Twenty days later...
Vicente and his group had made good progress on their journey north, having successfully overcome the creatures and challenges along their path.
The effects of The Seven-Day Tsunami had completely vanished, and with many beings on the continent fearing The Purification, the route through the Polaris Realm was now exceptionally clear.
Furthermore, with Casey's fourth pentagram, which endowed him with the ability to alter the temporal perception of his targets, the whole group had grown stronger.
Casey's ability allowed him to make his targets feel that time was passing more or less slowly. He could also induce his targets to behave in more immature ways, reminiscent of their childhood, making them feel as if they were reliving different times in their lives.
How did this help in combat? Well, anything that could delay defensive or offensive reactions, distract opponents and make them weaker helped a lot in any situation.
Not only that but when a magician added a new essence to their magical form, all the others became stronger, even if they didn't evolve qualitatively.
In a way, their magical foundation became more solid and reliable with more pentagrams.
In short, the group had overcome all the challenges in their path and had come much closer to their next destination, the Hot Wasteland.
Today, the group was only a week away from their destination, and they were currently flying toward the northwestern border of the Kingdom of Eternal Dawn.
...
It was late at this point, and the brightness of the day was gradually fading as night approached the area they were passing through.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})A few dozen meters below them, a vast forest of sparse woods and grassy fields stretched as far as the eye could see.
Magical creatures of the first four levels of magic could be seen here in droves, but most of them did not move very far from where they lived.
Still, weaker and less rational creatures roamed the area and sometimes got into trouble, which was natural in areas like this.
Vicente's group obviously wouldn't run into anything like that on their way. One big advantage the Sovereigns had over weaker magicians was their ability to fly.
Because they could fly, they could easily avoid problems with several special creatures in forests like the one they were passing through now.
But that didn't mean they were completely free of trouble!
As they flew toward the northwest, the group spotted a colorful dot approaching rapidly from the north.
After observing it for a few seconds, they realized it was someone traveling through the skies just like them.
However, Torne soon alerted his master, "This is a Mid-level Paragon, master. Be careful."
At the same time, Layla couldn't help but narrow her eyes at the sight of this person she didn't know. She couldn't help but recognize the uniform, which was similar to the one she wore on duty.
"This is a member of the Congregation of Revelations," she murmured to the group, indicating the individual's identity. "A 5th-stage Sacred Devotee!"
"What's a Paragon from your organization doing here?" Casey asked, assuming that the strongest on the continent would be up north fighting vampires.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Only he can answer that. A lowly Sacred Devotee like me would have no way of knowing," she replied, looking curiously at the elderly-looking man who was approaching them rapidly.
"Get ready to fight," Vicente warned his group, prompting everyone to give him a puzzled look.
Layla clenched her fists and was the only one to ask. "What are you talking about?"
"I have a bad feeling about meeting this man. I hope I'm wrong, Layla. But if I'm right, we need to be prepared. So, get ready," he said, as his companions heightened their alertness in preparation for a possible confrontation.
But before they could get close enough to communicate with the man, Lina warned, "This is the problem. That's what I've been sensing for the last few weeks, Vicente."
Vicente's expression grew serious as he instructed, "Casey, share Lina's prediction with all of us."
One of Casey's special abilities was to transmit memories simultaneously to whomever he chose.
That ability could range from sharing an old memory of someone with someone else to even making you "feel" the same thing that someone else was feeling.
In this particular case, Vicente wanted Lina to predict what was about to happen and Casey to transmit to everyone else every single thing she saw during the meeting that was about to take place.
Lina and Casey immediately began to use their powers, making their pentagrams appear as their group stopped flying toward their destination.
Not long after that, the Mid-level Paragon flying toward them stopped just after getting close enough to the group to talk to them.
Seeing the faces of these Sovereigns, he couldn't help but smile at the sight of a group with so many prodigies.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})But the one who caught his attention the most was the young man he was chasing, the one who had raised the alarm at his organization's headquarters weeks ago.
He locked eyes with Vicente and said, "Son, you tried to hide, but it was futile. However, I thank you for revealing the corruption within my organization."
"What are you talking about? What do you want?" Vicente asked, as Torne assumed a defensive position.
"What am I talking about? Don't play dumb, Dark Path magician! You tried to elude us, and you almost succeeded. But now I'm here to collect your essence!" the Mid-level Paragon declared, putting away the tracking item he had been using.
Vicente and his companions didn't know it, but all the Magic Gems from the Awakening Temples had little tracking devices on them!
Jasmine had erased Vicente's data from her organization to keep him out of trouble. Still, even she didn't know that her group had something else they could use to track magicians.
Vicente's Magic Gem had given off a disturbing signal, and so this Paragon's mission had been created.
Layla found the situation odd and said. "Senior, what are you talking about? I'm a member of the Congregation of Revelations. What do you mean by this contact?"
The old man glared at Layla with a look of disgust. "You reek of that Dark Path magician, girl. How dare you claim allegiance to my faith? Once he's dead, you'll answer for your treachery!"
"Kill me?" Vicente's frown deepened. "Why do you want to kill me? What have I done other than try to hide?"
"Tsk! You deceitful wretch!
You know exactly why! You're a demon from the shadows! Are you now planning to ally with the vampires and betray our continent?
It doesn't matter. Your dark powers are formidable. But I will end you here and now before you grow any stronger!" The old man said, concealing his true intentions.
