Unsealing Emptiness

Taking advantage of the fact that the ancestor had been on edge because of the presence of a supposedly Rank-10 Mage, Ozul dealt his lethal attack.

“Phew~ That took me by surprise as well,” the old man again commented.

Ozul gave him a side glance. He was sure that the old man had seen it coming from a mile ago, but he still let him proceed with it.

From his nature, the old man looked as if he just didn’t want anyone to die from this conflict, but his previous words confirmed that he only protected him. For whatever reasons, he didn’t know.

For now, the only thing inside his mind remained his severed arm in the glass box.

After decades of struggle, one of his arms was right in front of him!

.....

With no one to stop him, he just had to go there and pick it up!

Although he could freely move the Ball of Purity, his body was a different matter altogether. Moving even a muscle felt like needles stinging him all over.

Ozul bore the pain and stood up with the help of the Ball of Purity supporting him. He had a habit of keeping his emotions to himself, so even when it pained him extensively, not a hiss escaped his lips.

With slow and staggering steps, he neared the box of glass on the ground. Just as he was about to bend down to pick up the box,

Foosh!

“Hm? Is this yours, boy?” the old man who had been standing meters apart before suddenly appeared before him and picked up the box containing his arm before him.

Immediately, alarms started to ring inside Ozul’s brain as he watched the old man examining the arm. If the old man found anything unusual about it, and also took interest in it, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get it back from this old man in the state he was right now.

“It is... Give it back...” Ozul muttered as his eyes began to darken.

Following his words, the atmosphere started to get heavier with Ozul giving the old man a death stare that seemed to be warning the latter not to have second thoughts.

His icy glare might have caused anyone who looked at him to shake to the core, but the old man only looked more amused.

His smile stretched, showing all of his teeth. After a while, he spoke up, “Hoho~ The cat scratches huh~? There, what would I even do with a severed arm?”

The old man then threw the glass box back to Ozul which instantly dispelled the heaviness in the atmosphere.

But Ozul still kept an eye on the old man. Although he looked very friendly and didn’t give off any negative emotions, Ozul was careful around him since he was a complete mystery.

Still, he caught the glass box using the Ball of Purity and proceeded to open it.

Meanwhile, the old man was looking at him strangely.

. . .

‘This kid sure is interesting,’ the old man thought as he stared at Ozul to try to figure out the mess of mystery he couldn’t figure out.

Earlier, he had noticed the strange whiff of energy lingering around the arm, and couldn’t help but be curious about it.

He also knew how this kid didn’t use Mana either. It was his first time seeing anyone like that.

When he had first encountered Ozul, he only had a hunch that this kid with the strange black cat was somehow different. However, now seeing it with his own eyes, there was nothing about this kid that he could find normal!

As far as he knew, there wasn’t a method that could reattach one’s limbs back together, so he was interested to see what this kid was going to do with his severed arm.

After that, he also wanted to have a talk with him...

. . .

Ozul looked at his hand in the glass box and with a single thought of his, the Ball of Purity crushed the box, scattering the glass everywhere.

Now that his arm was right before him with no one to take it away from him, Ozul couldn’t help but think how it had grown even after it was severed from his body.

He was just a few days old when his limbs were brutally cut off, but his arm in front of him was as big as it should have been if it had never been separated.

For now, he pushed these thoughts in the back of his mind since it was the same with his leg previously.

Before he began to take off his prosthetics, he noticed that one end of his arm didn’t have any skin, it was all black with just a few strands of black smoke occasionally coming out instead.

Ozul ignored it for now since he didn’t know many things, he just needed to add one more to the list, while it was important to reattach his arm first.

Without waiting for another second, he removed his left prosthetic arm and placed his real arm in its place.

He didn’t know how or why it would even reattach like it was never even severed, but his leg had previously reattached just like that as well.

The moment his arm touched his skin, he noticed the life-like symbols on his arm suddenly move in a strange pattern before crawling towards his body. And as if they were just some illusion, they disappeared right after sewing the arm back together.

The moment his arm was reattached, it felt like a sudden weight pressed on him which made him stumble back on the ground.

However, all his pain slowly started to fade away right after! And just a second later,

Boom!

A wave of pressure was released from his body, flattening everything around him in a small radius!

“!!!”

The old man suddenly took a step back, his usual carefree smile was instantly wiped from his face. He didn’t know what was happening, but there was a certain alarm going off in his head to stay as far away as possible!

He was just observing the kid in front of him attaching his arm back again, this sudden feeling of dread was something he never expected.

‘This kid is dangerous...’ the old man thought as he stared at Ozul staring blankly at the ground.

While the old man was surprised and the people who rushed here from afar were forced to halt their steps because of the pressure atmosphere, Ozul had his mind occupied by a torrent of different thoughts.

After that wave of pressure was released from his body, Ozul suddenly felt his world go blank and found himself being enveloped by nothingness.

He had felt the same when he had reattached his leg, but the condition of his leg was a lot different than his arm.

His leg was continuously being absorbed by the monster just before he had gotten it back, but the arm was perfectly preserved with only one end of it having those strands of smoke occasionally releasing out.

Just like with his leg, Ozul expected images to flash by his mind, giving him a little more information like before he had come to know the existence of other planets.

However, nothing as such happened and he was left disappointed that he couldn’t get any more hints this time.

Though his disappointment was quickly washed away by what happened next.

It was as if something had happened inside his body, but a warm feeling took over his entire body, and before he knew it, he felt the entire world in an entirely different way!

It was as if all of his sensory organs were replaced or renewed, but it was as though everything just suddenly became easier!

Ozul certainly wasn’t complaining about all the advantages he received because, in the end, his main goal was always to just get his body parts back and bask in that distant fading feeling once again.

And he knew more than anyone else that he already felt completely different from before.

A few seconds later, he came back to his senses and noticed everything around him.

He was on the ground, surrounded by rubbles and debris while he noticed Rufus together with the rest of his guards cautiously standing at a safe distance.

The old man didn’t have his annoying smirk anymore, but just as Ozul looked towards him, a toothy grin was formed on his face.

‘Hahaha! I knew it! You will be the perfect candidate!’ the old man thought as he abruptly began to laugh loudly.

Still basking in the comfortable feeling of finally getting one of his arms back, a smile was about to bloom onto his face, but the old man’s laughter interrupted it in the middle.

Confused as to why the old man was laughing now, Ozul looked at him with a slightly tilted head.

Just then, he remembered to again examine the old man since he couldn’t measure his cultivation level before.

Now that he even felt as if he could go toe to toe with a Rank-10 Mage, getting a read on the old man’s cultivation base wouldn’t be a problem.

However, he was left surprised that the old man still didn’t exude even a bit of Mana just like him.

Ozul couldn’t help but think that the old man might be someone really like him!

“Let us go, young man. I have to discuss something with you,” the old man said after he stopped laughing.

‘Dangerous indeed... haha! I wonder how much of a headache you will give them!’