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[Arc 3] Chapter 87

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Chapter 87
Entering the Black Night Sect

“So Chu Shen, do you have a plan or are you going to fly around aimlessly?” Lucas asked with the jetpacks speakers. They had taken off less than five minutes ago and so far they were only following the road away from the mercenary city.

“Of course I have a plan.” Chu Shen huffed in exasperation. “I need to buy a map to Wildent and then go see that man who blew off your leg on accident.”

Lucas’ stunned voice shrieked out. “That LUNATIC! No! NO! I still haven’t forgiven him for blowing off my leg, that b*stard!”

Chu Shen shook his head. “Oh it wasn’t that bad. You were able to make another, though it didn’t help much since your body is ashes now. Besides, he promised to help us in repayment for all the trouble and I need a place to breakthrough.”

“Breakthrough to what?”

“To the Martial Practicioner stage of course. I need to become stronger and that is about the most I can delay. With that, I should be able to collect the materials needed to build you an improved body.”

“Alright then. The scanners on this thing are limited to radar and some cameras, so I can tell we are coming up on a town but that’s all. It is fairly large, as big as the one we just left so we should stop here. I’ll let you down not too far so you can walk in.”

“Thanks Lucas.” Chu Shen didn’t have to wait long before the town was in sight. They were among the clouds to avoid detection but the toy like houses were evidence that they didn’t steer wrong.

Lucas started diving for the forest. At first, Chu Shen wasn’t too concerned. At least, not until the forest was less than a hundred feet away with no sign of slowing down.

“LUUUCAAASSS! SLOW DOWN!”

“Hehehe. Don’t worry, your body’s pretty strong, it won’t break from just this. Fortunately I armored the jetpack so it won’t break either.”

“I HATE YOU SO MUCHHHH!” Chu Shen covered himself in Qi and covered his head with his arms. SNAP CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK THUD. He crashed through several trees before landing heavily on the ground.

Chu Shen stumbled to his feet, feeling a bit battered. Groggily shaking his head, he finally stopped seeing spots. Lucas meanwhile, was feeling very ashamed.

“I thought he knew I was joking. Dangit man, why do you have to be so serious! I was going to slow down before we hit the tree line but how was I supposed to know you were going to store me inside the spatial ring before I even got the chance. DANGIT!”

Shaking off the impact, Chu Shen walked into town with a couple dirt marks on his clothes but no worse off than before. Buying the map and a bite to eat, he quickly left the town. He was a bit hesitant, but he still brought out the jetpack.

Unexpectedly, instead of Lucas pulling another prank, he started apologizing fiercely. At first Chu Shen was a bit stunned. It wasn’t until he paid attention to what Lucas was saying that he nodded and agreed with Lucas. Even Lucas knew when to stop a joke so his whole talk about crashing was just his blustering, nothing more.

Sighing, Chu Shen forgave him and quickly started on his way to Wildent city. Two days later they arrived. As they neared the city though, Chu Shen had Lucas bring down the jetpack.

“Why should we set down here, we are still a mile out from the city?” Lucas was puzzled. It was still pretty far, why walk when you could fly?

“Because I heard from the shop I bought the map at that Wildent city is a very prosperous trade town. It is supposed to be the third best city in the entire kingdom.”

“Oh. No wonder there was so many caravans passing by.”

“And with such a big city, there must be a lot of martial artists there. Some of them must be pretty high leveled as well. It would be bad if we were detected so it’s best to be cautious.”

“Okay.” Chu Shen stored Lucas inside the spatial ring and set out. Trekking out of the forest, Chu Shen set off across the road. He wasn’t in a hurry since he didn’t have a time limit. So he strolled off unhurriedly to the city of Wildent.

Upon arriving he went through the gates unchecked. Arriving near a food stand, he bought some kebabs since he had been flying for eight hours. Asking the vendor where the black night sect was, he was directed to the east side of town.

Arriving in front of the gates for the Black Night sect, he looked at it for a second. From what he was told when he asked for directions, this was one of the top sects in the city. The entire eastern section was taken over by the Black Night sect which managed most of the local shops.

As for the actual sect, it was located near the walls and encompassed a great deal of the mountains located near the town. Often towns and sects would locate themselves near forests or mountains.

The reason being that cultivators needed seclusion to breakthrough and these terrains made it easy to become isolated. As a result, the Black Night sect being located on the edge of town was just to have more room for cultivators and to grow resources. Each sect was like a miniature town.

“Hey you! Kid, back away. The Black Night Sect isn’t recruiting today, go home.” The guard yelled from the gates.

Chu Shen cupped his hands. “I’m sorry. I am looking for someone that sent me here.”

“Shoo kid, I’m not here to babysit.” The guard dismissed him with a bored face. However, an elbow jolted slightly. The second guard, a female coincidentally, came over to him.

“What is it sweetie, who are you looking for? You can tell big sis here.” She spoke in a crooning voice. Chu Shen just looked at her for a second before shaking his head. She was offering help, no need to refuse. Even if the source acted a bit weird.

“I don’t know the person’s name but he said to show the guards this and they would know what to do.” He fished out the token that he received from the man who took Lucas’ leg.

The guard only admired the cute thirteen year old Chu Shen’s face at first. That was, until she glimpsed the medallion. It was bronze with the symbol for Night on one end and Lin Qun on the other.

She inhaled sharply. Unexpectedly, this was a medallion belonging to an outer sect elder! She glanced at Chu Shen. So young yet he had such great connections.

“Wait here for a moment. I will go see Lin Qun about your visit. Can I have your name?” She asked politely, no longer speaking in a childish manner. The other guard was a bit puzzled until he saw the medallion. He showed shock at seeing it, but then he became a little nervous.

“He wouldn’t know my name. Just tell him the kids who were on a walk on the mountains are here. He should know who we are from that.”

The guard nodded and ran off. The first guard stood there for a second before coming over to Chu Shen. “Uh, sorry about earlier. If I had known about the medallion I wouldn’t have been so rude.”

Chu Shen nodded. “I understand. Just try and be nicer in the future. It would be bad if you offended someone too powerful because you were rude.”

The guard nodded hastily before returning to his post. It took about ten minutes but the female guard appeared again. “Follow me, he said that he wants to meet you.”

With that, Chu Shen entered the Black Night Sect.

[Arc 3] Chapter 86

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Chapter 86
Skipping Town

“So Lucas, do you really have the materials needed to build a jetpack?” Chu Shen asked Lucas, casting a questioning glance at Lucas.

Lucas rolled his eyes, though it was hard to catch the gesture since his body was a little grainy from the hologram. “Well I was planning on building you one to begin with. I mean, you did say that only high level experts can fly. So a jetpack would be a great way to escape. So I went and bought the materials myself. Took some planning to get the plastic and some specific metals but otherwise easy.”

“The jetpack is using ionic engines to fly so all it needs is electricity to create a stream of ions for propulsion. Otherwise finding some jet fuel would be tricky. Just go to the back and find the chest labeled LZ-9.” Lucas gestured to the back towards the storage room.

In order to organize everything, they would organize everything into wooden chests. The raw materials would be placed inside and labeled. The prosthetics would be labeled as LA-10 for the left arm, RE-1 for the right eye and so forth. This way they only had to bring out the appropriate chest, put the measurements in, and then wait for the fabber to finish.

Chu Shen looked inside the chest, glimpsing some metal ores and a couple vials with liquid contained. Dragging out the chest, he placed the materials into the fabber. It whirred as Lucas brought up a design and it started working.

In less than ten minutes there was a chime. Opening it up, Chu Shen faced a squat cylinder about two feet high and a foot in diameter. It had a blunt tapered end on the top and a circular bottom.

Chu Shen looked at it for a second before looking up at Lucas. “So how am I supposed to wear it?”

Lucas shrugged. “Well, I forgot the harness. Just bring some metal and some cushions.”

Chu Shen quickly collected everything and then put the jetpack. With a simple scan and some programming to put the jetpack as the base, a basic frame was created. It looked like a curved X with the ends connecting to the jetpack. The cushions were put on the inside of the X for comfort and there was a small square on the inside and a circular insert.

Chu Shen pointed to it. “So Lucas, what is that for exactly?”

Lucas smiled. “It’s for the beast core. I used inscription ink and labeled it as ‘decal’ in the machine to create an inscription. The square is for you to carry me. I didn’t really have time to collect the materials for controls so I decided to use myself as an interface. With this I can control the jetpack directly and you can just hang on for the ride. ”

Chu Shen eyed Lucas distrustfully but eventually agreed to the plan. He just didn’t have an alternative. “Okay. Now that it’s done, let’s get going. We need to skip town before the Black Rose Guild sends someone after us.”

Chu Shen hefted the jetpack. Sticking his hands through the holes in the X, he wore it like some weird bookbag. Lucas was frantically waving his arms though. “Hey! Don’t forget me!”

Chu Shen sighed. “Well alright then.” He took off the jetpack. Storing the fabber into his spatial ring, he pulled out a lightning attribute beast core. The circular insert opened up, revealing an inscription. Placing the beast core inside, he saw the light turn red on the top.

Picking up the square box with Lucas’ positronic brain, Chu Shen placed it inside the square and then stored it inside the spatial ring. If he wore it in public, it would bring about too many questions.

Walking outside, Chu Shen swiftly left for the edge of town. Unknown to him though, was the person that followed him through the streets to the edge of town. Soon, he reached the gates of the town. Chu Shen walked towards the forest, intending to take off from there.

