(In the Sanctuary of Devotion)

  Two people were in a dark room with their hands chained up. Their bodies seemed to be hanging as the chains came from the ceiling and cuffed around their hands.

  They were on two separate sides of the room. One was on the left side while the other was on the right side. One of the figures was a blonde-haired woman, the other was a young boy with spiky black hair. They both were covered in deep wounds and blood. Blood leaked from all over their bodies as if they’d been going through torture.

  These two figures were Forte and Deniz. They went through torture as this was the plan of the Seven Sun in order to break them. The plan was to mainly break Deniz, as he would be of good use to the sanctuary.

  The door to the room opened and a light shone. A person walked in, pushing a tray of weapons that were covered in bloodstains. This person was one of the guards who stood next to the flame next to the Seven Sun.

  “Now, where were we?”

  The guard grabbed a whip off of the tray and walked towards Forte.

  “We’re giving you one last chance, Forte. Surrender your life and serve the sanctuary. We will have this no other way, or you will die. As for your son, I can’t tell you what would happen to him if you don’t surrender. He would go through hell, and it would be your fault. Are you willing to put your child through hell?”

  Forte struggled to lift her head until she was able to meet the guard eye to eye. She showed a small grin and said, “Burn in hell.”

  The guard reached his arm back and swung at Forte, punching her in the face. Blood came out of her mouth as she groaned in pain.

  “You brought this upon yourself,” said the guard.

  He stepped back while holding the whip and swung multiple times at Forte. Each time the whip struck her body, blood oozed out, and she screamed in pain. The pain she was going through was unbearable. They’d been getting tortured for hours and never had a chance to recover from the wounds they obtained.

  The guard swung a few more times, striking Forte in various places. Blood was everywhere—against the wall, on the floor, on the chains, as well as the whip.

  The guard stopped swinging at Forte and looked towards Deniz. He walked towards Deniz and stood in front of him. Deniz looked him in the eye with a cold stare. He could sense the killing intent coming from Deniz. This is what they wanted. If they could break him enough to where he becomes a mindless killing machine under their control, their army could become even stronger. The guard reached his arm back to strike Deniz when suddenly—

  “Wait—” screamed Forte.

  “What are the conditions that you are proposing?”

  The guard turned around with an empty look.

  “So you finally came to your senses?”

  “If you’re curious about the conditions, then I’ll tell you. If you agree to serve us, we will free you and your child. However, your child will be under direct command of the Seven Sun. You, on the other hand, we have a different plan for. Don’t worry, it won’t be the same as your early life. We don’t need you for that anymore.”

  Forte sighed. Her future was unknown, and she wouldn’t be able to watch over her son under these conditions. She had already been separated from her two daughters, and now her son being separated from her would open that pain even more. Being under the direct command of the Seven Sun was good for protection, but who knows what the motives of the Seven Sun were.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  She didn’t think too much about it. After all, as long as her son was protected, then that’s all that mattered to her. Her children would be safe, so, in reality, she didn’t truly care what her future would be.

  “I accept the conditions.” Forte took a deep sigh after saying that and looked at Deniz.

  “Mother, you didn’t have to do that for me. What’s going to happen to you? Don’t do something like this!”

  “It’s okay, Deniz. As long as you’re fine, then that’s okay. Don’t worry about me. As your mother, I’m strong, and I’ll do anything to protect you, even if it means giving myself an unknown future or even giving up my life. You should know that, and one day, you’ll do the same for your children or even for your sisters.”

  Forte gave her son a big smile. She tried to stay strong and brighten up his mood. She remembered the aura she felt from her son when she was teaching him how to control synergy, and she had a feeling he would be safe. He’s a special kid and has the ability to become very strong. As long as he stays rational and doesn’t do anything stupid, then he would be fine.

  The guard walked out of the room and closed the door, making the room dark again.

  Hours later, the Seven Sun opened the door and entered the room. The light shone in the room once more as Forte and Deniz looked at the Seven Sun. He walked towards Deniz and tapped his forehead. Instantly, all of his wounds closed up and the blood on his body disappeared without a trace. It was as if Deniz was never tortured.

  Killing intent radiated from Deniz. The coldness in his eyes was aimed directly towards the Seven Sun. A gold aura manifested as Deniz unleashed his anger and threw a punch towards the Seven Sun.

