Deep in the underground of Heaven's Grace, as our 2 protagonists ventured and meet the royalties, a certain foul creature of the night awakened from it's slumber, corresponding to the light the Star Watcher sent down... it then tells a vision to nothing but darkness surrounding it.
"Soon may the lost's anguish be released from thatself, should you turn a blind eye the void will cease us all, should you choose bloodshed itself blood shall not be one that will be spilled, shall I slumber once more is nigh. Meeting the void by the lost was that of fate guiding, one simple divinity was all it took, you shall see the result of one born with power and those that struggled for it, should the blessing they received revealed false, they will falter not but shall rise like phoenix from their ownself ashes. Aware of oneself and dodge this catastrophic disaster. With my utmost caring advice for you, escape this cruel ever so moving fate. The ones so called heros and god-sends you assured me that will change this result is no more than reassurance before embracing death itself. You who do not know the difference between those that are driven by compassion and heroism and those that are driven by goals and passion shall be the first to wither. They shall have the people faith with their acts on this stage you set but the void and the lost will be the two true winners in the end, it is inchangable. If you shall advance forward then let me be the judge, you who desire to save every beings is simply making too much noise and lacking in meaning, you who seek love and compassion is merely just living by someone else ideal, you who bare the lion's mark has too much pride can't fathom losing, you who is too cunning is too deceiving not worth believing, you who are cruel is taking away than you ever considered to give but he who accepted the void shall be the one to stand tall with soul you all thought you had, he shall was lost from youth shall be the one with the most thrill and live the most of his life than you who spent your life making other alive. Many as you are but none like the other, not corresponding to each other. Heedless of all that I have prophecy and you shall simply meet your doom."
The blind vampire then fades away to black in the underground knowing only five in this large kingdom had heard its voice and its foretelling.
In the king's bedroom, Heiwa shivers to herself as Eiko looks out the window with his head's low.. he then speaks in a calm voice, as if trying to comfort his terrified wife.
"I'll figure out a way."
He then walks toward Heiwa, placing his cold hard hand and stroke his wife soft like snow cheeks, the hopelessness and despair in the room is simply too much. But even so, as a father, a king, a husband, Eiko's heart burn again with a flame, a flame that hasn't burnt since he settled down, while his wife was fearful of the blind vampire prophecy about the destruction Joshua and Relicta will bring he was... excited, alive even, how long has it been since he's this motivated to do something, how long has it been since he got cornered like this?
"Caelum."
Caelum appear from thin air, bowing her head gracefully to listen to her lord's command
"I have figured out a method... one to erased that void boy from existing. I shall say here without his presence that I am deeply sorry for planning such an assassination this ungraceful with him only staying here for only one day, but seeing my wife like this, I simply can't help myself. Caelum, I order you to take the corpse of the purity angels and devour them at your own pace, keep increasing your power, I shall allow you to let your bloodlust run free in my permission."
Caelum trying her best to hide the sinister grin, she askes
"What about Joshua my lord?"
Heiwa suddenly flinch and sit up
"NO! Don't hurt Joshua!"
But shortly after, her vision becomes blurry and she fell asleep, Eiko informs Caelum
"As the vampire said, head on bloodshed leads to my inevitable defeat, that's why I decided it's best to keep this fast, quick and simple. I shall seek out the princess of death that resigns by the red spider lilies field and strike a deal with her, I shall sell your soul in return she calls upon instant death to Joshua, but for that to work, you need to purify Relicta. Worry not Caelum, I will strike another deal with the ferrymen to exchange your soul with Joshua after he is killed, just follow my lead. Relicta is strong... in magic, the wood that he "broke" with his leg is merely him voiding its components apart in the flick of the slightest second and let it break down with his leg as the impact. I believe Joshua is the only one that can deliver bloodshed. Go now Caelum, executes him. If you fail, I already have another plan, this kingdom I have built, this woman that I have cherished all my life, and my dearest sister, you Caelum, I shall not lose any of that I hold close."
And so, with manically laughter as her outro, Caelum disappears into the night, the angel that's laughing like a devil and a void being that only wants to defend all that he loves, who shall falter?
Joshua's POV
Ugh.. fuck I drank too much with the folks at the bar earlier, I can barely hang onto my own senses... huh? Who's that in the hallway this late?... Caelum?..
"I'm here to welcome you back Master Joshua, is everything alright?"
Ahh... caring as always.. you know I always wondered why she looked a bit like Eiko, well shit am I too drunk?? Hehehe..
