10 Gate to the Canyon of Virtue

Knock!

Knock!

Samael turned to face the door when the door is knocked on from the other side, it seems his scream earlier woke up the others, "Samael, is everything okay in there?" a muffled voice asked from the other side.

"Why don't you come inside and take a look?" Samael replied while rolling the map.

Upon hearing this the person on the other side opens the door, a woman with light gray hair poked her head inside to check the room. Her gray-blue eyes alongside her slightly chubby cheeks were enough for Samael to recognize her, it was Lily.

Ever since that tragedy, Lily also stayed beside him and keep doing anything she can to help.

Most of the time she would stay beside Samael whenever he was feeling depressed and down from remembering the tragedy or facing trouble that he can't handle, she keeps on becoming the light in his dim-dark world.

It's safe to say that she's also the reason he can keep on living and not quit life as Lucius did.

Aside from her longer hair, Lily also changed in terms of appearance throughout the years.

When before she has a pliant and kind face that makes her cute, she now retains the same nature on her face but now the cuteness has turned into a developed beauty from her maturity. Her coming age makes her a beauty worth recognizing.

'Maybe after I get the System and restore justice, I should marry her...' Samael thought.

Nobody has always been there more than Lily in his life, and that alone is an act worthy for him to court her. It was not possible before because she's a servant while he's the son of a Priest of Light, but now that problems ceased to exist.

If he wanted, he can be with anyone he likes now. And he chooses Lily to fill that role.

"Is it the nightmare again...?" She stepped inside and asked in concern.

Samael can only nod his head with a wry smile as this kind of thing is too often for him and Lily, he can't get enough sleep due to the nightmare that keeps haunting him which resulted in bags under his eyes.

Approaching closer, Lily holds Samael's face gently to channel strength to him.

"Don't worry, when this is all over, those nightmares will also disappear..." Lily said trying to comfort Samael that has a lot on his mind, he has suffered through hell to get to this point. And now the last step is right in front of him.

For a moment, silence filled the room as the two of them enjoyed each other's company.

"Rest some more, I'll notify you when Norman gets back from his scout" Lily said with a soft tone, she then retracts back her smooth hand before she turns around and headed to the door. She then left the room followed by a light thud of the door closing.

Samael decided to lie on the bed for a moment to prepare himself for the last act.

But about five minutes later when he was about to close his eyes again, his eyes jolted open when he heard hurried footsteps rushing towards his door. In reflex, Samael grabs a sword beside his bed fearing that it might be the Divine Sanctum of Divinity.

Tension heightened even more when the door was slammed open which alerted Samael.

Just then he lower his sword when he realized that it was not the Divine Sanctum of Divinity, it was Norman instead, panting his breaths away while sweating profusely. "Lord Samael, we need to move right now!" he said amidst his rough breaths.

"What's wrong? Is it them again?" Samael asked with a visible frown can be seen on his face.

Upon hearing this Norman nodded his head strongly, "Yes, I managed to spot Cyrus and Vivian are about to reach this city. But thankfully I already find the entrance of the canyon, we need to get hurry and get there before Cyrus and Vivian finds us!"

Not wasting any second, Samael quickly changed and grab whatever he needs to prepare to leave.

'How can they catch up to us this fast...? We managed to flee from them perfectly before, there shouldn't be any lead for them to find us this fast!' Samael thought inside his head, it's weird that Cyrus and Vivian are able to find him this fast.

A feeling of unease welled up inside his heart, but he doesn't want to assume.

Soon enough Samael, Lily, and Norman followed by six other men that are all mages walked through the city with extreme caution. Each one of the six men is Fedele's friend or acquaintance, people that feel indebted to Fedele from being saved or helped.

Most of them are wearing a cloth that acted as a mask to hide their faces, especially Samael.

The Divine Sanctum of Divinity has immense power over the Cramanthia Empire, an empire that hosted all human kingdoms in the whole wide world. In most of the human kingdoms, Samael has become wanted with a bounty on his head.

But thankfully, Zlile City is quite desolate, and news doesn't reach here that fast.

Going through the pedestrian street they quickly head over to the south entrance of the city, Cyrus and Vivian are coming from the north entrance so going to the south is the best bet to avoid them. "Norman, lead the way. We need to reach the canyon entrance as soon as possible" Samael said.

