Inside the castle's meeting hall were the angel council as well as their leader, the Seraphim. He appeared to be a middle-aged man with three pairs of white wings on his back. His appearance was gentle, making him look like a peace-loving guy. He wore a long white robe and golden crown, making him look majestic.
Besides him was the chancellor of this council, his wife. She had this golden hair and bountiful body, reminding Alex about a certain girl in the movie. The gentle and loving angel mother. However, her calm and mature expression changed slightly after taking a glimpse of the visitors.
"May I know what is the meaning of this, Phoenix Queen? You bring the genius Princess of Elven Race, and there is even a human," asked her with a troubled tone.
"Fufu… You have my sincerest apologies for doing this without informing you. But to follow the proper procedure and informing you about this would have invited more anxiety and confusion, making it a somewhat difficult proposition at the time." The phoenix queen smiled and explained.
"Well, certainly. Nonetheless, you should inform us first." She asked again. "I am afraid you have us completely at a loss, Phoenix Queen. To begin with, why did you bring those two people?"
"Not two, one," said Stina while narrowing her eyes.
The entire council was taken aback by that statement, wondering who she really brought to this place.
"What?!" Startled, she wanted to ask again before the king, who was silent until now, interrupted her.
"The human?"
"!!!" All of them turned their heads toward the king, who suddenly spoke.
"Exactly so." Phoenix Queen answered with a serious expression.
"!!!" The people looked back at the phoenix queen, startled by the answer. The human was someone's unknown while the Elven Princess was well-known. It was obvious to see that the Elven Princess should be the one. Much to their dismay, it was this unknown human that was the real guest.
"For the Human to come to the Flying Continent, he must pass through our Continent and have the necessary pass. To that end, he somehow arrived at the Elven Kingdom first because he did not have a pass to our kingdom, thus the king agreed to grant him the pass. Their terms for the pass was allowing their princess to accompany him on the journey. I agreed and here she is." She explained while changing a bit of detail.
"How… How could you have agreed to that by yourself? If the Elven Kingdom wants to come, they should also make a formal notice to inform us." The seraphim's wife said.
"Certainly, you are correct. If this means that afterward, our Phoenix Race must compensate you, then so be it. However, if that is what it costs to arrange a face-to-face meeting between a Human like him that would make the entire world tremble and the wise Seraphim, then I consider it a trivial price to pay.
"O's Seraphim, as a wise seraph who wishes to see the united world, I respectfully ask that you exchange some words with the human, he who rose and challenges the world from unfertile land." The Phoenix Queen said with a serious expression.
"Challenges the world?" Confused, the others kept looking at Alex and the Seraphim. Meanwhile, the Seraphim immediately realized what she meant, "Is he… I see..."
"Yes. Exactly." The Phoenix Queen nodded with a serious expression.
The Seraphim suddenly stood up from his throne, clasping his hand and introduced himself. "Allow me to introduce myself properly. Zarall, Thirtieth Seraphim of the Angel Race."
The moment his name filled everyone's ears, they felt indescribable pressure coming out of it.
Alex closed his eyes before smiling, feeling the majestic pressure of his name. What he witnessed was not the pressure of the name of Zarall. Instead, it was coming for the fact that he was the ruler of this race that kept the prosperity of the Angel Race.
"I am just your Ordinary Human, Alexander Sirius." Alex introduced himself with just a simple smile. Yet, everyone spat out, thinking, 'There is no way for a Phoenix Queen to take Ordinary Human here.'
"Hoh… Despite your pretty face, you seem to have grown up by yourself, not like a sheltered duckling. I have realized your intention. State it now."
Not wanting to keep the suspense anymore, a Purple Crystal came out of his Spirit Ring as he said, "I, Alexander Sirius, Challenge the trial of Angel Race."
"!!!" This utterly shocked them. Wanting to berate the Phoenix Queen about this, the Seraphim's wife stopped by the appearance of a Yellow Crystal.
The two crystals came closer and shone brightly, blinding the eyes of them. However, the moment Alex closed his eyes, he returned into the plain white world, meeting the mysterious man again.
"Take the Green Box to Strength Plateau."
Alex was too tired to even say anything, realizing he would not be able to talk with this person. Even so, the message kept lingering inside his mind, making him wonder what he meant by Green Box. He came back to reality without knowing the answer.
"?!" The Seraphim noticed a slight change in his expression. Seeing that he was accompanied by the Phoenix Queen and Elven Genius Princess, he should have completed their trial first beforehand. Because of that, he should have accustomed to this sight, yet there was still a change in his expression. This made the Seraphim suspicious.
"How intriguing… The trial has been approved by the crystals. However, it is true that the Phoenix Queen has breached an agreement by bringing you to this place.
"I don't need the compensation, but all of you need to be tested. If you won't, then I will do whatever it takes to stop you. Shall you collect all crystals, all races might unite. The problem is not every union would bring joy. They might also bring destruction. Hence, I need to discern your true intention."