"Heeeyeye Caelum! every-everyhgn fines... Jusi a litle too much ber.. IM FNIE! HEHEHEHE.."
Caelum expresses a grind, oh boy even she knows I can't withstand so much alcohol.
"Please come here for a second Master Joshua."
"Yeah sure caley, hehehe.."
Following her into a dark spot of the castle, I briefly saw a white barrier being set up, but I was too out of my mind to question or get bothered by it, Caelum then tells me something unbelievable
"Master Joshua, I sincerely think Relicta is plotting to kill you and everyone here."
WHAAATT??? Hold it, I can't let that slide, me being drunk doesn't mean you can talk like that about Relicta
"Hey. Watch your tone Caelum."
Caelum quickly explains
"Now that you've come back to yourself, I have my reasons to suspect Relicta. First of all, he's a void user, and I don't think he told you this yet but all void users are connected and are practically the void's slaves and pawns, what this means is that the man you think is your family, your partner is simply the void itself trying to deceive you. As you already know and saw in your time in the dungeon, Void beings and users are confirmed to exist, which lead to one thing, the Void God's revival, long ago when purity "Killed" the void, it wasn't actually killed but rather let out it's last sparks as beings and future users, but these "beings" and "users" are as I and Queen Heiwa suspects, is simply one big void creature sharing bodies."
The alcohol is weakening my ability to think this through, but at the moment, I am too confused to understand anything she just said, what the fuck did she just told me? What kind of stupid thing was that? God's revival? One big creature making smaller bodies? For what?
"What do you mean by sharing bodies."
Caelum continues
"As you know, void users and beings have the same ability to "void" away anything, but where does that ends up? The void, obviously. And why does it end up there? I think is to feed the void god and somehow revive it with the sheer amount of essence and magic power."
At this point, Caelum put her hand on my cheek, and plead to me with a soft tone, almost sobbing,
"Please Master Joshua, I want nothing but the best for you. If I ever see you at peak and just get betrayed away immediately by one you considers most important pains me to my core."
For the rest of the night, I slept with doubts and questions.
Relicta POV:
Ahhh! Morning came again, amazing! How long has it been since I rise this lively? Pretty sure today is Joshua's turn to train his brothers and Cailin, ah man Cailin was lovely, I read her heart through the same I did with Heiwa and I found out that she is just an ambitious girl with questionable methods of obtaining magic knowledge,
"It's not that simple."
It's barely 8 Am in the morning Pesho, what's wrong?
"Your heart reading is inaccurate."
What. What do you mean?
"I've been waiting since last night to tell you this so that I wouldn't break up that one romantic moment you had with Cailin but that girl's devious. The only real good person is Heiwa here."
Wait wait wait, what do you mean? My heart reading is PERFECTLY correct there old man.
"You still don't get it? So much for passing 50 floors of us god's trial. It's right there, Cailin's "mind" that you read is simply a layer of deception, her real mind is hidden much better than Caelum thanks to old magic, I spotted it already. Ready for the news?"
Bring me it.
"Eiko wants us dead, Caelum wanna chop you up and eat you alive, Cailin wanna burn your body and study your essence, Joshua mind's rotting away by Caelum deception magic."
.... WAIT WAIT WAIT WHAT'S UP WITH JOSHUA?
"Did you seriously only focused on Joshua? Understandable. You see, last night I have heard a prophecy and it predicts you and Joshua will bring absolute destruction to this kingdom. Therefor Eiko is already planning your death."
What's the prophecy?
God is explaining.....
OH SHITTTT, AND THAT CAME FROM A BLIND VAMPIRE???
"With your current strength and Joshua rotting mind, I demand that you both get out of here and let me cure Joshua's mind, I know a place, pack your things soldiers, we're leaving."
Ah man, Jos-, he's not on the other bed.
"...."
....
So uh. Any ideas?
"I reckon you get out of bed, store everything you want to take from here in your void bag, get your mind awake and process everything I have told you, find Joshua and let me into his mind. Should anyone invite you to anything, heed only Heiwa's word, now MOVE!"
Like just steal anything?
"No need to worry about your morals if someone else is actively trying to erase your existence off the face of this planet."
Alright alright... shit now that I'm fully awake, this is fucking crazy, everything is happening so fast, I can barely... what about Heiwa? Will she be alright? And how the hell will Caelum kill me? She's WEAKER!
"Precisely the point, she's currently devouring angels of purity as we speak to increase her power, stopping her now will prove futile. LEAVE!"
