Chapter 91

Kyon had an indescribable near-death experience. Thanks to life-saving Synergy, he slowly regained consciousness. It felt worse than a hangover. Kyon's vision was slightly blurred. He seemed to be rocking back and forth like a boat on the waves.

Kyon opened his eyes and turned his head. Juno was trembling in the cold, hugging him from behind, her small tender hands under his jacket. She buried her head in his armpit, the warmest place, their legs intertwined.

Juno was clinging to him like a cute little kitten, trying to get the vital body heat. So sweet... His restored heart started beating faster. His hand involuntarily stroked her soft hair.

Synergy helped his body quickly convert fat into heat. Even being naked at -20˚C (-4˚F), he wouldn't freeze until he turned into an emaciated corpse.

Kyon finally came to his senses and took his first full breath. Synergy informed him that he had recovered sufficiently in the last 16 hours. His torn heart had healed, the tissues of his chest and arms had partially regenerated. Synergy also reported on a powerful healing source that had entered his body through the oral cavity. Without it, the restoration would have been delayed for three days.

{Juno had given me a restorative pill, hadn't she? Why didn't she just leave?} - These questions demanded an immediate answer.

«Why did you stay, my student?» - Kyon whispered into Juno's ear.

Juno looked at him, startled. Her lips were white as if she were an ice princess, her eyelashes quivered.

«O-o-o-pen the door…» - She mumbled, barely audible.

«Is the door locked?!» - Kyon immediately got out of her grip and went downstairs.

It was true, the exit was locked. {Damn it! Did she activate the trap?! Or did the door close by itself?!} - Kyon thought anxiously.

He returned upstairs, took off his pants and sweatshirt and put them on freezing Juno. He could not believe that the tired girl had enough willpower to stay awake for 16 hours. If she had fallen asleep, she would have frozen to death. The poor thing tried to keep warm by his side, in the hope that he would come around... She had a strong faith and spirit, indeed.

Kyon suppressed his admiration and went downstairs to study the wall. There were no clues or formulas.

He put his hand to a certain place and tried to infuse it with pure energy, but the passage wouldn't open. {Damn! Pure energy can't penetrate these walls!}

He brainstormed a new idea.

Kyon returned upstairs and whispered Juno in the ear:

«Juno, tell me the frequency of Anna's transmitter. Can you hear me? Juno, don't sleep!» - His heart skipped a beat. Juno opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound as if she was at death's door. Kyon took out his sound transmitter and dialed the frequency he knew, that is, Marina's.

«Shit…» - The sound transmitter did not work.

Kyon took another one from Juno's ring, but it didn't work, either. He knew that the sound transmitter could communicate through hard objects, and no dungeon walls were a barrier for that. The ancient barrier worked as a trap. Was he destined to perish in the cursed tomb?!

The questionable prospects made him moan. Kyon looked at Juno. Her breathing was shallow, her body still shivering. {Fuck...}

Kyon sat Juno on his lap, reached under her clothes and hugged her trembling slender body, trying to give her more heat.

«Don't touch me…»

«This is not the time for being prudish.» - Kyon pressed closer. The vital question didn't leave his mind. {How to get out of the indestructible castle?}

He thought of a secret button or a slit through which he could send the spatial attribute outside.

He warmed Juno in his embrace for another ten minutes and went in search of secret switches and ways to get out of the tomb.

After an hour of unsuccessful searches, he was about to give up in despair. He had literally touched each centimeter of the room. There was not a single clue, nothing.

{I can't die here like this!} - Kyon went to the coffin and began to study the nephrites. None of them were of any use. Tons of valuable information but not a single useful thing. There were no more traps, either. It wasn't very encouraging, though.

Kyon was furious. He sat Juno on his lap again, hugged her in the boobs area, buried his nose in the back of her head and thought hard. Well, it was relaxing... Or rather, distracting.

«I told you not to touch me, jerk…» - Juno said in a weak but outraged voice.

Kyon lowered his hands a little. «It seems there's no way to get out. At least you won't freeze to death.»

Juno tried to turn around, tickling his nose with her silky hair.

After a short pause, Kyon felt her chest move. He could hear her sob pitifully.

«I don't want... To die... Please get me out of here.»

Her pleasant voice made his heart beat faster. Was it a pity? To her?

«Juno... Your tears are exactly what we don't need right now. I order you not to cry.»

«Let me freeze alone. I don't want to die in your disgusting arms…» - Without turning around, Juno whispered in a contemptuous tone, still whimpering.

«I don't care about your wishes, student.»

In all the confusion, Kyon did not notice that Juno was talking to him with no respect. But he didn't mind at the moment. All his thoughts were about getting out.

«Damned master. Heaven punished you for your sins. Unfortunately, I happened to be around you, and now we are destined to die in the dark. Let go of me... Save my dignity at least before death... Please! You're not hopeless. Grant my last request…»

Kyon felt an urge to hurt the little devil, but suddenly it dawned on him. {The curse of heaven!}

The idea seemed insane, and it was even crazier to count on a successful outcome. He was going to master the basic grade of the remaining elements, and the lightning from heaven would reach the castle with its destructive power and set them free.

It was utter madness to use the curse of heaven this way. Synergy was screaming that they would lose their hearing from the impact of the crash or get buried under the rubble if not smashed to bits, but if the solid castle survived, the barrier that surrounded it would be destroyed. In this case, communication channels would open for them. Maybe even the door would open. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but there was nothing else left.

{Even if the chances are one in a million, I have to give it a try!} - decided Kyon. He raised Juno in his arms, went downstairs and sat in the center of the trigram.

