Chapter- 12 Bloodline Continuation Ceremony [4]

Whew!

Releasing a sigh Edward now with nothing to do, used a movement art, which allowed him to arrive towards the dense woods behind the estate in a little over twelve seconds. Upon entering the forest, Edward searched for several minutes to carefully survey the landscape, before eventually discovering a nice clearing that could offer him the sanctuary he needed for training.

Seated comfortably in a lotus position, Edward began his rhythmic breathing exercises, allowing the chilling essence of Ice Pythons to weave seamlessly within his already frosty mana circuits, heightening his focus and control.

After dedicating years to the study of the ambiguous White Flame Formula, Edward had finally reached the desired creation. 

Creating a variant of the White Flame Formula, Edward could now involve his sword Durandal properties and his versatile Ice attribute. Using these key components Edward was able to create his own Mana cultivation method which rather than excluding a majestic flaming white mane resemblant of the hero Vermonths, would now rather exclude a chilling aura of frost still creating that iconic mane but now would be volatile and aggressive. This Creates an oppressive surrounding of frost. As the Ice pythons would weave all other mana particles and transform them into ice they could be used as projectiles or in any way he will's. This was Edward's second Magnus opus after his sword art, Heaven and Hell sword art–.... The newly created flame frost formula, while sounding grand, is truly not even half the power of the white flame formula. But this weakness was intentional because his intention for his creation was to contract with the Ice spirit king 'Frost' in which case would increase the power output tenfold.

But that would be happening in the distant future, so Edward intended to practice his Ice magic, and his newly created flame frost formula. For the duration of the Bloodline continuation Ceremony. 

****

While Edward was training, the people participating in the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony were receiving some last-minute guidance before entering the Labyrinth, initiating the start of the event. 

Watching the children in front of him, Lovellina smiled. 

"Before you enter, each of you should take one of these." After making weapons for all the children, Lovellian then took out some necklaces with blue jewels hanging from them.

 "These necklaces will be connected to your thought patterns. If the labyrinth ends up causing you too much stress, the necklace will react, and I'll know to intervene." 

So it was a safety device in case of emergencies.

 "Also, if you truly feel like you won't be able to make it to the center of the labyrinth, say 'help me' while tapping on the necklace's jewel. Then you'll be able to escape the labyrinth without any problems." 

Saying this, several children from the collateral branches released a sigh of relief. These children held no grand ambitions of going into the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony. They only wanted to receive the bare minimum needed to satisfy the family's tradition. 

"Well, then. Please start entering the labyrinth in an orderly manner."

 Having said all that was needed to be said, Lovellian smiled broadly and moved aside, leaving the cave's entrance free.

"While it might seem like you're all heading in together, from the moment you all enter the cave, everyone will be simultaneously sent to their own distinctive area. So don't get too flustered, and keep heading straight ahead, since there's only one path leading forward at the very beginning. From this point onwards, if you get the feeling that you can go on, remember to tap the jewel."

Hearing this the children headed into the cave's gaping entrance. 

Striding forward was a youth with unruly ashen gray hair, informal garments, and holding several different types of weapons. 

Before entering the Labyrinth's entrance, Ciel, who was walking by Eugene, bid him fair luck before entering the cave's entrance. 

Eugene stood and stared into the seemingly normal entrance and laughed, as he remembered the expressions the collateral members had. After several moments of contemplation Eugene ventured into the cave.

The nine children all entered the cave together. 

The moment everyone passed through the sole entrance to the cave, their surroundings disappeared and were replaced by a veil of darkness. 

Crying out of surprise would have been the normal response, but Without the slightest bit of panic, Eugene took in his surroundings. 

Although he knew that he had just been transported into the maze through summoning magic, he hadn't actually felt any sense of discomfort during the process. Though it may have been that Lovellian was just that good of a wizard, living up to his title as an Archwizard, it might also be because Eugene's still-growing body couldn't detect the peculiar sense of incongruity that came from having magic cast on it. 'Because I haven't trained my mana yet,' Eugene reasoned. If that was the case, he could only rely on his body's other senses. Luckily, that was one of the areas that Eugene felt particularly confident in. Mana Control was an area where Eugene was exceptionally gifted.

Eugene took in a deep breath, before venturing into the Labyrinth's dark halls.

Walking down the Labyrinth hallways Eugene would just flick his sword killing any monster that appeared before him with little to no effort. 

'They called this a challenge,... it's nothing more than a waste of time thinking this Eugene rolled his eyes while glaring at the new foe before him 

'Let's just hope the Boss monster proves to be a demanding challenge' Eugene thought with a bored expression.

Labyrinth explorations? He had gone through so many in his past life that he had become annoyed with them.

 Most of the monsters who could burrow through the ground would make their lairs into mazes. Since even a mere ant could build their nest in such a fashion, goblins and the like were definitely capable of doing the same when digging their lairs. 

And that wasn't even mentioning the demons. In modern times, the Devildom of Helmuth was said to have become a place where it was even possible to go on a sightseeing tour as long as you spent enough money. 

The Helmuth that Hamel had wandered through was a place that shouldn't be allowed to exist in this world. An unending and unrelenting hellscape. 

How many times had he almost died in that place? Most of the skills he had once been confident in proved useless once in Helmuth. Even that foolish Molon had been scared out of his habit of charging forward recklessly. Sienna, who exalted herself as an Archwizard, couldn't even trust in her magic to keep her safe. Even Anise, who claimed that God would always take care of her, found herself calling more often on her companions, instead of her God, for help.

It truly was hell

 If it weren't for Vermonth who always remains unwavering 

If not for him we would have never made it as far as we did in Helmuth ….

However, they didn't stay that way. People grew through adversity. Even if it wasn't to the same extent as Vermouth, all of his companions had at one point believed in the delusion that they were the best in the world. So they were all able to show explosive growth once sufficiently challenged. 

After a certain point, despite still being in Helmuth, the companions began returning to their daily routine. Molon resumed charging ahead, Sienna regained trust in her magic, and Anise restored her faith in God. 

As for Hamel, he hated that he was weaker than Vermouth. He hated the way his body shook in fear. He began to suspect that he could never be as good as Vermouth. So he started pushing himself even more. Since he couldn't be like Vermouth, then he needed to grow stronger in his own way. 

Vermouth never felt fear. 

Hamel, on the other hand, did feel fear. So he needed to get used to the fear and overcome it. 

Vermouth was able to accomplish anything easily. 

Hamel never had it easy. Even if it seemed easy at first, he would always end up running into a wall one day. As such, he would need to break through that wall if he wanted to advance. 

And that went for labyrinths as well. 

Even when Vermouth encountered a labyrinth for the first time, he didn't panic, and after some time, he found the way through. Yet, despite everything, he was still a human, so he couldn't always choose the right path.

****

After wandering the Labyrinth for several hours, Eugene finally stood in front of the boss layer.

Glaring toward the boss layers entrance Eugene felt a feeling of longing in his innards. 

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If you are reading this sorry,.... that's all.