Luckily, this time he was not in the Spirit World for long. Adryan had barely taken a step and was already directly in the hallway with the cells dimly lit by a few torches.
Adryan's brow furrowed slightly, memories of his time here passing through his mind like a bittersweet treat: no matter how much he tried, the taste still stuck on his tongue.
Shaking his head, the redhead let out a soft sigh.
"Looks like Chicho was more considerate this time." Whispering to himself as he glanced around, he inwardly thanked the Phoenix.
'I'm not sure if my soul could have taken another ride. In the state it's in right now after reviving 2 times so soon, I'm sure going through the spirit world would have knocked me right out.' The red-haired man thought as his eyes finally focused ahead to the dark and extremely long corridor that seemed to stretch to infinity.
And at the end of that infinity, he could see a faint crimson glow looming on the horizon.
The torches around him danced slightly brighter, their size growing for an instant before returning to normal.
Before he knew it, a grim smile had already formed on the red-haired man's face.
Just as he was about to accelerate towards that crimson glow and confront those wretches, a flash of his spirituality suddenly stopped him and made him turn his gaze towards a cell a little further ahead.
In that cell, unlike the others that were empty and somewhat clean, this one was incredibly dirty, stained all over with blood and human parts that varied from legs to arms.
That was his cell.
Following his spirituality, the path to the bars of this one, his scarlet eyes were immediately drawn to something that was floating in the blood and barely protruding from it.
These themselves widened slightly, a hint of surprise present in them.
He extended his hand slightly to the front. Threads invisible to almost everyone but Adryan emerged from his fingertips and moved along the bars, these moved across the ceiling of the cell until they hovered above their target.
Suddenly that familiar object that was almost completely engulfed in blood rose into the air. Revealing it to be a slightly broken necklace, with a spear tip that was covered in blood.
The cold look in Adryan's eyes softened, and a sense of relief suddenly washed over him completely.
"I can't believe I almost forgot about you little one..." Speaking softly as if he were talking to a child, Adryan controlled the invisible threads coming out of his hand so that the necklace flew to him.
As soon as the wet metal touched his palm, it was covered in golden fire. Removing the filth that had covered it and revealing its familiar rust color.
With his now clean necklace in hand, he placed it familiarly around his neck, the feel of metal against his skin brought a comfort to his heart that he didn't know he needed.
"Adryan... You finally came back to you?" Flora questioned somewhat distrustfully, the redhead from before seemed to be gone and hers seemed to have returned.
Placing a hand on the necklace, Adryan gave a somewhat embarrassed laugh, "I think so. Sorry if I startled you Flora, I wasn't really expecting that." The redhead admitted honestly, rather stunned by what happened.
"...It's fine. I'm just glad you're you again." Flora commented with enormous relief.
The way he had acted just a moment ago reminded her too much of when she watched her friend get promoted to Sequence 4. The dissonance she had experienced made her fear for her own promotion.
She couldn't help but compare the two, denying to herself, that she could barely contain her snort of disbelief.
Divinity in Sequence 6? Yeah right!
'... But he did act like someone who acquired divinity...' As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Flora froze. After a few seconds, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and decided not to mention it.
Adryan let out a slight sigh, abandoning the cogitation he had entered, he looked seriously at his own hand. He had finally realized what he had lost as soon as he had advanced to Conspirator.
'I lost my emotions... What makes me most human, I lost it...' The fire still burning inside him reminded him of exactly how he had acted. He could even see that horrible expression, that poor imitation of a smile he had given.
His brain which had been augmented upon reaching Conspirator found the answer as soon as he cross-referenced the information he already had and compared it to his previous state.
'Yes... it makes sense that I was like that as soon as I advanced to Sequence 6.'
'Right now I'm still 'reviving' I'm just slowing it down. Constantly hurting myself so that I regenerate and the process can't complete as it should, that makes my soul and body unable to 'merge' and be separated...'
'And as long as I keep this up that will happen again, so I have to end this as quickly as possible... Before I actually lose all my emotions...'
Letting out a hollow laugh, he shook his head.
He had finally figured out how his resurrection worked as soon as that space in his memory was filled when he entered the City of Calamities after dying for the second time.
'Right now, my body is bathing in the drops that fall from the cracks of my soul that are barely held together using the water of that river...'
'As I die, my soul sinks into the River of Eternal Darkness, Hunters Hallow functions as a bridge between my soul and body so I don't get lost in its depths...'
The River of Eternal Darkness was the Sefira shared by the Darkness, Death, and Warrior pathways.
'That is the place where every time a living being dies it leaves its mark on it!'
'The process for me to revive is to use my 'mark' as a save point and rip it off to return to my body!'
That's why reviving hurts so much!
