It was just after dawn, while the capital was still enveloped by brilliant twilight. Irwyn von Blackburg arrived in front of the mage guild's office together with a rather numerous entourage of 20 Blackburg servants and Avys. The personnel guarding the door was naturally aware they would arrive, and although they were usually prideful of their identity as sorcerers, they bowed in front of them without hesitation before they let the entire group enter. Right beyond the doorway was a relatively large hall with wooden pillars and haphazardly scattered tables. Usually, this place would be busting with activity as it was the meeting place of their numerous members within the capital, but today the entire area was reeking with eerie emptiness. The only people present besides the Blackburg group were 4 figures whom Irwyn immediately recognised: The Elemental lord of burning embers, Amadeus, who was trying very hard to hide the fiery hostility in his eyes; the Elemental lord of hollow depths, Archimo, the mage guild’s master of the void whom Irwyn had framed of sabotaging his rival’s disciple; the Elemental lord of of drifting shores, Liquia, the most skilled water mage in the entire north; and finally the Elemental lord of flowing life, Vincent, one of the oldest mages in the guild thanks to his great skills with vitality and blood magic.

“In accordance to your request,” Vincent spoke, usually that would be an honour left to Amadeus who beckoned the most powerful element, however, it would seem that the festival of Dragoncull had severely damaged his standing “we will personally lead you to the guild master. Please put this on,” Liquia on his side pulled out a fancy velvet blindfold, meant to completely block his vision; and a pair of well-made magical earplugs. Those measures were previously discussed, so Irwyn put both of those on without any qualms as Avys pretended to send him off. She was counting on him to help deliver the crippling blow which she could then turn into a coup d'état, getting people more than willing to cooperate in the future into the highest echelons. The outline was simple, but the amount of effort Avys put into carefully laying down the foundations and pulling the strings was admirable.

As soon as Irwyn had his senses of sight and hearing cut off a hand was placed on his shoulder and began to carefully lead him into the labyrinth below. That term was not an exaggeration as there were thousands of mutually intertwined tunnels spanning beneath the capital which lead to countless rooms and chambers of various sizes and uses. Some were utilised as storage or were occasionally rented by wealthy organisations for special occasions, however, most ended up either abandoned or as hideouts for various smugglers traffickers, and other criminals, since it was nearly impossible to properly patrol through the deepest halls. From what Irwyn heard the imperial family was regulating them through bribes and inside agents instead.

The Elemental lords were leading Irwyn around for over an hour when they suddenly decided to stop. Based on his rough estimation and previous memory of the layout he could barely grasp that they had been travelling in circles, but noticing anything beyond that was difficult as his vital senses were absent. Not long after they stopped Irwyn felt something approach. It was an aura he could not misplace: The aura of pure understanding and acceptance. Something that could only be radiated by those who glimpsed at the incomprehensible foundations of the universe and committed to their minds a splinter of the primordial truth hidden there. He was now in the presence of an Awakened, and a relatively powerful one at that, perhaps at the absolute peak of the 5th tier. The radiant aura approached them but Irwyn didn’t dare to take off the items blinding and deafening him. It was only a few moments later that the hand which originally lead him was replaced by none other than the awakened. Then Irwyn’s new escort lead him along the long hallways once again, leaving the Elemental lords behind, and ultimately finally coming to a stop after another 30 minutes. At this point Irwyn’s young legs were already aching, so he was naturally overjoyed when they finally came to a stop, moreover, he could clearly feel that it was inside the room he predicted which was absolutely vital for his scheme to produce the intended results. The guiding hand left him and the awakened walked a few steps away when Irwyn suddenly felt someone removing his earplugs. The presence was so weak he didn’t notice it before now as he was blinded by the brilliance of the awakened. Whoever removed his earplugs then also removed his blindfold. In front of Irwyn appeared a familiar empty room. There was nearly no furniture in between the pristine white walls of the chamber, the only exception was a lumber table with two chairs which appeared to be out of place among the whiteness, where not even the sources of light were visible. And in one of those two chairs sat the awakened man, facing Irwyn. His appearance was surprisingly youthful: His plentifully decorated black gown did not fit his brown hair and eyes particularly well, which was strange considering the rings he had on each of his fingers implied great vanity.