He had scarcely gone thirty feet into the forest when Chu Shen sensed a surge of Qi come whistling towards his back. Quickly activating the <Stars Dance> technique, he swiftly dodged the blade of Qi.

Turning around he saw a man dressed in black holding a saber facing him. The man in black pointed his blade towards him. “I am with the Black Rose Guild. Until we can complete the investigation of the death of our four agents, you are to remain in town. Return before I am forced to make you.”

Chu Shen frowned. Unexpectedly, there was a Martial Student that was following him. Granted, he was only Level 7 so it wasn’t a big deal but still. This was going to slow him down.

“I am just leaving to hunt some beast cores down. That is no business of the Black Rose Guild. Let me leave in peace, I don’t have a quarrel with you.” Chu Shen gave the man a way out.

Unfortunately, he did not recognize Mount Tai. “If you won’t go back willingly, then I will make you!” With that, the man dashed forward. Chu Shen reacted instantly and took out his hammer. Both of them became coated with Qi as the fight began. The man’s saber flashed, sending several Qi blades at Chu Shen.

Clearly this person was skilled. The Qi blades were sent in an ever tightening square, closing off any way of retreat for Chu Shen. Unfortunately for the man, Chu Shen had been training with the ‘grandmaster’ for a week in predicting the movements of his opponents.

No matter how fast the man slashed his saber, there would be gaps in the Qi. <Stars Dance> was incredibly well suited to dodging between these small gaps since it was an agility based technique.

The Qi blades soared at him, appearing inescapable. But Chu Shen’s body flickered and the energy seemed to pass through him. Suddenly he disappeared and reappeared right next to the man in black.

Chu Shen had become increasingly proficient in switching between <Comet Travels Through> and <Stars Dance>. Using <Comet Travels Through> to close the distance between him and the opponent was the best way to use the technique which was designed for fast linear movements.

His hammer coated in gray colored Qi, Chu Shen swung it at the man’s chest. The man’s face sank. They were too close and the hammer was too fast. He couldn’t dodge it, only take it head on. The man took consolation in the fact that he would undoubtedly come out on top since his cultivation was greater.

The man heard in the background a kind of high pitched whining, but before he could think too deeply, their weapons clashed. The hammer met the saber, but unexpectedly the Qi coating the saber disappeared upon contact with the Qi on the hammer.

The hammer struck the saber head on, both meeting in a physical clash. The strength of Chu Shen, which was equal to a Level 9 Martial Student, struck the man’s saber. The saber flew out of the man’s hand, splitting the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.

At the same time the man spat out a mouthful of blood, his face becoming pale. ‘What the heck is this! This force struck my internal organs without warning! How is it possible that with one blow this person managed to severely injure me! I need to get out of here otherwise, I’ll die.’

With that thought resounding in the man’s head, he turned around and ran towards the city. The man was in such a hurry, he didn’t even wipe the trickle of blood that came from his mouth.

Unfortunately, Chu Shen knew he couldn’t let this man be. This man tried to attack him and was with the same guild that killed Lucas, sort of. Shooting forward, he swung his hammer, increasing the weight of it twenty fold when it was about to hit the man.

With a loud THUD, the man was struck in his back. Folding over almost completely in half, it was obvious that the man took severe damage. The man did not make a sound though and only flew forwards, propelled by the heavy strike into a tree.

Chu Shen swung his hammer, crushing the man’s head before running deeper into the jungle. He brought out his jetpack once he was far enough away. “Lucas we need to go now. The Black Rose Guild was keeping eyes on us though I took care of it.”

Lucas, who no longer had projectors for a hologram, spoke up using the speakers on his positronic brain case. “Okay, let’s go then.” Immediately there was a whining sound from the jetpack. Within ten seconds the jetpack suddenly shot upwards.

“LUUUCAAAASSSS. A WARNING WOULD BE GOOD, OW OW OWWWW!” Chu Shen screamed as the hot ions burned his legs. His Qi covered his body, absorbing the burning hot fuel.

Lucas just cackled over the speakers. “Hehehehe. That never gets old. I guess not going with anti-gravity was a good thing.”

Truth & Myth - The Awakening

Chapter 15 – Arrival

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David found himself in a foreign land.

“HELLY! ANSWER ME IF YOU CAN HEAR!” he screamed and frantically looked around. He was unable to see her nor the demon.

“They’re gone,” Lucifer calmly said.

“What? How is that possible? We were seconds…”

“It is possible, the moment the demon pulled through, he most likely used some form of acceleration magic. It’s not that difficult.”

“Then I can too.”

“We don’t even know where they went.”

“Can’t you sense the demon?”

“I could, but the trace is weak and being here, its rather difficult to accurately pinpoint their location. I could do it in my own body, but not like this.”

“Here? Where are we? And what do you mean about your body?” David frantically looked around, hoping to even get a glimpse of where the demon took Helaine.

All he saw was a road surrounded by wilderness… And the three exorcists. The three exorcists were glancing around just like he was. It seemed like they followed him through the portal, but the portal had closed itself behind them.

Noticing his gaze, the European exorcist he had pushed outside Helaine’s home asked him, “Do you know where we are?”

“No,” David replied. At the back of his mind, he heard Lucifer’s chuckle.

The exorcist looked at him for a moment, then seeing he wasn’t going to continue, turned to her fellow exorcists and bowed, “This incident is my fault. It was upon my leadership and judgment that we ended up here. Although we should abide by the Lord’s teachings, there are times that sacrifices should be made. I will do all I can to return us to a familiar place, after that I shall ask for both your’s and our Lord’s forgiveness.”

“There is no need to be overly humble with us, Lux-sama. It was our decision to follow you. Although those old men back at Vatican may feel like its foolish, I agree with the notion of saving everyone,” the Japanese boy glanced down at his hands. “I wish to save everyone with these hands. I share the same feeling as you do. And no matter how little, a life is a life. I do not think this was a wrong decision made by you to try and save this innocent person and the girl grabbed by the demon.”

“I agree, like Guang said. Lux-sama is right. I don’t think any of us could have made a better decision,” the Japanese exorcist girl added.

Hearing this exchange, David started to walk off. He had no interest in the affairs of these exorcists. His priority right now was finding Helaine. Anything else didn’t matter one bit him.

Seeing the young man they had followed through the portal had begun to walk away, Hikari cried out to him, “Hey wait up!”

The young man turned back and gave her a cold stare, “What?”

“Where are you going?” She asked, despite the cold stare, he was still a human, he didn’t seem hostile either.

“Does it matter? I’m going to save Helaine. She’s the girl that was grabbed by the demon,” he answered naturally.

Hikari was rather surprised by this. Although he seemed to know about exorcists and demons, to challenge a demon all of a sudden was too ridiculous, “You need help don’t you? Since we followed you all the way here, we’ll help you.”

She felt Guang’s hand gripping her shoulders, supporting what she was saying, “Exactly. Like us, you don’t even know where we are right? So at the very least let us help you. We are exorcists, so we would be able to protect you. It is, after all, the teaching of our Lord.”

The young man seemed to think for a bit and muttered to himself. Then decided, “Sure, I’ll gladly accept your offer.”

Hikari smiled. It was nice having someone accepting their help. She looked at Lux, who had stayed silent during this exchange. Lux returned her gaze and smiled weakly. From the looks of it, it seems like her mind was still burdened by the seemingly wrong decision she had made, and was still a little wary of the young man in front of them.

“So shall we do a simple introduction about ourselves first? It’ll help since we’re going to be together for the near future,” Hikari suggested with the intention of helping Lux feel at ease. Although it was Lux that had made the call for them to go through the portal, both Guang and her agreed wholeheartedly on that decision, so it couldn’t be said as her fault alone. “I’m Hikari.”

“I’m Guang,” Guang said, while extending out his hand.

“David,” the young man shook Guang’s hand. Then indicating to Lux, he asked, “And this is..?”

“Lux,” Lux replied.

“Hikari, Guang, and Lux huh? I guess its only naturally that you wouldn’t tell me your real name here. But you could have been more creative you know? Your three names practically have the same meaning,” David laughed.

Hikari puffed up her cheeks, “HEY! That’s mean you know?”

“We weren’t lying about our names. The teachings of our Lord does not permit that. This name was given to us by his Holiness. To become the light of the people and guide their path, it is only fitting if you were to be named as such, was what he had said to us,” Guang explained.

“I see. Then I apologise for my rudeness,” David said.

After discussing with each other and scouting their surroundings, they followed the road towards where the sun seemed to be setting. As the sky darkened, David couldn’t help but wonder where exactly they were. Also, unlike what he expected, the exorcists seemed rather nice and they didn’t seem to have noticed that he was Lucifer’s host.

“This is where humans sometimes call Hell, or the Underworld. This is where I was cast down to all those years ago. I suppose it’s about time I say it. Welcome to my realm David,” Lucifer said out of nowhere, as if reading his thought.

“I see…”

Seeing the exorcists in front come to a halt, he asked, “Why are we stopping? Did something occur in front?”

“It’s getting dark. We should make camp, and that clearing under the tree seems to be a good spot,” the one called Guang replied. “You and Hikari go over there first, Lux-sama and I will scout the surroundings.”

“Yeah okay,” it seems like the exorcists didn’t fully trust him, hence why they’re leaving him here with one of their own.