By reviving, his soul was literally being ripped out of the River Styx!
Adryan felt that this was the truth!!!
'That would also explain those monsters I saw! Those are the marks of dead people who were already consumed by the darkness of that River!'
'Also why they appeared out of nowhere when I died for the third time! When I revived I most likely created a pulse of some kind that attracted the attention of all the marks. Why I didn't see them the second time was because it's been a long time since the first death and they probably lost interest.'
'That would also explain Hunters Hallow's strange liquid appearance and powers!'
'The robe is made entirely of the water from that River!!!'
The consciousness in the dreams, the anti-divination, the how anything that attacked his soul would be directly destroyed or connected in a form of contract to it, the how his destiny and the aura of the City of Calamities were hidden!
All of that was explained by Hunters Hallow being an artifact made entirely from the water of the River of Eternal Darkness!!!!
'That's also why my memory was 'erased' when I died and reached that void!
'That was a form of protection! By functioning as a bridge, the robe can't protect me from the corruption of the River so to fix it it erases my specific memories about the sephira!'
That's why he hadn't noticed it the first time. The only thing that had been erased was information about the River, not about the other sephiroth!
A horrible shiver ran up his back and Adryan could feel himself getting cold even though, literally, his insides were burning.
'What kind of monster was the Bastard that brought me here?'
If the Bastard had control over the City of Calamities and the River of Eternal Darkness then that could only mean-
Pum!
A mighty fist of golden fire connected with his face, bursting his nose and knocking out a tooth. With his attention successfully separated, he focused all his attention on drawing the sphere of light in his mind.
"...I don't know why I'm no longer impressed to see you hurt yourself. I doubt you'll tell me, but I still have to ask. What was it this time?" Flora's already accustomed voice asked with some curiosity in her tone.
Spitting some blood to his side that quickly ignited into a golden fire along with the tooth and the cell where he had been tortured, Adryan snorted as he snapped out of his state of cogitation. His lost nose and tooth were almost fully repaired.
"I almost had naughty thoughts~" The corner of his lips twitched for an instant.
'Conspirator's ability to relate is a double-edged sword! I started relating everything before I realized what I was about to do!'
Luckily for the redhead, as easy as it was to relate things he shouldn't it was just as easy not to think about it. The Conspirator's brain certainly came in handy in that regard.
He just opened a mental box, put what he shouldn't think about in it and locking it, he threw it into the deepest part of his mind.
"You're having more slips than you used to." Flora added boringdly.
"You have no idea how right you are."
The redhead's response confused the Jacob but she decided to leave the subject for later, time was running out.
"Ready for this?"
Smiling sideways, Adryan clenched his fist tightly.
"Those bastards owe me a new dance~"
Without wasting any more time and with his necklace recovered, Adryan took a step forward...
And accelerated.
The air whipped his body, putting up resistance but the redhead ignored it, a huge smile on his face; not only because of the great speed he was going but because of his beating heart that screamed revenge!
His eternally silent footsteps never lingered more than a second on the ground before he shot forward again, picking up more and more speed.
Only a Beyonder would be able to see him now and even then they would see nothing but a blur.
Adryan's enhanced mind gave a quick review of the new abilities he gained from his promotion.
His sight and attention were always on the 'crimson sun' on the horizon that was getting bigger and bigger, approaching rapidly.
His speed as he advanced to Sequence 6 had increased considerably, as had all his senses and strength.
Spirituality had increased by 50 percent and his control and power of fire had increased significantly.
He was now able to move through his fire, as a Magician would! The range was not as great as that of a Magician but it was still much greater than the range that Vecchio Pomodoro had.
But what increased the most by far was his brain.
Adryan's capacity for memory, thinking, and planning had never been so powerful. That combined with all the knowledge he could now access so much better thanks to his enhanced memory made dozens and dozens of plans line up and change with a mere thought.
The ability to misdirect, confuse, and deceive his enemies had now become a true power. The ability to use these would cause him to take out or cause anyone he wanted to act as he planned!
He also gained Inciment. The ability to incite certain thoughts and actions in a person through his words. This was the next stage of Provocation!
These were all the abilities of a Conspirator.
'So... this would be the 'mutation' that Flora spoke of.' Adryan's fiery scarlet eyes stayed straight ahead and all his attention was on that. But with his enhanced mind and senses, giving a glimpse at his surroundings wasn't even distracting.
He could be reading Shakespeare while drinking a cup of coffee at the same time he was dodging spears and arrows that were attacking him from all sides. He wouldn't even have to move his eyes from the book to know where they were coming from and he would dodge them with ease, not a single drop of his coffee spilled.
His spatial awareness had evolved.
For that very reason, Adryan had no problem 'looking' at his arm. Threads invisible to the human eye emerged from it and began to sway in the wind.