He briefly calculated the power progression and concluded that the energy of lightning that would appear after he had mastered the remaining five elements wouldn't be enough to get through half a kilometer of land. The castle was so strong that even Jurich couldn't leave a scratch on it.

A solution to the problem suddenly flashed across his mind. He had to master all the five elements at once so that their power would focus in one massive jolt. He had no choice. Even slim chances to get out of there would be most welcome.

Kyon directed Synergy into five clusters of neural connections to master the air, the earth, the water, the heat, and the cold...

A heavenly genius, the master of five elements sounds pretentious. What should they call the master of all the nine elements then?

Some people say the more elements you master, the more luck you steal from heaven. The cultivation speed increases, the future gets prosperous, and the number of trials grows.

Heavenly geniuses are the gods' favorites. Then who was he? A god himself or what?

Heaven struck him with lightning when he mastered the second element. It means his fate was unenviable. He was scum, destined to work on a farm and shovel the cowshit. However, the new owner of his body didn't intend to give up. His imperial ambitions made him eager to rebel against heaven and write his own great story.

…

A handsome blond guy destroyed a block of stone that was flying at him with an elegant turn of his leg, intending to hit his opponent in the head at the same time.

«Wait! I give up, Yegorka! You have become too strong for me! I am sorry, I'm no longer fit to be your sparring partner.» - A middle-aged man with a mustache exclaimed with a fawning smile.

Soaked in sweat and stained in the mud after the fight, the boy could not hold back his smug smile.

«Don't get discouraged, master. Your swamp technique was excellent. I almost lost. The main thing is never to give up. One day we will fight like equals, just as we did in the old days.»

The master nearly choked on his resentment. A 14-year-old student had surpassed him in strength! What a shame... Would he have to address the boy formally in a couple of months? Anyway, the master was happy to see the result of his hard work. He had created a sparkling jewel out of a rough diamond. The boy should be taught to respect the elders, but the younger generation respected only strength. Ah, whatever happened to the virtues of the past when masters were revered and almost idolized?

The man sighed. «Hehe, yeah... I'm not going to stagnate. Otherwise, you can't call me your master.»

«You should try harder. Thanks for the sparring.» - Yegorka gave his master a traditional bow.

The master breathed a sigh of relief: the boy was not devoid of gratitude. «Good luck, my young student. From now on, I refuse the title of your master. Talk to the elder if you want to find a stronger teacher. You have a good reputation here... I think it's time for me to retire. My back hurts, and the joints ache. Besides, my wife and I want to go abroad.» - The master said, patting Yegorka on the shoulder.

«I was happy to be your student. Take care, stay well.» - Yegorka bowed again and left the training ground with a frown on his face. {I used to respect and revere him, but now I find it difficult to take him seriously. I must be a high-flyer... It's great that he refused to be my master. I need another teacher for rapid cultivation, someone worthy of my strength.}

On the way home, Yegorka took out a pretty shiny box and gently stroked it. His eyes sparkled with adoration. {My precious... I'll give you to Juno, and then she'll forgive me. I am sure all her thoughts will be devoted to me...} - He could not hold back a silly smile.

Yegorka was anxious to get home, take a shower and have dinner. After that, he was going to watch Juno's mansion for an hour or so. What if his little angel deigned to peek out... Or the guards wouldn't drive him away.

All of a sudden, the clear evening sky turned into thick impenetrable darkness. Everything happened so quickly that it looked like someone had turned off the sun. There was not a breath of wind...

Yegorka looked around anxiously, took out a flashlight and ran home. {What the hell... Is it the end of the world?!}

The atmosphere was filled with powerful imperceptible pressure. The concentration of energy in the air increased to an incredible level. Yegorka could hear a subtle hum of power everywhere. It was hard to breathe. Everyone in the estate felt an imminent danger, a terrible fear and a threat to life. Everything was unnatural and abnormal… It was the worst nightmare come true.

Yegorka headed to the lane's end that led up to his magnificent mansion. There was commotion all around. Terrified people were running home.

Suddenly a dim purple light appeared and spread across the sky a second later. Everything looked uncanny.

{Is this the end?} – This thought must have crossed everyone's mind

The glow concentrated at one point in the "backward explosion," right above Yegorka's mansion. It was getting neither brighter nor hotter. Quite the opposite, it wasn't going to waste an ounce of energy.

«Am I going to die like this?! No, no, please! My life has just begun! Gods, please! I have so many plans! Heaven, have mercy on me...» - The scared boy yelled in a trembling voice, falling to his knees. His eyes welled up with tears.

The energy of the whole sky concentrated at one point. The air rippled. The buzz from somewhere above marked an impending catastrophe.

Suddenly, it transformed into a bolt of lightning ten meters thick and struck the mansion.

*BААААААААААNG*

The building turned into dust. A powerful wind destroyed the nearby houses. The thundering roar created whirlwinds that spread across the estate and away for thousands of kilometers, breaking the windows, scaring half of the residents to death, Yegorka, in particular. The explosion had sent him into a flight.

The thick clouds had lifted at once.

Yegorka came to his senses after a while. He felt floaty, his ears ringing with shock.

The stupefied boy rose to his feet with difficulty. His heart sank. He couldn't believe it had really happened. He wandered to the mansion, or rather to its ruins.

The strange, powerful lightning had ruthlessly destroyed his house as if it was heaven's will.

Yegorka had given his father's house, resources, and everything he had valuable to get the gift for Juno. And now his last property, his father's gift, was evaporated by heaven's will. He had only his life, the mercy he'd been praying for.

Dirty, smelly, homeless, penniless, and as if it wasn't enough, driven to madness, Yegorka was looking at the boiling magma pond that was burning his face with unbearable pain.

He fell to his knees and cried with his arms upraised:

«WHY?!» - His hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes burst into flames.