OKAY! Void Watcher, OPEN! Through the portal, I see Joshua somewhere on the streets wandering, where is he going? What is he trying to find? Breakfast?
"Doesn't matter Relicta, we know where he is now, collect all you want and leave immediately. I have made a severe mistake, earlier we executed our old plan and let me penetrate Eiko's mind, but now he's aware of me, he knows I'm already telling you this, be careful with your every step Relicta."
AHHHH FUCK. Running around, I take as much books with me as I can, just simply taking and throwing everything I can to the void bag, but Pesho stops a few
"Tsk... clever, they injected some of the rare and legends books with vision enchantment, they can see through these books, don't worry, I can dissolve these spells later, just stack them into a different part of the void and allow me to access that part"
Got it boss! As I was about to open the door, Pesho shout
"VOID EVERYTHING BEHIND THAT DOOR NOW!"
HUH?! Through the door, white flashes of light rush in, I barely dodge it and step back, as the door get kicked down, through the smoke reveals some maids with some sort of books.
"How low, giving these lowly maids purity magic books, kill them."
I raise out my hand and snap my finger, in a tick, those maids have already vanished, the same ones that were welcoming me with open arms yesterday, peaking my head out, I look around anxiously but no one is in sight, as I kneel down to pick up the purity magic book, a sword is swung down near my neck as if it appeared from thin air, this kind of ambush... IS USELESS! VOID!
The sword then lose it's user and lose it's momentum, rendering it useless. I then run through the hallway, looking to every corner I pass with great caution,
Pesho any other things I need to be aware of? I'm pretty concerned now that you said theres a blind VAMPIRE here, didn't know those guys actually existed.
"Theres a 5 tailed fox in the library, the head librarian."
Excuse me? The hell is this, a chaotic zoo?
"Eiko was a wild one."
Great I just remembered I want some of the books in there, such a fucking coincidence there happen to be a mythical being in it.
"5 tailed fox aren't hard to deal with, hold tight, open the window on your right Relicta, I'm sending you some talisman , use those to seal the fox."
Opening the door on my left, the quiet hallway flashed with a bright light for a moment then theres some papers with words I can't understand in my hands.
"Plant each of these 4 talisman in 4 corners of the library to seal it off, then take all you want and we can leave fast and with even more on our hands"
Got it chief, what type of magic are we dealing with here?
"Quite troublesome actually, that girl has the ability to call forth gods to help her, no I'm serious. But it's not all that intimidating, the "gods" here are mere spirits or phantom that resemble the gods that they believe in, you can just void them, but you must dodge some attacks that are not worth wasting your soul energy on."
Kicking down the library door, crashing away the empty silence of it, but no one answers, not even a noise was made with my dramatic enter,
"It's not empty, stay sharp."
....
"...."
Taking my first step, a light flash from below, purifying my feet, falling down, in a panic I void the gravity where I'm falling and boost boost myself up into the air, looking around for a second, I spot the 5 tailed fox sitting in one corner, with tomes of various spell, just waiting to cast them one by one. Grabbing onto one of the bookcase, I climb up and reach down to heal my feet, while the fox seems to realized I have escape my awaiting death trap, looking around with it's animals eyes, the tension in the air tighten up,
"You have the choice to immediately void her existence here and now or seal her away temporary. Your call."
Raising my hand up to void her, one thing that makes void magic so tough to face is the fact any being that uses it can void anything beside purity and since it's the void, it makes no aura, my attack is practically cannot be sensed by anything. Tsk, can't void her, that's a purity barrier enhanced in her clothes, god only if I bypass that half ass barrier and just void her right away, I mean her face's ain't covered at all.
"Sucks."
I then open the void that teleport me to 4 different corners of the room, to place down the one talisman in each corner smoothly, I get ready to seal her ass for good, but as I put down the first talisman, the fox appear behind me and from her hand, appear a whip made out of purity, swinging it furiously toward me, but unfortunately for her, tricky movement is no stranger to me, dodging it with ease, I open another portal but she whip that portal into nothingness, seeing that her whip prove no challenge to me, she chants
"Heed my call, from ashes and cinder, RISE!"
From below, the floor slowly get hotter and hotter, until it straights up erupts out lava, burning nothing but me as its target, such a picky lava, jumping onto high bookcase, I run around like a rat evading the lava spilling from everywhere, its as if a drop of water and fighting for its life, but after all that I have been through, I can do this eyes closed, refusing to die to such small effort attack, I got to the other end and put down the second talisman, good thing Pesho gave me high quality Talisman that are conveniently can't be damaged by magic and will give that fox severe damage if it ever dare touch to remove it, maybe he's still a god after all.