An extra ability, the Trap Threads.
With a bit of his spirituality, he could now create almost invisible threads that could easily stretch over 50 meters, their hardness depending on the spirituality he gave them.
He could make them so weak that they would break at the slightest touch or so strong that they would far exceed his tripwires but remain in that range, though he could overcome that limit by imbuing huge amounts of spirituality or by being creative.
The only limit to what he could do with these new threads was his creativity.
This new ability came as quite a surprise to the red-haired man as the information flashed through his head.
And that was because he shouldn't have it in the first place.
'This is not a skill that a Conspirator should have!'
'This is one of the abilities of the Witch of Pleasure of Sequence 6... Surely the eye of the Black Hunting Spider is one of the main ingredients of that potion, perhaps through this eye they are able to see and control these threads...'
Shaking his head, Adryan felt quite pleased with this unexpected but extremely useful new power. A multitude of ideas of using it already wandered and chattered energetically in his mind, eager to be tested.
'And I already have the best guinea pigs~' The now Conspirator smiled hugely. His heart pounding.
The distance to the red sun was shrinking rapidly.
Without further delay, the sphere of light began to draw in his mind and Adryan entered a state of semi-cogitation. All the fiery emotions subsided into sleep and he felt his mind whiten.
He suppressed all his desires so as not to miss the opportunity for a surprise attack. He would soon be entering the area where Joseph could detect his desire to kill him and his element of surprise would go down the drain.
...
At the farthest point from the core.
A long table covered with a white sheet was spread out, ready for the feast. The food on it, at first glance, looked delicious.
Juicy ribs covered in an amber sauce, cakes of various sizes and colors and flavors accompanied to give a contrast to the saltiness.
Beautiful men and women, all wearing revealing clothes that accentuated and flattered their beautiful figures, carried trays full of food and drinks. Moving with a simple smile on their face but whose eyes were empty.
By the light skin and features, it was easy to identify that the vast majority were from the South Continent, there were a few exceptions but the vast majority were from the New World.
With the number of them, it would be extremely easy to cover a large banquet and there would still be plenty of waiters left over. But they were not serving a large number of people, no, they were only serving one.
Men and women, just as beautiful as the waiters and waitresses, all kneeling and carrying a large podium on their backs. A podium that was as beautifully as it was horrifically carved from dark wood.
Details carved in gold and silver of roots that extended to the base, with thorns all along its path that dug into the palms and backs of the men and women who carried it staining the ground with the crimson liquid. Sitting on a throne on this podium that was carried by all these people, made of the same wood, and had on its back the tetric figure of a malevolent tree whose fruit fell to the ground was a person.
A beautiful woman wearing a beautiful and highly detailed gothic dress that was a beautiful charcoal black. With thorn details along the skirt and arms and crimson earrings that resembled the moon. Empty black eyes gazed dullly at the beautiful people beneath and in front of Her.
Her face was only comparable to the finest of porcelain dolls and Her ashen yellow hair fell over Her shoulder like a river of golden ash.
At Her sides, in Her lap, at Her feet, and behind Her back were naked men and women. All of them in a wet, carnal dance in servitude to her as Her neck was lapped by one of the maids.
Black lips rose in slight satisfaction as she let herself be carried away by the desires of her slaves.
She was the Mother of Filth, Abrahel. One of the three angels of the Rose School.
Away from the banquet and at a table quite apart was another group also being served by a group of waiters.
They were a group of 3 people, each one more tetric and perverse than the previous one.
The first seated on the left side was a woman of clear Bayam ascendancy. With long, flowing black hair and deep, machiavellian yellow eyes. A smile on her delicate lips would send shivers down the spine of anyone who saw her as being a pale and clear mockery of a human smile.
The second and seated in the middle was a man of elegant and sophisticated appearance, which was slightly contradicted by the wicked tattoo that ran down from his right eye until it disappeared into the collar of his shirt. With grayish skin and an above-average build, this man gave the appearance of someone you couldn't turn your back on.
Last and seated on the right was another woman, she wore an elegant red dress, and her black hair that had jeweled details shone with sensuality. Eating with one hand the soft pink flesh while with the other she groped one of the waiters, she had a perverse aura covering her whole being, as if just breathing near her would poison anyone.
They were 3 of the 6 saints of the Rose School.
From left to right.
Mistress of Depression, Liadara. Scourge of Evil, Cranoa. And Princess of Lust, Subuk.
The woman on the left lifted the sweet wine to her lips, the light touch of blood causing her to click her tongue in slight annoyance." You are losing your touch Mr. Cranoa. This last batch came out bitter."
