The haven where the Anointment Exam was being carried out in was a dark forest filled with red trees and vegetation. The sky above the clamouring leaves was pitch black, yet the ecosystem was visible enough to see. This was partially so, due to the pale luminescent light that radiated out of those red vegetations.
However, the major light source of the crimson-forest haven was the sanguine tower of light beaming into the sky right from the center of the haven.
The prophets were not given maps nor directions, but they all turned to the beam as the true center of the haven, where they should all migrate too.
———
The trees were rooted at considerable lengths apart from each other making wide enough paths for people to cross. Yet, Izel treaded the forest like she was a titan, razing past the trees to make her own space.
With every strained swing of her obsidian sword, a tree would be fell without resistance. And with each mighty stomp she took, her booming laugh became more gleeful.
The spar in the mountains with Lion was far too tame than she would have liked. Izel wanted to know what the limits of her new powers were. What better place than a haven as big as this?
Axe, her white scaled salamander blew fire on her sword, burning the talisman plastered on it and setting the blade on fire.
She took another swing at a tree, instantly setting it ablaze as soon as it got cut in two. In time, that fire soon slowly spread across the dry ground unto other trees.
"Wanna have a go?" Izel smiled at her Totem as it nodded.
The salamander leapt off her shoulder and soared right into the sky, growing from a 45 centimeter long creature to an 18 meter serpentine dragon.
The scales on Axe's elongated snake-like body burnt into black as the creature was suddenly struck with lightning from the black sky; and its blue underbelly was awash with golden scales.
The face of this massive beast was similar to that of a lion, its mane shimmering like gold dust as it carried an obsidian mirror-like halo above the head of its terrifying figure.
With a loud shriek at the sky, more lightning rained on its body, making its scales glimmer even more as it accumulated power.
Izel's eyes shone with awe and excitement.
Look at how big her little friend had grown.
He opened his mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth and roared out blasts of wind down to the forest below, fueling the forest fire Izel was starting.
The halo above its head spun quickly, and a tunnel of orange flame shot out of its maw, down on the forest beneath it.
When he had deemed it enough, the dragon blew out hot air from its nostrils pridefully, then descended to his partner, who was somewhere within the flames.
With Izel's sword raised up in the air, the dragon opened its mouth as it shrunk, before swallowing the length of the blade while the sword was still being held in Izel's hand.
The obsidian black blade, after being swallowed by the salamander, fused with the creature. Its shiny surface turned to scales with one of its sides dark, while the other was with shimmering golden scales. But the hilt and guard of her weapon remained unchanged.
Apart from colour, Izel's katana was now a whole lot heavier, harder and stronger, but also more blunt than its regular metal blade. And rather than cut, the blade shot out crescent slashes of wind and lightning whenever Izel swung it in a direction, making those waves crash into several trees and break them apart all at once.
Izel's strength seemed to have been boosted greatly with the blade in her hands, and her body immune to fire.
Although the haven had made her resemble a dragon kin, the sword gave her the aura of one— fierce and powerful. But most of all, invincible.
Her current abilities were exactly what Equinox had wished for. Too bad for him.
———
She had already razed ten kilometers worth of forest into ash, before she decided to stop out of consideration for her limited spiritual essence, and the fact that she had already burnt out most of her excitement.
"The evil spirit that used to roam this haven must have been really weak." She guessed, looking at how much of the forest had died under her force.
Izel was sure that if she had pulled a similar stunt in a place that had been run by even a Sullen grade spirit, the damage wouldn't have been this much. This was because the Spiritual Density of a region determined how weak the environment was, and how much force a prophet could release within them.
For example, the gravity of a region being ruled or was once ruled by a Deceiver grade spirit was multiple times greater than one ruled by a Sullen grade. This was because the more powerful spirits tend to stay in places with higher spiritual densities, as they had more comfortable and suitable environmental factors for their habitation.
These environmental factors also influence how effective a Prophet's Totem was. Axe could have only grown for ten meters in a region with average density, however, he was almost twice as big with twice the fire power here.
"Axe!" Izel called.
The black dragon finished putting out the fire they had started with his rain breath, before transforming into its usual self and returning to Izel's shoulder.
"Rest now."
The salamander turned even smaller before crawling onto Izel's hair bun to sleep.
The woman sighed before turning her head down at the unconscious bodies of three prophets disguised as various humanoid spirits.
The number, '4' popped up above her head before quickly vanishing, showing that she possessed 4 cryptexes at hand.
"Wow. I wasn't even trying to fight these people. Having Believers as participants is a bit of an overkill, huh guys?"
The prophets were too unconscious to reply.
She looked down at the blade in her hand, playing with it before tossing it in the air so it falls into its sheath behind her back.
"All the more reason to find Ikky as soon as I can."
But it didn't even matter if Ikky had already fallen under a group by the time she would find him, when she could just beat up the leader and get her friend.
Izel possesses a Second/ Divine grade mark of virtue and a powerful Being type totem, on top of being a Believer prophet. Very very few prophets in this haven could stand against her in a proper one on one fight. Not to mention, the chances that Ikky would meet one of those few people were too low for her to even be bothered.
"These guys will be fine, right?"
Izel shrugged, seeing as there were now only two bodies on the ground, meaning the last one had run off while she had her back turned.
"I'm leaving now! So you can come get your pals! Or you know, abandon them." She called out to the third person before continuing her journey.
Well, this is a haven. There was nothing to worry about.