FAUST

"A notebook? So small!"

Max took out the small book and flips it open. The whole book was extremely thick and was written in tiny characters. It was even written in code.

"What kind of language is this? There is no record in the SECOND's database. Never mind, I can decrypt it later. SECOND! Record information!"

[Affirmative!]

Max kept the book inside his robe and continues searching for more hidden compartments but unfortunately, there was none can be found.

"There nothing more? Only this small book? What a disappointment." Max sighed.

「…You're interesting」

Suddenly, Max heard a voice.

He turned towards the voice.

'I never felt any signs of life until now…!'

What's standing there is a tall young woman.

Woman age is hard to guess but she seems in her mid-20 from her mature but youthful face. Long red hair and red eyes. She's wearing a crimson dress that emphasis her voluptuous body and her skin is very white as if she's not being outside

She's a beauty but she had a cold expression.

'When did she come? Who is she?' Max frowned and his hand swiftly reached his sword but suddenly stop. His hand returned to his side again.

"What an interesting child. Your mind is very intriguing." The mysterious woman in a crimson dress reveals a seductive smile.

"The fortune in my side today to allow me meeting a very gorgeous woman. How can I help you, lady?"

Max asked calmly while also smiling. His mind was not.

"Yes. You see, I am interested in children like you"

The mysterious female laughed.

"M…Me? Ah.., for someone lowly to be able to enter the beautiful lady's eye is indeed a blessing"

"That's right, you. You an apathetic human that utter disregard for human life, the embodiment of hypocrisy itself. Plus, you're an unfair and miserable man that can't defy your own heart' desire but know how to mask it.

"I-I…" Max was astonished from what he heard and speechless.

"What? You're saying I'm wrong? Are you going to insist that you're a decent man?"

"…No" Max answered.

"Huhu...You the exact of opposite of Faust. He was a caring and loving young man who treats all life equal."

"You mention 'was'."

"Right! Was. Rather than I telling you a story, it is better if someone else telling you " The mysterious female raised her left hand and snapped her finger.

The glow from the crystal coffin disappeared and the room turns dark.

Max blinked for a moment and when he opened his eyes again, the surrounding had changed.

He currently stands in a white room.

"It has been a while since I met another living being"

Max heard a voice came from his behind and turned his head.

A tall young man whose face he just saw before; the man beside the female corpse in the locket's picture.

A pale white face with shaggy black hair. He had blue colored lips and dark bags underneath his eyes. He is also noticed for being extremely thin

"My name is Faust."

Max's body quickly tensed when he saw this man. He was familiar with this type of people. This man carried with him the smell of death.

During the previous life, Max has sacrificed a lot of man for his research. He was not always alone during the researches. There was always a group of the same mind with mutual purposes along his for the research. He won't notice what kind of aura he carried with him during that time but others definitely noticed. The same thing happened to him. Max learned to identify the smell of death. Not because that person is going to die but he always around death.

Even though Mage is overwhelmingly powerful and destructive, Max never sensed the same feeling when he confronted them.

But this man behind him emitted the same feeling as back then.

"Haha! Don't be surprised by my appearance. My apologies. That must be a side effect of practicing medicine. As a doctor, I have watched many people die in my career whether I wanted or not" He blushing a little and smile.

"You're a doctor?" Max asked suspiciously.

"No, not anymore." The smile on that man face disappeared and changes to a distant expression.

"Because I had lost to 'death'."

"Huh! You lost to death?" Max surprised.

"Yes, after studying the lore if medicine, I learned that I become very good at it. Every generation of my family had been a scholar. So, naturally, they have conducted in-depth research on medicine and thought that my family has found the cure for myriad diseases. I was no exception. After I become a doctor, I too, saved countless lives." He sighed.

"However…Even after I saved them, my patients eventually died anyway. People die of old age, die from accidents, and even die from new disease...No matter how I saved them, in the end, they still cannot win in the battle against death."

"Of course! Win against death! That's impossible! All Mages searching for eternal life but it is a dead end. No one ever found the secret of eternal life" Max knew that life is fragile and limited. That's why he always does what he wants to do without regret. Even Mage only has a few hundred years of living.

"Heh! You underestimate the Mages. No matter who they are, they won't stop at anything to live a little bit longer. It is their obsession! Even me too. I've researched to the point that I developed these dark circle under my eyes. All for the sake of finding a way to conquer death. But all I ended up with this pathetic appearance."

'That not the problem!'

"Even so, I'm still moving forward. I was a boy was born into a family of Mage Doctors. I studied medicine alone to succeed my family but I was also isolated from the rest of the world. Eliza. She was the only person who greeted me warmly. Born in a family of a servant, she suffered from an incurable disease. Saving her might have been the only reason I studied medicine. After 20 years, I become a Mage and finally defeated that disease of Eliza. We're got married despite my family opposition. We were happy."

Faust smiled reminiscing his past.

"We even were expecting a child. But it end abruptly. While I busy with my research in the labs, Eliza got murdered by a robber. What an amusement. Eliza got no talent to become for magic, only a mortal died when her head chopped. Huhu…It's so simple for a human to die. I returned home found the Eliza that I loved for decades die with her head decapitated slowly oozing with blood."