Light seemed to fade from their surroundings as the only visible source of light was now the pillar.

Without even looking at the effects, Nan Tian turned to Estrella.

"Transport everyone as far as you can from this place. With my current mana, I can only funnel this spell for another 5 seconds or so." Nan Tian said with a frown.

Nodding her head, Estrella waved her hand as a portal opened up in front of them.

Jumping in, the party quickly left before the Guardian could chase them.

After all, despite having achieved the feat of using tier 6 magic, he was still only a level 450+ so killing the guardian was just a pipe dream. It was a miracle that they could even leave with their lives intact.

As the party left the area, the Guardian crawled out of the melted prison with charred skin.

Glaring at their previous location with anger, he wanted to chase but knew that he had to protect the anchor point.

Now that he had experienced the feeling of a kill slipping out of his hands at the last moment, he was going to kill everything with his full power. There will be no more playing around.

However, before he returned to the anchor point, he looked at the prison pieces and narrowed his eyes.

From what he had seen, this was something outside of Shiro's capabilities. The sheer size and regenerative power of this prison was actually able to restrain him for 30 seconds. The feat astounded him since the girl was just level 200.

However, he knew that this was only achievable due to the fact that she had consumed the mana from the surroundings. After all, the lush forest was partially turned to a desert as the rich mana was deprived from this place to form his prison.

A part of his power was to assimilate parts of things that he consumes. With the nanobots still wiggling around despite their owner leaving, it gave the Guardian an idea. If he consumes the nanobots and assimilated it into his own body, could he deprave the surroundings of mana like what she did? If he could, could he then convert his body to nanobots so that it would constantly regenerate as long as he could supply it with mana?

Grabbing a piece of the nanobots, he shoved it into his ribcage and the nanobots started to fuse with his body.

With a crooked grin, he continued to feed himself with the prison that Shiro had constructed.

Little did he know, the consequences of placing nanobots into your body without the proper preparation could result in something much worse.

But in his search for more power, such thoughts were thrown aside.

###

Exiting the portal and entering the nearby city, Nan Tian quickly ran to the teleport Shrine so that he could get Shiro some medical help from the sect.

He didn't even need to scan her body to see her condition as she was reduced to a state where she kept muttering 'Just one more second.'

Iziuel was currently carrying the unconscious Yin on her back while Estrella held Attie.

As the four of them approached the teleport shrine, Nan Tian could see a few government officials arriving in the city with serious faces.

"Is this the closest city?" One of the agents asked with a frown.

"Yes. The source of the mana spike was deep into the forest where the ruins are. There were two spikes of mana in the last few moments that exceed even the highest mana spikes that were recorded by the government. They presume that it is something either in the late stages of tier 5 or a new tier that hasn't been confirmed yet." Another replied.

Hearing this, Nan Tian knew that they wanted to search for the Guardian but that was a bad move. Right now, there was no one in this world that can take down that being. Even if he was level 500 right now, he would struggle as just having tier 6 magic wasn't enough.

Gritting his teeth, he wondered if he should warn them or not since the best choice they can make is to call for an evacuation. Until a tier 6 being appeared on their side, no one would be able to deal with that Guardian.

'What would Shiro want to do?' He wondered to himself.

From his understanding of her, she would just ignore these people but with the new age coming soon, they needed all the manpower they could get. She would give them a warning and if they didn't heed it, she would leave them be.

Looking down at Shiro's face, he smiled softly before looking towards the government officials.

"You don't want to do that." He said as they turned towards him.

"Why not?" One of them furrowed his brows.

"The thing in the forest is not something we can deal with right now. It's a tier 6 being. Unless we surpass the boundaries of tier 5 and enter tier 6, no one can kill that thing." Nan Tian warned.

"How would you know?"

"That's for you to find out as I have more important matters. Just know that you should work on evacuating everything around here so that there aren't any more unnecessary casualties." He replied with a shake of his head.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, one of the agents stood in front of him and blocked his path.

"Sorry, I'll need to borrow more of your time for you to provide us with more information." The agent said while presenting his government ID.

"Well that's too bad huh? I've already given you my warning so leave me be." Nan Tian narrowed his eyes.

Feeling a shiver down his spine, the agent froze up in fear. Despite being a tier 5 adventurer that was higher than level 400, he felt like the man in front of him could erase him with a single thought.

He was correct.

With Nan Tian being able to now cast tier 6 magic, albeit a little troublesome due to the stress it placed on him, his mastery over light was now on a whole new level. Even if he was to cast a tier 4 light magic, it would be comparable to a tier 5, making him stand above his peers with ease.

"Ah I'm sorry for being rude. I can see that you are carrying an injured person right now so I won't be bothering you anymore." The agent bowed while sweat dripped off his face.

The other agents were confused but decided to step back for now.

"Thank you." Nan Tian nodded before entering the teleport shrine with the rest of the party.

###

"You're back already… Why is it that your life is at risk around every corner?" A voice rang out as Shiro floated in the voice.

Hearing the voice, Shiro's heart sank to her stomach as she recognised it.

"Big sis?" She called out hesitantly as Kuromi's figure could be seen materialising next to her.

"Not quite." 'Kuromi' smiled apologetically.

"What do you mean by not quite?" Shiro furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I'm using the memory of Kuromi that you keep deep in your own soul so that I can talk to you. You can't fully accept that you're the same people since you crave a familial figure like Kuromi, one that understood you on a deeper level. If you accepted that Kuromi and you were two identical people, it means you accept the fact that there was never a big sis to begin it and it was just you talking to yourself all this time." 'Kuromi' smiled sadly while cupping Shiro's cheeks.

"You're lonely, aren't you?" She asked as Shiro paused.

"You lose family and friends with every step you take on the long staircase known as life. The higher you walk, the more you lose. The danger of hurting yourself increases as you go higher and higher. 

"So many times have I seen you stumble over the edge of life, only to grab on with undying will and drag yourself out. So many times have I seen you return to the void where your soul should pass on only for you to escape and continue living. Despite understanding that the higher you go, the more you'll lose, you continue to walk the staircase without any fear.

"Why do you continue like this? What are you working towards? What makes you defy death over and over again?"

Staying silent, Shiro looked at the figure of 'Kuromi' and smiled.

"Because I don't want to die. I want to live a full life. I want to live a life of adventure, a life of peace, a life of danger, a life of romance, a life of creation. I desire to live so that I can experience all the best sensation that life can give me. In the labs where my life was endangered, I wanted to live to see what happens after the experiments. When I was killed by the light hero, I wanted to see the life where I got my revenge. When Yin called me mum, I wanted to see the life where I become a mother.

"And so, right now, after seeing this void and seeing you, I want to see one more life." Shiro smiled and stepped back.

"I want to see a life where I transcend this system."

'Kuromi' smiled.

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