David and Hikari walked over to the clearing. She had tried to make conversation with him earlier, but after expressing the wish to be left alone to think for a while, she gave him some personal space.

When they arrived at the clearing, Hikari skilfully began to set up a camp fire to keep them warm. Although it wasn’t too cold right now, the temperature had already dropped from when they arrived in this land. So setting up a camp fire wasn’t the wrong decision to make.

Since he wasn’t too sure on how he could help, David just quietly watched Hikari work. She gathered dry branches around the shade and stacked them in a little conical structure. After surrounding it with large pieces of rocks, she asked him, “David, can you use fire magic?”

David thought deeply before answering. Should he reveal that he was capable of using fire magic? How much would that reveal about him? Although they seemed to barely know anything about him, perhaps it was just an act? Was it possible that this was a test?

Only after considering various possibilities in his head, he answered, “I can try, but I’m not too confident in spell casting.”

“Let the source of all life take shape. Manifest thyself to create warmth! <Fireball>.”

David casted the most basic fire magic spell he could think of, while also controlling the spell so that the Fireball produced would be quite small. He deliberately chanted out the first “incantation” he thought of in his head. It was better to not reveal what he was capable of right now. Despite the exorcists appearing rather friendly, they could suddenly turn hostile.

“A unique chant huh?” Hikari asked.

“Yeah, that chant is the only way I can focus. Using the regular chant doesn’t allow me to focus my mana enough for the spell to work,” David replied. He had expected Hikari to asked him such and prepared an answer when he chanted. It seems like he wasn’t being overly cautious.

Hikari looked around, and seeing that the others weren’t anywhere close for the time being, she asked, “So, who was that girl that the demon grabbed? She seems important to you for you to dive through something like a portal.”

“She’s.. a childhood friend. We’ve known each other since forever,” David replied coldly. He didn’t really want to talk about it right now. It would have been better if she just stayed silent and falls asleep. That way he would have some time to converse with Lucifer about some stuff before the other exorcists return without being suspicious.

“I see. Guang’s more or less my childhood friend. My parents died when I was really young. It was supposedly due to a demon attack. I was taken in by the local church which runs an orphanage. When I turned six, a Cardinal came to our church to preach and for some reason I caught his attention. Then a lot of things happened, and I ended up meeting Guang. He was really nice to me from the start and took care of me. He’s kind of like an oni-chan, which I never had.”

“I see.”

“So I kind of understand how upset you are. You’re worrying about her and I get that. That’s why I’ll try and help you to get her back. So try cheering up and stop being gloomy?”

“Hmm… I suppose I’ll try.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Hikari giggled. She didn’t expect her words to reach the bottom of David’s heart since they had just met, but since they’re going to be stuck together for the near future, she wanted to him to cheer up somewhat.

“Why exactly did you three follow through the portal? It was of no relevance to you, was it not?”

“We are exorcists, aides of God who helps those in need. Especially when its a supernatural related incident. In your case, the demonic origin of the situation was what caused us to arrive at the scene. But we helped because we wanted to. To become a saviour of the people is what we wish for.”

“Truly naive words you know? The world doesn’t work like that. What we wish for, what we hope to achieve, I don’t think its that simple.”

“But we can still try and strive to work our way towards the goal. If we do, then one day it’ll become reality.”

“Heh.”

“I promise you, I’ll do everything in my power to help you save your friend. I’m an exorcist and God must have brought you before us for a reason. I believe that reason is to save you and your friend. So please believe in me!”

Gazing at Hikari who became rather energetic about the situation, David couldn’t help but laugh inside. How was it possible for her to lend him a helping hand? Was it some cruel joke of fate? He was the host of a demon, in fact he was the host of the Devil himself. Exorcists helping him would be the last thing he expected.

“You don’t believe me right?” Hikari asked, sensing David’s doubt. “I’ll prove it to you throughout the next few days that I’ll definitely fulfil my promise!”

She did seem like a nice person. But to David it wasn’t what he was looking for right now. He was looking for a way to save Helaine from the clutches of that vile demon.

Guang and Lux left Hikari alone with the young man called David to scout their surroundings. Well that was only an excuse, the main objective was actually to observe David from afar.

Lux didn’t trust him fully and thought that he had hidden several things. After all, he had stopped her memory altering spell and knocked her off balance at the blink of an eye. Neither of them had realized it until he had ran past them. Then there was also the fact that he seemed to have a weapon, but the next moment they looked, it had disappeared.

This was a good opportunity to see if he would do anything. They were close enough so that they could see what was going on and go to Hikari’s aid if anything happened, but far away enough so that they wouldn’t be easily noticed. They could have left him all alone, but then if he was really innocent, having Hikari there would buy them so time if anything hostile was to approach them in this foreign land.

As they watched, they could see Hikari and David setting up a fire, then chatting away. It didn’t seem like David even attempted to do anything either.

“Lux-sama, should we not return and rest now? That person doesn’t seem that dangerous,” Guang enquired.

“Wait for slightly longer. He doesn’t seem dangerous, but it wouldn’t hurt to be safe. I’m still not very trusting of his intentions as of now. The only thing I can be completely sure of is that he seems to actually care about the girl that was snatched away,” Lux replied with her eyes fixed upon Hikari and David, watching for any minute small movements that he might make.

The two of them continued their observations for twenty odd more minutes, but he didn’t do anything special. All he did was just sit there quietly pondering, occasional making some conversation with Hikari.

Lux raised her eyebrows. She genuinely believed that David would have made some sort of move. She was so sure of it, but yet nothing happened. It seemed like she was at least temporarily proven wrong. Seeing the darkness about to cover the land, she turned to Guang, “Let us return, the perimeters seem safe as well. But make sure that you are vigilant. He is almost definitely hiding something.”

Celestial Diary

[Vol 5] Chapter 2: Princess Ranah

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Early in the morning, in a certain room of the Angelwing Dorm, a blond-haired elven girl and a pink-haired human girl were sleeping peacefully.

The both of them have transcendental beauty. They were, without a doubt, one of the top ten beauties in the entire Tristanian Magic Academy. Nay… it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say they were the most beautiful in all of Halkeginia.

“Mmm… hnnngh…” Just at this time, the blond-haired elven girl got up and lazily stretched her body. After that, the elven girl looked at her surroundings suspiciously.

Eventually, she noticed the pink-haired human girl sleeping next to her.

“Louise?” The elven girl involuntarily voiced out her suspicion as she saw the pink-haired girl, since she has striking resemblance to an old friend of her, “What is she doing here? Or more like… where am I? Why can’t I remember anything…”

“Swish!”

All of a sudden, with a swishing sound, a Winged Unicorn suddenly appeared out of thin air. Soon after, she transformed into a peerless beauty with wavy blond hair. The unicorn-transformed girl knelt down before the elven girl respectfully and said, “It is great to see you’re finally awake from your long slumber…… Princess Ranah Elwyn la Sylphis!”

The elven girl, Princess Ranah, turned her head to the voice. What she found there was her most trusted aide. Princess Ranah felt reassured at the sight of this familiar figure.

“Sylvidia is it?” Princess Ranah called out to the name of the unicorn girl before she continued, “It seems you are up to speed with the current happenings, what happened to me? I can’t seem to recall any recent memories.”

The unicorn girl was indeed, our very own mischievous Winged Unicorn in question, Sylvidia herself! As for the pink-haired girl that was still sleeping peacefully, that was without a doubt, Sheena. Then what about Sylvia? Where did she go? And who is this Princess Ranah? Everything will be explained shortly…

Hearing Princess Ranah’s words, Sylvidia immediately stood up from her kneeling position and sat beside the elven girl intimately, then she began by explaining the accident that took place in the dungeon, followed by her long slumber, how she was possessed by a Spiritual beings called Sylvia, and all the events that happened afterwards.

“I… see… so this body, is no longer mine…” Upon hearing Sylvidia recounting the stories, Princess Ranah revealed a crestfallen expression. After that, she turned her sight to the pink-haired girl, “Then this girl is…”

Sylvidia nodded to her inquiry, “Your assumption is correct, this is the daughter of Lord Saito and Her Highness Louise. She is Princess Sheena.”

Princess Ranah caressed Sheena’s soft cheek as she whispered, “The little girl from back then is now all grown up… She looks just like her mother.”

“Mm…” Just at this time, Sheena finally woke up as she let out a weak groan. She rubbed her eyes with both hands before she slowly opened her eyelids. The first thing that entered her line of sight was Princess Ranah looking down at her with a gentle smile.

“Have you finally awaken, little princess?” The tender voice of Princess Ranah reverberated like the melodious bell.

“Mu… Sylvia, are you running on steroid?” Since Princess Ranah is currently holding the dominance over the material body, her attitude and bearing are completely different from the timid Sylvia that Sheena was used to. Therefore, Sheena naturally thought it was strange when Princess Ranah spoke with such a melodious tone.

“Fufufu… I’m afraid that I am not Sylvia.” As soon as Princess Ranah said this, “Huh—?!” Sheena was immediately startled awake. She jumped up from the bed in shock to look at the person in question, but after seeing that it was indeed ‘Sylvia’ who was in front of her, she said half jokingly, “Ha-ha-ha-! Very funny… now I am fully awake thanks to you!”

At that, Princess Ranah only revealed a soft smile and said with a pleasant voice, “I fear that this is no joke. This Sylvia character is currently sleeping within me. I am the original persona of this body. Since you’ve sealed a familiar contract with both of us, you should be able to feel the slight difference in our soul fluctuations right?”