As she noticed the second talisman being place down, sensing her doom approaching, she chants another
"From the high heavens beyond this paradise, come down and cleanse all of our filths and impurity, DESCEND!"
This time everything around me becomes purity particles, there should have bee no escape for me this time but I voids through the purity magic that was intended to decay my body, such high level magic prove too difficult for the fox, her mana quickly runs out, we both collapse as she breath heavily but I stand tall, while she recovers, I place down my third talisman, one more to end this battle.
"I-... grah... No.. It can't end like this, I'm the head librarian of this proud kingdom, I CANNOT FALTER!"
Roaring out loud, she unleased her true potential upon me, with her roar, the library and everything surrounds us get blown off, I increase the gravity around me to stand my ground, before me is the true power of what many considers, a beauty, but what I see is possibly my death. With her power unchained, she started blasting out relentless barrages of purity, and much to my dismay, she already destroyed most of the talisman I have planted down, looking around, I realized I'm not the only one in danger, the nearby maids and butlers are also caught in the attack and are swiftly killed, really make me think what I came here for, I came to steal some books and this bitch ended up destroying the whole fucking library and now without the library, she's going insane and ignoring friendlies. The workers that survived evacuated right away, Pesho shout in my head
"GET OUT OF HERE NOW! YOU CAN'T VOID THESE ATTACKS FOREVER! I SENSE CAELUM, CAILIN AND HEIWA NEAR US."
Grah.. already attracting THIS much attention? Man I REALLY missed what I had yesterday.
"There's always a cool wind before the storm son."
Dude are you god of war or fertility, what's with all this wisdom, but anyhow, I can't find even a crack to escape and my soul's energy is reaching half way, what do I do.
"Scream for help Relicta. Scream."
Whatever works, taking in the deepest breath I have in years, I let out a screech
"HELP ME HEIWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I DON'T WANNA FUCKING DIE BECAUSE A RANDOM BLIND FUCKFACE SAID I WILL BRING DESTRUCTION."
Exhausted from the scream and soul energy starting to go below half, but the fox show no signs of even being tired, she laugh maniacally out loud,
"FINALLY FEELING DESPAIR HEIR OF VOID? YOU WILL BE BANISHED FROM REALITY FOR GIVING ME PAIN ALL THOSE YEARS!"
What? I screamed back,
"THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, I NEVER MET YOU IN MY ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE"
She screams again,
"DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER, YOUR RACE HAS BROUGHT UPON ME ENDLESS PAIN AND SUFFERING AND NOW, I WILL ERADICATE EACH AND EVERY OF YOU FOR GO-"
Before she could continue blathering, a sword is thrown and penetrates her waist before my eyes, and at a speed I can barely keep up with, Joshua appears and slice her in half, then hurry to my side shouting
"I BROKE FREE FROM THE DECEPTION RELICTA! TELL PESHO HE HAS MY THANKS!"
But as fast as she was sliced in half, the fox recover and start re-charging her mana, helping me stand up, Joshua says
"I dealt with Cailin already, what a fucking freak and mother is stalling with Caelum, we should leave now."
I hesitate,
"Will Heiwa be alright?"
"Probably, that old fuck cherish mother too much to let even a strain of her hair get pull out anyways, Hashiru is almost too handy, it legit stabbed me while I was getting breakfast earlier and erased the lies Caelum planted in my head, come on grab all you want and let's get the fuck out."
Quickly taking anything that looks useful to me, well that is just being polite and in reality I just throw everything that was still intact into my void bag, then Joshua break the wall in the hallway and as we were about to leave, I feel something approaching rapidly, realizing reality around us is cracking, I shout
"BRACE YOURSELF JOSHUA! VOID!"
Opening a void portal just in time, we both run inside my portal and escape, looking back at the portal, I witness the hallway we were standing in get shattered into ashes and any workers in it was absolutely annihilated to million of pieces, attempting to close the portal, Leone suddenly jump in and reach his hand out to grab me, just as the void close he has grabbed me by the neck, in less than a second of coming into contact with my neck, reality around us started breaking, as it breaks I can feel my body falling apart, my soul is getting break apart, tsk.
"You've grown strong..."
Joshua was getting pushed back by the sheer magic aura from Leone, thinking he has won and my willpower has broken, he put even more force in the attack, but I grab his hand
"...Yet.. you're such a fucking disappointment."
He gets voided right away as I touch him.
TO BE CONTINUED....