On the ground floor of a shop in the Scarlet Empire Capital, a group of calm people spoke unhurriedly about the characteristics of the merchandise exposed to the public's eyes.
The young saleswoman tried to convince the clients of the benefits of her products in the hope that the rich customers would make a large purchase and spend a lot of money.
On the other hand, the clients looked very carefully for possible faults in the merchandise and doubted its effectiveness, usefulness and convenience. Naturally, they tried to bargain to get a large discount and lower the price.
Undoubtely, what happened on the ground floor was a typical scene of daily work, an occurrence of every day, that could be seen in any trade of the Capital.
But what happened at that time in the basement of that same store, was something very different...
And much more serious! It was a matter of life and death!
The strangest thing of all was that there was no human being down there, 180 meters below the ground. At least, not one alive. No. What was there on the basement was a ghost.
An extremely powerful ghost, who in life had been one of the ancient rulers of the now forgotten Teni Empire, more than 10,000 years ago. That empire had been so hated by its evil and its corruption that it had been destroyed to the last stone by an alliance of almost all the other nations of the same epoch.
And then it was deleted from the history books until the last reference of its existence.
It was especially sought that no one could remember the two horrors, the rulers of the empire, despicable beings who in life and death had terrified so many human beings that they themselves became Wandering Nightmares.
After much effort, these two horrors had finally been captured. Since they were already dead and could not be destroyed, it was decided to seal them in a vessel full of magical seals of the highest power. Then that container was buried in the most recondite place of the most hidden cavern.
There, in the darkness, the vessel would be safe.
Meanwhile, its guardinans watch it out so that they could be sure that nothing went wrong before someone, be it a demigod, archmage, high priest or some other similar being, acquired the necessary power to forever banish them from this plane.
But a long time passed and the watchers died one by one. So many time passed that people forgot the evil Teni Empire.
Thousands of years later, in unclear circumstances, the vessel re-emerged as part of the inventory of a shop of horrors for the first time. The seals were weakened and there was only one ghost inside.
That's right... Only one...
The horror Melchior had consumed his old colleague without feeling the slightest remorse in order to be able to have the opportunity to once again ravage the world.
This was the ghost that was in the basement of the store, more hungry than ever and wanting to devour the souls that humanity had denied him these last 10,000 years. At this moment there was only one thing that stood between him and his triumphant return.
One thing he thought was tiny and unimportant...
A simple domestic animal.
A black cat.
*ZOOOM!*
*WHOOSH!*
*ZOOOM!*
Little Sun ran through the corridors of the store with all the speed that his agile four paws could give him. His powerful muscles were tired and his fur was covered with stains of his blood. He was tired and hurt but he could not stop running for a moment or that hateful ghost would reach him again.
The cat remembered what happened. The memories were crystal clear in his mind.
Evidently the old horror was very angry and hungry. Well, maybe he would feel that way too if he were locked in a vessel for 10,000 years and then forced into a cat's stomach. Little Sun visualized the indignant ghost covered in drool and gastric juices and could not help but laugh.
"Nya-hahahah! Ouch! Ouch! How painful! Nya!"
His body was too painful to laugh like that. Worst of all were his internal injuries. The effort of trying to keep a powerful entity, and one that was of a higher level than him, inside his belly had been excessive. The walls of his stomach were totally lacerated by the nails like hooks and the sharp teeth of the ghost.
Little Sun had only been able to hold the ghost there because the black cat had burned his mana. But such an effort had weakened him even more. And after some time the ghost had managed to force its exit, forcing the cat to regurgitate it violently.
The entity had landed on the floor, covered in slime and gastric juices but also feline blood. When he left the cat's stomach violently, first through his throat and then through his mouth, it had caused serious injuries.
Immediately afterwards they started to fight!
Since he had little mana, Little Sun had chosen to use then the newly acquired skill that the system had recently given him. The cat's body transformed magically. His muscles swelled, his claws sharpened even more, his fangs became even sharper and more penetrating, and his strength increased geometrically.
His body acquired the size and musculature equivalent to a swamp troll of the same level. But there really had not been any swamp troll in the world that reached level 88. Such a powerful creature would no doubt had been recognized as the king of all the swamp trolls.
His transformed body was terrifiyng and much more big in size than her original appearance. However, even if he was supposed to be transformed by the skill into a creature of brutal and monstrous aspect, Little Sun never lost his majesty. Instead, he looked impressive and dignified.
The horror also had an especially malignant and ferocious air in the darkness of the lonely and empty basement.
The green mist turned on itself and condensed some parts of the ghost at diiferent times. A frown. A hand with nails like hooks. A pair of eyes injected with blood. A mouth with many teeth from which came a disgusting drool. All the parts had a rather repulsive yellowish color, like something corrupt and rotten.
"I will enjoy eating your heart, insignificant pet. Slowly. And then I'm going to devour your soul. It will be the spark that ignites the bonfire of terror that will devastate humanity! And then I'll go for your companions and that human. Oh yeah! All of you ... They're going to pay for what they did to me! "
"Do not even think about it, old ghost. Your time has passed; nobody remembers you at all. Also, this Lord Cat prefers to keep his heart and soul where they are. But it is time for you to be locked up again. At least until they sell you. "
"Ridiculous! You're nothing but a disrespectful and insignificant pet that is about to become my food! "
"Hhmm! Too many airs of grandeur for a guy who let himself to be locked inside a vase! If I'm just a pet, then you're nothing more than a product in our inventory. Yes, you're just a product with such low turnover that it would not even be sold even if we put you at a discount price. "
"ROAR!"
"HISS!"