“T-that’s…” Sheena was doubtful at first, but after taking a moment to concentrate, she could clearly feel the slight difference in soul fluctuations. “B-But how?! …What’s going to happen to Sylvia?” Sheena couldn’t help but voice out her concern after confirming the validity of Princess Ranah’s words.

However, just at this time…

*Knock! Knock!*

…the sound of knocking could be heard from the door. Following closely, “Miss Sheena, are you already awake? I came to deliver your breakfast,” was the angelic voice of a girl.

Before waiting for a reply, the girl already opened the door by herself and entered as if it was the most natural thing. The girl was wearing French-style maid costume, and she had beautiful black hair with short bob haircuts.

When the girl in maid costume saw the anxious expression on Sheena’s face, she heaved a sigh and looked at Princess Ranah with disdain. Then she opened her mouth to issue a sermon, “Miss Sylvia, how many times have I told you yesterday, you must be aware of your social status. As Miss Sheena’s familiar, you will never be her equal. People will judge you as such. Although it is still fine in the academy since I do hold some power as the vice president of the fan club, I can somehow manipulate the information. But once you get to the outside world, your every action and conduct will reflect badly on Miss Sheena’s reputation, especially among the opposing aristocratic circles.”

If Sylvia’s persona was still dominant at the moment, all of these would definitely have entered from one ear and out from the other, since she had heard the maid in question repeating this over and over again for the Nth times yesterday.

However, for Princess Ranah, she was more concerned about something else, “You… must be Angie, right?”

“Eh? Y-Yes… I… am?” Angie was totally taken aback by Princess Ranah’s unexpected question.

While Angie was still confused, Princess Ranah continued, “Oh my… look at how you’ve grown… How is your father doing?”

At such a question, Angie immediately burst out with a shout, “Y-YOU KNOW MY FATHER?!”

“Ah…” As Princess Ranah stood up, she felt a slight dizziness as she wobbled around, “Looks like my time is up…” After she said that, she fell unconscious on the bed.

Shortly after that, Sylvia’s persona took over the body as she was rudely roused up from her dream.

***

As soon as I jumped up from the bed, I saw Sylvidia looking at me with a meaningful smile. However, before I could question her, a frantic Angie suddenly jumped at me, “SYLVIAAA!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY FATHER?! SPILL IT OUT, TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW!!”

“Hieeeeeeee! W-what are you talking about!!” Angie was grabbing both my shoulders as she shook me relentlessly. I let out a screech involuntarily due to the very unexpected event. Only now did I finally understand why Sylvidia had that smug look on her face; something had definitely happened while I was still asleep…

Author’s Note:

Phew… I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish this chapter this week. But I’m glad that I was able to finish it. And the chapter turned out pretty good if I do say so myself 🙂

I was contemplating whether or not to awaken the sleeping princess and let her take over the 2nd day, but we wouldn’t want to miss the all important dancing lesson right~?

[Arc 3] Chapter 85

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Chapter 85
Lucas Is Dead

Chu Shen walked into the shop. “Lucas. Hey Lucas! That old geezer let me off early today! Can’t wait til it’s your turn~”

Chu Shen walked around the shop for a bit but didn’t see him. “Huh. Guess he isn’t here. Wait. Has he been goofing around the whole time i’ve been practicing!” Chu Shen had that immediate thought resound in him.

For a second he looked absolutely convinced. Then he shook his head. “Nope. Can’t be. What could have convinced him to leave the shop then. A sale, new materials, wait. New materials. That’s right, we were supposed to hunt some beasts today.”

“He must have decided to go hunt some by himself since I was busy training. Oh well, nothing bad could have happened.” Chu Shen smiled. Good old Lucas, he played awful jokes sometimes but at least he was a reliable.

Chu Shen went into the back room to the fabber to go over some designs he was thinking of. After all, the fabber had a quantum processor that could handle all the calculations necessary to fabricate items.

Even so, it was vastly underutilized and Chu Shen designed it that way. It was supposed to also function as a 3-d design room which explained the reason there was holograms on a fabber. But it did not explain the reason they activated once Chu Shen walked in the room.

A holographic projection of Lucas appeared before Chu Shen. The holo Lucas smiled and waved at him. “Hey Chu Shen. If you are watching this, I died.”

………………………………………………………………..

Inside the city, there was a large building. Surprisingly the entire building was built with black iron. Gold and Jade decorated the building. Such expensive materials lavishly used must mean the people who built this were quite powerful.

A sign hung on the fence outside the building. It did not have a word written on it. Only a large black rose decorated the sign. Inside the Black Rose Guild however, all was not peaceful.

Crack….Crack..Crack…Crack

A servant who was dutifully attending the necessary duties of watching the life slips suddenly jumped up upon hearing the cracking sound. Rushing over to the slots on the wall he saw one of the jade slips that was underneath a Rank 3 mission was cracked, meaning the person had died.

As the servant rushed to see who the mission belonged to three more cracks rang out within seconds. Turning, the servant saw, to his dismay, it was the other three slips under the mission.

After finding out who it was that ordered the mission he quickly went up to their office. Knock Knock. “Come in.” A rough voice called out to the servant.

Walking in the servant quickly bowed. A large fat man sat in the chair watching the man with beady eyes. The servant waited, head still bowed not daring to look up. The fat man frowned at this.

Reaching out with the cane beside his desk he tapped the servant on the shoulder. “Hey. I’m not going to blame you for the news, so don’t act so terrified. Now speak up. What did you come to tell me.”

The servant let out a hidden breath. So long as this man gave you his word, nothing would happen. He cared too much about face to go back for a mere servant. He raised his head. “All four of the Hell Squad, Murder, Slaughter, Reaper, and Slayer, have been killed on a three star mission to collect information.”

The fat man frowned. “Remind me of the particulars.” He looked at the servant with a harsh glare. “I assume you did that before stepping into this office.”

The servant nodded. “Of course sir. This was previously a one star mission to collect information on a new forging technique. Two young boys started making fake limbs such as arms, legs, and eyes. A forger named Lai Den became interested in such techniques since he was forging a puppet.”

“So he sent us a mission request. The boy was only at the Martial Student stage but unfortunately he fixed the Agata Family’s crippled boy. So when Slaughter tried to get information from him, it was at the same time that old monster came to thank the boys for helping his grandson.”

“It became a three star because of the possible Agata family support. But Slaughter took his Hell Squad so we assumed there would be no problems. But their life slips have cracked. That is the end of the report.” The servant bowed.

The fat man waved a hand dismissing the servant. He sat there for a little bit before standing up. “Damn. I might have to send someone else, I can’t disappoint Lai Den. He forges most of our weapons we use. The main branch would not be happy if I lost him. But who could I send….”

……………………………………

Chu Shen looked at the hologram for a second before he busted out laughing. “Oh Lucas, Lucas, Lucas. You know as well as I do you can’t die unless this place is destroyed.”

Holo-Lucas shrugged. “Well I had to try. Anyways, I really did die though. My body was destroyed by Slaughter out in the forest when I went hunting. It happened about an hour ago.”

Chu Shen looked at him. “Wait you mean you really did die!?”

Lucas shrugged again. “More or less.”

………………………………..

2 Weeks Earlier

Chu Shen and Lucas bought a small store using their earnings, almost completely draining them. When they did they both used the amulets to link the bracelets to the store.

Chu Shen walked into the back room and saw Lucas opening up his skull.

“What are you doing Lucas!” Chu Shen quickly rushed up grabbed Lucas’ arm that was slowly opening his skull along a vertical seam.

Lucas pushed Chu Shen away with his other arm. “Chu Shen, I’m just moving my positronic brain into this cradle okay? It’s got a power plant, radio signals, and even better, it also has a tachyon communicator I stole from the fabber.”

Lucas pointed to a black box right beside him. Chu Shen shook his head in confusion. “Alright, what is going on.”

Lucas sighed. “You mentioned how dangerous this place is, right? Well I made this cradle to hold my brain. I am even saving scans of my brain to the fabber every ten second and deleting the old one. This way I can live digitally on the fabber if my positronic brain is destroyed. Now, using the tachyon communicator, I can control my body from millions of miles away.”

Chu Shen was dazed for a second before smiling at Lucas and giving him a big hug. “Thanks Lucas, I really don’t want to lose you.”

Lucas hugged him back for a second. Before promptly throwing him into the wall. “Enough lovey dovey, I have work to do.

…………………………………………………………………

Chu Shen nodded. “Alright, so your RC body died. We can assume it was the Black Rose Guild.”

“Correct, they even mentioned it. They were strong too. They didn’t even notice my force field. The first shot from the guy with the bow took it down too. The pistols did trap one for about two minutes and killed the other. I used the railgun to kill the other two.”

“The trapped guy sliced up my body but I had it self detonate so he died. They won’t get anything out of it since all the wreckage is gone.”

Chu Shen gave him a thumbs up. “Best thing we could have hoped for. I guess now it would be best to skip town though. We don’t want such a powerful group coming after us again.”

Lucas agreed. “Definitely. So let’s pack everything together. I think I can fabricate a jetpack though so you can make a get away.”

“Great. Let’s do it.”

Truth & Myth - The Awakening

Chapter 14 – Worries

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David ran towards Helaine’s home as quickly as he could. He was desperately hoping that he would be on time to save Helaine from whatever could happen.

