There was a forest not too far from the Royal Lumen City. At the moment, there was only one person inside the woods, and even that person was surrounded by a dark barrier that protected that person.
Inside those barriers, there was a young woman who was sitting with her back against the tree. The woman had her eyes closed and even looked like she was sleeping. However, there was a deep down on her face and a really fierce aura.
Fortunately, her aura was kept inside the barrier so the ones outside couldn't sense him.
There was a black book floating before the woman, covered in an even darker aura. The middle page of the cool was open, which had many things written on it, but there were three words on the top of the page, which were larger in size than the others.
[Dark Soul Prison]
*****
Lira stopped when she was barely three meters away from Gabriel, who was on the ground. He felt as if thousands of pins were pressing down on him. Whenever he tried to get up, the dark pins only stabbed his soul deeper.
"Lira!" Gabriel clenched his teeth.
"What? Don't tell me you're going to ask me to forgive you or let you leave. If yes, you should save your words. Only open your mouth if it's to tell me where my Ancestral Staff is. I'll find someone else to bring it to me!"
****
"His aura... It's getting weaker!" Novius sat before Gabriel with his hands on the young man's forehead.
He could feel that Gabriel was getting even weaker, and his heartbeat was slowing down. It was a really strange phenomenon that even he hadn't seen before.
Even Cylix didn't understand why it was happening. Even if Gabriel failed in binding the Ancestral Staff, he shouldn't be like this.
Moreover, the binding hadn't failed either. The binding formation was shining at regular intervals, even though weakly.
"He isn't unconscious, that's for sure," Novius commented. "That means his consciousness is still up. But then, why isn't he up?"
Novius knew a Holy Priest of Darkness in his time, but even then, he didn't know about a spell similar to this. Then again, no one attempted to bind an Ancestral Staff of Another element.
Cyclix took Gabriel's left hand, sensing something. "It's not just his aura which is weakening, but also his life force! Whatever effect he is under, if he isn't out of it soon, we might lose him forever!"
*****
"Gabriel, don't try to be brave. Tell me where you kept the Ancestral Staff of Darkness inside the city?! I promise I'll go easy on you if you tell me," Lira told Gabriel, sitting on her knees before him.
Through all the pain, Gabriel could barely focus on whatever she was saying.
"I told you, only I can bring it out! Let alone any men you command to do it; even you yourself can't get to it! Especially now that the Academy is more secure since the theft happened!"
"You can't do anything without me! You might act strong like you're in control, but you're mistaken. I'm in control of the situation. You need my help; I don't!" Gabriel remained firm. Even now, there was not a single shred of pain on his face, despite all the pain he was in.
The only time he was under fear of death was when he was killed by Hawrin for the first time. Even before this pain, he didn't fear. If anything, he was more angry than scared.
"You think you can come back to life after I kill you here, don't you?" Lira scoffed, understanding why Gabriel was still so confident. "You couldn't be more wrong. Last time, your body was hurt, and your Grimoire managed to save you. But this time?"
"This time, just not your body which will die! It will be your soul. And once your soul is destroyed, even your Grimoire can't bring you back to life." Lira placed her cold hands on Gabriel's cheeks, smiling. "Now you feel scared?"
"Is that it?" Gabriel asked in return. "That's the threat? Go ahead. Kill me. But you'll be joining me soon after. Don't worry."
"What do you mean?" Lira was somewhat surprised. What did he mean that she was going to follow him into death?
She didn't know if he was bluffing or not, but was there any spell from his Grimoire which made it so that whoever destroyed his soul died with him? Even though she had never heard about such a spell, she didn't know about the existence of this element either, so what was a spell?
"Even in your last moments, you are trying to fool me, little boy?" She stood up. "If that's the way you want to play it, then sure. I won't kill you, but I'll give you a pain that will make you wish you were dead."
Even though Lira believes that Gabriel was bluffing, she didn't want to take the risk. There was a small chance that there could actually be a spell like that, as Gabriel's element was related to death.
Just to be safe, she decided not to kill him. In any case, she could just keep his soul imprisoned here. As long as Gabriel's consciousness was here, even his Grimoire couldn't connect to him to free him.
This wasn't a different space. This wasn't in the real world either. This was a proper domain that was inside her own Grimoire!
Gabriel's consciousness was trapped inside the Grimoire of Darkness. Moreover, since his Soul Strength wasn't high enough, his own Grimoire couldn't locate him.
His main body was in the tower of Challenges, which was a different realm. It was supposed to work in his favor taking advantage of the weakened connection between the Ancestral Staff of Darkness and the Grimoire of Darkness.
However, that same distance and separate realm was now working against him in this situation, keeping him separate from his Grimoire.
At any cost, he needed to find a way to be located by his Grimoire if he wanted to use any spells or take help."
