The four Archmages' eyes were now fully focused on Andar and Mira, for them to make it to this stage, even given their talent was rare.
2-Star Archmage Lucius Gryfron sighed, "The talent of this child is superb, if he can hold back the pain for a little while longer and use the Cloud Whale in his Rank 2 Aegis Script he will be able to reach the final layer. Congratulations… your daughter made a wise decision by allying with him."
"Hahaha, it's her fortune, the plan was for her to get the Revolving Core Meditation Art, and I gave her just enough resources to reach that level." Hashim Prizahl laughed, "To be on the cusp of reaching the final level is due to her ingenuity and wisdom. Though I have an itch in my teeth about how the physique of a mortal is able to carry a combination Rank 2 Script"
The two-headed 5-Star Archmage Khasos Mylos snapped his fingers in surprise, "Interesting, he is getting up already. The pain of that level should have broken his threshold. This child is getting more interesting with every moment. It would seem the batch of candidates in my Black Tower are full of surprises."
The Archmages watched as Andar began to rise, but they quickly noticed that something had changed. The way he stood up was disconcerting and unnatural. His feet seemed to find purchase in the cloud and he rose from his back without pushing with his arms.
Andar joints were making dull cracking sounds and his head fell on his chest as if he was asleep before his head shot up, his neck bone making intense cracking sounds, he seemed not to be able to control his movements, each motion was either too short or too long, but every movement he made was abrupt.
Mira began to step back in shock, as a weird feeling seized her chest, almost as if she could not breathe, the feeling that Andar was giving off was making her heart shake in fear and horror, as she looked at his face trying to find the familiar boy that she knew.
The Archmages all focused on Andar's face, and in particular, it was his eyes.
They appeared dead as a milky glaze covered them.
They all leaned forward in interest, as Archmage Shemira Myrcelo could not help but gasp out loud, "Is that Frozen Mind?"
Khasos Mylos grinned, "No, it's not… There are similarities there but it's different. This is Grey Will. It seems this child has a destiny with me."
"Congratulations Golem King, after all this time you now have a worthy disciple with the embers of your Domain." Hashim Prizahl laughed aloud.
The two-headed Archmage sat up, his agitation evident, and for the first time, his other head spoke, "How very interesting for a mortal to awaken Grey will. If he does not die, then he shall become my final disciple."
Shemira Myrcelo's hands squeezed in anger.
Andar movements resembled that of a puppet. He turned to Mira and he smiled, but it was a ghastly impression.
The edges of his mouth grew wide and there was no light or amusement in his dead eyes, his head turned left and right and he brought his arms forward and back as if he was getting used to his body.
But his movements were too disjointed and swift before they became slow and with no indication he would become swift again.
Mira found herself moving backward, the chill growing in her chest. She found herself following her advice to Andar and began reciting the chants to ward away fear.
"Don't… be… afraid…it's…me" Andar's broken voice came out of his throat as if the words were escaping from a broken radio.
Mira paused, although his words were disjointed and lacked any emotion as if he was an elementary Artificial Intelligence Artifact, it was still his voice, "Andar, what's happening to you? Are you okay?"
Again he made that ghastly smile, "Fine… just… handling…things."
He abruptly slammed his two knees to the floor, and he began to punch the ground, each blow sounded like metal colliding, and if he was feeling any pain, his face did not show it.
After punching the ground for thirty seconds with mechanical precision, he paused and cocked his head to the side as if he was thinking, and then he resumed but this time he was using both fists.
Each blow was directed at the floor with two punches for every second that passed, the increasing frequency of his blows made the ground begin to slowly vibrate.
"Maybe you should try using your Scripts Andar," Mira called out weakly, she saw he was beginning to bleed, his knuckles were tearing open as the punishment being inflicted on his hands was growing past his incredible endurance.
But her attention was caught by something else, as the ground continued to increase its vibration, she noticed something horrifying.
The cloud had begun releasing a red gas that was circling Andar's body, and like snakes, they began to crawl over his body, even with the mechanical movements of his body, she still detected that his body was twitching and shaking when that red gas touched him.
She was so focused on it that when the ground gave way below Andar she was surprised and then she quickly ran after him, diving into the closing gap and barely missed her hand getting caught in the closing.
Mira breathed a sigh of relief and her eyes went wide as she looked all around her. They were on the final level, the place where the two best Heavenly Fate Meditation Arts could be found. The clouds here were different because they resembled flesh.
It was possible to see lines in the walls that should be veins and arteries, and if she listened closely enough, she was sure she could hear breathing.
The floors were sticky and when she placed her hands on them, they were warm, and they trembled.
She pulled her hands away, and she looked around, feeling for the first time as if she was in the stomach of a beast.