"How long has it been since you let Junior leave? Quick we don't have time!"
"Umm I don't know maybe an hour, but why are you trying to kill him, he's my nephew!"
As Araxis was flying up into the sky he explained,
"Im sorry to tell your his Hou but Junior is no more. At least not who you think of him as. To explain, everyone in this world has a consciousness, that gives them free will and the ability to really think. This was essential when I was making a miniature world. However, even I could not make consciousness myself. To substitute I used various criminal consciousness' which I sealed within the soul. But this meant that when Junior resonated and became pure consciousness he also awakened his original self, the criminal!"
"So...Junior is gone, can't we just seal him again!?"
"...no, it might've been feasible if not for WHO Junior really was. He was a criminal dark mage, before he died and was used in my experiment he could have been said to be stronger than I. I was the strongest righteous mage but he was the best in history at dark magic. Dark magic is all the techniques us mages have banned. Stuff like using human sacrifice and pain and suffering to generate power..."
"Even stronger than you! ....so this really means Junior is gone. If he's so powerful, can we defeat him?"
"That's the issue, I don't know. We should be much stronger than him but even so with the headstart he has, he could've escaped already..."
As Araxis reached high into the sky he activated resonance. The sky started to rumble and fracture, storm clouds forming.
Araxis looked over the entire sect, hoping to find the dark mage in Junior's body. He used resonance to use magic instantly without astral projection. Magic combined with Hou's inner world and spirit wills, Araxis used everything at his disposal at once.
"...it is too late"
"What's too late, Araxis, what do you mean?!"
Instead of answering Araxis transferred a memory to Hou. Hou saw blood, blood and gore. All over the the city, there was murdered people, their blood used to create a blood circle. In the centre, all their corpses were piled up.
They were shriveled up and sucked of everything, merely rotting flesh piles. Hou felt a wave of dizziness pass over him as he remembered the pain from previous Sacrarium.
Once again, he failed to protect his people again. He had become complacent and his people paid the price once more!
"Hou, I don't know whether we'll win. The dark mage has escaped. I used all methods I could, but he's nowhere to be seen... That blood circle must be what he used to escape. Using innocent lives to break the laws of the world and inflict more pain and suffering. If he is left to live, he may yet surpass us. And if he does.... This world is doomed."
"No. This can't be happening, did everyone die? Surely Hamar and everyone else survived! Arm, tell me did Arm live?!"
"Luckily, it seems he purposely only went for enough civilians to escape. There's still 30-40% of people remaining. Arm is alive, as is Hamar."
"That's good, but that's means I let down now then half of my people. I swore to protect them! I abandoned everyone in the future to save those in the last, even then all I did was bring more pain..."
Hou retreated within himself, leaving Araxis with main control.
'That Nelzahar! Even after he died, I thought he'd be useful, now I've set him free. Can I train this child up enough to find and defeat him. And Nelzahar has natural resonance! Even just using a small amount then, it almost permanently damaged How's consciousness. I don't have a consciousness, I am just an offshoot of Hou's, which is an amalgamation of someone random and myself, the real me. What do I do?'
Araxis did not know what to do, all hope seemed lost. He needed to really be one powerful and soon. He couldn't busy himself with this sect of Hou's.
Instead of just abandoning the sect, Araxis had to make some sort of arrangement and leave them to fend for themselves. Only bringing Hamar, if he can get him to follow.
Disregarding Hou's familial ties, he conjured How's feeling and wrote a letter. It was a letter explaining to Arm that something bad happened and he needed to leave, and that he's sorry.
Araxis left the letter in Hou's room, on the floor. Sealed with a red wax seal, with an address "home".
Hamar had defended against Nelzahar, even so he could not win. The dark wizard used people as human shields, then he sacrificed them and got through Hamar's defense.
Hamar's was hard to manipulate as he was a trained knight but by killing people he knew in front of him, Nelzahar broke Hamar's defenses and caused him to fall asleep.
With the time Hamar was asleep, Nelzahar grabbed more innocents and created a sacrifice circle, using it to teleport far away.
Hou, with Araxis in control, flew over to Hamar and woke him up. With a memory packet, Araxis explained hat he was going to do and asked if Hamar wanted to come.
"I'm...sorry. I can't, I already abandoned one sect, I won't abandon this one."
The guilt from abandoning the future sect for the last had finally come weighing on people mind's when they saw what happened.
Araxis didn't stall and flew away, not wasting time. He withdrew the second sun, and in exchange opened up one side of the mountain range. This would let natural light pass through and let crops grow still.
However this would also let miasma and monsters in, but Araxis could not waste qi here. He withdrew all his abilities, miasma quickly rushing into the city. However, the lingering effects allowed plants to grow freely regardless.
Araxis turned his head away and teleported to the cave where Hou met Yue. Still there was a bloody crystal pavillion,
"Now I need to accumulate enough strength and then I will eliminate Nelzahar before it's too late!"