Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

Elias looked at Rey's lifeless body lying near his feet. A puddle of blood slowly formed around the body of the Esterin Family's Descendant.

"Do you want to say something?" Elias asked, but even as his gaze was on Rey's body, his words were directed towards someone else.

"You were never going to free me, were you?" Astralious spoke up after a long time. From the moment he realized that Elias was the descendant of the person that had killed me, he already realized that his freedom was nothing more than a fleeting dream.

"Whatever I say here, you will not believe. So I will let you find the answer yourself..." Elias answered as he started searching Rey's body for any treasures that could be useful.

There was only one thing that he found, which seemed somewhat interesting to him. It was the badge of the Esterin Family that was only given to the direct descendants of the family.

Just like his own badge, the Esterin family's badge was also made from rare materials which made it hard to be destroyed.

Even though the materials were rare, the badge still held more value than them. It was an identity proof of a Founding Family's descendent after all. He kept the badge in his other pocket, and walked away, leaving Rey's body behind.

He didn't forget to collect the two gems that had finished absorbing the core essence of a high tier soul beast.

....

Another hour passed before the next person arrived at the place, chasing after the storm that had long disappeared.

It was a girl traveling on a high grade soul beast. She jumped off the soul beast, and looked at the puddle of blood where a body was lying.

She approached Rey's body and checked to see if he was truly dead, or if there was a chance of bringing him back to life. Unfortunately, she couldn't see any signs of life.

"How did he end up dying?" she frowned. She observed her surroundings, but she couldn't even see any signs of battle. It was as if the boy had died without even resisting.

"I can feel the fleeting essence of another soul beast. It wasn't any weaker than me. But it seems to have died right here as well." The soul beast, having transformed into a bare chested man, stood next to the place where Rey's soul beast had fallen.

"It was probably the work of another soul beast." The girl stood, shaking her head lightly. "It looks like his greed really brought him to an unfortunate end. He shouldn't have tried to keep the growth stone for himself."

"One growth stone led two founding family descendants to their death. Not a bad start for this academic year..."

She believed that someone had killed him for the growth stone, which was to be expected. In fact, one of the reasons she had come here was to meet Rey and take the stone back if he hadn't used it.

"There was no growth stone involved. If the other person had taken it, it would've left a fleeting trace in the air. There is none." The man looked quite conflicted.

He could feel the trace of the fable that had died here, but strangely, he couldn't detect any trace of the fable that might have done it.

It was as if the essence of the other person was completely impossible to grasp, something too impure for someone like him.

"He probably already used the growth stone. No wonder the other person became upset enough to kill him." The girl took a step back, watching the puddle of blood expanding, almost reaching her shoes.

The Soul Beast simply looked at the lifeless body. He could see that the boy hadn't gone through his first evolution yet, so that theory was immediately rejected.

He was about to explain when his wolf-like ears twitched. He focused on a strange sound coming from far away.

"The others are also coming here, it seems. We should leave before it leads to unnecessary misunderstandings." He picked up the girl, placing her on his shoulders.

"Take him as well!" the girl told the man, just as he was about to run. "We should take the body back. The professors will know that we didn't kill him. We might even ignite some interesting flames at the academy."

The man's lips twitched, but he still picked up Rey's body, placing it on his other shoulder, and started running towards the Forest of Fables.

Not long after they left, the other students arrived one after another. Although they were also a little curious about the unfamiliar puddle of blood, which seemed to belong to a human, they left when they couldn't find anything related to the storm.

Almost all the students had started returning to the Forest of Fables, except one who had gone in the opposite direction.

Elias returned to the entrance of the Shadow Domain, which was almost empty now. Not a single person was left, with everyone having returned to their cities after thinking that he had left and wouldn't come back.

"This feels so weird. I feel strange..." A voice appeared in Elias's mind, as he stood right on the edge of the Shadow Domain.

"It's just a new body. You will get accustomed to it," Elias said, taking his first step inside the Shadow Domain, something that almost every new student entering the land of fables was advised against.

"Why did we have to change to this body?" The ego asked again, sounding somewhat grumpy as he felt quite strange in the new form factor. The difference between his previous form and current form was like heaven and earth.

"Your other body was too loud, and quite visible. It wasn't good for entering the Shadow Domain. This one is better for now." He didn't pay any attention to the complaints of the drone that was circling around him.

"Where are we going now?" The Ego asked Elias. "Are we going to kill that Zesten guy?"

"We are going to collect materials," Elias answered. "And he... just happens to be one."