off.

Asher wryly smiled at how abrupt Elsa's goodbye is. "So you had a busy morning before I showed up. Well, actually, I'll need to leave right now too. But I know to let you leave first, though."

Asher was someone who knows where his limits lies and what he should be daring enough to challenge. And he knows there can be numerous unnecessary troubles being seen walking so casually with the beautiful Elsa.

Elsa didn't stop walking, though she did call back to Asher. "I'll be awaiting your turn today at the Ceremony."

She had then briskly picked up her pace, leaving out of the Decrypted Woods and leaving Asher all alone.

While waiting a bit, Asher began stretching his neck, cracking out the leftover kinks that had locked up.

'Mnn….that was a nice little warm-up today.' With each successful battle, Asher has, he always felt like he's improving in some way.

Even if the progress isn't immediately apparent on his body, Asher had always felt like he was getting that slight bit stronger from continuous life-or-death fights.

Asher stood all for close to a minute.

With how quickly Elsa can walk, Asher determined enough time had appropriately passed.

He brought his axe back inside his dingy blue ring and began walking towards the exit of the Decrypted Woods.

Luckily for him, no other Mana Monsters impede his way.

….

'Haaah.' Asher exhaled a soft sigh as tiny beads of sweat drizzled down his face.

'Just barely made it.'

When coming back home, Asher had to make a bit of a rush. As he leaned his bedroom door, Asher looked down at his digital watch, noting it had just turned 11:28 am.

Making it just a little bit earlier for this odd event, Asher hoped this wouldn't accidentally end up taking hours or anything like that.

He slowly walked over to his bed, sitting on it, and slight tension began to drill into his bones.

Though today was the life-changing Ceremony, Asher never felt much nerves or tension about that. However, for whatever his Mother has planned for him, Asher couldn't help but feel the pressure increasingly strike his mind.

Out of everything, he just wasn't sure where any of this would lead to.

With next to no information on what was going to happen, the logical move would've simply been to ignore this.

However, that possibility wasn't possible for Asher.

He was quite literally beaten over the head to never forget this specific date. And whether he likes it or not, his parents' orders were absolute.

Asher peered over to his small dresser, opened up one of the drawers, and took out that luminous blue sapphire gemstone.

Like how he left it this morning, the blue sapphire gemstone only had a regular shine. There wasn't any of that overwhelming glow from this morning.

Asher put down the sapphire gemstone and brought his blue axe.

He held one of his hands over the sapphire gemstone and, in his other hand, kept his axe close to the tip of one of his fingers.

It was deathly silent while Asher held this position over the sapphire gemstone.

Two minutes slowly tickled by as more and more nerves wracked Asher's mind and body. The silence almost made the two minutes seem like two hours slowly passed for Asher.

But, when his digital watch finally hit 11:30 am, Asher immediately pricked the tip of his finger with his axe.

A single drop of his blood splashed down on the blue sapphire gemstone, and the incredibly odd part was there wasn't any splattering noise.

Asher went wide eyes as the very instance his drop of blood touched the sapphire gemstone, it was immediately absorbed inside it, causing a phenomenal reaction!

'Chi!'

A bright blue flash exploded out of the blue sapphire gemstone!

Frantic energy crazily stormed out off the gemstone, forming into a luminous blue field that covered Asher's entire bedroom.

"Wha?!?" Asher was in absolute awe.

Never in his life, even when the sapphire gemstone would move on its own in the morning, it couldn't match the intensity of now.

And the mind-boggling scene was only getting started for Asher.

His body stayed still as Asher watched in silent awe as the sapphire blue gemstone slowly rose in the air. While it rises up, the blue sapphire gemstone emitted an even intenser luminous shine with each second passing.

As the sapphire gemstone shine continuously grew intense, it began to vigorously pulsate like a wildly beating heart.

The sapphire gemstone energy only continued to increase as well, spreading more wildly in Asher's room. And in the center of the energy storm, Asher felt incredible sensations wash over his body.

Asher simply couldn't speak anymore.

The energy that washed over here was, in simple terms, unfathomable.

Out of every single being he had encountered in his life, Asher never felt an immense power like this before.