The two enemies showed their teeth for a moment. The ghost gathered his energy in preparation for his attack. For his part, Little Sun tensed his powerful muscles and prepared his flexible tendons, ready for everything. Seconds later, a gigantic hand, made of a yellowish viscous ectoplasmic fluid and with hooked nails, hurled itself at full speed towards the enormous feline.
But at the very moment when the open hand was going to be on top and before he could close it, the cat had already jumped back and was safe. When jumping, he growled, showing the white and sharp fangs to the pink gum; Little Sun's majestic expression became as fierce as that of his opponent.
"Aargh!"
"Snort!"
The hand attacked again. This time Little Sun not only managed to avoid it but he also could launch a counterattack. He opened his mouth and threw a red ball of fire before jumping to one side. The hand received the impact and burst into flames.
"Fire element? So you have a certain ability ... but not enough! "
"You have no idea of my abilities! Old ghost!"
The verbal duel was interrupted again to give rise to the physical confrontation. The ghost threw another attack with a viscous hand. Little Sun counterattacked in turn with a jump that catapulted him swiftly against the greenish mist; destroying it through its claws and bites until it was in tatters.
The ghost reformed in a few moments and responded with a mouth bite full of ectoplasmic fluid. That attack tore the black cat's back, revealing flesh and bones.
Little Sun's body suddenly caught fire and the ghost felt his own tongue cooking inside his mouth. The entity had no choice but to spit the cat. The feline crashed against a wall with so much force that he was embedded on it. And then he fell slowly to the floor.
Little Sun was stunned but still alive. The ghost continued to burn as the mist slowly melted.
The black cat used this precious time to cast a healing spell on himself. The damaged tissues were restored. The bones returned to their original position and were welded firmly.
The mist appeared once more. Within it could be felt a halo of corruption and death increasingly dense.
The yellowish features of the ghost appeared again. He opened his mouth and spit venom at the feline. Little Sun dodged him from a quick jump but a closed fist of enormous size and viscous consistency materialized unexpectedly on his left side.
* CRACK!*
The black cat heard the loud sound and knew that his ribs had broken again. Also, this time the attack of the ghost managed to broke one of his paws.
Pain! A lot of pain!
But at least he had saved himself from dying slowly melted by the poison. He could hear the hiss of poisonous acid eating down the hall floor. The cat's eyes suddenly turned red. His vision of heat hit the ghost, which burst into flames once more.
The cat had won a few precious moments that he invested in casting more healing spells to restore his health. Already cured, he accumulated energy in his mouth to make a powerful attack but also very expensive in terms of mana. He wanted to end this fight quickly.
The green mist reemerged again. It received a blaze of infernal fire that completely melted the horror before it could even be fully formed. The ghost's cry of pain echoed throughout the basement halls.
The black cat smiled victoriously.
Moments later, the mist returned once again.
The black cat lost its smile.
They engaged in combat in a savage manner.
The battle was long but above all it was very hard. Little Sun attacked with his sharp claws. The ghost used his nails as hooks. The two enemies exchanged bites and bumps. Each one trying their best to kill the other with each attack. The physical force was not enough so they used the magic of the elements to amplify the power of each hit.
The ghost used shadow, death, corruption, darkness and poison in its attacks.
The familiar answered him with fire. Fire of all possible types.
Not in vain he was called Little Sun. It is already well known that the Sun is the father of all fires. The cat attacked with terrestrial fire, solar fire, infernal fire, celestial fire, fatuous fires, icy flames, mystical flames and many more.
Even such an ancient horror was surprised by the feline's powerful abilities. However, it was an unbalanced struggle.
Little Sun had exhausted much of his mana previously and had been wounded inside. For its part, the ghost became stronger every moment that passed, recovering some of the power it had originally had. Now Melchior was no longer a level 100 ghost but 130. Eventually, the level 88 magical familiar was forced to flee for a better chance.
Unfortunately, the ghost never took too long to find the black cat and although he managed to escape, his health and mana were gradually diminishing.
And so things happened until we reached the present moment, where the magical familiar ran and ran.
Little Sun ran through the corridors of the store with all the speed that his agile four paws could give him. He was tired and hurt but he could not stop running for a moment or that hateful ghost would reach him again.
He had deactivated his transformation to recover energy and gain speed. Which had turned out to be the right decision. He had put some distance between Melchior and him.
At least, enough distance to gain a brief respite.
Taking advantage of the fact that the ghost was not around at that moment, he decided to enter a secondary warehouse and take a few health and mana potions. There, while recovering, the magical familiar had asked the system to give him authorization to use the servants and guardians of the store but had received the same response as the witch. It was not possible.
The cat did not want to stay in the warehouse for more than a few moments, afraid that the ghost would track him. Little Sun was not sure if the horror could also use the items in the store but he did not want to risk being found there, with a door opened and items within his reach.
The black cat tried to contact his owner but the link with Zanthia was strangely weakened and he could not make a telepathic connection.
Problems and more problems! What a horrible day!
If only I had not thrown that vessel!
Those were the thoughts in the black cat's mind. For the first time, the feline felt remorse for not tasting Zanthia's food. Even the poisoned candies were better than this.
"Where are you, kitty, kitty, kitty?"
"Where are you?"
"It's time to eat! You do not know who's going to be the main course? Wanna guess?"
Little Sun quickly left the secondary warehouse and closed it with his personal seal before fleeing at full speed. His body and spirit were restored but he was aware that very soon he would be wounded again. For now, fleeing was the best option.
Again to run through the endless aisles of the store, full of extradimensional space thanks to the non-Euclidean architecture. If it were not for that, the ghost would have found it much faster.
*ZOOM!*
*WHOOSH!*
In the basement of a shop in an alley of the Empire of the Scarlet Capital a group of people heatedly discussed the conditions of a sale. Below, in the basement, a black cat ran and ran. He was being pursued by a horror that was getting closer and closer.