Upon hearing this, Norman nodded his head and walks to the very front.

Keeping their heads down to avoid eye contact with the citizen of the city walking by the street, the group of nine quickly made their way out through the south gate. Leaving the city, they instantly head to the mountain ranges that rise up from their view's skylines.

Despite the dark sky that is still devoid of light, the jutting peaks of the mountain can still be seen.

Norman follows the main river that streams meander through the mountains, the nine disappeared into the lush green landscape that covers the space between the mountains. It hails a sense of mysteriousness, especially knowing that a dormant power is hidden underneath this beautiful surface.

About ten minutes later, they are starting to ascend a pretty steep slope.

To make matter worse, a heavy downpour began as the sky started to cry and make the ground beneath their feet slippery and more difficult to traverse. The trees' canopies were dense enough to protect them, but not enough to keep the ground dry.

"Both of you, go on ahead. Make sure there are no magical beasts in front of us" Norman instructed.

Upon hearing this, two of the masked men dash ahead to clear the area in front of them. Since they are avoiding Cyrus and Vivian, fighting a magical beast would announce their location and give leads to them.

It's not going to be ideal, and Norman tries to make sure that doesn't happen.

Keeping a steady distance between themselves and their senses sharp, the group of nine finally reaches the foot of a mountain, it's an open place that is not a good place to be in. Samael who is holding hands with Lily reaches this open place before they gazed to their front.

Samael gasped when he saw a hidden gate covered by moss and all kinds of flora.

The test of time is depicted clearly by the flora that keeps the gate hidden. If one doesn't look closely, one wouldn't spot this gate. And even if one does spot this gate, one wouldn't be able to get in as the map is the key to opening this gate.

"Beautiful..." Lily can't help but comment from the side in amazement.

Her comment puts a smile on Samael's face as he too was mesmerized by the hidden gate, this is the gate that would change his entire world around. Beyond this gate lies the power called System, and it's going to be the thing that God guides him to.

Walking closer to the gate, Samael realizes that the gate was bigger than he initially thought.

From afar the gate is about three times his height, it's quite massive already as no humans in this world are that big. Even the Erovian race which is known to be monstrous in physique only has a few that can reach this big.

But as he drew nearer, the gate proved to be much larger than anticipated.

It was not taller than he anticipated, the height of the gate is still three times his height, but it spreads far horizontally which is weirder than it already is. Samael can't help but wonder who would design this gate to be this wide and for what.

Aside from the size of the gate, he also finds ancient writings engraved on the door.

Samael squinted his eyes when he finds the ancient writings started rearranging themselves as if it was controlled by magic, they rearranged themselves until it becomes a language that he can understand. "By virtue it manifests, by virtue the way opens, by virtue the world will be restored..."

"You can read that?" Lily asked from the side, hearing Samael's light murmurs.

Pausing for a second, a smile appears on Samael's face as he started to affirm his hope that God really did guide him here. "I don't know how, but I can read it easily. I think only I can read it" he replied with a blossoming smile.

But while Samael was inspecting the gate, Norman looks around in worry.

"Where's Donald and Jervis?" Norman asked the man on his side, and the man replied with a shake of his head as he also doesn't know where Donald and Jervis went. Both of them are tasked to keep a lookout, but they suddenly disappeared.

Feeling crisis rising inside his heart, Norman signals for the other mages to get close to the gate.

Each of them draws their weapons and creates a half-circle-shaped formation with Samael and Lily on their backs, they look at the treelines with cautious eyes before one of them saw something come out of the treelines.

"Look! It's them... they're here!" One of them shouted while pointing in a direction.

Upon hearing this, Norman glanced in the direction the man pointed before he saw two figures coming out through the darkness of the forest with sadistic smiles on their faces. "It seems our chasing game has finally come to an end, this mountain range will be your grave. Samael..."

Walking out of the tree lines, Cyrus and Vivian came out and exposes their murderous intent.

Samael's body becomes stiff when he heard this remark despite the heavy downpour, he slowly turns to his back before his eyes rested on Cyrus and Vivian followed by more than a dozen mages coming out of the treelines.

"W-We're surrounded..."