The elegant man let out a disappointed sigh and lowered his own glass. "I'm sorry for your disappointment miss. It seems the lesser links in the family are doing a sorry job, I'll have a chat with them." His black eyes looked at the crimson liquid in his glass, the corner of his lips lifting slightly mischievously, a snake ready to bite.
Parting with a trickle of saliva still binding them together, Subuk tossed the spiritless body aside and used a handkerchief to wipe his lips. "Looks like your family is losing touch. This is the third time in the last five months that a batch has come out bitter."
"That's the effect of having such a large batch to control. It's inevitable that there will be some...that don't meet the quality standard." Grabbing the bottle from which the wine was poured, Cranoa looked at the bottle's tail. "Besides, I'll pay a personal visit to this farm, this is their second mistake in the last few years."
"The sooner the better." Lidiara said as she popped another piece of red meat into her mouth. Nodding slightly as she felt the good taste "At least the food is delicious."
"You know-"
Before they could continue their conversation, the Mother of Filth Abrahel suddenly stood up, with a calm expression.
All sound died at the table and the three saints suddenly stood up and bowed deeply.
Ignoring the group of three, Her eyes moved with purpose around them.
"We have company."
No sooner had she said that, from the floor of the cavern rose a huge number of bone monsters. Ranging in size from normal people to giants over 15 meters, there were even a few dragon skeletons.
The presence of Death itself showed and everything began to decay. The food began to rot and the young waiters quickly fell to the ground as white skeletons. Even the saints were not spared from this as they fell to their knees, blood dripping from their eyes and ears and looking much older than a moment ago.
A layer of ice formed all over the ground and began to spread with great speed.
Abrahel looked at everything with cold eyes, She grew to a ridiculous size, easily reaching the huge ceiling of the cavern. Opening Her mouth to the point where it could easily swallow a house, a horrible screech resounded, whipping the skeletons into a huge pile of harmless rabbits and sheeps.
Her form then changed to that of a giant and extremely thin doll whose woven eyes looked at the 3 demigods.
Immediately, the doll's arm shrank and aged to the point that it looked like an old rag.
The sudden aging that the demigods went through disappeared completely, returning to their former appearances.
They all had grim expressions and without needing to be told anything, they immediately tried to leave the place by their own means.
Liadara and Sucuk tried to jump through the reflection of the wine bottle to escape but found themselves unable to do so. Cranoa on his side tried to sink into the shadows but also failed.
Abrahel looked at the group in Her giant form, Her dry arm didn't seem to bother Her at all. Looking around, Her eyes scanned beyond the material world.
"This space has been sealed, you will not be able to escape as long as the barrier remains." A voice as delicate as Her appearance left her lips, Her eyes still searching for the enemy that had done this.
Suddenly, Her eyes focused on the other side of the cavern, where suddenly a bone door had formed and a giantess walked out of it, a vacant expression on Her face and wearing extremely ancient clothing.
Not even a second passed before Her form suddenly grew and burst into white flames.
A huge white firebird completely covered the ceiling of the cavern. Its entire body was covered with hundreds of markings and seals of unknown meaning and seemed to be moving with the white flames that made up its body.
Abrahel immediately responded in kind by revealing Her own Mythological Creature form.
An ancient and malevolent doll, without eyes but whose expression was one of pain, its entire body was covered with thorny vines.
Its empty eyes reflected the figure of the bird of legends. Without fear, the Doll faced the Fire of Death.
The demigods in the face of the appearance of the forms of complete mythological creatures could only do their best to try to survive.
...
Arriving much faster this time, Adryan was now standing in front of the large entrance to the crater where the Pillar used to be.
His senses opened and his eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, looking for any traps, guards, or alarms that may discover his presence.
His scarlet eyes moved intensely but found nothing, he shrank back and approached slowly but before he was a few meters from reaching the entrance, he took a big leap towards the wall.
Threads came out of his hand and these quickly stuck and sank into the wall functioning as hooks. He carefully propped his feet on the wall and looking at where the threads were, he gave a satisfied inward nod.
Hiding in the darkness and barely peeking out, he finally had the core in sight.
"Is that..." Flora found herself unable to finish the question, not for lack of words but because of the disturbing scene.
'So that's the core... Quite fitting.' Adryan thought calmly, the semi-cogitative state seemed to keep those primal instincts from kicking in and screaming.
Despite the distance, he could see quite well.
Where the Pillar once stood there was now a huge trunk, the lake of blood, and the island of flesh were gone leaving behind huge roots that stretched an unknown distance into the earth. Moving as if they were crawling and trying to take their first steps.
These roots had veins that pulsed with the blood that passed from them, all of these roots moved to the center of the trunk, where before was the top of where the bodies reached there was now something that could only be described as an aberration.