Taking out his golden wand, he knocked the floor twice. In an instant, a light started enveloping them.
Alex realized that he came inside an illusion and he decided not to break it immediately despite knowing it was an illusion attack. Breaking this would make the Seraphim suspecting him even more.
The scenery started to change and he could see the Elven Race's tree in front of him. However, the tree was burning, the human soldiers were attacking all elves. Raping, Killing, Plundering. All acts that would lead to depravity appeared in this scene.
It would then change to the Phoenix Race, having the same scenery. Alex felt nothing upon watching this, knowing that this was only an illusion. Judging how the Seraphim told him, it seemed this was another possibility of him getting all the crystals.
The human would grow in strength and start dominating the whole world. Sadly, this might be possible if he was a real citizen in this world.
He broke this illusion, saying, "I just want to go back to where I belong. I am not interested in ruling over just to see something like this."
He came back to reality, looking at the Seraphim with a poker face. At the same time, Stina also broke the illusion.
She also saw the same picture of Alex bringing the chaos into the world and found it unbelievable. Alex just wanted to go back to the other world. If he wanted to rule the world, he would use her to rule the Phoenix Race first, considering she was his contracted beast.
"Good. I have seen that both of you don't wish for such a thing. If you wish for such a thing, the illusion will engulf you." The seraphim turned to the Phoenix Queen, telling her she did not need to compensate them.
"Fufu…" Before they continued, they heard Shelka suddenly laughing, surprised to see her not out of the illusion yet.
…
Shelka was experiencing the same thing that Alex and Stina saw. However, seeing her race slaughtered, she chose to stop Alex by 'sacrificing' herself. She let Alex do anything he wanted to her body and eventually, she was pregnant with his child.
The human race stopped their conquest after that and she saved the Elven Race. She was happy at that time… because she bore his child, not because her race was saved.
Their relationship went wrong at the beginning, but after some time, Alex said he did not know why, but he started to love her. That was her biggest wish.
After giving birth to their child, Alex became more and more in love with her. He kept showering her with love and would bring whatever she wanted. At one point, she wanted the world, Alex conquered the whole world just for her.
Many beautiful women were trying to climb on Alex's bed, such as Lilian, Ellen, and so on. Yet, because of the undying love, he refused them and told the world how much he loved her.
She became the holy mother, the mother of the world, and respected by all people. Until at one time, she stood upon the world tree and looked down, saying, "I am the mother of the world. If there is someone who dares to steal my husband, I will kill their entire race. Fufu, I love you, my Supreme."
Unbeknownst to her, those words became her doom as she also said it out loud in the real world.
Dumbfounded, all of them stared at her with a complicated expression… especially Alex. He looked at her with disgust, knowing who the 'Supreme' in her mouth was.
After that moment, she snapped back into reality, looking at Alex, Stina, Seraphim and all others with a blank face. A few seconds later, she realized what she just uttered and asked, "Did I say it?"
No one answered her, but she could tell just by looking at Alex's disgusted expression. Her face became pale as she walked toward him, saying, "Sir… Sir Supreme… Let me explain…"
Alex closed his eyes, saying with a serious tone. "I have got a reason to send you back to Elven Race."
Hearing that alone made her knees soft as she fell on her butt. Despair filled her mind, realizing Alex was disappointed in her and would never fulfill that wish for her. "Sir… Please… Please, let me explain."
Shelka begged, but her words went in one ear and out the other. The illusion was to seek their true nature and intention. She was engulfed by it, telling that she wanted the world's destruction.
"I am sorry, Princess Shelka. I would like you to leave the Angel Continent right at this moment. Shall you step upon our land for the second time, we won't hesitate to raise our arms even if that means we would clash against the Elven Race." Deeming her as dangerous, the Seraphim passed his judgment.
"I apologize too, Princess Shelka. I also can't let you step on our Phoenix Continent." Phoenix Queen stated.
They did not kill her because they knew her dream would come true if she were on Alex's side. Unfortunately, if they stopped Alex from taking the trial, it would prove otherwise, meaning that instead of killing her, it should be enough to separate her from Alex.
Alex also understood that. Even so, he still deemed her as dangerous. Taking Nano's card out of his inventory, he ordered him secretly. "Nano, after this, you will go to the Elven Kingdom. Make sure a certain princess does not do anything funny…
"If she tries to, you have my permission… to kill her. I will even use the EXP cards if you don't have enough power."
"Understood."
Meanwhile, he was looking at Shelka who was dragged away by Seraphim's wife with a few others. Despite seeing how desperate she was, Alex did not say anything. It might be better to remove her earlier, but if he did that, he could expect retaliation from the Elven Race.
Phoenix Race aside, he doubted Angel Race would help him. This meant he would also need to summon Leoz and the others to fight and that would only lead their progress in the other world into a halt.
After sending Shelka back, they continued their conversation.