  In the eyes of the Seven Sun, this punch was moving in slow motion. His power and speed were far beyond that of Deniz. He held out a finger and casually stopped the punch of Deniz. Deniz didn’t expect to truly hurt this man, but one day in the future he would. That punch was him declaring that. He didn’t know the identity of this man. He didn’t know that this man was one of the Seven Suns—one of the strongest known people in the world—but that didn’t matter. Everybody who stood before Deniz, in his eyes, would one day kneel to him. That was simply who he was.

  The Seven Sun felt the aura of Deniz when it manifested. His eyes widened for a small moment, but nobody seemed to notice. He was able to analyze the potential of Deniz from his aura alone. It was good that he chose not to kill Deniz, especially after witnessing his aura. Deniz was truly going to be his biggest weapon in the future. He was gambling on it, and he broke the chains that held Deniz’s hands.

  “Come with me, child,” said the Seven Sun.

  Deniz looked towards his mother, and she nodded towards him with a small but noticeable smile on her face.

  Deniz and the Seven Sun slowly walked out of the room, closing the door behind them and leaving Forte in the darkness.

  Deniz and the Seven Sun entered the hallway that led to the dark room. The hallway was extremely large, extremely long, and had many rooms on each side of the walls. The Seven Sun walked forward with his hands clasped behind his back, and Deniz followed.

  “Starting from today, you’re going to be under my direct command. You’re going to join a group of six and be a part of a group called the Seven Sinners. It’s a handpicked group of seven synergy users who, like you, have good potential. With them, you will complete missions that are personally given to the seven of you. You will be well taken care of, and I won’t let anyone harm you. If you encounter anyone with a high rank, crush this purple jade. A projection of me will appear with the power of the third awakening,” he said as he handed the purple jade to Deniz.

  “The Seven Sinners are a group of seven individuals handpicked from the Seven Suns to succeed us in the future. You will be my successor. The other six individuals are handpicked from the other six in the Seven Suns. We will have you guys be trained until you are strong enough to do missions as a group. You must get along with this group. It’s the first step to eternal peace amongst all seven sanctuaries.”

  Deniz took in all of this information. He really didn’t care about this group or becoming the successor of the Seven Sun. He only cared about the safety of his mother and meeting his sisters again.

  “What’s going to happen to my mother, and will I be able to see my sisters again?” questioned Deniz. This was the only information he cared about.

  “Your mother will be fine. As for your sisters, I don’t know the location of them, and their existence doesn’t matter or benefit me at the moment.”

  Deniz simply stared at the back of him coldly. He thought to himself that if he followed along with this plan of becoming the successor of the Seven Sun, he would be able to become strong enough and find his sisters through forcing everyone to obey his will. Only then will he be able to reunite with them and protect them.

  “We are going to go to the meeting room. This is where you’ll meet the other members of the Seven Sinners, as well as the other members of the Seven Suns. Don’t provoke anyone here and try to form a relationship with anyone if possible. However, stay on your guard at all times. We don’t know the motives of everyone else, so be wary and pay attention to everything that everyone says and does. One last thing—you can call me Aliz.”

  Aliz stopped in his tracks and waved his hand. A portal opened up, and he grabbed the hand of Deniz, stepped through, and they vanished. The portal closed immediately, and the hallway was completely empty and silent.

  When Aliz and Deniz appeared, they were met by two older people and two younger people. The two older people were clearly two members of the Seven Suns, whereas the other two were members of the Seven Sinners. They looked slightly older than Deniz but seemed to be in the same age range.

  The room they were in wasn’t very large. In fact, it was pretty small and was the size of a bedroom. In the middle of the room was a table with a projection on it. Surrounding that table were seven chairs. Each chair was for a member of the Seven Sinners to sit in. The four people earlier already did that action and had the two younger people sitting, with the members of the Seven Suns standing behind them.

  Aliz and Deniz followed and did the same thing. Two more portals opened up at different locations, and more members stepped into the room. Lastly, one by one, two more portals opened up, and all of the members of both groups were present.

  The seven chairs were occupied, and each member of the Seven Suns was standing behind their successor.

  “Let the meeting begin.”

  Deniz was chosen as a member of the Seven Sinners to succeed the Seven Suns!! Will he be able to trust the other members as well as their predecessors, or do they have ulterior motives!?