Because Sylvia was able to fully read my heart, she was the only one who could also tell what happened to me, understanding everything but at the same time, unable to do a thing.
Ryu. Maybe you could put me in contact with someone more knowledgeable about this? Maybe I could tell them a way to help Shen from the devil. → Sylvia
Eh? AH! R-right! → Ryu
Ryu then looked at Yuri intently, making him tilt his head in confusion.
After making him understand the full picture of what truly happened from Sylvia, Yuri shook from the news. He not only found a way to help me, but he also understood more concepts about the soul, making him grow even more as a mage and as a person.
The fifth day, the rest of the ships reached the Antara Kingdom and landed on the huge terrain atop the nearby valley.
“King Ryu, I suppose. It gladdens me to finally meet you, your majesty.”
Oliver and Evan Greenmaple, the two high-elves brothers bowed their waists in front of Ryu, making him twitch from the pretentious position he forgot he had.
“Likewise, dear friends. Please come forth. I’m extremely apologetic about this humble and if I could say, rundown place of mine. So I will ask of you to forgive me again.” → Ryu
“King Ryu. Such details are of no importance to us, We do not mind it in the slightest.”
R-right… I will have to get used with this style of speech in the future as well… Damn… → Ryu
Ryu thought while trying to keep up the royal-face in front of the two noble high-elves.
After the ships finally arrived at the fortress, the high elves filled Ryu with the news about the alliance with the Alfheim, Ashura walked the other prisoners together with the General and his two commanders inside the hastily-made underground dungeon, right beside the others.
Jian’s men together with the rescued slaves were shown around by the other residents and gifted furred clothes from the slain beasts, and a lot of meat for the hungry. Together with all the vegetables bought from the Pirate Peninsula, everyone felt like having a balanced meal for once. Sylvia was sleeping on her bed soundly, nobody being able to wake her up, while the two little disciples searched for me in a rush.
“Huh? Lord Shen? Uhm…” → Jack
After being questioned by Theo and Melinda, Jack made a complicated expression while scratching his head. Last time I talked with him it was when I left Ryu’s tower right after he punched me. My lower lip was bleeding while a ferocious and irritated expression was frozen on my face. Together with the red and bloodshot eyes, my appearance was anything but kind. He saw me creating a little hut of dirt then lock myself inside it with a weird seal. Seeing how the two of them were eager to meet me, Jack simply shook his own head then pointed toward the Southern gate.
“He’s inside a sealed little hut made of dirt. You will be able to find it pretty easily but… I don’t recommend you to bother him… He seems pretty mad right now.” → Jack
“Mad?” → Melinda and Theo
Both of them asked a little bit confused. The last time they saw me a large smile was etched on my face after seeing Theo and Melinda together holding hands. Theo was able to successfully heal Melinda and as a reward, she gathered enough courage to give him a little kiss on his cheek. In the end, both of them rushed toward the Eastern wall after thanking Jack and searched for a little hut made of dirt.
Not long after they reached the wall, right beside it a little circular dirt-hut of barely 2 meters diameter stood tall with a red magic-circle on it. It was exactly the same seal Shu used on Gabriel’s diary on the last page. Even though I didn’t know how the seal was truly created, simply copying it, I still understood that it was a kind of seal strong enough for even Semi-Gods to have a hard time breaking. Not being able to understand the deeper concept behind it, the seal was not even half as strong as the one Shu created, but still strong enough to repel a Grandmaster.
“This is… where the master is resting?” → Melinda
Melinda asked a little bit terrified by the sinister aura the seal emanated. The dark-red glow made her feel as if a beast was behind it, while the dark miasma evading through the cracks of the dirt-house gave off the impression of a devil that was sealed inside it.
“This is… A demonic Seal?” → Theo
Theo asked baffled after feeling the strong demonic energy which was absorbed by the seal to grow in power. He wished to touch it, but strong and repulsive energy shot out toward them after reaching 10 meters from the hut.
“?!”
They both retreated by reflex and the spear-like dark energies stopped right at the limit of 10 meters, disappearing in thin air as if nothing was there in the first place.
“… Melinda… I think we must leave master alone for now.” → Theo
Theo said while sweat fell down his forehead. His senses told him nothing about the attack just now. He felt no fear as a living being toward what just happened and he knew that such an attack would harm only a Disciple ranked person. However, his demonic instincts told him otherwise.
Devil!
A demonic and deep voice shouted inside his mind. However, the voice was panicking and filled with fear.
Run from the Devil!
It tried to tell Theo to get as far away as possible from there. As far away as possible from his own master.
