The God Virus

Suddenly recalling something, concern filled Hellarose's heart as she involuntarily put on an empty stare. "By the way… you shouldn't have killed the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, you're in big trouble now."

"Hmm? Who is this Lion King you're talking about? And why is everyone so afraid of him?" In fact, now that the topic had been raised, there were a few things Virus was also curious about as well.

"Sigh, you're really ignorant about this stuff, aren't you?" With a rigid expression and pronounced sigh, Hellarose muttered to herself.

"Okay, so, the Lion King is a Golden-Maned Ancient Lion that rules the Animal Kingdom with an iron fist that covers a segment of Chao Mundi. You must've heard this from that bastard Ra before, right?"

"Yes."

"But what that signifies and the reason he can rule the Animal Kingdom is that he is the strongest monstrous beast there! Even the mighty Burning Sparrow serves directly under the Lion King as one of his few direct underlings. That's how strong he is!"

"Which means now that you've offended the throne of the Animal Kingdom, you might as well have offended the entire Animal Kingdom! So, you have to be extremely cautious from now on. When we leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World, promise me the first course of action you take will be to get away from Chao Mundi as far as possible and don't think of returning ever again!"

Finally getting a rough picture of the consequences of Killing the Purple-Maned Ancient Lion, Virus understood he was in big trouble.

"Alright, I get it. I promise I'll leave Chao Mundi after we leave the Invisible Ancient Fortress World."

"Good!"

In the meantime, the two were continuing on their path when they suddenly reached a dead end with no doors whatsoever.

However, the good news was that although there were no doors, instead, there were four portal-like entrances that supposedly led to another location. 'Hmm, they are somewhat similar to the portal gates that the Sphinx opened to the treasuries.'

"Which one should we enter?" Slightly anxious, the veiled Hellarose turned and asked Virus. From an unknown moment forward, without herself even realizing, Virus had become her pillar of support as she was adamant about following whatever choice Virus made.

Seeing that stare filled with expectations as if she had blind faith in him, Virus felt a little awkward. Yet, he soon got to work and started searching around everywhere in order to find any clues.

At last, he did indeed discover a sentence that's been carved on a hidden section of the wall in a tiny font. 

'One to the beginning, one to the middle, and one to the end, and one to the death.'

After reading the sentence, Virus sunk into contemplation, 'Hmm, seeing this, it seems they want us to try our luck again.'

As a matter of fact, Virus had come to realize that the red gate seemed to be mostly dependent on luck and chances other than the capabilities one might possess.

"To be honest, I'm also not sure which portal gate leads to where, do you still want to trust my choice and follow me? I mean, are you certain you want to leave your fate on my hands?" Raising an eyebrow, Virus queried in anticipation.

To that question, however, Hellarose only displayed a relaxed smile as her eyes became like two crescent moons. "Hot face, did I ever tell you? You have this mysterious aura surrounding you which makes everyone around you feel as if as long as you're there with them, everything's going to be just fine."

"Furthermore, after being around you for a while, I've come to realize you're a genius unlike anyone I've seen before, you're getting stronger at a breakneck pace which honestly leaves me confused and speechless as to how that is even possible." 

Despite articulating that, the veiled Hellarose had no intention of interrogating him regarding how it was possible to get so strong at such a speed since she understood everyone had some secrets that they didn't want anyone to be aware of. As a matter of course, that included herself as well.

"Moreover, I can also guarantee that you're very smart after seeing how you made that Sphinx wish it had never seen you." By the end of her words, she couldn't help but titter.

"So… I'm sure, I'll come with you… oh, that is unless you think I'm a nuisance, in that case, I'll just choose another gate just like we did in the Sphinx trial." By the end of her sentence, she lowered her head, as if she didn't want him to see what kind of eyes and face she was making at that moment.

Listening to everything she had to say, Virus merely stepped forward and put his palm over her cheek on the veil before gently raising it. While making direct eye contact, showing a bright smile, he claimed, "You are a nuisance…"

"…" Hellarose's eyes went wide open at once as her pupils dilated. While a bitter sensation of disappointment was overwhelming her heart, she broke eye contact between them before talking in the most natural tone she could muster right now, "If that's the case, then I guess this is where we part-"

However, before she could even finish, Virus proceeded with the rest of his sentence, "But in spite of you being a huge nuisance, it's been fun tagging along with you. So let's be together until the very end."

By 'the end', Virus obviously meant the end of the Invisible Ancient Fortress world.

Meanwhile, the corners of Hellarose's eyes moistened hearing that it's been fun being around her as she came to realize that he had been teasing her earlier.

So, while beaming a smile, she nodded and asked, "Is this a proposal?" Without any pause, she also started shrieking in fake excitement, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's get married and be together until the very end, honey!"

A tic of anger and annoyance covered Virus' forehead once more as he slapped her face away, albeit mildly. "I take it back, go by yourself!"

Invading his personal space, however, she crossed her arms with his and started giggling, "Come on, honey! Don't abandon your wifey that easily! Let's go!"

Rubbing the temple of his forehead, Virus felt a headache coming his way. He was already deeply regretting not having sent the nuisance away when he had the opportunity.

"Let's go." Randomly picking a portal gate, while Hellarose refused to let go of his arm, the two entered it together.

The instant they arrived at the other side, the scene the two of them faced was that of a gigantic molten core with burning lava everywhere!

Fortunately, in the location they were standing at, there was some kind of barrier that was keeping all the heat outside of their boundary. In case the boundary didn't exist, the two of them would've long melted away.

"Oh, no! Did we enter the gate of death?" All color seemed to have left Hellarose's countenance at once as she felt that they had entered a death trap that was impossible to escape from.. Though they were temporarily safe, they were not going to be able to survive for long without food and other vital daily necessities.