Tommy blankly stared at the stone bat in his hands with a somber expression.
"S-so... Those stone sculptures..." He began shakily.
Kellen sheathed the dark blade in his belt as the fluttering ends of his black jacket lowered back to his body. A few of the bats, now petrified like the people all over the ravine, littered the ground around his feet, and he was careful as to not step on them as he approached Tommy's solemn figure.
"Yes, they were once living beings like us at one point." Kellen answered in a depressing tone.
Tommy only nodded his head slowly in response as he struggled to accept what Kellen had just proven to actually be true. His ignorant and rude actions that he had just done only moments ago created a sense of guilt in the lighthearted boy.
"But... How could all these people... An entire kingdom... Be frozen like this? Who could have done something this crazy?" Murmured Tommy as he carefully set the stone bat back down on the cold floor of the ravine.
Kellen looked back down at the sword tucked into his belt.
"I'm not completely certain, but so far this is our only clue." Replied Kellen as he pointed towards the sword on his waist.
Tommy sighed and nodded his head in agreement before looking up the side of the ravine.
"See you at the top then?" He said with an exhausted voice as he stretched his arms and legs in procrastination.
"Yeah, but don't make me wait too long!" Shouted Kellen as he already had jumped up a few feet of the wall and was skillfully darting back and forth between the frozen stone people jutting out.
"That was only because of the mist disorienting me before!" Yelled Tommy in his defense after the departing figure quickly scaling the wall with ease.
Tommy shook his head as he began to follow after Kellen, who continued to increase the growing distance between them due to his speed.
'Fuck, how did he get that fast all of a sudden?' Tommy wondered as he raced up the wall.
Kellen darted between his footholds and burst forth with a speed unlike before, which even surprised himself, since the quick pace did not even really put much of a strain on his body.
'I can already see some of the difference after absorbing that blood core...' He thought as he noticed the different improvements in his body even just on a physical scale.
'I told you absorbing the cores would help you a lot.' Bragged Nergal smugly from within his celestial cage.
'Yeah, but it also helps you majorly as well, doesn't it?' Hinted Kellen as he continued scaling the wall.
'Well sure, it gives me back some of my power, but even once I'm returned to my peak, this stupid seal left by those damn celestials will consume most of my strength.' The demon commented with irritation.
'It's that powerful?' Replied Kellen with surprise.
'Of course! At least fifty of those sparkly fuckers joined hands to bind me. Without at least that many of them, I wouldn't have been destroyed in the first place!' Grumbled the old demon as he slightly fidgeted inside the cage.
'Well maybe they wouldn't have sealed you if you didn't destroy a shit ton of the worlds they created.' Scoffed Osiris from the side.
'Don't patronize me about the past! If I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure some little ghost was following in my footsteps awhile before... My sealing.' Shot back Nergal.
Osiris twitched slightly, causing him to fall a few inches, before regaining his lazy floating.
'Ha... What idiot would follow after a blood crazed geezer like you!' Hmphed Osiris in a trailing voice.
'Humph, you forget! My body was what was scattered into fragments... Not my memory! I heard the rumors from some of the lesser demons talking about how a mere ghost somehow managed to takeover the seven hells. Of course, after swallowing the energy from two of them. Who would have thought that the nine hells would soon be referred to as only seven after that incident!' Poked Nergal with a vengeance.
'Well after being lorded over by some slobbering demons for the past five, no six millennia, I'm not surprised someone finally kicked their asses!' Retorted Osiris with a chuckling expression.
'I'm not saying it was wrong, I'm saying that's just how things work! So don't go lecturing me about the destruction of worlds Ghost... Cough* "God of Death"!' Punched the old demon with his cunning trap.
'Yeah... And look where we ended up...' Sulked Osiris as he waved his hands about the air in Kellen's mind.
'Look... I'm not too happy about you two being stuck in my head either, but until you guys figure it out, this is the current state of things.' Consoled Kellen.
The two bickering deities only responded with silence, as if accepting the logical words of their host, and stopped their fighting.
Kellen was totally fine with this, since it offered him some time of peace and quiet in his head for once. He never expected that he would become a therapist for Gods in his lifetime but then again, here he was. However, the bickering from the deities had now given him some new information about this crazy universe he found himself in, and he felt that the one who really could use the therapeutics right now was in fact himself.
'Will I be the one swallowing and destroying worlds at the end of this ridiculous journey?' He wondered to himself.
Witnessing the chaos unleashed by the cult, the destruction and end of the underground frozen kingdom, and even the obliteration of the secret laboratory back on Earth; Kellen was unsure whether he was capable enough or even able to stomach the elimination of an entire world just for the sake of power.
He shook his head to clear the disturbing thoughts.
'No, I'll only cross that bridge if I actually somehow manage to get there.'
He decided that these thoughts were completely out of the question, considering he didn't even have the strength yet to face the Legionnaire Gods, let alone one of them. Besides, the other blood cores were still out there waiting for his consumption, and they supposedly contained the peak strength of the old demon when all were completely absorbed.
Kellen refocused his sights onto the current problems and tasks at hand. At least one of the boxes on his list was checked, since he was able to miraculously locate one of the blood cores and absorb it down here. At the moment, what he really needed was to figure out the true identity of the owner of this destructive blade, and confirm the mysterious cult's involvement.
If the Fourth Legionnaire God really was behind this, then Kellen couldn't even begin to imagine the intent that could possibly be behind it. The cult's involvement was a mystery but less surprising, since Kellen had already seen them in action.
However, their true purpose was still unknown.
Kellen finally reached the top of the ravine and made the final jump with ease. Although, due to the crazy amount of questions he currently held, studying the current status of body was still an afterthought.
The red mist, light, and orbs that had illuminated the underground kingdom were now no longer present, and the only light that could relieve some of the darkness came from the glowing white runes on the blade at Kellen's waist. Kellen sighed and unsheathed the blade to hold in front of his body, like a torch, to at least shed some illumination a few feet around him.
He could have just used soul sensing to maneuver his way through the stone people, but Kellen was unwilling to use his demonic energy for something that was not absolutely necessary.
While waiting for Tommy, Kellen decided to inspect the throne room of the frozen kingdom, since he was unable to do so before due to the distraction caused by the blood core.
He carefully made his way around the massive scar of the ravine, that left a vicious opening in the center of the room, and studied the stone people dotting the room's contents.
The armor of what appeared to be guards, pointed out by Tommy before, caught Kellen's eye and he meticulously studied it. The intricate armors looked like they were once quite lavish and offered decent protection, but a sinking feeling of familiarity made a pit in the bottom of Kellen's stomach.
He could not exactly place his finger on it, but this feeling only continued to develop as he waved his sword like a torch between the many petrified people. As he worked his way closer to the throne at the end of the opening left by the ravine, Kellen's eyes widened with a small realization. Due to the lack of any cloth or other symbols that would normally dot a kingdom, since such items easily perished over time, he was unable to easily discover the kingdom's identity.
However, the familiar armor, the arrogant expressions, and the priest like robes on a few of the petrified people, were painting a reminiscent picture in Kellen's mind.