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"The seeker reached the stairway; it seems he attempts to ring the bell, my liege." The sound of hissing tree morphed into words that plastered a smile on the gourd-holding being.

The being stood up and threw their gourd over their shoulder. It had long black hair that reached down to its waist. If someone looked at them, they wouldn't be able to tell what's their gender was.

"Seika of Living Beings..." The eyes of the beings were entirely black except for a white cross in the middle. "Let me know if you are truly the one."

***

As the chains struck the bell, there was a pause before a booming sound shook heavens and earth. Arthur was thrown off his feet by his attack and flew backward together with Mr. Hopper.

"DING~"

The chiming of the bell came like thunderclaps, and it dispelled the clouds and fog. Arthur could barely keep his eyes open to see a large crack forming in the sky.

"Is this... supposed to happen?" Arthur asked with a dazed expression. "Mr. Hopper?"

"Let me grab something, first!" Mr. Hopper was holding onto Arthur's golden hair. "This has never happened before! The amount of spiritual energy you used was more than the bell can take!"

"Uh," Arthur was confused, not knowing what to do now. He looked at the ringing bell, which its chimes tore a gap in the sky every time it rang.

The gap grew more prominent across the sky, looking like a giant mouth. It was at the end of the stairway, but Arthur didn't think it should look like that.

"So, what is going to happen now? Can I go up?"

"Go up? You want to go through that thing?" Mr. Hopper asked with a shocked tone as it pointed toward the gap. Arthur simply shrugged.

"You have disturbed the diving line between the worlds! Forget about going up. We need to run away before..."

Before Mr. Hopper could say anything, a deep growl shook the heavens. A pair of red eyes opened from within the torn-up sky as a giant, endless tongue got out of it.

"What the hell is that?" Arthur was taken aback as a pair of giant hands stretched out of the gap.

"Oh no, it's a devourer."

"A what now?"

"It's an Abyssal Spirit! It used the disturbance you created to enter the Infra world!" Mr. Hopper said with fear. "It's a powerful being that devours other spirits, and you're no exception!"

"Why does such a thing exist in the Spirits World?" Arthur was shocked as he looked at the giant enter the world. It had massive grey arms and a huge head that looked like a ball.

The gap widened under the Abyssal Spirit's hands, and it made its debut to the world. Its foot landed on the ground, caving it and creating a large crater beneath it.

"Hurry, run!"

"What about this Devourer? Wouldn't it run amok in this world? What will happen to the other spirits?" Arthur hesitated. All of the spirits until now were friendly ones.

"The other... spirits?" Mr. Hopper asked with puzzlement. "It might devour a few of them, but there's nothing you can do. If this thing devours you, you will live in its belly for the rest of eternity."

Arthur looked at the grasshopper with doubt. He turned toward the giant spirit, which took a deep breath, and roared. Its roar peeled the earth off its skin and stole the color of the sky.

"You are telling me that even after you saw what I did to the bell, I can't defeat it?" Arthur asked the grasshopper with suspicion. "I opened a door that this spirit needs to enter,"

Arthur took a step forward and raised his arms. His chains extended for tens of meters, hundreds of meters, thousands of meters before they stopped.

"I don't believe that I can't send it back. Bind it."

Arthur ordered the chains, which hurried to obey. They wrapped themselves around the spirit, which roared and stomped on the ground. A shockwave traveled toward Arthur from the spirit's stomp on the ground.

Arthur jumped up and allowed the chains to carry him in the air after impaling themselves into the ground. He hovered above the giant spirit, looking like a fly in comparison to it.

"Let's squeeze you dry." Arthur clenched his fists, and the chains tightened around the spirit.

"They will break!" Mr. Hopper shouted in warning, but Arthur didn't listen to him.

"Nothing can break them," Arthur said with confidence. "It's time to toss you back where you came from."

The chains began to push the spirit back as it gave another roar and tried to devour them. Once it bit down on the chains, the spirit's mouth began to disintegrate.

"What is going on...?" Mr. Hopper asked with fear as it saw fear in the Devourer's eyes for the first time. The chains pushed it back toward the gap until it disappeared.

Like needles, the chains impaled themselves in the sky and began to sew it back together into its original form. Like fabric, the sky stitched together, and the gap closed.

Arthur's chains shortened when the process was done. He then grabbed the grasshopper on his shoulder and glared at it. The spirit twitched in his grip but didn't try to resist.

"Now, tell me. Were you testing me earlier?"

"I..." The grasshopper chirped in panic. "Why would I test you?" Mr. Hopper denied it. "I was simply warning you!"

"Anyone with a tiny amount of logic would assume I can take on the spirit after witnessing the gap I made. I don't know where this spiritual energy is coming from, but even I can tell that I could have handled the spirit easily."

"I didn't know that you were this capable. I was simply..."

"No, you were testing me." Arthur squinted his eyes. "You wanted to see if I would run away and leave the spirits in danger. Do you think I'm a threat to the Spirits Realm?"

Mr. Hopper was silent as it dissolved into a stream of energy and fled Arthur's grasp. It ran away under Arthur's surprised eyes, who rushed to chase after it.

"Wait!" Arthur shouted and flew after the stream of energy that ran away. "Mr. Hopper!" He called after the spirit, but it kept fleeing.

They reached the edge of the desert, where a giant dune lay. The ethereal energy finally slowed down and condensed into a humanoid figure instead of a grasshopper.

Arthur descended a distance away as he furrowed his brows. The figure was that of an ethereal thin woman with her hair tied into a bun. She turned toward him with hollow eyes.

"You are quite sharp for your age." The spirit said, a familiar feminine voice coming out instead of Mr. Hopper's voice.

"Or you just suck at acting..." Arthur said, and the girl frowned in displeasure. "Who are you?"

"I thought you would recognize me by now, as we talked before." The woman said with a pout.

"Are you the one who spoke to me when I entered the Spirits Realm?" Arthur asked in recognition. "Why did you take the shape of a grasshopper?"

"To keep an eye on you, of course." The woman said. "I am the gatekeeper of the Spirits Realm and the personal assistant of the Spirits Sovereign."

"Uh, so you have assistants here as well?" Arthur found the concept funny as if the Spirits Realm was a company and the Spirits Sovereign was its CEO. "So, why were you testing me?"

"The Spirits Sovereign sent me to find out what you were after. Knowing that you are looking for your friend, I can rest assured. However, the damage you almost did to the line diving the world..."

"We can safely say that you were the one who asked me to use all of my strength. Was that another test to see how much spiritual energy I have?"

"I admit it was a plan that went wrong," The gatekeeper said with a sigh. "However, it was also by the orders of my liege."

"And what does your liege want now?"

"That, you will know in due time." The gatekeeper said with a grin. "All I can tell you is that your friend, the one who entered using the same portal as you, awaits in the Skyey Layer. That's the least I can tell you to apologize."

"Thank you for telling me," Arthur said sincerely. "But I hate being tested or manipulated. As for your liege, send him my greetings."

"Don't worry. You can tell my liege yourself when the two of you meet," The gatekeeper said as she disappeared into nothingness. "I wish you well on your quest, Seika of Living Beings."