Guardian Of The End

"So this is the library…"

Jason stood in a hall the size of two football(Soccer) fields combined together. The hall was divided into three floors and multiple sections.

Sitting places were spread throughout the hall. Countless bookshelves were present around the hall with numerous books kept in them.

"Grandma, how many books are present here?" Jason questioned Risa who stood right beside him.

"I don't know. You can only read the books on the first level. Me and Issac can read the books on the second level as well since we are ex-students." Risa explained before pointing towards a wooden podium located a few meters away.

"Using that podium, you can access all the books on the first level. You will have to use filters to narrow down your choices, but once that is done, your desired book will appear on the podium."

Jason nodded in understanding. He noticed that numerous podiums were spread throughout the library for easy use.

'Of course there would be something magical here that would help everyone in easily accessing the multiple books,'

Jason facepalmed at his stupidity. It was obvious that no one would be able to browse through the library without the help of a bit of magic.

He made his way tot he podium and stood behind it with a curious expression.

[ Place your hand on the podium and insert some mana into the podium. In return, you will be able to see all the books that are present in the library. ]

'You know how to do this?' Jason thought with surprise.

[ I have managed to scan it a bit. By placing your hands on the podium, I will be able to scan it completely and help you to guide through these books. ]

Jason immediately put his hands on the podium and inserted his mana into it. A screen popped in front of him, showing him various kinds of books and filters using which he could find the particular book he was looking for.

Risa and Issac watched this with a smile. They had been thinking of teaching Jason how to properly use the podium but he had figured it out on his own.

"Let's go look at the books on the second floor." Issac said before both of them walked away.

It took the system a few minutes to understand the interface of the podium. But once it had understood how the podium worked, the system filtered through the books.

An hour later, Jason and the system were reading book after book in hopes of finding anything to heal Zara and Ariana's condition.

[ I haven't found anything related to her condition yet there are a lot of useful things inside these books. Reading them will make you feel enlightenment. ]

'Give me a summary tonight.'

Jason and the system spent the next few hours reading through some more books. Both of them felt as though words were flying right in front of them, making them dizzy.

[ Let's go back and sleep… ]

'Can you even sleep?'

[ I kinda turn myself off a bit. Kind of like a standby mode. ]

While having this debate, Jason retired from the library. His grandparents remained behind and continued to devour through books.

The next month went by in this manner. Alongside reading books, Jason started visiting some other classes.

Two particular classes he had the most interest in were the formations class and the fighting class.

The names of the classes were self explanatory. Both of them taught the things that Jason wanted to learn.

'Once I get out of the chamber of rebirth, I will definitely join these two classes.'

[ That is if we manage to break free from the loop. ]

'We don't talk about that.'

More and more children had came out of the trial in the past month. The total number of children now stood at twenty eight, meaning that only two more could come out of the trial.

Zeke had managed to clear the trial as well which left Wade as the only person who was yet to clear the trial of fear from class Z.

[ Host, did you know that with tier 6 spells, one might be able to destroy an entire continent? ]

'Hmm?' Jason was surprised to learn about this random bit of information. However, it made more sense this way since little to no information was provided on tier 6 spells.

Just as Jason was about to shift to another book, a ringing sound echoed around the entire academy.

"All first years who have completed the trial of fear are required to gather in the first year arena. Any family member accompanying them are also requested to appear in the arena." Albus's voice echoed around the entire academy.

Jason looked at the second floor of the library and saw his grandparents coming down with masked expressions.

[ I think its time to enter the chamber. ]

'I am worried about that. Hestia hasn't talked to me yet…'

After pulling off the combined form inside the trial, Jason's guardian had gone MIA. No matter how hard he tried to contact her, Jason couldn't form any sort of connection with Hestia.

Though her powers were still inside him, it was unsettling to not know what his guardian was going through.

Jason stood up from his spot and alongside his grandparents, made his way to the fifth year arena. Upon entering the arena building, Jason saw that the dome had vanished.

All the students who hadn't cleared the trial of fear were forced to get out of the arena. Jason noticed all of his classmates except Wade.

'So he didn't clear the trial.'

[ Its not that easy for everyone to get a hold of their fears. Either that or he never managed to reach a portal. ]

"Congratulations to everyone present here!" Albus said loudly. "All of you successfully cleared the trial. Now its time to progress to the next level but before doing that, could those from class Z and class A come forward and stand right below where I am flying?"

Two minutes later, ten students were standing below the spot where Albus was hovering.

"All of you will directly be entering the chamber of Rebirth, which is usually only entered after clearing all three trials. But since this is an order from Julian Vancouver, the king, I am taking you all directly to the chamber.

The rest of you will wait here patiently. I will come back soon and start the second trial. Mentally prepare yourselves till then." Albus said before activating a teleportation formation.

Before anyone could do anything, he immediately teleported away from the arena. Albus's eyes had moved over some of the family members and judging from their expressions, most of them wanted to beat him up.

'Curse you, Julian. Why did you force me in such a situation?!' Albus cursed the king inside his mind.

The principal soon appeared in a new place with all the students. He took a minute to look at the surroundings before sighing.

"Welcome to the chamber of Rebirth."

The moment Jason heard those words, he put his guard up. He looked at the entrance, a pair of metal gates with numerous symbols etched on them.

The gates stood tall in the middle of a dark place. Jason would have been able to describe the place better if he could see anything.

On all sides, he was surrounded by darkness. Only the place where Albus and the students were standing was clearly visible and lit, excluding the gates of course.

"This is the chamber of rebirth's entrance. Once you are inside, you will experience a huge boost in your training. You will be there for an unknown amount of time and can only come out after meeting some threshold." Albus explained in a hurry.

He summoned a red coin in his palm and smeared it with some of his blood. The coin started glowing a bright shade of red.

Albus put the glowing coin against the gates before looking at the children,.

"Good luck." He suddenly vanished from his spot, leaving behind the ten children alone.

Before any of them could react, the gates opened up automatically. A wave of darkness erupted shot out of the gates and wrapped around the children.

'Well, that's how bad things start.' Jason thought with a mental sigh.

The other students were slightly panicking but he didn't look worried. After all, Jason was not only a dark mage and a light mage, he was also the sole bearer of the 'Child of Darkness' class.

He carefully watched the darkness wrap around his body, slowly pulling him towards the gate. The interior was blocked by the same darkness, making Jason wonder whether a beast was just going to pull them into eternal slumber.

'Why did the king ban this in the first place?' Jason wondered silently.

[ Perhaps someone really got stuck inside for eternity. Who knows what would have happened to us if we didn't know the secret to break the loop? ]

'I just have to ask someone what is my threshold and the way to break it.'

"Why are standing there so casually?!" Amber asked with wide eyes. The red-head was trying to break free from the darkness but it was an useless attempt.

"Why are you afraid of the darkness? Just welcome its embrace." Jason replied with a shrug.

'I think I unintentionally quoted someone.' He thought.

[ Its better left unnoticed. Who knows what will happen if someone hits us with a copyright? ]

'The copyright god is both respectable and petty.' Jason sighed.

Minutes passed by in this manner. All of the children had been pulled past the entrance and were now standing in front of the darkness blocking them from seeing past the entrance.

< The Chamber of Rebirth is active again. May the odds be in your favor. > A panel opened in front of them while a voice repeated the same words inside their heads.

'Well, another arc begins.'

With a jerk, all of them were pulled in by the darkness…