He could see where the roots that appeared to be those of a tree ended and when they touched the core they took on a fleshy appearance on both sides. Huge dormant lumps that a grown man could easily fit into with room to spare, the center was swollen with an unknown liquid and with something moving within it. Moving with life but not with enough strength or consciousness to come out.
A thick layer of flesh prevented seeing what was inside but from the look of it, you didn't have to be a genius to know what it was.
His spirituality screamed at him that turning on his Spiritual Vision would be a terrible idea and the mere act of looking at it made his head start to hurt. Ravings threatened to ring and break his semi-cognitive state so he quickly looked away.
'Those should be the fallopian tubes and those lumps the ovaries... The nucleus is a giant Uterus... Yuck.' The red-haired man thought with revulsion, not in the least trying to hide his disgusted face.
If he wasn't in Cogitation, he was sure his instincts would be screaming so loudly that they would make him lose control.
'At least Chicho's information was correct. There are only those five ridiculous ones.'
His eyes narrowed on the figures surrounding the crater where the womb was located. These figures were either sitting or standing, all facing the life-giver with somewhat varied expressions.
The Doctor who was still wearing an elegant white suit was looking at it with a small smile, behind him was Joseph standing like a personal guard.
At the other end was Wraith Steve, who stood alone and looked at everything with an arrogant expression.
Werewolf Jason and Zombie Tyre were together, both close enough to Steve but still far enough away not to be glued together.
They were all being illuminated by the soft yet strong crimson glow coming from the inflated womb. A glow that made the red-headed man sick to his stomach at the mere sight of it.
'Why are you still in your human form? Do they ban animals in the birthing zone or what?' Adryan narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Werewolf.
According to his messenger, this light simulated the Blood Moon.
'He should be transformed already close to losing control... Same with Steve and Tyre, they should be in a similar state but they all look great...'
'Sure. This for sure is thanks to the very dear and helpful Doctor' Rolling his eyes, his sight moved slightly to the man but only focused on the rocks farthest away from him, so as not to have his attention focused on him and avoid alerting the Devil guard.
'From the regeneration he has shown and that healing ability, plus those ivies with thorns... He may be part of the Moon Pathway. Sequence 5 of that path is called Scarlet Scholar, that sequence has abilities related to the moon. It's not unreasonable to think that he's making sure they're not losing their minds and dancing around like drunk monkeys.'
Adryan felt he was right. But the more he thought about it the more his brow furrowed. Hiding again in the darkness of the doorway, he brought a hand to his chin and calmly taped it.
'His abilities are weird... They are nothing like the Scarlet Scholar I know about from the original story. There are too many differences to the point that it should be a whole new pathway... But is that possible? Maybe...'
'If I am dealing with a new pathway then I have to put together what I know...'
'This pathway focuses on regeneration and some control over plants. He doesn't have the aura or presence that a Demigod would have so he can't be higher than Sequence 5. That regeneration seems to have several conditions, the most important one would be touching the person he wants to heal.'
'Of course, I also can't rule out that it can also change the structure of the body by touching it, that's within the limits that a Sequence 5 Beyonder can do without entering the Demigod realm.'
Clicking his tongue, he immediately noted the danger that could be noted.
It was quite possible that he was dealing with a discount Mahito.
'Since he's not dead I'm sure he doesn't touch the soul when healing so it's merely physical. But from how much he seems to know about me, I shouldn't rule out that he knows that touching my soul is a big No-No.'
He wasn't sure if it was direct skin contact or touching was enough but from what he had seen, it was very likely that it would have to be skin contact.
'I also can't rule out that he can create other kinds of plants besides those spirit-sucking ivies. Maybe he can generate flowers that spit poison or a paralytic agent...'
'There's also the fact that he has to possess certain powers over the Moon field otherwise it wouldn't make sense how the three musketeers keep walking around so calmly...'
Letting out a light, soundless sigh, the red-haired man gently clenched his fist.
'My only job is to damage the Uterus, once that happens Chicho will get me out of here and I won't have to deal with this...'
'But what if the damage I do isn't enough? I'll have to deal with those 5 and once they figure out what I want to do they won't let me do it as easily as before... I have to do this right. I can't leave anything to chance and I have to make sure I get this over with in one shot...'
Nodding inwardly, the corners of the redhead's lips lifted. The Jacob grasped this and internally she smiled as well.
"Action Plan?"
"Ohoho~ You're going to love this~" Adryan motioned to speak but no sound came out, but for a Parasite that was no problem.
"I'm all ears~" Flora returned mischievously. Vengeance dripped from her words.
...
Adjusting his very blood-like crimson tie, Doctor looked behind him with his lips raised slightly.
"This is for celebration, Dear. We are witnessing the beginning of the fall of the Kingdom of Loen! Not since the death of Emperor Roselle has the fall of an Empire been seen like today!"
