In the surveillance tower, Hajime cuts himself with a shard of broken glass. Using his blood as ink, he draws a magic circle around Bianca's seemingly lifeless body. She was loosing warmth and fast. Kneeling before the circle with arms clasped together. He begins a synchronized incantation with Lily.
" The crimson moon that bathes the world in blood, the death of the saints that paves a way for redemption. Let the gates of the spirit realm burst forth. We call upon the soul of Bianca Frost...".
In the spirit realm,
Bianca stands at the crossroads of life and death. She looks ahead, seeing the vast waters. They were calm too clam. In the centre of the water a giant gate stood. Soon after, a dark cloaked figure in a self rowing boat arrived. He held in his right hand a sickle. Extending his left hand an eerie feeling crept up Bianca's spine.
A distant voice called out her name. It was Hajime. Looking around, she cried as she called back, telling the voice her location in a somewhat vague manner. She saw a light shining from behind her. Turning around, she slowly moved towards it. But, before she could go too far, the dark figure stepped out of the boat. It quickly made up for the difference in distance with it's insane speed. With a sickle to he throat, the dark figure introduced itself as, " The gatekeeper ".
Back in the realm of the living,
The ritual had to be maintained at all costs. Now floating slightly high above the circle, Lily instructed Hajime to drip blood on her lip, which he did. It was almost midnight. Meaning, Hajime had to go before the ritual gets interrupted by Arachnid. Lily had to stay and monitor the circle, meaning, Hajime couldn't fully utilized her ultimate blaze.
Hajime decided to use some of his stolen artifacts. Opening his dimension pouch, he called out three separate artifacts.
[ The Mourner's Mask ]: an A-rank power amplifier and concealment artifact. Doubles all of the user's stats for ten minutes. After which the user looses Ten percent of their current stats for twenty-four hours.
[ Cloak of fallen Monarchs ]: an A-rank hooded cloak. Boosts dark affinity by fifty percent while halving stamina. When activated, the user must not take fatal hits as they prove too deadly.
[ Tome of souls ] : contains one S-ranked skill. When used, boosts stats by five percent permanently and add the skill.
" I never thought I'd use this for someone else's sake. I guess the inigma in me is dead and gone. Hey Lily, take care of her for me will ya?! I'll be back after I deal with some threats".
Hajime lept out of the tower's demolished walls and used the outer wall to kick forward, performing a series of jumps and flips on his way to the highest point in the Ambrosia Woods, " Mount Gale". On the peak of the mountain, Arachnid crouched on top of a tree branch and look down on the rest of the world. He removes his mask and with a sly grin proclaims,
" The web is ready to catch prey. I welcome you to challenge me, dear nephew".
Now in the Valley of Gale, Hajime was faced with a stark realization. He was about to climb the fabled mountain of misery. Folk tales of the Gale Mountain say that in the caves of this mountain lay monsters of unpresidented power.
He thought of how the HUNTING SHADOWS destroyed his family and nearly killed his friend and it made him ever so angry. Activating Sky walker, he decides to avoid all the monsters and scale laterally up the mountain.
Back in the spirit realm,
Bianca flees from the aggressive gatekeeper, who refuses to allow Bianca steps back into the realm of the living. He smashed his sickle into hard earth and creates a tremor that throws the staggering Bianca off balance. He follows up with a strong swing, in an attempt to disintergrate her soul.
In the real world, Lily notices Bianca squirming and realizes she's already met the gatekeeper. Refusing to let her master sink into despair over her death, she climbs into her body and accesses the spirit realm.
Bianca, still struggling with the gatekeeper, heres a deep voice.
" My lady, please try hard to summon my power in your heart". Bianca realizes its Isolde, the frost king. She stands still as the gatekeeper charges at her. In the last second, she summons Isolde.
Blocking the gatekeeper's sickle. She kicks him back. Lily soon arrives in her human form and stops the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper says in an ominous tone, " you dare insult death by keeping back what was rightfully his, filthy half breed". Those words anger Lily and she decides to push the gatekeeper into the spirit gate.
Raising her right hand, she chant the words of the world.
" Blood bathed moon, scorching sun, the end of things to come. I call upon the wind and flame to heed my voice and obey my command. Come forth, Armageddon!!!".
The force of the attack pushes the gate keeper into the spirit waters, but not into the spirit realm gate. This angers the gatekeeper and he uses his sickle to stir the waters. The sickle transforms into a staff with a skull on top. From the depths of the water, skeletal beings and ghouls begin to rise. The gatekeeper, confident in his power, beckons Lily and Bianca to try and face his " Death March Army".
Lily tries to explain that Hajime sent her but, Bianca already knew. With a serious expressions on their face, they prepare to face the army of the dead.
Now halfway through his mountain climbing, Hajime summons the Petal Scattering Blade to prepare for his fight against the assassin. As he gets to an opening on the side of the mountain, a pair of blood red eyes pear through the cave opening. Hajime stopped immediately and steeled himself. The being in the darkness slowly came out. A system notification appeared.
