Chapter 41 - 39

Zero detected danger behind him as he wanted to turn around to see what it was, a hit on his vital point made him knock out of consciousness.

"So lame. He needs more training, Aries!"

"Yes, Aries. I can't believe, Aries, he's the chosen to have the blood of Asura!"

"Aries is right."

Two individuals in one body was talking to themselves as they carried the unconscious young man. The girl with twin-pigtails and cat-eared hoodie, effortlessly carried the young man towards a certain direction.

"Let's bring him to Izi! Izi knows best."

"You're smart, Aries!"

"Yes, Aries. Praise me more!"

"And you are good, too!"

"Right! We are both smart and good Aries!"

The girl with two personalities was smiling as she spoke again to her other personality. They passed the tunnel with darkness on their path as the deeper parts of it was a runic symbol suspended in the middle. The girl dropped the unconscious young man as she performed a spell steps on the ground as it activated the rune.

They carried Zero towards a chamber full of crystallized ice as they put the young man down, more of they threw him on the couch. They patted the dirt away their hands while they smiled at the woman who was busy creating spell craft on her cauldron. She was the one that the third princess introduced to the youth, the ice princess - a former messenger of the deities.

But it was totally opposite to what the young man saw a while ago, as she was deaf and blind. On the contrary, she had now a sadistic glint on her eyes as she carried some kind of mischievousness while she grinned at the two Aries.

Aries played with her cat-ears as she explained, "Izi, we brought the chosen person. What will we do to him?"

"Just tie him upside down!" Izi commanded as she continued to put bizarre ingredients on her cauldron. She used her ice power to mix the inside of it.

The girl obliged and started tying Zero in an upside down manner. Aries playfully spinned the youth, making the young man nauseous as he woke up.

Zero awoke his eyes tearing up from being upside down as he was about to vomit from his position, he resisted it as he observed his blurry surroundings.

"Where am I?"

His vision cleared as he saw a grinning girl with cat-eared hoodie. Without using his qi perception, he could see a shadow of a smiling reflection of the girl. Zero frowned and turned around as he adjusted himself from this upside down position. His hands were untied as he tried to reached his tied feet while the cat-eared girl by the side just observed him in interest.

"Good morning, mister!" Deciding to stop him from making a pointless act, they greeted.

"It's not morning, Aries!" They started to fight that made the reaching young man confused at their display. They were talking to each other as they had only one body but two soul residing on it.

"How could you tell, Aries?"

"Well, I have my own biological clock!"

"We had the same body, why didn't I know that?"

"You're dumb, Aries!"

"You're dumb, too!"

Izi who was stirring the cauldron interfered with the ruckus as she apologized to the young man, "Sorry, Zero. These two are very annoying."

The young man noticed the familiar features of the woman who spoke to him. It was the immortal fairy!

'The ice princess?'

Izi saw the baffled face of the youth as she smiled in responds. She then seated herself to an ice chair infront Zero.

The vision of the young man was upside down so he could see first the ceiling of the place which had a crystallized ice like a chandelier. The place had furnitures made of ice, the most strange thing that caught the young man's attention was a cauldron on a white fire. White fire? An odd color.

"I am at the Cold Palace?" He said after observing the place.

"A-huh," Izi agreed as she grinned.

"Are you the ice princess? I thought you're deaf and blind?"

Hearing that statement, the woman chuckled as she arranged her hair. She looked directly at the youth.

"You seem ignorant. Well, I'll tell you a fact, I am not the real ice princess and I was just a substitute, more of, I am a witch of this palace and I served the Royal family."

Zero frowned as he thought, 'If she's a fake, where's the real one?'

As if she read his expression, Izi responded, "Ice princess - the messenger of the deities and the one who betrayed them. The truth is, she disappeared when the king married a human wife."

'That's what Xiu Jia had said.'

"But… do you think she left like that?" Izi trailed off.

The youth fell in deep pondering as he perceived her words. That would be truly strange… she left just like that, and wait--- what did she said about the ice princess betraying the deities? Is she messing up?

Zero stared at the woman as Izi smiled and stood up from her ice chair.

"Aries! Tie him to the table," Izi commanded the playing girl by the side.

"You can't just kidnap someone and tie them!"

"It's not our fault that you fell on the trap! So just behave as we dissect you."

"Yes, we Aries love to see the blood of someone chosen by Asura!"

"Right, right, Aries! The Circus organization will be crying as we will be the first to see the heavenly body of Asura!"

"Stop chatting! Tie him up now!" Izi said as she neared her cauldron in order to see her finished product.

"Wait! Circus! You know them? And what's this Asura you're talking about?"

"Circus? You don't know them? They're believed to be an organization who recruited high magic proficient cultivators, simply they would only recruit you if you're a mage!" Aries stated as she cut the rope that tied the young man's pair of feet.

Zero was about to struggle from their hold as he fell down when the cat-eared girl held him from struggling. She was so strong.

"Don't resist, it will only hurt you. Aries' grip is very secure, you can't escape easily," Aries said as she pulled the youth up, making Zero ġrȯȧnėd from his hurting arm.

'This girl was so harsh!'

They put the young man on the ice structured table as they tied him in a forceful manner. The rope was made of a special kind of metal that was only found in the inner parts of the earth so it was difficult to break unless you're a Late Realm martial practitioner.

"What are we talking earlier, Aries?"

"Aries, you forget easily! It's about the Circus buddies."

"Right, Aries."

"Mister? What do you want to know about the Circus? We can still entertain you until Izi finishes the spell."

"Spell? What's that for?" He asked while frowning at them.

'Don't tell me---'

"You're right! This spell will be made only for you! Isn't it a good thing, Aries?"

"Yes, Aries! Izi, the great and powerful witch made time for you to make this one and only spell!"

'What are they going to do? Is it about that Asura something? I don't know any Asura!'

"So so Mister?"

"So Mister mister?"

Aries echoed what she said in a playful manner as she had a delighted face while peering at the tied young man on the table.

"Hmm."

The young man just went with their play as he thought up a plan to escape this predicament.

"You wanna still hear about the Circus?"

"Let's talk about the Circus!"

It might be a good thing to gather some informations from the twisted girl about this mysterious organization. Truthfully, Zero would felt a pang on his ċhėst as he heard the word Circus, like it had a thing on him.

A thing that he would be truly connected in the future as he travelled worlds.

"So let's first start how Circus suddenly emerged!"

"Right, Aries! Circus emerged after the Great War and was established by an unknown person. Many believed that they recruited mages and an organization of performers but the truth is…"

The other personality continued, "They are an organization of systems!"

'Systems?'

"Yes! It's from our reliable source. It said that they could access realms through realms, dimensions through dimensions, and worlds through worlds!"

"Aries, I wanted to work at the Circus! But sadly, we couldn't, as chosen individuals were the ones who had that kind of opportunity."

"Hmp."

The cat-eared girl went silent as she pouted to herself. She wasn't aware that the young man that she was talking to, was experiencing a severe headache.

Crashing memories invaded his head and a voice was heard from it that stopped time.

[Activating system reboot…]

[System has been rebooted]

[Do you want to download the memory file 1?]