Joseph nodded slightly at his lord's words. "It is without doubt quite an occasion."
Saying or adding nothing more, he returned his attention to looking around him like a demon knight.
His lips dropped again and his brow furrowed slightly. The Doctor then began to tap his bicep in concentration.
"Still thinking about Adryan Kenway, My Lord?"
Sigh
Shaking his head softly, the Doctor just let out a small chuckle.
"It's just how easy this whole thing was. Capturing a Herald? That was a stroke of luck. Finding this? A miracle is an understatement."
His gaze then settled on starless skies. His lips and cheeks cracked and a smirk appeared. Total elation dripped along with his saliva.
"This was undoubtedly a divine intervention! Primordial Moon's descent is near! I can feel it!"
"THE FALL OF THE FALSE GODS IS NEAR!"
Letting out a small smile, Joseph placed a hand on his chest and made a small bow.
"This is a total success for the Rose School since it was expelled from the South Continent. We will finally repay the damage the Churches did to us over 100 years ago-" The man's eyes widened in shock as his sense of danger began to scream.
'What-'
Suddenly, the crimson glow was blinded by a huge golden glow from above. Quickly looking up, Joseph and the Doctor watched in astonishment as a giant golden fireball fell with enormous speed towards them.
It was as big as a house!
They barely had time to wrap themselves in shadows before the golden meteor descended fully and exploded with a mighty BOOM!
The farthest trio watched the ball in amazement and surprise. Werewolf Jason couldn't stop his jaw from hanging.
Fush! Fush! Fush!
The sound of wind moving at great speed caused Wraith Steve to turn just in time to see a shower of golden Fire Ravens descend upon them.
"Take cover!" Shouting the order as a wall of transparent ice rose up to cover him, Steve could only grit his teeth at the brutal assault.
Zombie Tyre being so close to Werewolf Jason made the same move as before and took cover along with his partner in a dome of ice.
BOOM!
'An enemy snuck in?! That's impossible! How did they get past all the security?!!!' The Doctor thought incredulously as he stepped out of the shadows a little away from the golden fire that completely covered the area where they were, his gaze to the sky in search of the enemy as behind him came a serious Joseph. They both managed to escape the explosion by using the shadows.
Suddenly, the forest of golden fire next to them spread out and a large number of golden Ravens rushed towards them. Screeching loudly and flapping their wings with power.
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the Doctor extended his hand, and from the ground in front of him came black thorny ivies that moved like snakes and lunged at the Ravens.
His eyes focused not on the Ravens but all around him, obviously seeing that the Ravens and the attack earlier were nothing more than a distraction.
That was a mistake.
The most forward Raven and the one that would be the first to be countered by the Doctor's black ivies suddenly lost its form and jumping through the fire teleportation, a scarlet blur came out of it.
Fush! Fush!
With such ridiculous speed that Joseph and the Doctor were unable to react and leaping over the ivy snakes. A powerful hand covered in fire grabbed the Doctor's head and the man stared at its owner in astonishment.
"DID YOU MISS ME BASTARD?!!!" With a crazed grin on his face, Adryan Kenway shouted in amusement as a huge explosion concentrated on the Doctor's head.
Boom! Plop!
Bones and grey matter flew everywhere and Joseph could barely react to block a flame-covered kick to his face by crossing his arms.
To add to his disbelief, the force of the kick knocked him off his feet and sent him flying. But his flight was cut short when he couldn't even get more than three meters away from the red-haired man before he stopped in mid-air and was drawn towards a crazily grinning Adryan who welcomed him by trying to bury a flaming sword in his head.
Joseph could barely twist his body to dodge the lunge but for doing so this time he failed to dodge the kick that connected with enormous power on the left side of his face which in turn was covered in golden flames.
Again he was sent flying but could not get more than about 2 meters away before returning to his smiling attacker.
"What's wrong Bitch? Why don't you defend yourself?!" grinning, Adryan threw a punch from which came a huge and concentrated torrent of golden flames that connected squarely in the Devil's chest who could only howl in pain as he felt the holy power burning his flesh.
This time he was sent flying, to his ears came the distinctive sound of a wire breaking.
Pum! Pum! Pum!
His body bounced several times on the hard stone. Pieces of it digging into his skin and tearing it, his world was spinning and his Danger Sense was screaming.
Gritting his teeth and enduring the pain caused by the flames, his body swelled and his skin darkened. His stature grew and horns and bats' wings grew from his back.
The stone heated up until it melted and a greatsword of red magma quickly formed in his hands and Joseph barely had time to raise his greatsword above his head to block the slash of a golden sword.
Boom!
