Eternal Thief



Ace, with a hint of nostalgia, looked at Thomas's fate point. The last time he saw Thomas was on fox mountain when Winter caught them and even invited him to join the Thief House, but he rejected him. 

'He shouldn't be here…' Ace frowned because he knew better than anyone just how dangerous this place was, and he also knew Thomas wasn't an idiot who would come here. 

Because his actual goal in going into the Royal Demon Nation was to get away from his tribe with his wife Milly, not to take this sort of risk, and he also didn't spot Milly anywhere. 

'You shouldn't have come here.' Ace thought grimly before he stopped paying attention since there was little he could do about it. 

Although he cares about Thomas and considers him a friend, they are not that close, and he isn't even sure if Thomas would take his help. Furthermore, he already had his own fair share of trouble, and demons won't just send anyone to this place. 

So, he was pretty sure Thomas was quite capable of keeping himself safe, and once he destroyed this place, everyone had no choice but to give up and return at that time. He was already very close to his final goal!

"Put a thief mark on Thomas and Alora," Ace commanded Moira to turn the map back to the seventh layer. 

After half an hour, he spotted his destination, which was in the middle of the burning sea. A magnificent golden cathedral seems to be afloat on those flames and surrounded by tall fiery golden giants. This was also the place that led to the ninth layer, where lies what Ace was truly after! 

Activating his stealth to its peak, Ace dived towards the golden cathedral, and Cyrus's happy voice rang in his mind. 

"We found another place with delicious food!" 

Ace rolled his eyes at the little bird. Only he can take all this like a game since this entire place has been nothing but Cyrus's playground all this time, and if Ace wasn't forbidding him from taking excessive action unless told. Cyrus wanted to burn everything here. 

Ace stepped in front of the golden swirling gate of the cathedral. The lower layers cathedrals were red, while the middle layers cathedrals were crimson, and the upper layers cathedrals were golden. 

Furthermore, each layer was more dangerous than the other, and without the live fate map, not to mention reaching this point within short months, Ace was afraid to even five years won't be enough. 

Ace then stepped into the golden gate without hesitation, and a familiar voice rang.

"Sun and Moon Seeker Token detected! 

"Welcome Sun and Moon Seeker in the Upper Layer, Second Level Trial!

"Congratulation for being the first person to ever stumbled upon this place! 

"Pass the Unique Trial solely made for the Sun and Moon Seeker to earn an entry in the Upper Layer, Third Level, and also the final layer of the Sun Secret Realm!

"Unique Trial: The Sun Flames Might!" 

The very next moment, the surrounding started to change, and Ace found himself standing in the middle of a golden flame sea, and the heat was so intense that even that grade-8 body armor couldn't fully resist it.

"Found a way out of the Sun Flames. You have ten days!"

Ace's lips rose as he said as Cyrus was eagerly, looking in a particular direction with hungry eyes, "Alright, you can start." 

"Yay!" 

Cyrus chirped in happiness as he was waiting for those exact words and flew in the same direction as he was looking so eagerly. The next moment, he spits the blue flames in the same direction, and the entire golden flame sea churned thereby. 

Under Ace's bright eyes, the sea of flames started to vanish, and what replaced it was a small golden fire that was now half swallowed by Cyrus's blue flames. 

'Is that a spirit fire?' Ace thought, but then he didn't think so because he saw under the golden flames a golden rock, and those flames seemed to be originated from it.

But not for long as Cyrus's blue flames fully devoured that rock before they retracted toward his small mouth and vanished as fast as they had appeared, and Cyrus had this blissful expression like he was in heaven. 

"This is the tastiest thing I've eaten so far!" Cyrus transmitted his happy thoughts, and Ace smiled wryly. 

He was really glad that he found the little guy when he did and hatched it instead of killing him. If not for him, he would be in so much trouble right now. 

"The Third Sun and Moon Seeker, White, has taken the Sun God's Holy Gift! 

"The Unique Trial for Sun and Moon Seeker of the eighth layer will no longer exist! 

"According to the dogma of the Sun God, if a Sun and Moon Inheritor has the ability to take the Holy Gift, all the rewards placed for the Unique Trial shall be handed down to that inheritor! 

"Sun and Moon Seeker White will also be rewarded with 1000 extra days in the Secret Sun Realm!" 

As usual, Ace was given all the rewards in a golden ring, and he took them without hesitation. 

However, this time, the voice said something which it never had before. 

"You have been given the entry to the Final Layer of the Secret Sun Realm, and if you pass it, you will be one step closer to becoming the Chosen One. 

"May the Glory of the Sun and Moon God will be shone above the Mortal Sky. Good luck for the Final Trial, Sun and Moon Seeker White!" 

Ace's expression was solemn because, for the first time, he felt a hint of excitement from this usually emotionless voice. 

A gate leading toward the final layer finally appeared in front of him. Cyrus was already back on his shoulder and hurried him to move forward as he couldn't wait to search for more delicious food. 

'I just hope my plan words…' 

With such grave thoughts, Ace stepped into the gate!