“David. There are exorcists up ahead,” Lucifer warned him as his mind was going wild.

“WHAT? What are they doing there?” David asked bewildered. It seemed like there was something unexpectedly troublesome up ahead.

“Well, I’m not sure, you can asked them yourself.”

David stopped in his tracks. He saw the three exorcists in front of him. The European one was holding an estoc out and pointing it towards Helaine’s house. She turned towards him, and their gaze crossed each other.

Neither of them made a sound. They only silently glared at each other.

The silent glare lasted around 30 seconds. During that time, no one uttered a sound. It was so quiet that the sound of a piece of leaf falling from a tree onto the ground could be heard clearly.

“Ehhh! Aren’t you that guy that Lux-sama was starting at?” It was the Japanese girl who finally broke the silence.

A fist came crashing down on her head. “Shut up idiot,” the Japanese guy reprimanded her.

Hearing something so out of place and could easily be served as comic relief, David annoying glared at them. Then he looked by at the woman holding the estoc. “Exorcists. What are you trying to do?”

Seeing a potential serious threat in front of him, David calmed down a bit. He realized that he had to remain logical. If he didn’t, he might lose the time he would need to save Helaine from whatever is going on within her home.

“You. Who are you?” the European girl pointed her estoc at him. David could tell that she was wary about him.

He pondered for a moment, then replied, “Excuse me, my friend’s inside the house. Could you let me pass please?” He took a step forward, “That’s a cool cosplay.”

“Answer my question.”

David took another step forward, “I’m the friend of the person living in the house, I came here to see her. Could you please point your blade slightly to the side so I can go past?”

She didn’t bulge and just repeated what she said, “Answer my question.”

The young man and the Japanese girl walked closer to them. The young man placed his hands on the European girl’s shoulder and said, “Lux-sama, please lower your sword. Don’t the issue within the house take priority?”

She looked back at him, then thought for a moment, “Yea you’re right.”

Turning back to David, she lowered her estoc and asked, “I’m sorry, you said your friend was in there?”

Seeing her change in demeanour, instead of being relieved about it, it had the opposite effect. Something fishy was going on, “Yes, so if you were to excuse me.”

He tried to move past her from the side. But she blocked his way, and raised her left hand, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal…” Her hand began to glow

Sensing something bad about the situation, David crouched down and knocked her hand away as she finished her sentence, “proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Not expecting this, she seemed to lose her balance. Taking this chance, David didn’t look back and rushed forwards, getting to Helaine’s door. A sinister aura stirred behind the closed doors. He could feel it creeping up at him. There was little time. Knowing that, he opted to kick the door open instead of bothering to ring the bell.

The moment the door swung open, pressure overwhelmed him.

“Lucifer, are my intuitions correct?” David asked, he had felt a similar feeling before. The very same feeling had made him feel powerless. But no longer.

“Yeah, its the demon from before,” Lucifer replied as David stepped into the house. He looked around .Nothing seemed out of place, but the aura seemed to surround the entire house, as if it had been trapped here for a long time.

“HELLY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?” David shouted.

The only reply were the echoes of his voice through the large dark house. It wasn’t even night, but the interior of the house was already pitch dark. The light from the open front door did not seem to penetrate through the darkness within.

Having no other ways to gather information, he turned his head towards the exorcists that were coming into the house. “How long have you been here? Do you know what happened?”

Before any of them could answer, a loud crash was heard. All four of them looked up. David’s worries began to show on his face. Did something happen to Helaine? Her room is upstairs… David sincerely wished that nothing happened.

With that thought, David ran up the stairs, with the exorcists a few steps behind him. David couldn’t care less about their purpose right now, it didn’t matter to him at all. What mattered was finding out what the hell was going on.

With each step, the pressure on his body seemed to increase. With each step, the nausea he had grew stronger. He couldn’t push it all away. He was starting to remember the horror of helplessness. Emmet Wayne Gacy… He could still remember that tall demon’s jester-like face. The ways that he was made insignificant, played like an idiot. His mind was beginning to waver.

“Don’t lose focus here. Remember your purpose,” Lucifer’s voice pierced through the mist in his mind. It was a voice of reason, unlike his continuous stream of thoughts.

David once again focused his thoughts as he reached the top of the stairs. Turning right, he saw that the door to Helaine’s room was closed, but it was rather obvious that the sinister aura was leaking from within.

He slowly approached her room. Time seemed to slow down. In a way, David didn’t want to open the door, to see what was inside. He was afraid to see Helaine hurt or harmed. He was afraid to see the truth. But he fought back those fears. Things like that was always a possibility, but if Helaine ended up like that because of him hesitating here, he could not forgive himself.

He turned the door knob and opened the door.

The first thing he noticed was a demon dressed in a suit. The demon had the face of a clown with a large red ball for a nose. Although the angle it was bending at, made the top hat it was wearing cover the upper half of its face, there was no doubt. David was sure of who it was.

He conjured up his blades and leaped towards the demon.

The demon didn’t flinch, but reached out to grab someone beside David. He turned his head, and seeing it was Helaine, he tried to use his blades to slice off the demon’s hand.

But he just wasn’t fast enough. The demon, Emmet Wayne Gacy had already disappeared into a ripple in space that was concealed behind it the entire time.

What David had come to do… He had failed. He let Helaine get dragged into this mess. There was no other choice. If that’s the case, then he had to save Helaine from the clutches of the demon.

He ran towards the portal and leaped through.

The last thing he heard before passing through was from within his head. Lucifer had screamed, “WAIT!”

The God of Chaos

[Vol 4] Chapter 57: Songs of my sword

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Bryant paused for a couple of seconds while moving closer towards Svecko. At their current level of power, the distance between Svecko and Bryant was of no importance. Given both of their speeds, they would be able to close the distance within less than a second. “It is not that I want to stand in your way, it is you who have chosen a path I cannot ignore,” Bryant said with a soft laughter.

Without a moment’s warning, Svecko moved with his highest speed to attack Bryant. “Let me see what ability you possibly have to stop me.” As Svecko got closer to Bryant, a spear made of ice had formed in Svecko’s palms. He thrust the spear with incredible strength as he attacked Bryant. Although Svecko’s attack could be considered a sneak attack, Bryant wasn’t surprised as he had expected Svecko to attack him and given both of their speed, he could react fast enough. A golden glow illuminated around Bryant’s entire body. Bryant moved his bare palm in anticipation of Svecko’s ice spear. As the spear made contact with Bryant’s palm, a crunching sound could be heard. The spear Svecko held crumbled as the force from Bryan’s palm completely shattered the ice spear. Bryant continued the motion of his palm to counter Svecko’s attack. As the palm attack touched Svecko, another crunching sound was heard. Bryant realized something was wrong, he immediately noticed he did not make contact with Svecko, but instead, his palm attacked had broken what seemed like an ice mirror. “Perrish!” Svecko yelled as he appeared behind Bryant and attacked with a punch.

Svecko palm was glowing white, almost translucent and invisible. Bryant reacted as fast as he could, moving both his arms to defend Svecko’s attack. As they both made contact, a seemingly white energy pervaded Bryant’s body and went straight to attack his soul. In that brief moment, the soul freezing energy of Svecko had slowly started freezing Bryant’s soul. A dull light appeared on Bryant’s eyes as the life seemed to slowly leave his body.

A smile appeared on Svecko’s face as he stretched out his hand to grab the lifeless looking body of Bryant. Before he could grab onto Bryant, a golden and metallic-black light appeared all around Bryant. The formerly lifeless body now seemed to have gained some life. Svecko unconsciously took some steps back as he watched Bryant come back to life. After the golden and metallic black light died down, Svecko couldn’t help but gasp in surprise as he saw a different Bryant. Bryant’s body had changed from that of a normal human to a half golden and half metallic-black form.

The right half of Bryant’s body had changed to a golden form, while the left part of his body had changed to a metallic black form. Bryant’s body had turned part gold and part iron. This two forms equally covered his body from the tip of his hair to the sole of his feet, giving off a strange otherworldly appearance Bryant had at the moment. “You!” Svecko said in shock as he realized something.

“You are the metal element saint of the West,” Svecko said staring at Bryant incredulously. Of all the elements known to this mortal world, the metal elements were regarded as the most difficult ones to cultivate. Throughout the recorded history of the world, they were only three people to have successfully cultivated the metal element to a saint level and until this moment, there was none that had cultivated to a level three saint.

“You have broken through to the third level and fused gold and iron laws.” Svecko continued. “Incredible. Yet another genius has appeared. Why are the heavens favoring the South?” Svecko quietly thought to himself. Looking at the current situation, Svecko knew there was no way he could defeat Bryant. He had already used up most of his energy and evidently, Bryant had infused the law of gold with the law iron within the metal element. This meant that there was no way he could win at the moment without paying a heavy price, and even if he had his energy completely restored, there were no guarantees he would win.

Svecko turned around and flew off into the skies, without waiting for any response. Svecko was like a shooting star as he flew off into the distance. Bryant stood in place in a somewhat confused manner as he watched Svecko head towards where the battle was currently going on. After a couple of seconds, his expression turned to that of a smirk as he watched what had just happened. Bryant did not bother chasing after Svecko, because his goal wasn’t to kill Svecko or his allies, and he also did not want to corner such a monster, he wasn’t quite confident in killing Svecko. “Very glad that this is over. That attack from the snow saint nearly froze my soul. If I was a second slower, that would have been the end for me.” Bryant said as he sighed in praise. “How then was it possible that this child survived? That should not be possible, but yet I witnessed it with my own eyes.”