'What is this strength!?' The Demon thought in disbelief as he felt his knees buckle under the enormous pressure that made his entire body tremble from merely blocking the attack.
Before he could counterattack, the opposing force against him suddenly disappeared and he continued his slash to nothing, his guard completely exposed.
Adryan had discarded his sword and let inertia play a bad hand on the horned demon.
Ducking under the slash and with his eyes glittering with bloodlust, Joseph watched in terror as in the red-haired man's other hand a new blade had formed.
His sense of danger activated again and Joseph raised his free arm and barely managed to block the thrust that aimed to pierce his head. The sword reached the bone and almost pierced it.
A howl of pain came from his mouth and he tried to use Foal Language to gain distance but his mouth and face were blocked by a powerful hook wrapped in golden fire.
Pum! Crack!
The satisfying sound of a nose cracking against his knuckles caused the feral grin on Adryan's face to spread even wider.
His threads were once again unable to stop the flight of the fully transformed Joseph but this only made him laugh even harder as he watched his body bounce along the ground.
"Hahahahahahahah! Even then you can't defend yourself?!!!! Are you that useless?!!!" The red-haired man laughed provocatively as he gave a mighty stomp and with Sky Walk he once again gave chase to the Devil.
The feeling of his threads snapping made him take a step to the side dodging the meteorite which was a rather burnt Zombie Tyre glaring at him furiously.
"You bastard!!"
"Oops, I didn't notice you went to the spa?! That tan looks divine on you!" laughing amused at the burnt appearance of the undead, Adryan took another step to the side dodging an extremely burnt and just as furious and fully transformed Werewolf Jason who had white foam coming out of his snout.
Blocking both sides of the man, both members of the Rose School rushed towards the red-headed man who watched this with a mocking sideways grin.
"Aww does the little puppy want to play too? Don't worry I brought extra toys!"
Laughing, Adryan stomped the ground and a powerful wave of fire surrounded him, a wave that didn't take long to spread around him and hit the zombie and werewolf squarely.
Zombie Tyre covered his body with a layer of ice while Werewolf Jason could only cover his face and howl in pain as he felt the holy flames burn his skin.
Again leaping through the flames and reappearing in front of the Werewolf, with a huge predatory grin Adryan formed a holy fire sword from the remains of the wave from before and prepared to cut the little dog in two.
A vibration on the ground caused him to abandon his attack and take a huge leap into the air barely dodging the raging ivies that tried to catch him.
"So what they say is true? Cockroaches don't need their heads to survive!" Adryan shouted mockingly as well as annoyed as he watched the Doctor's headless body stand again. His fine white suit was completely ruined with burns, blood, and dirt.
His spirituality flared and Adryan disappeared again in a tongue of golden flames, appearing on the ground and quite a bit further away from where Tyre and Jason were standing from one of more leftover flames from his previous wave of fire.
"Better luck next time~" Smiling, Adryan watched as a somewhat burned Steve, his red coak heavily damaged, suddenly appeared where he stood.
An extremely annoyed expression on his face but even that couldn't hide the disbelief of seeing it.
"How is it possible..." The man mumbled but to Adryan's sensitive ears, it was as if he was speaking normally.
This only made his smile that never left his face grow again.
From the rubble behind them rose an angry Joseph, his face badly bruised and burned, his nose bent and several of his teeth missing, the arm he had used to block the lunge hung limp. Green blood covered his face and chest acting as a retardant that was slowly healing him but the damage from the holy flames made regeneration very slow.
Walking with far more ease than he should have, the Doctor's headless body stood in front of the quartet. He took it out something of his pocket- something that Adryan was unable to see because his fist was clenched- and placed it in the missing space in his neck.
Suddenly and with great speed, a miniature head began to grow. After a few seconds, the Doctor had his head back.
A cold and empty look on his face whose full attention was on the red-haired man who was more than 30 meters away from them.
"... How?"
"Let me tell you Doc. This does look more like a party. With magic tricks and all~" Keeping his smile and completely ignoring the question, he stomped his foot, and all around him ignited in golden flames creating a large circle around him.
The ivies he could feel moving under the ground shrieked and died from the holy fire and he watched as Wraith Steve reappeared with an annoyed expression on his face as he was once again blocked by the flames of the sun.
Smiling, Adryan wagged his finger from side to side causing a vein to throb in the Wraith's neck.
The Doctor's brow furrowed for a moment before he let out a chuckle that quickly grew into a laugh.
"You came back from the Dead just to confront us here? You're not right in the head Mr. Kenway!"
"What do you want me to say? You should have ripped my heart out to make sure I wouldn't come back for yours~" Adryan said mockingly as he chuckled under his breath. Between the lines, the power of deception and manipulation crept hidden with venom.
