"Damn!"
Pandora gnashed her teeth as she cut down her enemy.
This was only the third Nox she'd met thus far. There weren't large numbers of them like normal, but every single one had a unique power that made them difficult to deal with and especially unpredictable.
"Before, we didn't really have to worry about Demonic Providence because we were only fighting the waves. Now that we're nearing the top, I guess it's unavoidable," she muttered to herself as she looked around.
She couldn't see many of her teammates. They'd split into a number of groups and taken different worlds in this Mystic Realm as their training grounds, but her…?
"Dammit!"
She cursed again. It was rare for her to do so, but in the past few weeks, she'd been unable to contain herself.
After all, Rose sent her to this world alone!
Every Mystic Realm had a condition that needed to be cleared for it to be counted as completed.
In the Storm Heavens Mystic Realm that Damien raided when he first came to the Divine Realm, the condition was simply to "survive."
This wasn't rare amongst Mystic Realms. In fact, most of them were survival conditions with a set time period that allowed the contestants to explore as much as possible to reap rewards before exiting.
Unfortunately, the Starry Sky Mystic Realm wasn't so forgiving.
Let alone a survival condition, its condition was completely hidden as if the challengers were supposed to be stuck here for an eternity.
It made sense considering the nature of the realm itself, but there was simply no way that was true!
Instead, this realm required one to unveil its mystery while they explored. There were relics buried underground and in ruins that alluded to the existence of an ancient civilization that once lived in this place, the so-called "Irason Empire."
From what Pandora learned, it existed long, long ago and never had contact with the outside world. Their specialty was flame techniques, and while their Emperor was a calm and logical man, they were an extremely warmongering civilization.
Every power, influence, race, or other group of any sort that used to reside in this realm was subjugated by them and turned into a pawn of their empire, and when there was nothing left to conquer…
"They turned their eyes to the outside world."
It sounded like the story of the Nox, a story of constant slaughter without a clear goal.
However, the Irason Empire didn't experience the same success as the ink race.
From the records, they were struck down by the "power of heaven" before they could reach their end goal and invade the true universe.
There weren't many records of that power. Pandora searched for days on end, but the ruins she found only held stories of the civilization itself, not the cause of their destruction.
"I've been looking for that stupid 'power of heaven' for over a month now, but I've only found trash!" Pandora complained.
It wasn't without reason. After all, besides some hurried writings as that power decimated them, how could they create records of it?
This prosperous and powerful empire was brought to ruin in but a single second, whatever destroyed them eradicated all life in the Mystic Realm, and…
'Maybe that "cause" is what turned this place into a Mystic Realm in the first place.'
Mystic Realms weren't like hidden realms. They were exclusively under the Dimensional Leaderboard's control, and were not inhabited by intelligent races.
The most one could find were beasts whose intelligence was forced to remain untouched, those who could at most learn a bit of human language without realizing the heights of the sky they were trapped under.
So even the existence of the Irason Empire's ruins here was confusing.
So was the fact that they were originally in a secret realm somewhere.
It was hard to say Pandora wasn't curious. Despite her annoyance, the mysteries of this ancient culture awakened her adventurous spirit and made her want to dig up its truth.
But it was hard.
These thoughts just kept creeping up and making her angrier, which naturally impeded her search.
There weren't many Nox in her world.
After all, this world was desolate and barely had traces of life in it at all. It was obviously a dead-end, so both sides ignored it.
"...so why did that bitch send me here?!"
Pandora cursed and complained, but she didn't actually hold negative feelings towards Rose.
More or less, she wanted to curse something out, and Rose was the closest target.
"Haa, never mind. Whatever the reason, it's true that this world isn't as desolate as it seems."
It was here that she learned so much about the Irason Empire and the "Power of Heaven," and from her inferences, this should've been the civilization's main world.
'For it to be this rotten, I can't really say they were wrong to assume heaven was the one who killed them.'
And it wasn't just information.
There were roughly 100 participants in this Mystic Realm. Excluding the Judgement Order group, there were 40 rising geniuses and 55 of the Nox.
Of them, Pandora only met five enemies so far.
The number made her angrier, since even those incompetent Nox devalued this world, but…
'...that strange power, it's back again.'
Every time she killed someone, a red energy filled her body and filled her with power. She didn't trust it, nor did she use it, but its presence seemed to increase her ability to excavate this place.
Ever so slightly, a link formed in her heart that guided her towards the center of the world.
'There's something there. As for whether it's positive or negative…'
She didn't know, but she had to look for it.
With that in mind, she ignored everything else and tried to suppress her rage, digging into the subterranean layers of the world.
The ground had a strange viscosity. It was like volcanic ash mixed with slime, giving one an extremely unnerving feeling as they moved deeper into its surface, but Pandora just gritted her teeth and continued.
What could she say?
She already cursed everyone she could think of and her physical anger was being taken out on the rock, so the only thing she could do was cope.
However, as she got closer to her destination, it became harder to control.
Her thoughts ran wild.
Curses turned into threats. She wanted to beat the ones who put her in this unfortunate situation until they could no longer loom above her.
And by the time she reached the pulsing red heart at the center of the world, her urge was undeniably one to slaughter.
She stared at the blood-red heart with eyes that were starting to mirror its color.
She started to understand the Irason Empire. Their desire for conquest was an undeniable urge of every human, and even she felt it to an extent.
No, she felt it wholly.
She also wanted to dominate everyone else in this place and put them under her foot.
And when she was done–
Pandora's expression crumpled.
BOOOOOOOM!
A nearby wall exploded, sending chunks of rubble flying out her.
"Who dares interrupt me?!"
She roared out, incinerating the projectiles and stepping forward.
However, at that moment, her eyes went wide.
It wasn't even a centimeter away from her eye.
She could already feel its sharpness digging into her skin.
A massive spire of twisted red and black tentacles that were pulsating like they were alive.
Its tip, sharper than any artifact, was just a moment away from turning her head into modern art.