Bryant waved his hand, and the golden cocoon that had Willard within it flew towards him. Bryant turned and stared in the distance, his stare pierced through the forest all the way to the battle that was still ongoing. “It’s about time I end all this,” Bryant said before disappearing from where he was.

*****************

Over at the battlefield, Aswan was currently fighting with Allan. He had a couple of scratches across his body, but he was still alive. “The Primero knight sure lives up to his reputation. It has only been a couple of minutes, and yet he has pushed me to such a state even with my recent improvements.” Aswan thought to himself as desperately gasped for air. “Damn it! Why must my luck be this bad? If I am to survive this, I must use that treasure Lord Ducart gave me.”

Aswan gritted his teeth as he pulled out a blue looking pill the size of a golf ball. As Aswan bit down on the pill, a wave of terrifying energy burst out of his body. The previously disheveled looking Aswan seemed to have gained immense vitality. The surround elemental energy was stimulated and even traces of the water element became visible to the naked eye for a couple seconds before it died down. “Damn you! Damn you Primero knight. Because of you, I have wasted this treasure. I will take your head, and the head of the other knights with me today.” Aswan said with a deranged look in his eyes.

Allan stood quietly as his gray long beard fluttered along the direction of the air, he watched as Aswan bellowed in anger and remained calm without uttering a single word. Aswan charged towards Allan, his speed almost instantly doubled. He hacked his sword in an obviously crazed manner towards Allan. After taking the blue pill, Aswan’s strength had immediately peaked to the limit of element energy warriors. This kind of strength could actually be classified as actually exceeding the limits of elemental energy, but because of Aswan low attainments in the elemental laws of nature, he couldn’t properly control the immense energy and thus was capped at the elemental energy level.

“Die for me!” Aswan yelled as he continued to attack Allan, who was slowly being suppressed by the speed and strength of Aswan’s crazed swords. After a couple of exchanges, the force of Aswan’s sword blow had blasted Allan a couple of meters away. A smile grew on Aswan’s face as he watched Allan get back up, to his surprise Allan still had the same unbordered look he had from the start, not even a slight show of panic could be seen on his old face. “Throughout this entire fight, the primero knight has remained calm. Even after I took that pill, he still hasn’t called for backup.” Aswan thought to himself as he watched Allan walk towards him. A sense of panic quickly filled his mind for a second. “He must be pretending. He must be afraid. That’s right, it must be his pride as the primero knight that’s making show such bravery.” Aswan said dispelling the sense of fear the swelled up in his mind.

From a distance, Bryant appeared and watched the battle that was currently unfolding. He quickly got a sense of what was happening and everybody’s position. He moved his gaze to the far east, then moved it back to the battle between Allan and Bryant. “This should be interesting. It has been over a decade I saw that kid Allan. This should be a good test for him.”

As Allan walked closer to Aswan, a strange and uncomfortable smile appeared on his face. This was the first reaction he had given Aswan all throughout their battle. “I was wondering what gave you such bravery to fight against me. I guess my questions have been answered. You got an essence pill from Ducart,” Allan said. “A true treasure! It’s a pity your accomplishment in the water element is just too low. You have been forced to the limits of the elementary level of power. Come, let me show you the songs of my sword.”

Allan changed his previously casual stance to a more composed one. Holding the hilt of his sword with both hands, his every movement became more pronounced. “First verse: song of speed,” Allan said as he swung his sword. A loud piercing noise was heard in conjunction with his swords movement. Aswan quickly tried moving his own sword to block the incoming attack from Allan, but was suddenly caught off guard as Allan’s sword disappeared from his view, only for him to feel a striking pain on his chest.

In reality, Allans sword did not disappear, it just moved so fast Aswan could not keep up with its movement. Luckily enough for Aswan, the water essence pill had given him the body strength of someone at the absolute peak of the elementary level. Aswan backed up a couple of steps and rethought about what had just happened. Beads of sweat appeared across his previously calm face. “My goodness. I would have died just now if it wasn’t for the effects of that pill,” Aswan said to himself in freight.

Allan pointed his sword at Aswan and continued, “Second verse: song of blades.”

The essence of the wind slightly congealed around Allan’s blades, before formless wind blade shot towards Aswan. That attack took Aswan by surprise as he felt yet another mysterious surge of pain on his body. Before he had the time to react, Allan had closed the distance between them. Allan began a surge of attacks on Aswan, switching from the first verse to the second verse, in an unpredictable manner. In less than five minutes of their fight, a loud screaming noise was heard from Aswan, as Allan’s blade finally pierced through his chest. Aswan couldn’t help but curse at his stupidity. There were always rumors of the martial prowess of the primero knight, but he never thought that it would be at such a state. If he had known how terrifying the primero knight was, he would have taken the pill earlier and tried escaping with the assistance of the pill, but it was all dream at this moment, Aswan knew he was already knocking at death’s doors.
Allan slowly pulled out his sword from Aswan’s chest before fiercely hacking off Aswan’s head. “Such a pity. That essence pill could have truly been a life saving treasure for someone with better accomplishments.”

Truth & Myth - The Awakening

Chapter 13 – Danger?

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Hikari was getting impatient. For the past week, Guang, Lux, and herself have been searching around the city for clues about the mysterious people who finished their mission for them. The Vatican didn’t know anything about it, nor does the local church. The only unusual thing that had happened were several areas that had an abnormally high trace of demonic magic. Those were the places they investigated first, and out of the ones that stood out were a mountain beside a school, the art museum, and a back alleyway. These places only stood out because it was unknown who had dealt with these high levels of demonic magic, which usually indicated the existence of a demon in that area. These three places were the only places that did not have their case resolved by someone known. All the other ones were either resolved by local exorcists or were the results of the experiments conducted by local magicians.

However, despite knowing this, it didn’t put them any closer to identifying the mysterious person. They could not connect any dots between these three places, and the traces of demonic magic was also different in each place, so the mysterious person being a demonic being or a person that had access to demonic magic was unlikely.

“Have you found anything yet?” Hikari asked Guang who was on several laptops at once.

He was once again running through the current information they had on multiple databases across several different servers at once. Using Lux’s authority, they also acquired full cooperation from the local church in this man hunt.

“Still nothing,” Guang replied. He was visibly stressed, he seemed thinner than before and his hair was a mess. This was the result of his heavy sense of duty, and wish to uphold his believe of exorcists being the shield of mankind against all kinds of evil.

Although the mysterious people had completed their mission for them, eliminating the threatening feijiang, there was no information on them. If they were to turn the power against the people… Guang dreaded the consequences.

“Lord Guang! Lady Hikari! There’s an incident,” shouted a voice from outside the hotel room door.

Hikari went and opened the door. It was a young priest that they had met several days prior when they went to the local church for more information. They had left instructions for the three of them to be informed of any abnormal incidents going on.

“What is it?” Hikari asked.

“There’s an abnormal level of demonic magic, the precise address is written down here. I have already informed Lady Lux just now and she asked me to inform the two of you,” the young priest frantically replied. “She also asked that you start to prepare.”

“Prepare for wha..?”

“Yes I understand. Thank you for informing us,” Guang covered Hikari’s mouth and took the piece of paper that the priest held out. He nodded with a slight smile on his face and closed the door.

Hikari shook free of his hand and turned annoyingly to him,” What was that for?”

“Start using your brain okay? It’s obvious that Lux-sama had been deliberately vague with the priest. She couldn’t have revealed any information about [Divine Revenant]. Anyways, let’s hurry up and get to the address.”

Lux was standing in front of a civilian house. That was the location which the address the priest had given to her pointed towards. It didn’t seem like the priest was lying. She could clearly feel the tingling of mana in the air. It was something she was familiar with.

There was a demon within the house. Whoever was inside had probably summoned a demon in order to form a contract with it. For what she wasn’t sure. But this had to be stopped.

Demons were not trustworthy beings. They were cruel and vicious. They would often twist the truth in such a way that makes people want to form a contract with them. But the truth was the the contract isn’t going to help the person at all. In fact, it would cause the person to fall into despair without any real gain.

Demons were filthy beings. She firmly believed that. She was only in this situation because of a demon. If that didn’t happen twelve years ago… No she couldn’t let her mind wander. The resolution she has will not waver.

Her [Divine Revenant] was being prepared. It’ll probably be ready when Guang and Hikari arrive. So around ten minutes later. She just continue waiting here.

Although she would love to run into the house and cut down the demon, it was better to play it safe. The contract would probably not be signed too soon. Most demons would take at least several hours to convince their victims to sign the contract. She had enough time to remain patient…

David was taking a break after practice when his phone ran.

He checked the caller. It seems like it was his mom calling.

“Hey mom. What is it?”

“Ahh good. You finally picked up. Anyways, its Easter next week right? I called the school earlier so you don’t need to go this week.”

“Wait what? Why?”

“Well Mike and your dad were talking over the phone the other day, and they decided for both you and Helaine to skip a week of school. We registered you two for a two week long camp thing. Originally Mike was only going to send Helaine there, but its always nice to have company right?” David could hear his mom laughing from the other side of the phone. Mike Papadopoulos was Helaine’s dad, and he was good friends with David’s own dad, both having similar mindsets and interest. It seems like his dad did something unnecessary again.

