Chapter 33: The Gateway To Hell

Zhalia rubbed her forehead. Finally, she mumbled, "Brat, it's a matter of fact everywhere that if a person whose existence is scarier than the creator itself, appears on the soil of any place, he is bound to be destroyed."

Kanae snorted. "You mean to say that they were all pathetic creatures who just couldn't accept the fact that someone is more powerful than them."

Zhalia gave a small smile, slightly ironic. "That's true without a doubt. But this case was different. The person had the power to create seals. Different types of seals. And he had the ability to create a seal that could open... The Gateway."

Kanae's heart gave a dull thud. "The Gateway?"

Zhalia's expression grew grave. "The Gateway to Hell."

Miao gasped. She had only been aware of the story that everyone had told and not the real version.

Even Kanae's face grew slightly pale.

"Any one with such power was undoubtedly going to be eliminated. But, then came another person. He fooled the good person and managed to make him open the Gateway to Hell." Zhalia shivered.

"What appeared out of the Gateway wasn't something human. Tortured souls with chains hanging on their necks, rods passing through their bodies crawled out. They jumped on every person they found and sucked out their soul to become powerful." Zhalia closed her eyes, reminded of her teacher's expression when he had narrated it.

"But that wasn't the worst of it. Aside from the human souls, the guardian beasts of Hell appeared. They didn't have intelligence, they only knew their duty. As a result, along with the souls, they destroyed many humans. If that hadn't been enough, one of the most powerful Guardian Beasts- Plague had appeared. Its size was around the same as a mountain. The only way to describe such a condition was, 'living hell'. Nunoct had become a living hell."

Kanae swallowed the bitterness in her mouth. She still felt that all this was too unreal.

"The good person had closed the Gateway again, but the monsters didn't disappear. The person tried his best to suppress the monsters, but all his mana had already been sucked while making the seal of Gateway. Usually, he would absorb mana, but there was no time. The humans were terrified. Having no other choice, the person called upon the Ancient Beasts- who are the true guardians of Nunoct. But there is always a price to pay for huge mana acts. Half of Nunoct was destroyed in the process. The person sucked in mana and managed to restore Nunoct to normal, but his heart wasn't as pure as it had been before. The betrayal of his friend had left him bitter. Those of pure heart, will never receive harsh treatment. Those of tainted heart, will receive retribution. All the body seals that a person could possibly imagine, had been applied on the person's body as a rebound. The person could no longer use mana as before." Zhalia's eyes turned dull.

"The person had no offspring, so his powers weren't carried on by the bloodline. But, there was a rumor of a boy being affected by the same problem three thousand years ago. Word was that he too, suffered from a rebound, and his body was sealed. This seal was then called the Hundred Points seal. As the name suggests, there are a hundred seals on your body that cannot be removed by anyone but you yourself." Zhalia said, looking at Kanae seriously.

Kanae nodded, serious for once.

"I heard that both of them died some years later. Probably because the mana they had accumulated exploded inside their body. The same goes for your body too."

Kanae's eyes blazed. She was annoyed. Why was it that no matter where she was born, she was fated to die in a few years?! She may be violent and rude, but even she was a girl. More than anything, Kanae wanted a family of her own. At the very least, she wanted to experience having a baby.

"Can you tell me how to cure my problem?" Kanae asked Zhalia in a grave tone.

Zhalia gave a sarcastic laugh. "If it had been so easy to cure, do you think those two would have died? I'm no god, I'm only a human."

Kanae gave a stubborn stare. "I do not wish to die."

"Honey, no one wants to. It's human nature." Zhalia said, fixing her hair.

"I don't believe that it's impossible. There must be some or the other way. I'm willing to go to whatever extent." Kanae was obstinate. She would never go down without a fight.

Zhalia's eyes sparkled slightly on seeing Kanae's determination. "Are you perfectly sure? Even if it requires you to bear a lot of pain?"

Kanae snorted. "Pain? I'll go through hell and back to gain my life." She had already forgotten what pain felt like, years ago. Her selfishness would only make her rise.

Zhalia smiled. She was glad to see that Kanae hadn't given up. She had a feeling that the girl in front of her was going to become someone great.

"Alright. At the moment, I can only break two seals on your body. That is the extent of my capability."

"Which two seals?" Kanae asked.

"The seals on certain points on your hands. With this, slowly, you can break the other seals yourself. I won't be able to do so." Zhalia muttered, patting Kanae's hands.

Kanae was suspicious. "You said nobody other than the cursed person himself can take off the seals. How are you able to do so?"

Zhalia's eyes grew dark. "Remember the boy I told you about? He was my one and only master. Back then, he told me that he had researched how to break two of the seals. He said that his time was already near, breaking his own seals won't have much effect. But he said that he believed there would be another such person who would rise on Nunoct again. And he wasn't wrong." Her lips' ends arched slightly in a sad smile.

Kanae felt grateful to the man. Because of him, she had a chance to live again.

"So? What do you want in return?" Kanae asked in a business-like tone.

"Pardon?"

"You heard me. There's no such thing as free. I'm sure this too comes with a price?" Kanae wasn't stupid. She came from a world where money decided a person's status.

Zhalia laughed. She didn't expect Kanae to be so clever.

"You're right on that matter. My wish is for you to be my second disciple." She smirked.

Kanae sat still for a while, but she quickly refused. "Anything but that."

Zhalia looked at her with shocked eyes. "Why? I'm very famous, you know. You won't get a master like me."

Kanae couldn't really say that she had trust issues, so she said "I don't want a pervert as my master."

Zhalia's face grew dark red in anger. She threw a slipper on Kanae, who skillfully dodged it. Before she could leap on Kanae, she was held back by Miao who had been ignored by both of them for a long time.

"I just become loose on drinking alcohol." Zhalia admitted.

"Loose? You should be chained to the wall. You almost stole my purity." Kanae scoffed, pouting her pretty lips.

"You don't look pure in the first place!? You- you-you!" She yelled.

Kanae ignored her and started cleaning her ear by sticking her little finger in her ear.

"Stop that dirty act! If you don't want to become my disciple, then I won't remove those seals either." Zhalia firmly said.

Kanae contemplated for a while. Then reluctantly, she agreed.

She sighed as she saw the content face of Zhalia. 'It can't be helped, she and Miao are the only ones who know about my condition. As long as I'm here, they won't be able to tell anyone about it.' Kanae mused as she stretched her body a bit.