[ Main daily quest 2, day 2]
Rank-S
- Eliminate mystery Assassin.
Reward: Familiar embryo - acquisition level: S
Hidden quest: The Conquerer of Gale: Completion difficulty: S
Description: The Gale Gryphon- Lv 600
- a wind type monster with the ability to fly. Can cause slow rate petrification with each wound it causes.
So far, no weaknesses.
Hajime stood firm as the towering beast strolled my out of the darkness. With the head of an eagle and the body of lion,the Gryphon was quite large and its wings cast broad shadows on Hajime.
Hajime pulled out the Petal Scattering Blade and pointed it towards the Gryphon. The Gryphon flew high above Hajime, raining down fairy blaze from it's beak.
Hajime used mana manipulation to make a mana shield. The mana shield barely held. Using Sky Walker, Hajime leveled the playing field, using a basic Divine Arm skill known as Rising Dust Petals. The Gryphon's wings were cleanly severed. Falling back down to the cave entrance, the Gryphon roared in agony. Hajime returned back down to level ground.
The Gryphon went on a rampage, almost pushing Hajime off the ledge of the cliff.
Using Sky Walker, he lept mid air and pushed the Gryphon back. With a precise strike across it's chest, the Gryphon was defeated. Hajime was drained. Sitting on the ledge, a system notification appears,
[ Hidden quest complete [✓] ]
The administrator will now recieve special gift package.
The system window vanishes and in its place a blank scroll with swirling golden lines appears. Placing his hand against the scroll it permeates through. Reaching in, he can feel a weapon. He pulls it out of the scroll. The scroll disintergrates and another window appears.
[Special package received]
The Dark Knight's Weapon - Lv. 1
Acquisition level: S
Specifics:
The administrator can deal damage with infused spells. At its current level, maximum spell infusion limit is two.
Hajime put on a crooked smile. Standing back up, he pulled out an A grade potion from his dimension pouch. After restoring his fatigue. He decided it was time to finish it.
He used Sky Walker once more and began scaling up halfway on the mountain.
MEANWHILE,
In the spirit realm, ghoul upon ghoul kept falling to the unrelenting strikes of Bianca and Lily. Soon after, the smaller ghouls we're all eliminated. However, the battle was far from over. Broken bones began slowly reforming and trndents linked together. The army was rising once more. Bianca noticed something, the gatekeeper had finished casting Death March Army, and yet his staff was glowing.
She had a plan. Informing Lily of her plan to take away the gatekeeper's staff, she charged in. Bianca looked on in admiration that a human was so tenacious and determined. Feeling her fighting spirit kindled, she
Invoked a barrage of curses to stop almost all the larger ghouls. Taking the opportunity of the opening, Bianca closed the distance between herself and the gatekeeper. Thinking to herself,
" You think I didn't notice you damn spirit?!, if you deactivate the staff mode, your army fades and the two of us can close in faster. Keep it up and you leave me the option of coming to take it myself!!! So, what will you do now?".
She points Isolde at him directly and with an inche difference between them, reaches for the summoning staff. The gatekeeper pulled a last stitch effort and called out a large ghoul to block her attempts.
The path now seemed bleek. Per Lily's calculations, they had a Little over three minutes to head back to the realm of the living or else, they were both stuck there.
Bianca said, " no!, it's not over yet, I still have one trick up my sleeves".
Saying this, she extends Isolde and activates his ultimate blaze.
" Let the heavens give their purest blessings. The blessing that covers all in white redemption, Come forth!!!, SNOWFALL!!".
A sudden heavy gust of wind tore though the in-between. As he storms gathered at the tips of her blade, Bianca turned to Lily, asking for time to fully use the spell. Lily gathered reminents of magical energy at the tips of her fingers. Compressing the energy, she released a torrent of flames that tore though the giant skeletal ghoul.A sudden heavy gust of wind tore though the in-between. As he storms gathered at the tips of her blade, Bianca turned to Lily, asking for time to fully use the spell. Lily gathered reminents of magical energy at the tips of her fingers. Compressing the energy, she released a torrent of flames that tore though the giant skeletal ghoul.
With the opening now created, Bianca did not hesitate, Lauching a condensed spike of ice that smashed the gatekeeper straight into the gate to of the spirit realm. It's staff fell and vanished as the gate keeper returned to being an inscription on the frame of the gate to the spirit realm.
Lily and Bianca made their way quickly to the escape path in the in-between, returning to the guard post as if nothing had happened.
Bianca opened her eyes. Her pupil colours began to shift, turning blood red. Her sky blue hair turning white. She felt revitalized. She wanted to help Hajime right the Arachnid but Lily stopped her stating that this was her master's battle. She was only tasked to keep Bianca safe.Bianca looked at he crimson moon on the horizon and thought to herself,
" Please be safe Hajime".