Promise

The time thief, and the deceiver of death. Antonnie Xander

Many witches are still reluctant to interact with Tsabitha Youenha and Antonnie Xander, two alchemists who have been on the run in Terra for a long time. Although many rank S witches are reportedly close friends with both of them, these witches are unwilling to discuss their past. As they do with Tha's status, which is not all that different from Antonnie's, they act as though they are unaware of Antonnie's status as a Class 1 fugitive. The S-rank witches claim that dealing with Antonnie is equivalent to dealing with death; therefore, the problem with Zamman has nothing to do with their wish to avoid Tha or Antonnie.

Children are frequently hired by Antonnie to labor for him. He used to do the same thing to Tha and Leah, who is currently Lazuardy Sword's highest general. Several decades ago, Leah and Tha were sold by Antonnie to Azalea to deal with a case. Azalea, the sole daughter of Naar, the king of hell, was even involved in this significant case. Azalea gave both orders to murder a human being who wanted perpetual life, but in his mania, he employed crafty means with the aid of the Shadow-man and the prohibited spell Zamman.

With her shrewdness, Tha managed to cage the malevolent Manji until, at last, they were unable to murder and steal organs without cause. The master of Manji was irritated by the deterioration of Manji's priceless organs and the speed at which the criminal's body was deteriorating. The lovely figure The master of Manji was most proud of eventually deteriorating over time because she was unable to produce beauty that would last forever. Ultimately, Tha was able to eliminate that malevolent Manji with ease. For a Manji without a master will be incapable of attacking. The reason for this is that the Manji solely carry out their master's instructions.

"This case is highly confidential. Afar even directed that certain of Miss Tha's notes about the case be kept secret. Due to the fact that the offender is the daughter of a well-respected sorcerer in the neighborhood. This sorceress even made a substantial contribution to the development of offensive magic in Terra during his lifetime," Meuz added.

"Ok… But according to the story, they brought up mass murder, organ stealing, and Miss Tha, who imprisoned the monster till it passed away. Is what I'm saying true?!" was the question Anthonius said.

"Yes," Meuz replied.

Anthonius thought for a moment. He recalled the series of events during his encounters with the Shadow-man at the Temple of the Dark Dragon, as well as their brief skirmish at the outskirts of the City of Tohron a few days ago. Anthonius also recalled Alyosha's words regarding his front guard's encounter with the Shadow-man in the city of Akarmara. After their brief battle at the city border, Alyosha also mentioned that during his encounter in Akarmara, the Shadowman, who at that time resembled a banshee, still had legs and crawled. That was very different from the Shadow-man they encountered at the border of Tohron City. Anthonius indeed saw a very striking difference in the physical appearance of the Shadow-man. Not only the legs, but also the arms and several other body parts of that creature were incomplete.

"Let me clarify, did Shadow-man commit the murder to steal organs from it and then use them to form its own body? In order to survive... to fulfill the self-creator's commands? Anthonius started to comprehend the idea or mechanism of Zamman's banned magic.

As though to validate Anthonius's suspicion, Meuz nodded. "Exactly," Meuz remarked as he summoned a guard and requested that he carry the possessions of every member of the main investigating team to the Celestial Tower. "I will explain it in detail to you."

The young girl's presence among the primary members of the investigating team diverted Meuz's focus. Meuz questioned, "Who is that child?"

Anthonius looked back, trying to find the young girl Meuz was referring to. "She is the only survivor," declared Anthonius. "We can extract information from the girl using a memory recall spell, right?"

Meuz stated, "There's a possibility."

…

"I will not tell you that the condition of Terra is good right now," Meuz said as soon as the members of the main investigative team arrived at his office. "The wizards are now in danger of being extinct. I've already given the Lazuardy Sword team, under Leah's leadership, instructions to look for a new mine. Some of them are presently working to preserve our sole mithril mine in the interim." According to Meuz, the search and repair procedure might take nearly a year, but in the worst situation, it might take even longer.

"What about the members of Crimson Knight?" Javier inquired.

"They are currently assigned to carry out cleaning and also evacuate victims if still possible. As of right now, amethyst crystal shards have been effectively removed from seven different locations. Cleaning the amethyst crystals is going quite slowly, despite the fact that we have discovered 20 spots. This is because level S wizards are even forced to alternate during the relocation procedure due to the miasma released by the crystal forces." Meuz utilized common landscape imaging magic, which is typically used to map an area, to indicate the 20 sites of the amethyst crystal shard remnants that the Crimson Knight needed to remove. "In addition to cleaning up the shards and remnants of amethyst crystals, they often also find the bodies of the sorcerers," said Meuz.

