After walking for a bit more, they arrived in front of an ancient-looking door. Two shoddy pillars were standing at the side of the door. Two similar statues were on top of the pillars. They statues were of creatures that seemed to be a mixture of fox and dog. The upper half of their heads were covered by something like a mask.

"Master, we've found it?!!" Candice let out her voice in surprise and excitement.

"Right. This is it. Behind that door."

"Let's open it quickly and remove the seal—"

"Not that fast," The young boy shook his head as he gestured to Candice to look at the two statues.

Sure enough, the two statues suddenly moved—their rock-like bodies suddenly turned alive, revealing the holy beasts they were. One of them had a very sharp and long blade as its tail, while the other one had sharp long canines and claws.

"Let's remove the security system first," the young boy jumped as the black shadow swirled out of his body. The black shadow enveloped the young boy, it seemed to be helping him float. The black shadow then revealed a humanoid shape—a figure that seemed like a female with its long hair and red crescent-shaped eyes.

Since her master was taking on the holy beast with the sharp canines and claws, Candice immediately positioned herself in front of the other statue.

The two beasts growled before their warning voice resounded.

[Intruder alert. You shall not enter this place. Should you wish to do so, you should first defeat us.]

"Challenge accepted," the young boy casually said as he launched the first attack. Or rather, the black shadow was the one who attacked on his behalf. The black shadow extended what seemed to be her hand to attack. As it drew closer to its target, it formed a sharp blade.

The holy beast dodged the attack and bit its sharp teeth to the black shadow, ripping it apart. It then formed a light ball from its mouth, lunged straight to the young boy and the shadow.

Meanwhile, Candice also attacked the other holy beast with her thunder magic. The holy beast jumped and rolled its long sharp tail to repel the bolt of thunder Candice formed. After repelling the attack, the holy beast aimed for Candice with its blade-like tail.

Candice dodged sideways and sent electric shocks to the beast. Electric sparks were all over the holy beast's body, but it seemed unbothered by the sparks as it continued to move nimbly.

"Holy power, eh?" The young boy concluded after seeing the beasts' attack.

"No matter. Your attribute is meaningless in face of her," he confidently said as he closed his eyes solemnly.

Candice immediately knew what was going on and proceeded to protect her defenseless master from the beasts. She enveloped them with a strong thunder barrier.

Just then, the black shadow completely enveloped the young boy and seemed to become one with him. The next time he opened his eyes—her pupils turned red as his irises were glowing yellow.

The process was completed just in time. Candice wasn't able to hold the holy beasts' attacks anymore and her barrier was broken.

The young boy that had already assimilated with the shadow jumped and exerted his power from his hands. The pitch black shadows coming out from his hands had stronger dark aura than before. The shadows turned into sharp blades and lunged high speed at the two holy beasts.

The first holy beast didn't have the time to react as the sharp shadow blade penetrated its body. It then disappeared into thin air just like that.

Meanwhile, the second holy beast managed to move its long tail just in time to protect itself from the blade. The sharp shadow blade met with the steel-like tail, both trying to win over another.

The young boy smiled looking at it as he quickly turned his free hand to attack the second holy beast that was busy defending from the first attack.

As he summoned another shadow blade to pierce through the last holy beast's body, he manipulated the first shadow blade to quickly bind the holy beast's tail. The holy beast noticed the other attack far too late. The shadow blade cut through the holy beast's head before its whole body disappeared into thin air just like its friend.

Thus, the battle was quickly over and victory was determined.

The young boy closed his eyes as the shadow that was enveloping his whole body went back inside.

"Can you stand, Candice?" The young boy turned to Candice who was lying down on the ground—it seemed to be a recoil effect from exerting that much mana.

"...Yes," Candice ignored the pain she was feeling as she forced herself to stand up. She couldn't be the one who disturbed her master!

"Let's come inside."

But when they arrived right in front of the door, they noticed that they had to enter some kind of password to open the door.

"Master, this..."

"Worry not, I can do this," the young boy stepped forward as he began to draw.

"Master is awesome!" Candice said in awe.

The young boy continued to draw some sort of a pattern on the door as he calmly explained.

"Long time ago, her followers were many and together, they found the password to free the savior. However, they were annihilated before they could find the savior's location. I came to know the password naturally since she has chosen me to be her vessel."

So, the knowledge was not his, but it belonged to the shadow living inside him.

After drawing a complicated pattern, the young boy stopped and stepped back.

"All done."

The complicated pattern shone, the ground shook, and the big door slowly opened.

"We did it, Miseria," the young boy whispered to the shadow inside of him.

When the door was fully opened, they entered the room inside and saw... their objective.

A small boy was floating inside the pillar of light that was there on the stone altar. Numerous chains and locks were put to protect the pillar of light. The small boy inside seemed to be in a deep slumber as he curled his body in a foetal position. A weak dark mist seemed to be produced from his body.

[Yanze, hurry before he's completely cleansed.]

The young boy heard a female voice inside his head. He nodded and whispered back, "Understood, Miseria."

The young boy immediately ran and jumped. He gestured his hands and soon, a huge hammer made of the black shadow inside him was inside his grasp.

He focused on breaking the seal in front of him.

As the chains and locks were broken one by one, the creature inside finally moved bit by bit—it was as if he slowly awakened from his slumber.

Before long, it was time to break the last lock along with the fragile pillar of light.

"Be freed, Messiah!"

The young boy screamed in delight as he broke the last seal. The recoil was so strong that his body was immediately blown by the impact. However, the black shadow enveloped his body and protected him from any harm. Thus, he was able to land back safely without any injury.

The land trembled for a while. The cave seemed unsafe anymore as it appeared to be crumbling down.

"Master, we should get out of here as soon as possible! It's going to collapse!" Candice reminded her master who was silently watching the spectacle before his eyes.

The majestic creature finally opened his red eyes with an endless black spiral of abyss. He broke free from his confinement and was now floating in the air with his black-purple wings.

He intently watched the young boy who freed him. Just then, the black shadow decided to go out of the young boy's body and faced the small boy.

The creature seemed to recognize the black shadow and nodded. He then looked up to the cave's ceiling that had crumbled, revealing a small light from the sky. He looked once again to the black shadow with red crescent eyes before he flapped his wings above.

The creature crashed the whole cave's ceilings with his wondrous power and left the scene, free to the sky. Nobody had an idea where he was going... for now.

[All done. Let's move on to the next step.]

The voice in the young boy's head echoed at the same time as the black shadow completely disappeared inside his body.

"Master!!" Candice was getting frantic. Why wouldn't his master move already?

Just as she was getting impatient, her master turned around and started to run, "Let's head back."

That day, a small earthquake happened in a deserted area. A black-purplish light came out from the collapsing cave and quickly moved towards a direction.

Meanwhile, a small spectre of light was dancing above the whole scene. It then landed on top of the branch of a tall tree, transforming into an ethereal child with holy wings and golden robe.

"...It has started. They have moved. Let's hope that we can win in this future," he anxiously muttered.

After all, he didn't mess the meteor shower for nothing.

A small change could cause quite a wide effect—and he was betting for the future of this world.