This hall held an eerie atmosphere when compared to the ones before.
But that only served to enhance the ambience of the items even more.
Even with a clear goal in mind, Ezra still found himself fighting to control his greed sometimes.
The items were just that good, from crystal bows to golden spears to Fire hammers to radiant shields. Items of all varieties were here with each having a color scheme of its own.
As Ezra perused each one, he restrained from touching any before going through all the items available.
It would be unbelievably stupid for him to take a weapon without knowing whether a better one was available.
He did make sure to remember the ones he felt were notable and compatible as he surveyed each item.
Mana vision was practically useless here because each and every item was powerful in their own right.
He also discovered that the royal advisor was simply watching from afar instead of walking along with him.
As he perused the items placed by the expansive left wall, he suddenly felt a chill along his body, giving him goosebumps all of a sudden.
With a look to the left and right, Ezra was left astounded as he found nothing that could cause such a reaction.
Yet he could still feel something.
He wasn't sure what it was or whether it was actually there, but he trusted his gut and followed the ethereal sensation.
It seemed to be leading him somewhere, and before long, Ezra found himself almost kissing the wall.
'Hmm' Ezra furrowed his brow as his hands began exploring the wall.
There had to be a reason the ethereal feeling led him here.
And he soon found an answer when his fingers bumped into a brick very close to the ground.
*Click*
The wall separated into two parts, before sliding away to reveal the compartment within.
A bone chilling aura briefly erupted from inside, before dying out a few seconds later.
Only then did Ezra get a clear view of the things contained within as he subconsciously stepped in.
At that moment-
"Your Highness!"
-an echoing voice laced with urgency came from behind.
Ezra looked back to see the royal advisor rushing forth like his life depended on it while muttering some words which Ezra didn't get.
Ezra narrowed his eyes to try and read his lips.
"You have to quickly…"
In seconds, he arrived in front of the opened wall, but as his outstretched hand reached for Ezra…
*CRI-BAM!*
The wheels of the wall moved swiftly and it slammed shut.
'Ah' Ezra immediately realized what the advisor was saying.
'You need to quickly get out'
And with the look of terror Ezra saw on his face, it seemed this room wasn't something to entered on a whim.
But he couldn't cry over spilled milk. All he could do was to take utmost caution as he was already locked in.
He turned around to face the room and examine it.
It wasn't very long in either length or width, but five weapons were strapped to the wall with chains.
Each of them emanated wisps of aura as Ezra examined them thoroughly.
At the far left, there was a long serrated sword shining with blue symbols imprinted on the blade and a dark green hilt that depicted the head of a beast.
To its right was a bow made of something akin to crystal emerald with a string of iron, after which a double edged sword with black and yellow colored patterns came into view.
Then, a long double scythe with a blade at both ends but in opposite directions came into view, with the staff part gleaming silver while the blades were coloured half silver, half black.
Then at last, was a brown staff that held a gray hammer head at each end.
Ezra didn't look at the last one because, the moment he laid eyes on the silver scythe, he was subconsciously pulled towards it.
With slow steps, Ezra approached the scythe.
He didn't know why, but he felt a bit…enthralled?
So he just approached for a casual touch.
The moment his hand made a firm grip on the handle though, something cut him, and before he could move, his blood dripped onto the scythe.
The next instant, Ezra's body froze like a statue and his eyes went white.
He felt something suction his mind, and less than a second later, he found himself in a clear white space different from the mind imprint.
As he looked at his body, which had his exact clothes on, the floor rippled like water, and from within it, a figure manifested.
Ezra was immediately taken aback and raised his guard to the extreme.
"Who are you?" he asked.
But the other person, a man in white robes covering his pale skin and skinny body, snapped his red eyes open and asked back.
"No, the question is…who are you?"
He burst forth towards Ezra as he continued…
"And what are you doing here?"
With hostile intent directed at him, Ezra began to inspect his opponent.
But he didn't get far because…
'He's fast'
The man appeared in front of him and outstretched his hand to the side.
Immediately, liquid from the ground turned into a pure white double scythe within his grip.
Ezra immediately tried to imitate the action while making sure to keep calm.
And what do you know, with the same sequence of events, a sword formed in his grip.
*Clang!*
The two weapons clashed and a clear noise resounded, one very pleasing to the ear.
But Ezra had no time to appreciate such things as he jumped backwards to create space and dodge the horrendous range of the scythe.
But the other man relentlessly chased after him.
With a thought, Ezra's sword length grew a bit shorter and an identical one was formed in his other hand.
With such familiar weapons back in his grip, Ezra immediately began his offensive.
*Clang*Clang*Clang*
The clear noise resounded more and more as the two fought.
And Ezra quickly discovered that his fears were very real.
No blood came out of his body when cut, but the pain was two times worse.
Other than that, his opponent was no joke.
His scythe wielding skills spoke of years of practice. With the addition of many splendid flows of movement, Ezra was definitely in for a tough time.
But he was no slouch either.
As the battle progressed, Ezra's movements began to match the pace of his opponent more and more as he observed, deduced and modified his attacks to land more and more blows.
Ezra didn't know what would happen if he was to lose, but judging by the appearance of his opponent, he could just guess that it wasn't going to be anything good.
Moreover, since his opponent could also talk, Ezra tried to reason.
"Why are you attacking me?"
"Because I don't deem you worthy"
Ezra's face distorted.
"Great. Another imbecile that's full of crap"
With those words alone, Ezra was sure there was no reasoning with this guy.
So he focused all his energy on taking him down.
One thing was sure though, this would take a while.