Shaking his head, the smile on the Doctor's face was one of mockery and contempt.
"I don't know how you did it but I think I'll do that." Letting out another laugh, the Doctor looked at him with his tetric grin from ear to ear.
"This time I'll rip out your heart and break your spine to prevent this from happening again. Maybe I'll take your legs and arms too." He moved and touched Jason and Joseph's shoulders, their wounds disappeared in seconds and they too smiled again.
Adryan clicked his tongue at that, and the circle of golden flames grew a little bigger again burning the ivies that tried but failed to get close to him.
Smiling at the red-haired man, the Devil Joseph sneered. "You shouldn't have come back here. We outnumber you. You're trapped with us!"
"I don't know where you got an Artifact from the Bard pathway, no doubt you're not alone but it doesn't matter. Our forces will deal with your companions and it's only a matter of time before that artifact breaks. What do you think you will be able to do when that happens? Not only did you come here to die again Mr. Kenway, but you also dragged your partner with you. I almost feel sorry."
The Doctor couldn't believe there was anyone crazy enough to believe he had a chance in this situation. Adryan may be a Herald but what does he think he can do being outnumbered 1 to 5?
Say man looked stunned by the Doctor's words before his body began to shake slightly.
"... He... ha... ha"
"...haha...haha...Hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Clutching his sides from the laughter he was unable to contain, tears fell from his eyes.
The smile on the Doctor's face diminished more and more until it disappeared and was replaced by a slight frown. The same with his group who looked at their scowls at the man in front of them.
"You- Hahaha! Do you guys seriously believe that?! Hahahaha!" Between laughter and tears over these, Adryan pointed his finger at them with an incredulous look.
A vein began to throb in the brows of Werewolf Jason and Zombie Tyre who inadvertently took a step forward only to be stopped by a serious Steve who also looked with great annoyance at the red-haired man who was still laughing.
With a vein throbbing in his neck, the Doctor did not hide his annoyance." What's so funny? What don't we understand, Mr. Kenway? Did you lose your mind after reviving?"
Holding a hand to his face, Adryan took a moment to collect himself. Looking at them with one eye glinting between his fingers, a tetric smile on his face.
"Huff huff! You are really funny! Don't you get it?"
Squinting, Doctor bowed slightly, his spirituality suddenly telling him a warning. The same for Joseph who manifested another magma greatsword, sweat suddenly covering his face.
'Something's wrong...' Joseph suddenly thought uncomfortably. His hands clenched tightly.
A feeling shared by the Doctor whose smile had already disappeared.
Golden flames enveloped the red-haired man's legs as extremely delicate invisible threads began to emanate from his entire body, extending up to 5 meters. Stronger threads wrapped around his legs like a protective mesh.
A huge predatory smile on his face and his scarlet eyes were glowing brighter than before. His torso and arms were wrapped in more holy flames along with more threads.
"Huf! Huf! I'm not trapped in here with you!" With a voice that barely contained a huge thrill and with a smile that seemed to want to split his face, Adryan felt his heart pounding with excitement along with his insides burning with power.
The humming of Tauk Millenium strengthened his body even more giving him more strength and speed. The chanting motivated him even more.
His head was then enveloped in golden holy flames, an armor of holy fire covered the red-haired man who now looked like a Medieval Knight who came out of hell itself to drag his enemies to eternal torment.
The knight clenched his right fist tightly, the golden flames quickly turned white with golden flashes from the great concentration of spirituality. He charged it backwards and prepared to throw the punch.
'So predictable~' Smiling to himself as he raised his arm, the Doctor prepared to raise a wall and devour the man's attack.
Pum! Crack! Crumble!
His hand froze mid-raise and his pupils shrank as instead of launching the attack towards them the fire knight plunged his entire arm into the ground!
"Shit!" The Doctor shouted as he leapt several meters into the air, being quickly followed by the others.
Barely a second later, the ground beneath their feet shook and cracked, a tidal wave of golden tongues of flame swept across the ground and exploded covering everything, several of these tongues so high that they scorched them again. The fire of the sun burned the shadows that died under them, the movement through the shadows in that area died with them.
Suddenly, Joseph flew in front of the Doctor with his magma sword held high, barely blocking Adryan's sword, which had come out of one of the tongues of fire.
But the moment the two swords made contact, a concentrated explosion shattered the Demon's guard who had an incredulous expression on his dark face as a deep golden burning gash began to bleed green from his torso.
With a crazed grin on his face, Adryan laughed euphorically as the flames engulfing him burned more fiercely and the threads coming out of his body fluttered madly.
Scarlet eyes appeared in the middle of the fiery helmet and a distorted and extremely powerful voice roared from this hellish knight.
"YOU ARE TRAPPED IN HERE WITH ME!!!"