When Wain cut the space in two, the multitude of monsters hunting Soul Pearls decided to sneak in. However, the appearance of one girl with unusual hair and eyes changed the situation completely.
The garden was awash in bloody rain, the only thing left of the powerful and enormous monsters whose auras would terrify anyone.
The mask was unhappy with the situation, but it could not pay attention to the girl. Firstly, the mask had to repair the spatial rift to avoid further problems. The dark chains greatly accelerated this process.
Wain was pleased with the result, he was counting on something like this to happen, and it was the best option. Someone appeared who would take all the attention for a while and wreak chaos.
The others, unlike Wain, were shocked, especially Ayla. Because of Wain's appearance, she thought he was Inerian and relatively unusual. Ayla thought that Wain's actions made no sense, but now she realized it was a cunning plan.
Ayla decided that Wain had done this so that his mistress could get here. In her opinion, that was his main purpose.
She thought the girl would kill everyone here now and save Wain, but the reality was different. Everyone was in danger.
Oddly enough, Wain was the only one who didn't know that the girl who killed the monsters was an Inerian. However, he wasn't going to cooperate with anyone anyway.
Whooooooosh.
When Wain realized the mask was no longer after him, he used the Sign of Lightning and ran away.
He canceled the third form, and Beyond, he needed to recover at least a few percent of his energy.
"Agh!" Suddenly Wain collapsed and threw up a mouthful of blood.
The use of Beyond was badly damaging and straining his body. Moreover, Wain used the third form, Blind Sorcerer, and performed several crushing attacks.
He could not have remained unscathed, even if his body had been stronger than steel.
For the last minute, every cell of him had been working at its limits, and his flesh and bones were cracking at the seams to withstand the power he was emitting.
Wain was ready for it, but he didn't expect that he couldn't walk a hundred yards.
Fortunately, the girl's attention was focused not on Wain but the mask.
"Who are you? Get out of here!" The mask said menacingly, and a large amount of darkness erupted from it.
"Hmm? Are you addressing me...?" Slowly, in a lifeless voice, the girl said.
"It's obvious. You're not supposed to be here! You weren't supposed to interfere in the trial! Who are you!?" The mask said furiously, and out of the darkness, seven spears were created that flew at the girl.
"You're asking what my name is? I am Erza Lone... but, does it matter?" The girl muttered and waved her hand.
A large amount of energy appeared in front of her the next moment, which turned into a magma cross. It engulfed the dark spears and collapsed on the mask.
The mask tried to block the attacks and created a dark barrier around itself, but it didn't help.
Magma cross burned through the barrier and did devastating damage to the mask. Half of the white mask burned and turned black and soot-covered.
No longer daring the mask to smile slyly, it realized that Erza was in a different category. The mask couldn't win this battle, but suddenly the situation changed.
Erza was comparable in strength to the strongest members of the Second Chronicle, and her actions could not go unnoticed by the Purgatory zone.
Whoooosh.
Several gray chains appeared around Erza, which shackled her and then chained her heart, forcibly lowering her power level.
Erza knew something like this would happen, so she didn't try to resist. It was useless.
Her powers were now limited to the boundaries of First Chronicle, but she had already done enough to make the situation change forever.
"Great, this is our chance. Dia!" Finch said with a smile and turned into a fiery flash.
The next moment he reached for his mask and struck the most powerful blow he was capable of.
The flames at the hilt of his sword turned into wings, and he sliced the mask in two. However, the mask immediately began to regenerate, but Dia was already ready to deliver the final blow.
Her palms turned red because of the high temperature, and she grabbed the two halves of the mask, after which they began to melt rapidly.
"No!!! How dare you interfere with me!!!" The mask shouted furiously at the last second of its life.
Everyone thought it was the end, and it was. But when one story ends, another always begins, and this time was no exception.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
"What's going on...?" Ayla said uncertainly.
Space trembled, and the world before her eyes turned upside down the next moment. The same thing happened to the others.
"А...? Why are the chessboard and the garden up there now...?" Finch muttered.
It wasn't an illusion, it really happened. The world was upside down, which was only half of what had changed.
Beneath him, Finch saw the same chessboard, only glassy, like the garden. It was like a mirror of the original world.
Ayla and Keya were in the most dangerous situation. After the world turned upside down, there was a spatial rift underneath them, which recovered at 90%.
They couldn't fly, and all they had to do was fall down, straight into the clutches of death.
The darkness lurking beyond the Purgatory zone was like a boundless abyss from which it was impossible to escape. They felt as if they were being sucked into it by an unprecedented force.
"No!" Shouted Keya with terror in her voice.
She looked hopefully at Ayla, but she was just as confused. They hadn't expected their fate to perish outside the zone.
The only one who could save them was Erza, but she paid no attention to them.
To her, they were nothing. Finch and Dia weren't going to help them either.
Whooooooooosh.
