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Chapter 111: Welcome To Hell IV
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"Why did you bring her with you? She's weak." Xanadu remarked, eyeing the figure jumping around on the golden sand of the desert.
"Hey! I head you, and I'm not weak at all. All the luck in the world is with me." Harley snarled back.
"You mean insanity?" Ian corrected.
"Insanity? Do you think I'm actually insane? I'm disappointed." Harley instantly slumped down on the sand. It was as if she was trying to be as comical as possible.
"Insanity is relative, just like everything is relative to something else," Strangely, Ian answered seriously as he started making his way down the temple, followed by the two.
"Then what do you think?" Harley questioned with apparent curiosity.
"I think of you as a free soul. Sometimes a lost soul. A spontaneous soul."
They were getting deeper into the temple by now, to some dangerous areas, places not explorable without some necessary equipment. They were in the darkness of caves, 'I love magic.'
Indeed, Ian has grown very fond of magic. How could he not? Magic is the bright sphere floating beside him, giving vision to the blind. Magic is the faint energy surrounding him, Harley, and Xanadu, allowing them to fly.
"A lost soul?" It was a long while before Harley said something, seemingly lost in thought.
"Sometimes. That's what it feels like sometimes. Not entirely sure why though." Ian shrugged, reaching a dead end, only rocks all around, no exit, nothing except the entrance where they came from.
"Not entirely?" Harley further questioned, a little perplexed until she came to an understanding making her frown, 'He wants me to find out myself?'
Ian ignored her, instead, turning his attention to Xanadu. He can do it himself but she's just better, so much better than him at magic, especially the magic required in this situation.
Xanadu was extremely strong, and that's with most of her magical abilities lost, "It's definitely here. It's either a hidden compartment or some kind of magic, unlikely to be an illusion."
As she spoke, she got to work walking around the rocky area with her fingers sometimes tracing alongside them. She then waved her hand, sending several tarot cards flying around.
Gravity didn't exist for her as they hovered around her, slowly heading in certain directions. Her steps led her to a certain wall, her hands waving slightly at it, somehow triggering something.
Nothing happened for a while, but there came a time when they heard a sound. The ground shook, and the entire area seemed to shake as Ian used his magic to control Harley, allowing her to fly next to him.
Madame Xanadu was able to fly on her own though she didn't appear to be in a good mood as she looked at the ground beneath them, "Something feels off, and I can't quite put my hand on it."
"I feel kinda similar... Be ready to teleport away if need be." Ian also felt like the course of events that led him here was odd.
He pulled Harley towards him as the shaking intensified until the ground beneath them crack, revealing nothing but darkness, a seemingly bottomless hollow.
They floated down for quite a while, the sphere of light beside them radiating brilliance, allowing them to see that they had reached a hallway, the start of a hallway leading somewhere.
Ian let go of Harley and approached Xanadu, whispering something in her ears. He then started making his way through the hallway without saying a word. The same was for Xanadu as she didn't have any change in her expression.
"Hm? What did you tell her?" Harley's curiosity got the better of her as always.
"Doesn't matter. Just ready the benevolent bat." The benevolent bat was the name Harley gave to the God killer. It has pretty much become her personal weapon since Ian doesn't use it except when feeding it his life force.
"Ah ok? Why? What's happening? I sense no skulls to be crushed?" Harley wondered, not seeing much, the hallway seemingly having no end.
"Shh." That was Ian's response as he calmly walked forward with unnerving calmness. The staff of all things was already in his hand.
It was a long while before the hallway led them anywhere, and they certainly wouldn't risk directly teleporting there lest they fall right into a trap.
They can however scan the area and even survey where the hallway led before reaching it, and that they did, yet Ian didn't stop.
He walked into a vast hall, skin to a throne hall but much greater, almost as if it's the hall of gods.
The area was relatively dark despite the many spheres of light now surrounding them. It was also silent, ominously so, yet Ian didn't stop.
Harley already noticed something wrong with his behavior as if he saw something unseen by her, but she remained silent, unwilling to be a liability. She had always hated being a weakness.
They all walked toward the most conspicuous thing in the hall... Selina. She was resting on the floor, seemingly unconscious. Floating above her was a black gem, a diamond.
The diamond was bizarre, to say the least as it was releasing inky energy of sorts, enveloping a good area around it, forming a barrier of sorts.
Yet, Ian just walked into it, not affected in the slightest. It was however a different story for Madame Xanadu and Harley as they felt a force akin to gravity pushing them away. The closer they got, the stronger the force.
Ian stood before Selina with a frown. She was attired in her Cat uniform, and she looked healthy, evidently unaffected except for the superpower granted to her by Ian showing itself.
The superpower suited her quite well. She basically became a cat girl, with cute black cat ears and a cat tail. It gave her feline physiology making her basically a superhuman, especially focused on her senses.
Other than that, she looked normal, but the statue right next to her was not. It was a small exquisite statue of a black cat, looking ancient but gorgeous, time not leaving its traces on it in the slightest.
Ian felt like it was watching him. He felt like those perfectly carved eyes were looking right at him with alarming intensity.
He gently picked Selina up, the black diamond following after her as he turned around, finding himself faced with a slow show.
"Are we in trouble or is this just a gift? You know, my daily dose of skull crushing?" Harley wondered, already swinging her bat in anticipation.
Nah, it was suicide because before her very eyes, demons started emerging from the ground, climbing from hell. It was truly a clown show. The diversity level of demons is something that has never been seen before and likely never will.
The hall was so large it accommodated thousands of them, and more were coming, causing a mess. It's like, if you can imagine it, then you're bound to find a demon that looks like it.
Most of them though have something very similar to each other. They're fucking repulsive. Contempt was reeking from their eyes as they eyed the group.
"Ian, space movement is restricted to a certain extent," Xanadu informed, feeling a bit pressured, something she wouldn't have felt if she had her full magical abilities.
"Hmm, I seem to be..." Ian halted his words, his eyes landing on a specific demon that seemed to be in constant deformation, and continuous pain until he hissed with wrath, "Welcome to hell!!!"
"Teleport from there as I told you and wait for me home," Ian instructed as he waved his hand.
"Wait! Wanan sta..." Whatever space restrictions there were didn't seem to work on him, his rings, or his life force as Harley vanished with Xanadu and the unconscious Selina.
Madame fortune teller would've certainly been able to teleport away. She's quite strong despite the circumstances. It would've just taken time, a time they didn't have.
But within the Rose dimension, the restrictions were no longer applicable as she hastily teleported away, leaving Ian all alone much to the demons' dismay.
Their plans were already going awry, and Ian was confused as he scratched his head, "I... I don't think I went too far, did I?"
Nothing made sense to him. Like, why be mad if you gave someone too much charity? It was on this day that Ian discovered one of the demons' sins... They are very stingy for no reason.