When Javier abruptly stated, "Actually, there is a way to destroy the crystal," the entire main investigative team turned to stare at him.

Javier looked at Anthonius, who was giving him a stern look as though to warn him not to bring up the subject with Meuz.

"However, that method might be very dangerous for the user," Javier said. "By using Rain Arrow, but we have to change the arrow to the size of a needle!" replied Javier.

"That's very dangerous. The risk is also too great," Meuz stated in response to Javier's suggestion.

Meuz is already aware of the strategy's flaws, which is what Anthonius feared. The hazard of applying the Rain Arrow by altering its size is far greater than the chance of being exposed to the miasma from amethyst crystal shards.

"Then who is this little girl?" Meuz walked over to Tatiana and inquired.

"She is the only survivor. This young girl informed us that the Shadow-Man was the entity that had been frightening Terra. She attends the magic academy," Anthonis stated, requesting that Tatiana bow before Meuz as a sign of respect for the Terran monarch.

"Such a clever child," Meuz was commended.

"Fortunately, she has already obtained the material, and she is very lucky to have survived while being near the creature that has killed almost 600 wizards in Terra. Truly very lucky," Anthonius exclaimed.

"How did she survive?" Curious, Meuz inquired.

"The Shadow-man who came before asked me to hide my magical energy," Tatiana replied. "I just followed the Shadow Man's instructions because my teacher said that the Shadow Man is a creature that can never lie. What they say is the truth."

When Tatina finished explaining, Meuz grinned. Meuz said, "I think I'm starting to understand. I don't need to use the memory recall spell," Meuz remarked, drawing perplexed looks from every member of the main investigation team.

After that, Meuz summoned a guard to escort Tatiana and the other City of Filanesia citizens to safety in the subterranean tunnels. Following the girl's departure, Meuz used the magic of territory mapping to show the entire Terra region's landscape to the main members of the investigative team.

"Is this for planning a war?" Dima questioned, looking perplexed.

"No. I'm not reckless enough to beat the war drum before knowing the strength of the enemy we will face," Meuz responded. "I want to show you where Shadow-man territory is."

Then Meuz indicated the vicinity of Breeze Swamp. It is the location of the swamp and peatland area where the Shadow-man lives. This situation is used by dishonest traders in the trading city of Ein to dispose of illegal narcotics in an effort to remove evidence during inspections. "This place is rarely visited by witches because there are several random spots that are quicksand areas. Furthermore, the bodies of murder victims are now dumped in this quicksand location."

Anthonius questioned, "Then... what does it have to do with the Shadow-man?"

"We know that the Shadow-man eats swamp mud and also the remains of bodies that have not yet decomposed, which happen to be there. It can come from people, animals, or even plants. When they eat it, the energy from this body will be absorbed, so the Shadow-man will be influenced by the life of the body they consumed!" stated Meuz. "This case is the beginning of the case that Leah and Tha had to handle."

The rest, including Anthonius, went silent.

Meuz clarified, "We will look for the master of this Shadow-man."

"Should we go to the Breeze Swamp marshlands to find out whose bodies have been dumped there?" Vanity inquired. "The investigation could take a long time! This excludes the application of the spell that was used to increase memory. A huge amount of manna might be consumed in such a large area." Vanity believed that Meuz's action was completely unfeasible.

"I will do it," Meuz declared. "Even though I might not be involved in the search process later, I will be the one to perform the memory-reviving spell. It could take a while for the manna I use to recover. Thus, two front guards will be required later. One to keep me safe while I replenish my manna and another to distract in the event of an unexpected assault. Therefore, let me begin by outlining what each of you must do after we identify the Manji's owner," Meuz said.

It may seem unattainable, but only Meuz can pull it off. Before employing the memory summoning spell, a significant quantity will be required to infuse magical energy into every area of the swamp. Meuz has been alive for about a thousand years. Age, skill, and emotional maturity will all raise a wizard's maximum manna point total; attack damage and protective magic barriers will have the opposite effect. For this reason, older wizards would rather not perform defensive and offensive spells with their magic. Because the younger wizards will obviously outperform them in terms of attack damage.