This scene reminded Elric of his time with the Great Seer Mhata. On how the latter brought Elric on an illusionary s.p.a.ce where he had a coffee with her, with his grandma minding her own business in the background.

Elric felt more questions bubbling in his mind but he chose to hold them for later.

"You were expecting me?" Elric replied with a serious gaze.

"I did a thorough scan at your soul and It seems like you failed to acquire all the Elemental Authorities." grandma calmly replied.

Elric's eyes glowed in surprise and said, "How did you..."

"You youngsters think that you knew a lot about this world. You may have the World's Knowledge in you but like a baby unable to read, you were not able to maximize its usefulness." She murmured as she raised her hand to ma.s.sage her temple.

Elric just watched along, waiting for more answers.

"Let me be frank to you Dodong. The grandma you knew? She is gone." the grandma talked with full seriousness while looking at Elric.

Upon hearing her response, Elric remained calm. There was an itch in his heart upon hearing the truth but what she said was not a surprise to him. What he wanted to know was something else. His mouth moved to speak.

"Then why-"

"I looked exactly like her?" She interrupted as she picked up the small teaspoon on the side and started stirring her hot coffee. Calmly, she continued.

"As I mentioned there is a lot you do not know about the world. Even yourself, you don't really know who you are. You may think that you know everything about yourself but the truth is you have not a single grain of an ide"

"Get to the point." Elric interrupted. His eyes locked on to her with determination.

"Tell me. Every time when you were on the verge of losing your mind or self control. Did somehow, a faint and warm voice came to help you?"

Elric's head rose up upon hearing in surprise.

He remembered vividly that warm and soothing voice that he heard inside his mind when he was on the verge of completely losing himself.

One was during his transformation to the corrupted Black Ancestral Dragon, the second was during his mind test when he took the Spiritual Cleansing Pearl and the last one happened when he was trying to cross over dimensions at the Toray.

It was exactly this voice that served as his last line of defense every time he was having complete seizure of his mind or soul.

For some reason, it was a voice full of warmth and familiarity to him.

Sipping calmly, she continued,

"Would you like to meet him? He could probably explain everything better to you."

"Meet him?"

"Yes. Your spiritual Guardian. Your great Ancestor. Your protector. I don't know and care how you call him. For me, he is just an undying b.a.s.t.a.r.d." She said with a tinge of irritation in her voice.

Elric's face tilted in confusion.

"Don't resist." She suddenly said as she raised her palm pushed it towards Elric.

Taken aback, Elric's instinctive reaction allowed him to create a spiritual barrier in an instant.

Bw.a.n.g~

CReaak~

As a result of the sudden impact of two soul forces, the table broke in half and the coffee from the broken kettle and the shattered gla.s.s cups dissipated into nothing.

"Stupid child. I said don't resist! Now you have to pay me for the broken table and- just. just stay calm and let me take your soul somewhere!" She said irritably.

"You look and act like him. You really do come from that b.a.s.t.a.r.d." She added.

"What are you trying to do?" Elric said as he slowly brought down his soul barrier in the form of glowing bright aura shrouding him.

"I will take you where that voice came from. Inside you, specifically. We are gonna travel in the form of our soul." Seeing that Elric still did not look convinced, she added, " Don't worry, his place is sealed with my protection, especially this room. No one is gonna touch us while we leave our bodies behind."

Elric remained undecided. What if it was just a trap?

"You want to see your grandma too right?"

With these words, Elric's eyes showed a hint of surprise and finally, slowly nodded.

"Now be a good boy. I need to focus on. Don't defend cause I ain't got no more extra tables. You still have to pay for them when we get back."

Slowly she rosed up and came closer to touch Elric's temple with her old, skinny hands.

"If this will allow me to meet grandma, I am more than willing to bring down my guard," Elric muttered.

"I know." grandma nodded and continued in a serious tone.

"And before I forgot, what we are about to do is actually not allowed under the laws of heaven and earth. That's why I have set up an isolation formation in this house. So don't go out mumbling about anything that will happen tonight."

Elric nodded in response.

Slowly grandma laid her hand on Elric and a pulsating mixture of cold and heat covered his entire body.

The next time he realized, he was standing in the front of the door that contains the Ancestral Dragon essence. He is inside his mental plane of existence.

"No, we are not going there Dodong." The sound of the old granny came from behind. Elric turned around and saw an unfamiliar woman behind him.

"You-"

She looked like a woman on her fifties. She wore an elegant Filipiniana dress with her long black hair flowing down reaching knee level. She wore a wooden sandal and holds a small folded Abanico on her right hand, a type of fan made in the Philippines.

She stood there with elegance and charm on a glowing semi-transparent body.

"This is my real form, Dodong. My name is Kahayag and I am an ancient spiritualist, basically a living spiritual being from the Light Dimension. I know you still have plenty of questions but let's talk about that more when we finish our business here."

And like a flash, her bright semi-transparent form turned into a ball of light and fleeted towards a certain direction. Elric felt more questions are piling up in his head but he still decided to follow her.

Just like her, Elric transformed into a ball of light and followed after her faint light trails.

Back at the human realm, Elric and granny's body remained unmoving except for their eyes that seem to be rapidly twitching from under the lids.

After an unknown amount of time, Elric finally spotted granny's bright and transparent figure. She was standing before long stairs made of stone going down. Elric landed beside her and scanned the pitch dark place. There were no light around. Just an empty void spanning into his entire horizon and a long stone-stair before him.

"We are here. Follow me." She said as she took the first step. Elric resolutely followed suit.

With each step, Elric felt like he was unable to move on.

"What's this. I can't move!" Elric told the granny.

"We are ascending the Plane of the Heavenly Void. Going up requires that your heart and mind are free and not attached to the world."

Elric tried even harder but he felt like his weight kept on increasing. He was unable to move another step.

"How am I gonna go up? How do I free my heart and mind? How do I get rid of attachment? I have plenty of mission to do back in the human realm. I can't just give everything up!" Elric shouted in frustration.

"How will I know that this is not a trap?!" Elric added gritting his teeth.

The old woman before him just looked back with a pathetic look towards Elric.

"You are powerful outside but incredibly weak inside. Despite all your advancement, in depth-cowardice will always be the cause of your destruction."

Her elegant figure stood a few steps ahead of Elric with a condescending gaze. She spread wide her small Abanico and rapidly waved it to herself - a sign of displeasure usually made by Filipina ladies of ancient times.

Seeing Elric still trying hard, despite her answer, she could not help but heaved a deep sigh. She turned around and left him alone.

Elric forced himself up but just couldn't do it. He looked up only to see her figure getting farther and farther before suddenly disappearing into nothingness.

"Free your heart and mind and get rid of your material connections. Why don't you just say 'kill yourself Elric', why use rhetoric when there is an easy way?" Elric mumbled in complain.

He had only made the third step but his body felt like they were chained from an unseen weights. He can't move them even a single step!

AGGGGH!~

Elric tried and tried until his semi-transparent form collapsed in surrender.

His head raised up to look at the long winding stairs.

"What am I gonna do now? The answer is just above me but I can't even advance a single step." Elric tiredly thought.

His mind wandered for any answers and even checked the World knowledge only to end up in vain.

Sighing deeply his memories wandered back at the time when he heard that warm voice again.

A few moments later, his eyes flashed with an idea in mind.

"I see. Thanks, mysterious man - whom Kahayag called a b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Elric mumbled to himself and stood up in renewed vitality.