“Can’t you cancel it?”

“Well we could, but we don’t want to leave you alone for so long. Your dad and I have decided to stay here for another month for a holiday this time. And so yeah, I’ll send you the details later through email. Don’t starve okay?” with that his mother hung up on him.

David sighed. His parents were always like this. They were good parents, but acted on the whim a lot of the times. Just like this time.

“David, something’s amiss, we should hurry,” Lucifer interrupted his thoughts.

“What is it? And where?” David asked. He jolted up from the sofa and walked towards the door, grabbing his jacket on the way.

“A demonic reaction. I may be mistaken, but it seems like its coming from that girl’s place.”

“Girl’s?”

“The one you spend a lot of time with.”

“****!” David ran out the door and didn’t even lock it. Right now, his mind was only worrying about Helaine’s safety. She, who’s been by his side through thick and thin. She, who cared for him and encouraged him when he felt like all was lost. She, who he has shared many important memories with. He sincerely hoped that Lucifer was mistaken. But deep in his heart, he had a sneaky feeling that Lucifer wasn’t, and that Helaine has been dragged into something beyond her imagination. Something that David didn’t want her to become involved in.

Seeing Lux in front of them, Hikari and Guang stopped running. It seems like they arrived at the destination.

“Lux-sama, is this the place?” Guang asked. Although the two of them had ran thirty minutes without stopping at a speed of approximately sixty miles per hour, neither of them were even breathing heavily. This was the effects of <Celestial Blessing> that was applied on their entire squad of exorcists.

“Can you not feel it?” Lux asked absentmindedly.

“Feel what?” Hikari replied, she, not surprisingly did not know what Lux was talking about.

Lux sighed, “It seems like the two of you can’t feel it. The swirling mass of demonic magic inside. The disgusting feeling of a demonic portal.”

She turned towards Guang and Hikari, then summoned out her holy sword. It was an estoc that was radiating holy magic. Although thin, the blade gave of a feeling of being able to cut through anything. The hilt of the estoc was gold and embroidered with a large blue sapphire.

She faced the house once more and pointed her estoc towards the house, “In the name of our Father, our Lord and his Holiness. Let us save the lost lamb and exorcise the snake of temptation.”

But at that moment. She noticed a person at the corner of her eye. A young man with black hair, slightly taller than average. A civilian?

No that was too much of a coincidence. Especially since she remembered that she had seen him once before, when they were going to investigate the mountain beside a school.

The same young man, whose stare she had felt disturbed by, was now standing right in front of them.

[Arc 3] Chapter 84

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Chapter 84
Black Rose Strikes Again

Chu Shen was astonished at all of this. Martial arts creating images was basic knowledge. That was why there was fist, sword, and claw techniques. And often phantom images would appear in the Qi, for example a claw technique resembling a bird’s claw instead of a human’s fingers.

This truly explained many mysteries that eluded Chu Shen. Before now he simply accepted martial arts intricacies as the way things were. ‘Hmm. It seems as though there is still a science that can be found in such mysterious things. Truly there is no such thing as magic, only misunderstood principles.’

Chu Shen stood up and bowed to grandmaster Qin. “Thank you grandmaster. With your help, I feel I will be able to advance far in mastering my skills.”

Agata Qin quickly waved his hand. “Nonsense. Eventually you would have learned such things. It wasn’t always common knowledge you know. Until the <Doctors Godly Eyes> was created, it remained a mystery. But my ancestor figured out such things and shared it, making these facts public knowledge.”

“It could be said to have advanced the skills of everyone within a thousand miles. Many people were thankful for such a blessing. If it wasn’t for that calamity, we wouldn’t be confined to such a small town.”

Grandmaster Qin shook his head. “Well, anyway. What I have here is a basic martial art technique. A fist technique. Learn it well. I believe with what I have taught you, you should advance far. Now, you can leave. My lessons are over. Tell your friend to come over for lessons tomorrow.”

Chu Shen looked at him for a second. “Huh? I still have one more day left don’t I? So why am I being sent back?”

Grandmaster Qin sighed. “It is just as I said. I have no more to teach you. In order to advance farther you would require at least another month. So instead of ending things half baked, I would rather end it here. As for the day left, just stop by to ask some questions if you encounter a bottleneck.”

Chu Shen nodded. “Okay. Having an expert to question is worth losing a day of training.”

A pain stabbed in his brain making Chu Shen wince. ‘Hey brat! You still have this expert. So why aren’t you questioning me!’

Chu Shen had a strange face on when he heard Master Wu’s voice. He couldn’t say the truth could he? That he didn’t feel like Ti Wu could help him. Otherwise what awaited him could be said to be hell.

He immediately adopted a placating tone mentally. ‘It’s not that master. I just feel like with how strong you are, to ask such basic questions would be considered an insult so it would be better to ask someone like this Grandmaster Qin.’

‘Hmph. What ‘Grandmaster’. In my eyes he is still just a brat. Hey brat. That Qin fellow is looking at you weird, pay attention!’

Indeed, when Chu Shen looked up Grandmaster Qin was staring at him with a look of concern. “Are you alright Chu Shen? It seemed like you blanked out there for a second.”

Chu Shen immediately shook his head. “No, no of course not! I just… I just had an inspiration that was all. Anyways I should head back to the shop to inform Lucas.”

Grandmaster Qin nodded in agreement. “Alright then. Have a safe journey. Don’t forget to give him the Token as well.”

“I won’t!” Chu Shen called over his shoulder as he walked back to the shop.

………………………………………………………………

While Chu Shen received the lecture on martial arts, Lucas went out hunting for primordial beasts. Every week they would close the shop for a day in order to gather beast cores for their experiments. Or more specifically, his. Today was no different even without Chu Shen.

But after an hour of hunting his tracking program discovered four people behind him. Ignoring it, Lucas merely went in a different direction. It wasn’t uncommon to come across people in the forest so it was probably coincidence. However they immediately turned to follow him as well!

Lucas frowned at this. Why would they do that? Were they following him? At this thought he immediately became cautious. Turning, he immediately started running in a zigzag path that would take him back to town. If he got there, they wouldn’t dare fight since it would mean offending the city lord.

However, even though these people were over 800 feet away, once they realized Lucas had discovered them, they immediately took off like a flash of lightning. In less than ten seconds they had already surrounded Lucas.

Lucas seeing who it was that stepped in front of him immediately recognized him. Pointing at him he called out. “You! It was actually you Slaughter!”

Indeed. The man that was hunting him was Slaughter! He laughed at the face Lucas made. “Haha! Indeed it is me. Now that you aren’t in town I don’t even have to bring up the Black Rose Guild. Come on brothers. We can finally collect that rich reward from that artificer.”

The man on the left shook his head. “It’s embarrassing Slaughter that you called us in. This child has no cultivation base so why exactly did you invite us to share in the spoils. It’s not like you.”

Slaughter shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if it was a trap that old guy put out for us. After all, why would someone with no cultivation base come out into the beast forest. Luckily we can’t detect anyone so maybe I’m just paranoid.”

He turned to Lucas. “So brat. You were just a mortal. And a trashy mortal at that. No matter. We just want information. How can you create those fake limbs. Tell us and we just might spare your life.”

Lucas reacted with lightning fast actions. Pulling out the Primordial Pistols, he also dropped two basketball size metal objects from the pouches. The four men were astonished at how fast Lucas moved, but other than that they didn’t really put him in their eyes.

That is, until the primordial pistols fired.

One of them was hit with the earth Primordial pistol, sealing him inside it. The other was struck with the shadow flame, enveloping him in a black corrosive flame along with a swath of forest around him.

“AHHH! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!” Due to the arrogance of facing a mortal, the unlucky cultivator didn’t even have his body shield up. His body started to wither as the black flame caught his skin on fire.

A surge of Qi briefly overwhelmed the flames making them flicker but they were not put out. Instead, they still burned on the cultivators body. Still screaming in pain, the cultivator immediately swallowed a medicinal pill before sitting down to try and suppress the shadow flames.

Slaughter, who was not hit by either shot was immediately stunned at how this ‘trashy mortal’ suddenly became so dangerous. Immediately he put up his body shield, alerted to this pig who became a tiger.

Lucas, on the other hand, immediately took off in a direct beeline for the town. The fourth member, who was not struck by either attack, took off after Lucas. As for the one sealed in rock, cracks already appeared in the shell. After all, all of them were Martial Practitioners Level 3.

However, the one that took off after Lucas was suddenly hit by two red beams of light. His body shield immediately started to dim as his Qi was drained. Stunned he turned to find out where these lights were coming from.

Unexpectedly, those two metal objects had become two spider like drones with lasers mounted on their heads. Running sideways like a crab, these spiders kept up a beam of heat at this man. At the speed of light, there was no way the man could dodge a laser.

But in a flash, the man appeared beside the spiders and struck out with his palm. While it was true he couldn’t dodge a laser, he could move out of its path. He was simply too fast for the turrets to track his movements.

The spiders were able to dodge the palm itself though, but not the faint energy palm that struck both of them, crushing them instantly. In a flash of light, both spiders blew up.

With a sinister glare at the retreating Lucas, a bow appeared in the man’s hands. Aiming, he suddenly unleashed an arrow at Lucas. In an instant, the arrow pierced completely through his leg!

