Erold woke up in total darkness, seeing nothing but blackness before him. In an unconscious voice, he muttered, "Arthur... Dante... are you with me in death?"
He laughed bitterly while staring into the void. "Did I die alone without them? At least the place will be quiet."
The silence was shattered by Dante's sharp and provocative voice: " Shut up, you! Have you surrendered to death this easily? You are truly pathetic!"
Erold’s smile widened. "Hello, Dante. I think we died together this time."
Arthur interjected in a worried tone, "Erold, are you okay?"
Erold replied calmly, "Arthur! I'm dead, so how could I not be okay?"
Dante exhaled in annoyance. "You haven't died, you idiot! You are alive. There is a cloth over your face preventing you from seeing."
Erold felt his face in daze to find a piece of cloth covering it. He pulled it off quickly, only to be surprised that he was not in a grave, but standing in the middle of a celestial sphere where stars swam all around him. He turned quickly to the right and left. "What is this?"
Then he heard a voice: "Hello, Erold."
Erold froze in his tracks. That tender, familiar voice... he turned quickly and shouted in amazement, "Astra!"
He turned to find Astra standing in her calm beauty amidst the stars. Erold stood up quickly. "How did you bring me here?"
Astra laughed gently. "Your shattered body is still below."
Erold was terrified. "Are we dead?"
Astra shook her head. "No, no. Only your consciousness is here."
Erold muttered, "How did you bring me here?"
Astra said in wonder, "I didn't bring you. You came here because the power of Balance within you has begun to activate, and it is healing your injured body below."
Erold looked at her without comprehension. "What?! Do you mean the power of Balance wasn't working before?"
Astra held his hands. "You were only using a small part of it. To activate the power of Balance, you must balance your mind and your self."
Erold looked at her sarcastically. "What is this talk, Astra? You know I don't understand your riddles. I'm not a J—" Suddenly, he jerked and shouted, "Jasmin! Astra, do you know where Jasmin is? Please, she is alone in this world. Is she with anyone?"
Astra answered calmly, "From what I caught a glimpse of... yes, she is with someone."
Erold breathed a sigh of relief. "Who? Is it Argus? Or Gilgamesh? Or Luce?"
Astra shook her head in denial. "I cannot see any of them... and Jasmin is not with them."
Erold was puzzled and worried. "Then with whom? Tell me! Has something happened to her?"
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Astra’s expression changed. "Believe me, it is better for you not to know."
Erold shouted as panic gnawed at his heart, "Astra!"
Astra said, "She is in absolute safety and unexpected danger."
Erold shrieked, "Tell me who!"
Astra said firmly, "She is with the Lord of Destruction... Ashura himself."
The words fell on Erold’s ears like iron hammers. "How? And what? And why?"
Astra said quietly, "He found her unconscious. I was trying to descend to the Jinn world for her sake, but I couldn't. At that time, I saw Ashura approaching. I tried to descend at any cost, but I was prevented. With Ashura's presence there, the world does not allow two cosmic powers in one place, unless one of them is summoned."
Erold shouted, "What happened to her?"
Astra whispered calmly, "Jasmin lost her memory during your fight with Ashura. I tried to communicate with her by manifesting in the form of a small worm."
Erold asked quickly, "What did she say to you?"
Astra replied with a smile, "She threatened me with her bracelet. She thought I was one of the monsters. I couldn't tell her the truth before my connection was cut."
Erold muttered with burning anger, "Damn it! What is that bastard doing to her? Is he torturing her?"
Astra was surprised by his reaction. "No... on the contrary, he is treating her with... kindness."
"Kindness?" Erold shouted in disbelief. Astra interrupted him: "Not the human kindness you know, but by Ashura's standards... he is treating her kindly."
Erold muttered with a sad calmness, "What does this mean? Will Jasmin be with him forever?"
Astra replied quickly, "No, impossible. Her memory will return and she will search for you all."
Erold said worriedly, "I fear that bastard will corrupt her."
Erold calmed down a little, and a heavy silence prevailed before Erold remembered Lori. He asked in a shaky voice, "Astra... do you know anything about Ashura's past?"
Astra went silent, and Erold pleaded with her, "Please, Astra! I must know. There might be hope for him."
Erold’s consciousness began to blur, and the limbs of his celestial body began to fade. Time was running out. Astra went silent for seconds that felt like eons, then Astra said with a heart-wrenching hesitation, "His full name is... Ion... Yursha... your older brother, Erold."
Time froze in Erold’s eyes. He began falling into the void of the sphere, his mind refusing to grasp the information. He screamed as he faded away, "Wait! What are you saying?! My brother?! How can this slaughterer be...?"
In the vast golden desert, Ashura was walking with steady steps, and Jasmin was trying to keep up with his long strides. Suddenly, Ashura stopped walking, causing Jasmin to stop and look at him in wonder. "What's wrong, Ashura? Do you want to destroy something now?"
Ashura turned to her, a mysterious smile forming on his lips. "Little one, are you not curious to know the limits of your power?"
Jasmin blinked in confusion and looked at her small hands, then at him. "No... why? I don't think I possess any power."
In that moment, Ashura’s features changed. The smile vanished, replaced by a majestic frown, as if the desert itself fell silent to hear him. He spoke in a deep voice that shook the soul: "It is a shame for a person to grow old without tasting the full extent of their power... to spend their years without knowing to what extent their body can endure, and to what depth their will can dig."
He took a step toward her, his shadow covering her, and continued in a burning tone: "The soul was not given merely to live; it was shaped to test its limits, to struggle with pain, to bend iron, and to stand unbroken before the trials of existence. Comfort has made people hollow; they worship ease while their muscles sleep. But the wise... they seek resistance, because resistance reveals the truth."
He extended his hand toward her as if seeing something she could not see. "When you finally see what your hands can build, what your heart can carry, and what your soul can defeat... only then will you know the meaning of truly living."
Jasmin stood staring at him, stunned, her eyes shining with a new feeling she had never known before... a feeling of latent power. Ashura spoke in a calmer but no less firm voice: "I will train you, little one... to be someone worthy of accompanying Destruction."
Jasmin jumped and shouted with genuine joy: "My God! I’m going to become stronger!"
Ashura continued his walk, and the faint smile returned to his face, while he whispered in his depths with a silent vow: "I will make you stronger than anyone you have ever seen in your life... little one."