The Villain's Story
Chapter 749 749: Nocumbra(2).

The red ruby necklace had acquired along with the talent assessing glasses back in Aror. He had forgotten about them because they were frankly useless to him. It had a gothic appearance, but the most prominent feature was the large blood-red ruby.

It had piqued his curiosity when he realized most of the information about the necklace was hidden, even his almighty dragon eyes couldn't peek into it. All he knew was it enhanced the darkness element. At first, he had wanted to give it to Sabrina or Kazikato, but Sabrina was struggling with controlling darkness already, and he didn't think Kazikato would like a necklace like that.

He could use it now as well, since he acquired the element of darkness after absorbing Ariel's ichor, but he had the same issue as Kazikato.

Why would he be wearing a necklace like that? Furthermore, he really wanted to see Sabrina wear it above all. He preferred that over a boost in power in an element he wasn't familiar with.

Now, since she had control over darkness with the help of her rune, and also because it was her birthday, it was the perfect occasion to give it to her.

He presented it to her, and she stared at it, giving a slight smile before turning around.

"Alright, put it on me."

He froze for a moment as she swept her hair to the side. Alan took a deep breath as his fingers trembled for a moment. He brought his hand close, and the cool metal touched her skin as he brought it around her throat and tightened the clasp shut.

It was a bit difficult considering his thick fingers, so he struggled for a bit before it could finally happen, and the moment it did, Sabrina lowered her backwards, her eyes right below Alan's chin, looking at him from above.

Clearly able to see the red within the frozen expression. He hadn't expected her to lower her head back like that. He had expected she would turn around, and he would look at the necklace decorating her flawless beauty.

The move had caught him by surprise, and Sabrina knew it. She smirked.

"Look at the blush on your face."

There was no response, Alan was still frozen. The shine of the necklace pierced his blue diamond like eyes. Sabrina mused in disappointment.

"Come on, show me something else. A better reaction than becoming a statue!"

She raised her head and looked at him, gazing into his eyes as she put her hands on his chin and approached.

"If you two are done flirting, the portal is almost ready."

All of a sudden, Alan disappeared from her sight as she heard Maxwell's voice. She turned around with a pout.

"Tch, I almost had him!"

With a click of her tongue, she stared daggers at Maxwell as Alan had immediately teleported beside him, his back towards her. He kept his gaze at the magic circle, the portal to Nocumbra. Alice was waking everyone else.

"Please, I saved him."

Maxwell rolled his eyes and turned towards the portal as well. Sabrina could do nothing about it at this point. She watched as Azmakul inputted mana into the circle, and engraved it into her mind.

The portal to the world of shadows had been activated, and they felt the world vibrate as a mass of shadows arose from the deep sea within the spine of Kizmal, they climbed the platform and dyed it black, before concentrating on the area of the magic circle.

It was silent, and it was unlike any other portal he had seen. Alan couldn't feel any sort of spatial mana from it. All he could was shadow mana. He peered into it, only to see nothing.

"Do we have to jump in...?"

Maxwell asked, feeling uncertain about it.

"Jump, or just walk in."

Azmakul answered, stepping away from the portal and signalling them to enter. Alan asked.

"Why is it like this?"

It was different from all portals he knew. Granted that portals generally did reflect some properties of whatever was on the other side, but he had never something like this. The portal to Lanekia dropped the temperature to the negatives, but that was all. It wasn't as special as this.

Azmakul chuckled.

"It is not a world, but rather a unique realm. Even if one possesses the spatial coordinates of Nocumbra, you are not allowed entry unless the Lord of Shadows permits it himself."

"Is it the same for the Abyss and Celestia, since they are also realms."

"Hardly, the Abyss is far too big to be monitored all the time, and with how demons are usually it is not difficult to get into the abyss, excluding the major layers. Celestia is a bit more difficult. Celestials are much more organized than the abyss, and take defending their home realm much more seriously.

The moment you land in any corner of Celestia uninvited or through improper means, A legion will be making its way to you. It depends on you if you want to live or not at that point. A legion is too much for all of you combined my prince, even your domain wouldn't help you, though they won't harm 'you' unless you are asking for it.

Though I have heard their procedures are a 'hell' of their own!"

He explained enthusiastically, as the portal to Nocumbra let out a subtle, creepy hymn. Alan wondered if the Abyssal portal on Earth was ever like this.

He had never seen it, but he had heard it was disabled for now. It was at the Heart of Terra Damnum and even after so long humanity had been unable to even scratch it. He had heard Lucas and Alexander had tried going there while the Sword Saint was busy beating his ass, but Arken caught them and reprimanded them after he knocked Alan out.

Somehow, he had also been reprimanded despite not even being involved in the incident. That was a sad memory.

Alan shook his head, trying to forget it as he braced for entry. Alexander was still asleep, despite everyone's attempts to wake him. Alan considered slapping him but settled for throwing him into the portal first.

That would be much funnier. He picked Alexander up and just as he was about to throw him into the portal, Maxwell tapped on his shoulder.

"Alan."

Alan turned around, and noticed the serious expression on his face.

"What is it?"

"Sabrina's missing."

His eyes widened.