Slaughter, who had already started chasing Lucas after shaking off his shock, immediately caught up to Lucas who had fallen down from the shot. Unexpectedly though, he was not rolling on the ground in pain. Instead he turned towards Slaughter with a strange glove on and fired it.

Before he could blink, Slaughter was pierce completely through the chest, his body shield breaking in an instant. He was hurled up into the air, a large hole appearing where his chest should be. A loud BOOOM and shock wave of air caused the leaves of the trees nearby to be blow off.

The man with the bow was stunned. Without a doubt, Slaughter was dead. Lucas turned towards the man with the bow and raised his hand. In response an arrow flew towards him, piercing through his skull instantly causing sparks to fly out the quarter sized hole.

Lucas, looking stunned, suddenly looked back at the man. Another BOOOM was heard as the man also had a large hole blown through his body. Lucas got up and started running. “Whew. If I wasn’t a cyborg, I would be dead!” Lucas wiped off some nonexistent sweat as he ran.

But suddenly, a sword pierced through his back. The sword sliced upwards, slicing Lucas in half from the waist up! A shower of sparks and wires followed the cut. Another slice came. And another. And another. A torrent of blows came and sliced Lucas up until no piece bigger than a fist remained.

The person responsible, the one sealed in the rock, stood behind Lucas’ torn corpse. He slumped to the ground. “What monster is this! He didn’t even have flesh, only metal for a body.”

The man turned and looked back at the huge swathe of devastation that came from Lucas’ weapon. He shook his head. “I’m lucky I wasn’t hit with that black flame. Even Murder wasn’t able to shake it off and died.”

A sinister smile came over him. “At least I am the only one to receive the treasure this time.” However, an inconspicuous ball in the corpse of Lucas started flashing. Glancing over, the man picked it up. “What is this, his heart?”

Unexpectedly a voice answered back. The voice came from a black box just a little bit away from him. “No, actually that is my reactor. Don’t worry though. You can keep it. It’s the last you will ever see.”

Later a half mile radius of the forest was reported gone, wiped out by some massive explosion. Many people became nervous, fearing that the primordial beasts may be acting up again.

Soft Spoken Brutality

Coming Soon

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Stained Red

Coming Soon

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Aurora God

Coming Soon

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The God of Chaos

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Celestial Diary

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Celestial Diary

[Vol 5] Chapter 1: Glimpse of the Past

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Expecting to greet a new day, I opened my heavy eyelid with reluctance. What entered my vision are the big canopy bed and the luxurious room which I have yet to get accustomed to… or what should have been…

“Eh…?” I couldn’t help but let out bewildered voice in confusion. I mean… who wouldn’t be, when they wake up, just to find themselves in an unfamiliar forest. At first, I thought it was another one of Angie’s irrational training course, but I was proven wrong in just moments later.

I couldn’t move my body as I wished, so I thought that my hands and feet were bound, but that wasn’t the case either, as I could clearly feel my hands and feet moving on their own accord. I was currently atop a tree, hiding behind the twigs and leaves, observing a small group consisting of three or four person. My hands seemed to be beckoning to give some sort of signal. Following that signal, I could hear the rustling of the leaves as a few shadows moved from their original hiding places to another.

That being the case, the only one that came to mind was Sylvidia. She was the only one capable of controlling my body when we fused by means of the Blank Slate’s ability. However, I don’t recall ever activating the Blank Slate before I fell asleep. Sheena did beg me to transform into the cat-form, but I made up an excuse by saying that I have already used up all my transformation attempts in Angie’s unreasonable training.

With that being said, the possibility of this being one of Sylvidia’s mischief was low, but I couldn’t deny the possibility that Sylvidia had some hidden tricks that allowed her to activate the ability on her own. She is quite the mysterious one after all. Anyways, the four people currently in my line of sight looked oddly familiar, I wonder where had I seen them before.

Person A: Are you sure this is the way? It seems like we’ve been walking around in circles for quite a while now.

Person B: Eh? Uh… D-Don’t worry, just trust me… I know where I’m going…

Person C: T… That doesn’t sound very convincing…

Person A is a young man with blue eyes and black hair. Appearance-wise, he couldn’t be considered handsome, but he’s not that ugly either, I guess you could say he looks average. He seemed to be around twenty five years old and is about 1.8 meters tall. The young man was carrying a sword with him, so I guess he’s a warrior.

Person B is a beautiful elf with light blonde hair and bangs. She has a fair complexion and bright, sky blue eyes. Just judging from her appearance, she looks about eighteen years old, but since she’s an elf, appearance can be deceiving.

And Person C somehow reminded me of Sheena, especially her hair. She has a pink blond hair just like Sheena and her beauty is out-of-the-world. She is more or less around 1.6 meters tall and her bust-size seems to be D cup.

There is one more person, but she is covering her face with a hood. It was easy to tell her gender due to her enormous breasts. It is impossible to hide those monster breasts no matter how many layers of robes she put on.

Why was I observing them? I totally have no idea, but I might find out soon if I continue to watch. Or more like… why am I even here to begin with? I tried to contact Sylvidia via telepathy but there was no response, so I gave up and continued to watch the event unfold quietly.

Person B: D-Don’t worry, I’m sure we’re getting closer. I can feel the space around here getting wrapped, that is a clear sign that we’re close to the Elves’ Sanctuary.

Just at this time, my body began to move on its own, as if I was on auto-pilot. I jumped down from the treetop and landed right in front of the group of four, then my mouth opened by itself, “That’s far enough! Turn back at once or prepare to meet your maker!”

With that as a signal, all the “shadows” that were hiding in the dark suddenly revealed themselves and pointed their bows or wands at the small group.

“Awawawawawa…” The big breasted one who had her face covered let out a flustered voice as she tripped on her own feet. Due to the fall, her hood slipped down and revealed the face that was hidden under the cover of the hood. All the elves in the surroundings gave off a gasp the moment the laid eyes on her, followed by words of ridicule.

“This is… preposterous!”

“How savage!!”

“That child will bring misfortune upon us!”

……

Their hatred and disgust were understandable, even someone from the modern world like me was able to tell at first glance. The object of their hate and disgust is a half-elf. It is common knowledge that the elves despises half-elves, for they believe that the humans are savages. Since I’m a fan of elves, I had done some research of my own before on how to differentiate the elves and half-elves ⌈¹⌋. The half-elves have ears about the size of the human ones, but are pointed on the ends. Meanwhile, genuine elf ears are long and pointed. The difference was as clear as day when I compared the size of her ears with those of my own.

“Silence!!” My mouth opened by itself and let out a voice so loud, that it reverberated in the air. However, thanks to that, the elves in the surroundings clamped their mouths shut.

After that, I continued to talk with a self-important tone, “I know not your purpose of coming here with an elf and a half-elf, but beyond this maze is the hidden village of the elves, no outsiders are allowed to enter.”

Then, just at this time, the pink-haired girl stepped forward to pull the half-elf up from the ground. After that, she bowed towards me respectfully as she introduced herself, “Pardon our rudeness, my name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, the Crown Princess of Tristain and the Priestess of the Holy Kingdom. This here is Tiffania Westwood Tudor of Albion, the Crown Princess of Albion and also the Priestess of the Holy Kingdom. We came here to negotiate with the Queen of the Elves.”

“Hoh… the two of you are the Crown Princesses of your respective countries and both a Priestess of the Holy Kingdom? Interesting… What of the other two?” I was utterly surprised when I heard their names, if I had to take a guess, that guy must be none other than… Hiraga Saito!!! However, contrary to my surprised self, the one in control of my body was very calm and collected.

And as expected, the young man with blue eyes and black hair introduced himself as “Saito” and the lord of Des Ornières, “My name is Saito de Hiraga des Ornières. I am the lord of Des Ornières and Louise’s fiance. At the same time, her familiar. This here is Luctiana, she served as our guide to bring us this far.”

Upon hearing these, I squinted my eyes and asked suspiciously, “What business do you guys have in the sanctuary of the elves?”

Louise straightened her body as she answered my question, “Do you know of the demon’s invasion?”

“The demon’s invasion?” I frowned while parroting those three words, then I answered, “Yes, I’ve heard that some fools are trying to take over the world, but that is none of our concern, the demons will never be able to make it to our sacred sanctuary. Even if they did, we can fend them off easily. If that is all you want to talk about, you may leave!”

“W-Wai—” Louise wanted to say something, but she was interrupted by an unexpected voice, “Kehehehehehe! So this is where the elves are hiding! Thanks for leading us here suckers!” After those provocative words, the presence of the unidentified creature abruptly disappeared.

I could feel my whole body burning with rage as I shouted, “You guys are the demon’s spies! Capture them alive and lock them up in the dungeon!”

Immediately after that, I could feel my consciousness waning. The surroundings are getting darker and my consciousness slowly drifted away. The last thing I saw, was Saito and company getting surrounded by groups of elves.

By the time I regained my consciousness, I jumped up immediately and noticed that I was back in a familiar room.

“Eh? What just happened?” Once again, I let out another bewildered voice in the midst of confusion. I totally have no idea what just happened, but one thing I know for sure, is that I want to know what happen afterwards.

“Fufufu… you’re finally awake, did you have a nice dream?” Just at this time, Sylvidia suddenly smiled meaningfully.

Author’s Note:

I hope I was able to convey this chapter properly, I fear that it might be a little confusing. If there’s anything you find confusing in this chapter, do point it out.