“I will humbly leave you,” Irwyn heard a voice from his side, and with a quick peek found a young boy who held both the earplugs and blindfold Irwyn previously wore, “Oh, please stay here with us,” the seated awakened chuckled as he waved his hand. The boy next to Irwyn managed to make a confused expression before he disintegrated. Irwyn could clearly feel what had happened: Each of the cells within the boy's flesh, skin and bones just separated in an instant, and his body collapsed into a puddle of blood, viscera and brain mush. Since Irwyn was standing just next to him a noticeable portion of the blood previously coursing through the boy's veins oozed over his clothes and face, “I sincerely welcome you, Irwyn von Blackburg,” the man nonchalantly smiled at Irwyn. It was a brutally efficient way to intimidate someone. That was clearly the goal after all: To intimidate Irwyn to the point where he wouldn’t be even able to properly speak, much less hold a conversation. However, Irwyn stopped his body from gagging and looked the awakened directly in the eyes before speaking: “It is my pleasure to meet you, master of the mage guild.”

“Oh,” the guild master smiled, if he was astonished by Irwyn’s lack of reaction it did not show on his face “you are surprisingly heartless.”

“How is that surprising?” Irwyn smiled in return as he maintained eye contact. He was in fact even already walking closer to the guild master, while clearing off some of the blood with a handkerchief.

“So,” the guild master waited for Irwyn to sit down “why did you demand to meet me in the first place?” he got straight to the topic. It was most uncommon for someone to demand a meeting with the guild master as a reward for emerging victorious during the Dragoncull tournament. But it was as though the guild master did not actually want to hear the answer as he poured something into Irwyn’s very soul through their eye contact. It was the essence of fear, pure liquefied dread that would make serial killers tremble in pure terror, and force veterans of hundred battles to cry like children. Since his original method of intimidating Irwyn into submission did not work he tried a far more direct approach. The problem with the method was that the sensation was injected directly into Irwyn’s soul, not his body.

“I have experienced things far more terrifying than your little trick, mage,” Irwyn pushed back and with ease forced that concentrated despair out of his soul before he infused a fragment of leftover power into his words.

“Just as I thought,” the guild master nodded to himself “you are not just an 8 years old boy, are you? You are at the very least a resurrector or a reincarnator.”

“It’s honestly surprising that you are probably the first person to figure that out,” Irwyn chuckled.

“But that doesn’t change my question,” the guild master frowned slightly “why did you want to meet me?”

“Do I need a reason to greet an old acquaintance, world eater Dante,” Irwyn just kept smiling.

“I no longer go by that name,” Dante frowned “I am just the guild master now, nothing less, nothing more.”

“Is that so?” Irwyn put his hand into one of his pockets and took out a pitch-black marble, “But back to your question. It was in fact my new mother Avys who wanted me to arrange the meeting. She wanted me to crush this little thing when I meet you,” Irwyn pointed at the ebony black item in his hand.

“A void beacon,” Dante accurately assessed “so, are you going to use it?”

“There is no point,” Irwyn just shook his head “not inside this room.”

“So you are even aware that this place is special, that makes me really curious about who you are,” Dante’s eyes flickered with bloodlust.

“Think you can kill me?” Irwyn taunted, as a smirk appeared on his face. That very instant Dante’s right arm flickered and the sound barrier was broken. It was so fast that Irwyn could not even perceive it, however, he saw the result: Dante’s right fist was severely bruised when it returned to its original position.

“What did you do?” Dante’s face was now adorned by a frown.

“You know what this place is, right?” instead of answering Irwyn asked another question.

“The control room of all the countless tremendous formations of the capital,” Dante’s frown did not disappear, in fact, it even deepened.

