Two figures sat at the edge of a Cliff.
One was an old man. His body was thin and crooked, yet the air around him twisted in slow ripples, as if the world itself could not stand properly beside him. The other was a young woman with a beautiful face and calm eyes. She sat close to the edge, legs dangling over endless darkness, as relaxed as if she were resting beneath a quiet tree.
The old man looked at her for a long time. "You do not look like you belong in a place like this," He said at last. "What did you do?"
The young woman smiled faintly, her gaze still on the dark sky. "Many things. One of them was seducing Goddess Athena."
The old man stiffened.
His fingers twitched. His breath caught in surprise.
For a moment, he could only stare.
"You… you…" His mouth opened again and again, yet the words refused to come. His eyes widened further, as if they might burst. "You are the one who defiled the Goddess? How are you still alive?"
The young woman said nothing. The smile on her face never changed.
Then the old man suddenly threw his head back and laughed, which echoed across the cliff, wild and sharp.
"Zeus' expression must have been priceless!" He roared. "I can imagine the rage in his eyes! Who could have expected the Virgin Goddess of Wisdom and War actually likes women?" He slapped his knee and laughed harder. "Girl, I like you already! Tell me your name!"
"Celeste," the young woman replied. "But I would like to be called Celia."
"Celia…" the old man repeated, rolling the name on his tongue. Then he turned and stared at her with strange brightness in his eyes. "So, girl… would you like to leave this place?"
Celia finally turned her head. The old man's face was wrinkled and shriveled like dried bark, yet his eyes were clear and deep, brighter than the cold stars overhead.
"What difference would it make?" Celia asked.
"If I leave, his anger will only chase me again. I would rather sit here until my soul rots than spend my days running from the King of Gods."
The old man's lips curled. "And if I told you that once you leave, his anger will not reach you? If I told you, I could send you to a place where Zeus won't even exist?"
Celia fell silent.
After a moment, she lifted his hand and reached toward the sky. Her fingers closed slowly, as if trying to catch the distant stars.
"If that were true," She said, "then after leaving, I would…"
Her voice stopped.
She lowered her hand and laughed softly. "Forget it. I am too lazy. I will stay here until I disappear."
The old man laughed again. "You hide your desires poorly, immortal girl," He said. "Even if you sit here forever, can you really die of old age?"
He took one step forward and flicked his sleeve.
The night sky split at once.
Light poured down.
The unchanging darkness of the Protos Cliff shattered as day crashed through it. Souls across the cliff cried out as the world turned upside down for the first time since its birth.
Celia stood up sharply in surprise. "Who are you?" She demanded.
The old man smiled. "Just an old man with too much time. I carry no name," She said. "Before I send you away, I wish to thank you."
"Thank me?" Celia frowned. "For wha—"
The world turned white.
The light swallowed everything.
*
Pain tore through Celia's chest.
Her eyes flew open, finding a sword standing buried near her heart.
A handsome young man stood in front of him, gripping the hilt. His lips twisted into a vicious grin.
"Tch," the youth muttered. "An inch higher and she would be dead."
A burst of fury surged through Celia at once. "Get lost." She growled.
Power exploded from her body.
Invisible pressure crushed the air. Blood burst from mouths all around the stage as dozens of onlookers were thrown backward. The attacker standing closest to her took the full force and collapsed instantly after coughing up blood.
As the silence fell for a moment, Celia pulled the sword from her chest. "Ugh..."
Blood spilled down her fingers while her mind surged with memories that did not belong to her, rushed in.
Celia.
This new body she had transmigrated into shared the same name as she wanted to call herself in her past life, but with a cultivation that was painfully low. She was an apprentice of the Ravencrest Academy, an Academy that trained through dual cultivation with a partner.
Moments ago, this body had challenged another female apprentice over a man named Ryan.
However, the duel had ended before it truly began.
Celia's gaze darkened as she tried her best to get adjusted to the new memories.
"What is this place…" She murmured.
A shout then broke the silence. "Everyone, stop!"
A middle-aged man landed on the stage and swept his sharp eyes over the scene.
"Who allowed a deathmatch today?" He snapped. "Leave at once, before I summon the disciplinary squad!"
The Apprentices scattered in panic.
Only Celia and the unconscious female remained.
The middle-aged man glanced at Celia. "What is your name?"
"Celes..." Celia was about to say her original name, but she coughed and cleared his hoarse throat and said, "Celia."
The man nodded and turned away, lifting the fallen apprentice.
Celia stepped down from the stage and started walking.
Whispers followed Celia as she walked.
"That's her… Celia."
"The shameless woman..."
"The one who chased after Senior Ryan even though everyone knew he already had a partner."
"Wasn't she dragged into a deathmatch today?"
Eyes slid to her chest, where blood soaked through the torn hole in her white robe.
"Look at that… Don't tell me the fight already ended."
"Did she win?"
Someone scoffed. "Win? She's only at the third level of the Privileged Realm. Sapphire is at the sixth level. That gap can crush a woman before she even swings."
"Then why is she walking around?"
"In a deathmatch, only one is supposed to leave alive."
Slow footsteps broke through the noise.
Celia's face was calm, trying to steady her breathing. The blood on her robe looked almost out of place on her, like spilled ink on untouched paper.
A few female Apprentices then stepped forward and blocked her path.
One of them said loudly. "Hey, how did you crawl out of your deathmatch with Sapphire?"
More people gathered.
All eyes turned to her.
"I don't have time for children," Celia said coldly. "Move."
She stepped forward.
The group of girls froze at her behavior, letting her walk past them.
For a moment, no one reacted.
Then someone shouted from behind, voice cracking with anger.
"Celia! Take one more step, and you'll regret it!"
Celia did not slow down, though. She was already feeling confused about this transmigration, new body, new memories, and this new world, which was completely different from her old one… She didn't have to deal with others now, not with petty children's squabbles…
However, her indifference offended the others.
Footsteps then rushed behind her.
"You bitch…!"
The woman lunged at her back, intending to hurt her.
Celia merely turned her head.
That was all.
Her eyes locked onto the charging apprentice.
The air immediately changed.
The woman's shout died in her throat. Her body stiffened mid-way. Her face drained of color as if something unseen had wrapped around his spine. Her legs began to shake violently.
Fear poured out of her eyes.
Plop.
Her knees hit the ground as if heavy pressure descended onto her head.
The Apprentices behind her stiffened too. Their legs trembled as if winter had suddenly swallowed them whole.
Celia turned away. "Fools."
She kept walking without speaking anymore.
Behind her, not one person spoke.
Only after her figure disappeared did breath return to their chests.
"That… that wasn't Celia."
"No. That can't be her."
"They look the same, but the feeling was completely different."
"The old Celia always smiled stupidly… when did she ever look at someone like that?"
The fallen apprentice sat on the ground, staring at the place where Celia had stood.
Her heart pounded as the memory of that gaze replayed in her mind.
"That wasn't her…" She mutteredin disbelief.