"You figured it out faster than I expected."
A calm voice not belonging to Kraft came out of his mouth.
A long silence settled between the two.
Ulric looked Serie over.
Of course, he knew about her.
The old ass elf mage who is known for her large amount of knowledge with magic.
People call her the "living grimoire".
He honestly didn't have any intentions of meeting her.
But after taking over Krafts body, and looking through his memories.
He decided to pay her a visit.
Ulric focused his attention back on Serie.
Serie clinched her fingers tight, and she slightly stopped suppressing her mana.
It was vast and powerful, Ulric felt it in an instant.
Outside the tower, the people of Äußerst felt the powerful mana.
The water surrounding the city started to ripple.
Mages fully stopped at the slightest sense of Serie's mana, while regular civilians unconsciously started to shake.
Back inside the tower, Ulric heard frantic footsteps ascending the stairs.
A few of Serie's apprentices rushed into the room after sensing their master's mana flutter.
They quickly tried to rush to her side.
Before they could reach her.
A dark green energy erupted around Ulric and Serie.
Creating a circular dark green ring, encircling the two of them.
Serie quickly shot her arm up and ordered her apprentices not to get close.
"Stop! Don't get close."
Serie had never seen a spell like this.
She had no idea what it was or what it could do, but she wasn't about to have her apprentices figure that out for her.
She could sense the death emanating from the spell, it was better not to have anyone interfere.
"What are you?" Serie asked.
Ulric stared at her for a moment.
Contemplating whether he should hit her with the "End" line.
"...I am the End of all Life."
Serie's expression hardened.
"You speak in riddles."
Ulric calmly continued.
"Serie...the great Elven mage, whose knowledge of this world's magic is second to none."
"So you're a fan?" Serie cut him off with a grin on her face.
Ulric ignored her comment and continued.
"There's almost nothing in this world that you aren't educated on."
Serie noticed they key word of "almost" he used.
She stared at the pitch-black and green glowing eyes of the thing possessing Kraft's body.
The green glow grew brighter and brighter...slightly turning into the shape of a flame.
The green-shaped flame pierced directly into her own two eyes.
Serie felt her body being constricted...she couldn't move her body.
Turning her eyes towards him, she found the scenery behind him start to shade to black.
The towers of books and paperwork all around her started to fade to black.
The room and world around her ceased to exist.
She stood in a vast, lightless void.
Alone.
The same calm voice of Krafts imposter echoed throughout the void.
"Now...it is time for your lesson, Serie."
Shapes started to emerge, visions forming in the dark void.
A field of corpses, burning villages and cities, Children crying next to bodies that wouldn't get back up.
Serie clenched her jaw.
"End this illusion."
The visions shifted again, spiraling backward through time.
Ruined cities reconstructing themselves, corpses rising, battles unwaging...until all that remained was empty land beneath a gray sky.
The gray sky darkened, as it turned pure black.
Dark green flames erupted all over, surrounding her.
Ulrics voice echoed through the void.
"There was a time before your kingdoms...before your magic...before even your kind walked beneath the stars."
His voice remained quiet and calm.
"Before there was anything...there was nothing."
The green flames erupted even further as they swallowed her and the fake world around her.
Darkness quickly swallowed the green flames, leaving her slightly floating on nothing.
Below her, shapes started to form, all of unimaginable sizes and shapes.
Writhing silhouettes, ancient and malformed, flickering in and out of existence like nightmares.
"And before there was nothing," Ulric continued, his tone steady and calm. "There were things that should never have been."
Loud shrieks escaped the silhouettes, as limbs formed and reached out trying to reach for her.
Serie's heart started to beat faster and faster...she forced herself to stay calm.
The void snapped back into stillness.
A large version of Kraft appeared before her.
He looked down at her like she was a mere ant in his way.
The cracks on his face had grown, and now both of his eyes were glowing green.
"All things return to silence, Serie. I merely ensure they arrive."
The void began to crack as she stared at the giant Kraft looking down at her.
Within seconds, she awoke in the real world.
Opening her eyes, Serie found her apprentices all gathered around her.
"Master Serie, you're awake!" one shouted frantically.
Serie quickly got up and looked around, trying to find a glimpse of the mage.
"Where did he go?" Serie asked.
All her apprentices looked at each other for a moment before one of them answered.
"That mysterious green ring around you two suddenly erupted and fully enclosed you two," the apprentice said. "We tried to undo the spell...but we couldn't even cast our spells."
"When the spell finally stopped...You were unconscious, and Sir Krafts body lay'd motionless next to you."
Serie noticed Krafts body that was placed on the couch.
She quickly cast a detection spell on his body.
The invisible currents of mana that encircled his body before were gone.
But that was the problem...she couldn't detect anything from his body.
Kraft was dead.
The bright blue sky quickly turned dark as the moon's light shone down upon the world.
Far away from Äußerst, Ulric walked.
He recounted Krafts memories and his little conversation with Serie.
The fact that the rumours of him spread far enough, even to the pointy ears of Serie, was great news for him.
It meant that his plan was going according to plan.
Ever since his last meeting with the Lich.
Ulric came up with a plan for the end of the world.
He hadn't just been going around destroying villages for the fun of it.
It was all to gain the attention of a certain someone.
It was all for the first step of his plan.
The extinction of the Demon race.
.....
End of Chapter 15