However, it wasn't like the sapphire gemstone energy made him suffocate, suppressed him, or put any pressure on him. Asher could describe it as getting bathed in a pool of refreshing water taken from the most vibrant part of nature.

Suddenly then, while Asher was basking in the blue sapphire gemstone energy, the gemstone swiftly moved!

It shot straight towards Asher's chest at lightning speeds, becoming a mere blue blur in the air.

Asher could only blink his eyes once to see the afterimage of the lighting like blue blur sapphire gemstone. He was completely unprepared as the sapphire gemstone brutally tore straight into his chest!

'Pu-Chi!'

Blood gushed out of Asher's chest like a spring waterfall, spraying all over the walls in a haunting fashion.

The blue sapphire gemstone ripped through Asher's flesh, bones and organs until drilled right into his beating heart.

All at once, Asher experienced immense agony that he never thought was possible. He felt like he was slowly dying, and every second that passed, Asher experienced the suffering of what felt like his life gradually slipping away.

On instinct, Asher's mouth opened to shriek his dying last breath.

However, no sounds leaked from his now blood-filled mouth. What felt like numerous hours passing was only a mere couple of seconds in real-time.

And after the absolute worst two seconds of Asher's life, his vision went entirely black.

….

'Is….is this what's death like.' Asher's frail voice echoed in his mind.

His vision was still entirely in darkness, and he wasn't sure how much time had passed. What got him back to slight consciousness was a subtle warmth wrapping his mind.

For a second, Asher genuinely thought he had died.

Until he realized he literally still has a conscience!

"Ahhh!!" On instinct, Asher let out a terribly frightened shriek as his eyes flung wide open.

Perpetual fear and confusion chaotically scrambled his mind.

He had instantly recalled the vivid brutal memories of his supposed death which left a deep impressionable mark within him.

Asher closed his eyes again and tried his best to regain some sort of rationality.

But not even a second later, he flung them open again.

"Eh? This….what?"

Asher's eyes crazily roamed around his current scenery. His confusion only worsened as he realized he wasn't inside his small bedroom anymore.

Where he somehow ended up was an entirely blue color space!

Asher trailed his eyes everywhere, and all he saw was blue. There wasn't anything else in here besides just the unending space of blue.

'Ok….am I actually dead? But if I can see….' Asher suddenly looked down at his body.

'Ahh!? What the hell?!'

He was absolutely freaked at the current state of his body. Down to his arms, hands, torso, and legs, basically, his whole body had changed.

Asher's physical body was now in this chilling half translucent state! It was like he could almost see through his flesh. But the most haunting aspect about it was that Asher couldn't spot any of his bones, blood, or guts.

Strangely enough, the only thing that didn't wholly overwhelm Asher was a faint blue glow now permanently wrapping around his body.

'Just what the hell is going?! Haaah….let's just get calm and think rationally.'

Asher stopped letting himself get swept up by confusion. He quickly shut his eyes and took another deep breath. All confusion and worrisome sensation in Asher's mind were caught in a firm grasp by him.

What Asher quickly realized was the fact that he is somehow not completely dead, and this was definitely a part of his Mother's plans.

Asher recalled the heavily volatile reaction that blue sapphire gemstone had towards his single drop of blood.

Since his Mother always constantly reminded him to do that, even going so far out of her way to send him a single note, she should know this was going to occur.

Now whether or not this was a good thing, Asher wasn't entirely sure of.

He honestly didn't have the best of relationships with either of his parents, to put it very lightly. But Asher knew it wasn't the time to go over a therapy lesson.

He just focused on calming his mind to get through whatever was happening.

And as Asher became calmer, he suddenly felt a new sensation sprang into his mind. 'This….why does this place feel so homey compared to either of my homes?'

Asher began scratching his head at this thought.

Sitting down inside this blue space, calming himself to get a good general feel of it, genuinely made Asher feel like he was right at home.

Asher knows he should be the utmost caution here. And yet, the more time he was here, the less caution he felt as if he was truly connected here.

For a couple of minutes, Asher stayed still, gradually collecting his mind.

But suddenly, after those calming minutes, Asher felt an overwhelming sensation spread all throughout his body.

Asher felt a presence appear directly behind him.