Suddenly, the silhouette of a blue portal appeared in the rift, and a white spark flew out. It flew through the rift and saved Ayla and Keya, after which space was restored and stabilized.
"Phew, looks like I made it at the last minute." Said a tall man with blue eyes and short blond hair.
Like all elves, his ears were sharp and his skin pale and smooth as jade. He wore light, green leather armor, and on his belt was a curved blade with an emerald inlaid in the guard.
"Uncle Agis!" Rejoicing Keya said.
"Agis..." Ayla muttered.
"Hey, I thought you were finished. I always said speed was my thing! AHAHAHA!" Agis laughed and pulled out two pills from his bag.
He knew that Ayla was hurt and decided to help her recover with one look.
"Thank you." With a slight smile on her face, Ayla said and quickly swallowed the pills.
"Well, do I have to wait long?" Asked Agis, and the next moment gray chains appeared around him.
He, as well as Erza, was a Second Chronicle creature and had been in the Purgatory zone once before. He knew that the chains would forcibly restrain his power.
"Ayla, Keya, what is the situation? It looks like something interesting is going on here." Said Agis looking at the glass chess pieces in front of him and the real ones high in the sky.
"I don't understand anything anymore..." Mumbled Ayla. "At first, we went through the test, and some of us died, but then that guy went crazy and caused the space barrier to be damaged." She pointed to Wain. He was lying in the distance among the glass garden.
"Who's that?" Agis was puzzled.
"It's an Inerian, but he's not ordinary. I've never seen an Inerian man with such power and ability. Moreover, he is unnaturally handsome considering the men of their race." Said Keya.
"I see... I take it this girl is his mistress?" Asked Agis looking at Erza.
"Yes, there is no doubt about that." Ayla said confidently.
One of the distinguishing features of Inerians was the different colors of their hair and their bright eyes. However, this rule applied only to women. They were stronger and more beautiful than men.
But, such a division had a good reason which was their unique physiology and body structure.
Erza's black and red clothing was of the open type and covered her skin only partially.
Beneath the clothing were visible white pulsating lines on her arms that, across her shoulders, headed toward her chest, which was the second hallmark of the Inerians.
The pulsating lines could be compared to veins. Blood flowed through the veins, and at the same time, a large amount of energy moved through the threads.
Erza's arms had three threads each, all six threads directed to one point on his chest, just below his neck. They formed a circle through which energy circulated endlessly and increased its concentration.
In the center of the circle, the six threads crossed each other at one point. This was the main difference between men and women. In men, the circle was empty, while it was filled with intersecting threads in women.
Also, on the wrists of Erza's, there were three more threads in the form of a bracelet. Through them circulated energy that returned from the circle, and then the process repeated.
Wain wore a massive cloak, and his chest and arms were not visible under it. So Ayla and everyone else thought he was Inerian, even though they couldn't even see the energy strands on his body.
They couldn't think he was human since they didn't even know such a race existed.
The Inerians were considered a powerful race, but their men were much weaker than women. They were folk with an absolute matriarchal system, the cause of which was their nature.
"I see... We'd better not quarrel with her. I hope you had the good sense not to confront this guy when you realized he was an Inerian?" Asked Agis.
"Of course, we didn't fight him, but during the last trial, I had to confront him. The most aggressive one is this one." Ayla said, pointing at Finch.
Finch and Dia were not in an easy situation. Ayla and Keya now had Agis, who would easily protect them from any danger, but there was no one with them. They were alone.
"Finch, it looks like we shouldn't have killed the mask." Dia said cautiously.
"Don't be silly. We did everything right. Now we don't have to obey the rules and get tested. Also, if we hadn't, that girl would have killed us all, but now she has an opponent. We just need to stay out of the way, and we'll be safe."
The elves took their time to act, Agis, Ayla, and Keya watched Erza's actions. She was the center of attention, and how the future situation would unfold depended on her.
Agis' task was to save Ayla and Keya. That was his top priority. He had no reason to fight Erza or Finch and Dia.
"Hmm? There are no Soul Pearls here? This place has become too confusing. I need to go the other way," Mumbled Erza walking through the glass garden.
"А? What's that?" Not far away, Erza saw a man with a dark blue cloak with a pool of blood underneath.
She approached him with an unemotional face.
Agis watched her intently. He thought Erza was about to bend over and help her lover.
"What the...?"
However, instead, she kicked him sharply so that Wain flipped from his stomach to his back.
"Ayla, you sure she is his mistress?" Agis asked, puzzled.
"Yes..." Mumbled Ayla, "Maybe that's how it's supposed to be? I've never seen what a relationship between Inerians looks like."
Erza looked at Wain's exhausted face and muttered, "Inerian? What are you doing here? Eh, you're quite handsome. What a pity I don't like men of my folk..."
She was about to pass by, but suddenly a strong wind blew, and the cloak partially exposed Wain's body.
When Erza saw that there were no energy threads on Wain's body, her lifeless and empty eyes began to fill with paint.