“Under normal circumstances, this would be the best place for you to use. Once the door is locked it is impossible to get inside even for the awakened who might be pursuing you. Moreover, it would stop any signals from going out, and even if I really did manage to notify someone of our location you would have more than enough time to escape through your truth of Realm,” Irwyn remained seated “however, there is a reason why this is the control room.”

“Impossible,” Dante stood up as realisation dawned on him “I have spent decades upon decades studying these formations, yet I couldn’t take even partial control over them,” yes, he clearly realised it: Irwyn was somehow using those ancient formations. This time his entire body vanished and a sonic boom passed right by Irwyn, nearly rupturing his eardrums.

“That won’t work,” Irwyn turn around towards the door, there Dante stood, attempting to force the way open. Hearing Irwyn’s words he likely realised the futility of attempting to escape so he raised his hand, and concentrated truth began to gather onto his palm. He clearly intended to break through whatever was protecting Irwyn.

“Bind, fetter, chain,” Irwyn naturally wouldn’t take such a risk, as each of those words left his mouth the awakened presence surrounding Dante grew weaker, “Restrict, seize, hold, stop.”

“What did you just fucking do?!” Dante was clearly losing his composure as he felt all his strength vanish and even the half-formed spell disperse.

“My body is not capable of taking full control over the magic here,” Irwyn explained “but the formation recognises my soul, so if I infuse its power into my words I can decree simple commands.”

“Your soul? Just who in the hell are y… no, who the hell were you?” as he spoke the guild leader attempted to futilely escape the potent bindings.

“I went by many names throughout the eternity of my life,” Irwyn just chuckled “among them you might perhaps recognise Azergo, the juggernaut or Iris, the cataclysm.”

“Those names,” the guild master quickly searched his memories, and his eyes widened when he recalled them, “Both were Ascendants. Don’t tell me… I thought that it was impossible to descend from the Spire.”

“No one ever got back down alive,” Irwyn maintained a smile “I thankfully do have a contract with the monarch of Hell.”

“That would mean… you were also the one who built the city!” Dante suddenly yelled as he came to that conclusion. Ascendants were all unequaled in their era, each reaching the legendary 6th tier. Yet even among them, the founder of the imperial city was special. He achieved the greatest peak someone born mortal could: The transcendent 7th tier. That man became someone who could beckon entire continents, and face the Primordial kings themselves as an equal. That such a being stood right before him in the form of a child terrified Dante to no end. However...

“You are wrong,” Irwyn announced with a shake of his head “I have forsaken creation a long time before this city of marble was built.”

“Then how can you control it?” Dante was confused. If it was constructed by someone else, then why…

“Does it matter to a deadman?” Irwyn just smiled. His actions to this point involved a lot of bluffing and buying time, since he was taking control over the formations only gradually. For example had the guildmaster attacked him the moment that Irwyn entered the room he would have died, without even a chance to retaliate. Even until now, although Dante was bound he could not do much more, “it is about time we end this farce, don’t you think? Amplify,” Irwyn raised his hand which still hand the ebony black marble, “Under normal circumstances, the enchantment would not be able to penetrate the intense interference of the surrounding formations. But that is no longer the case,” Irwyn smiled as he crushed it. Immediately a surge of void magic spread in all directions.

“Open” Irwyn commanded and the door behind Dante flew open, “Goodbye Dante. Although unwilling be proud to be a martyr. Push,” before Dante could ask about the meaning of those words an unstoppable force hit him, flinging him right out of the room. The moment he was beyond the boundary of the control room his strength began to rapidly return, “Lock,” Irwyn issued one more command which locked the door just as Dante was considering trying to kill him from long range. Since that was no longer possible Dante decided to flee.

“So we meet again,” just as he turned around a new voice entered his ears. Dante wanted to curse when he saw the 5 familiar faces.

“Indeed your majesty,” he greeted the emperor “I assume the five of you are not here to talk,” he prepared for combat.

“I declare it,” the emperor smiled “today the mage guild ceases to be its former self,” and without any further words the 6 awakened began to clash.