“Theo? What happened?” → Melinda
Melinda observed Theo’s pale expression filled with fear, unable to understand why everything was turning so complicated when all she wanted to do was to meet her master again.
“I will tell you later, for now, let’s just-“
-WOOOONNNGGGG~!-
Just as Theo wished to retreat, a horn has been blown from atop the wall, shaking the entire Kingdom and making every resident of the fortress look toward the Southern wall.
“W-what was that?!” → Melinda
Melinda shouted while covering her ears from the loud noise. Both Theo and Melinda looked confused at the wall while covering their ears, then another feeling of dread washed over both of them.
“For disturbing my sleep, they will be removed.”
A deep and ethereal voice resounded from inside the hut, then the seal broke like glass as a phantom-like chain shone with a purple glow then broke in tiny pieces, vanishing without a trace. When the seal broke, the house started to crack and huge pieces fell like mold. Not waiting for the house to completely fall, I shot out like a rocket over the wall and dashed in the distance above the wall.
“M-master!” → Melinda
Melinda shouted toward me and wished to follow, but Theo grabbed her arm and stopped her without giving an explanation.
“T-Theo?” → Melinda
Melinda looked back at him confused and a little bit shocked, then more and more mighty characters rushed towards them. Be them elites, heroes, Antara warriors, the leaders and even Bururiba, Jian and Ashura’s groups with the girls Aria, Bonny, Tara, the Fire Wings and so on. Basically, everyone was ready to fight for the kingdom, be it for personal reasons like: trying to make a connection with the Antara Kingdom, for combat experience, because of the duty as a Warrior of the Antara, or any other hidden reasons.
Seeing Melinda and Theo already here, Bonny, who was also at the front of this mighty army, asked them in a hurry after not finding Shen anywhere.
“Theo, Melinda, do you know where master is-… Theo, are you alright?” → Bonny
Seeing him so pale in the face, Bonny asked a little bit worried.
“B-Bonny… I’m fine… As for the master, he’s already over the wall-“ → Theo
Just as he finished talking, a huge asteroid pushed away the clouds and covered the sun, letting everyone see its might and feel its presence even though they were still inside the walls’ protection. Space bent at the monstrous weight, while the ground shook when it didn’t even touch the earth yet. Even the air was blowing as if a storm was coming.
“T-that asteroid… It’s not from a spell. It’s a true, outer-space huge boulder!” → Yuri
Yuri said while looking with his eyes at the true asteroid. Also, he was able to see an invisible, phantom-like colossal claw which held it above the ground, ready to let it go at any moment.
“N-no way. If it really was an asteroid, then why is it falling so slow?! It’s like it was summoned here!” → Gregor
Gregor asked while sweat was falling down his forehead.
“It was indeed summoned. A monstrous power just attracted it toward this place… A dark power.” → Lilia
Lilia, a demoness answered while feeling a dreadful power right behind the wall as her instincts told her to retreat.
“If that thing lands so close to us, then the shockwave will reach us as well and even destroy the entire kingdom… Sir Oliver, did you say that rood can create a barrier all around the Kingdom?” → Lilia
“Indeed. I will activate it in a moment.” → Oliver
While the two high-elves brothers activated the barrier, everyone else either levitated in the air, climbed the walls or straight out jumped over it, ignoring the doors which were heavy and opened too slow, wishing to see what was happening on the other side of the wall with their own eyes.
“WOAH!?”
Everyone was stunned, shocked or stared with a serious expressions on, trying to process what they were seeing.
“Is that… Shen?” → Ashura
Ashura asked while starring fixed at me, noticing my spiky hair turning black and dancing in the wind while a dark-purple aura emanated from my body. In front of me, a huge dark iron-fence of spears blocked the way of thousands of beasts of ranks between F and C, not letting them advance anymore. My right arm was pointing toward the iron fence, while my left one, upwards toward the asteroid.
“You all…”
I glanced behind me, piercing everyone with my blood-red wolf-like eyes while talking with the same ethereal and deep voice.
“Step back.”
After saying such, I lowered my left arm in a relaxed manner.
[Ira Dei]
“ROAAAR~!”
Every beast felt the imminent danger and wished to retreat, but it was too late; the gigantic rock from outer-space fell with the speed of a bullet, crashing atop of them like a godly hammer over the sinners as punishment.
“Sirs Greenmaple!” → Bonny
Bonny shouted in anxiety while activating her own barrier, then an answer resounded right from the middle of the Kingdom.
“On it!”
Even though the shockwave would not be enough to harm most of those ready to fight, the non-combatants were unable to resist such a shockwave that would be able to wipe the entire kingdom off the face of Sario. Because of the strengthening enchanting from the flag, some buildings made with more care wouldn’t necessarily fall completely, but most of the kingdom would still be buried under the wave of dirt caused by the crash.
Right after the brothers shouted out together, a strong ray of light shot out from in front of the Middle Tower and dispersed above the entire fortified city, covering it like a white and shiny barrier even through the ground.
The shockwave struck the barrier in full and after it, a strong wind filled with dust and boulders tried to engulf it. The barrier didn’t even vibrate at the impact, while the others from outside the walls but still inside the barrier, were able to see how the wave of dust and dirt tried to cover the barrier of over 200 meters height.
“I can’t sit here like this. I’m going. I need to know what happened on the other side after that huge rock dropped.” → Bururiba
Bururiba said while feeling excited. Seeing such an overpowering spell from the get-go made everyone who called themselves a warrior have their blood boil and get an adrenaline rush.
“Brat! I’m going as well! Haha~ that kid really knows how to keep one entertained!” → Zhin
Zhin laughed while shooting after Bururiba inside the wave of dirt and cloud of dust. Boulders and wood were still falling from the sky like rain while the air outside was unbreathable from the pollution with dust.
“Forward!” → Bonny
Bonny commanded and did the same. Everyone covered themselves with a barrier of chi or mana, then shot out after the two.
“Ronald. Cleanse the air!” → Bonny
“Aye!”
After hearing the command, Ronald started to spin and dance while using his dark swords. Huge tornadoes of dark wind appeared on left and right, absorbing the clouds of dirt and falling debris like two gigantic vacuums. Not even 10 seconds passed when everything was visible again.
“Shen!”
“Lord Shen!”
The first to be visible was me while leisurely walking toward them while dragging a ferocious Needle-Spine Bear of rank B, who was also the leader of the Wave. I was dragging the beast by the neck while it was still growling from pain and anger. Right before the boulder dropped, the bear tried to strike me down, thinking that it might be safer if he closed to the cause of all the calamity. With a simple twist of my dragonified fingers, his neck broke and he died instantly. Dark smoke evaded my body as my eyes reddened even more, my fangs almost piercing my gums.
“Qiu~?”
Tama felt the strong change in my aura and appeared on my shoulder confused. Seeing the little spatial devil on my shoulder, I growled and unconsciously cursed him into leaving:
“انصرف تحوت”
“Q-Qii!!!”
Tama screamed in fear and like smoke he disappeared, unable to feel his presence any longer. Then my consciousness returned and I looked around, confused by what just happened and irritated by strong dizziness which tried to take over my mind.
With the same irritated face as before, I then looked at the group and said.
“Take their skins and clean up. I’m going back to sleep.” → Shen
My voice turned back to normal, but my hair was still black while my eyes were just as red as before. After walking past them, Melinda rushed at me with concern.
“Master! Are you okay? Why are you so sad-“ → Melinda
Just as she reached 5m from me, my dark aura reacted and shot out toward her with malice. I panicked and hastily made a barrier around her. To everyone’s shook, unlike the normal golden-white barrier everyone could create; mine was purplish-dark and emanated terrifying energy everywhere around. When my aura crashed onto the barrier, both annulated each other, then disappeared in thin-air while producing a sound as if glass just shattered. Melinda froze in place from shock. Seeing her perturbed face made me lower my head in shame.
“Melinda. I won’t be able to teach you guys anything for now. If you want to study new spells or skills, then you’re welcomed to visit the library.” → Shen
“B-but we wish to stay with master…” → Melinda
Seeing her childish sincerity made my heart ache. I wasn’t able to control my own aura, let alone my spells. If another sudden rage were to break out inside of me, who knows how much sufferings I would bring to these two children.
I clenched my trembling fists and said while leaving from them.
“For now I am unable to do so… Please excuse me.” → Shen
Feeling my devilish aura, the other demons retreated while the beastmen’s fur ruffled, their instincts telling them to stay away. The fairies also felt like running away, only the players were still unaware of their own racial instincts but something still told them to not bother me. Yuri was also a little bit pressed by the devil who appeared behind me every time he stared at me with his [Soul Eyes].
While leaving from them, it was Yuri’s turn to shout out after me.
“S-sir Shen! Please wait!” → Yuri
“What?” → Shen
I asked while feeling his gaze. I frowned and glanced back in irritation.
“U-uhm!… S-shall we discuss it back inside the tower? There are too many people here.” → Yuri
The fact that I was possessed by a Devil was still a secret. Everyone was told that a failed spell deranged my soul and spirit, taking time until I will regain my normal self. Not even my disciples, Bonny included, were aware of what was truly happening with me.
