Standing up, I stretched before looking at the big coffin. It was pure white and smooth. However, there was one thing left to do, and that was the runes.
Despite being basically a corpse, the body still held immense power.
Even if the world tree had some power, I doubted it would be enough. Taking a breath, a pen-like object appeared in my hand as I poured my remaining mana into it.
This was a runic pen, essentially a pen for drawing runes. Runes, to put it simply, were the "language of mana."
Well, that's what the dwarves said anyway.
Runes actually resembled circuits. Inside a rune was a program—a spell that ran through the circuit, which was the rune itself.
I added many defense and restriction spells, hoping this would work. If it didn't, I'd basically be screwed. Well, not entirely, as I had one last option, but it wasn't something I wanted to risk.
Once I finished the coffin, I grabbed the body. It was way heavier than expected, but I managed to place it inside the coffin.
As soon as I did, the change was immediate.
The once-white coffin turned an inky black, causing me to panic. Soon, the entire coffin turned jet black.
'What the hell is this body?'
Before I could stop it, the crimson fireball suddenly entered the corpse, making my heart race.
"Ah, fuck—" I quickly reacted, channeling my remaining mana toward the corpse. To my surprise, the runes began glowing red and changing.
The wood of the world tree had been fully corrupted, and that wasn't all—the runes had transformed. As I touched the body, I was about to cast my spell when a purple fireball hit me in the face, knocking me on my ass.
"What just happened?" I muttered, looking at the corpse. It didn't move, but the crimson fireball floated there.
'Wait, wasn't it purple before?'
"What did you do?"
"I helped you," it said proudly. "Now you see that even in this state, you're no match for me. Haha!"
"God, I wanna kill you again," I muttered. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed the white lid, tossed it onto the coffin, and watched as it turned black as well. Looking at the coffin I observed the different runes that were now engraved on it.
I tried sensing the body, but the coffin did its job, letting me store it back in my shadow.
Looking at the fireball, I asked, "What exactly did you do?"
"I changed the structure of your runes," it said simply.
"Changed how?"
No matter how many times I asked, I couldn't understand what it did. So, I asked something else.
"How did you even manage that? You don't have arms or legs."
"Don't doubt me, you weakling," it replied smugly.
Dispelling the barrier, I made my way back inside the house.
'Well, I guess I might as well get my stuff together.'
I needed my bed and a table, not to mention groceries. Thinking about it, I sighed, trying to remember my bank balance.
***
Sirens filled the air as people dressed in white ran around. With swords in their hands, they sprinted through the hallways toward a large door at the end. Slamming it open, four figures in white entered the room.
What alarmed them wasn't the two cloaked figures standing in the center of the room, but the empty, unchained platform behind them.
A golden glow surrounded the men dressed in white.
"Where is the staff!?" one of the knights shouted. The cloaked figures seemed surprised as they heard that but came to a conclusion.
"Seems that you bastards don't know where it is either," one of them remarked
Then a black insidious and sinister aura surrounded the 2 figures.
Seeing this, the four holy knights charged at them. One knight swung his sword, its blade glowing with holy light, but one of the cloaked figures simply raised a hand and grabbed the weapon.
The knight was shocked but then the next moment dark red lines appeared all over his body before he fell to the floor in pieces of flesh. The insidious black energy quickly converged in his hand before causing a giant explosion to happen in front of the man.
Once the smoke dissipated the man saw the rest of the mangled corpses of the knights.
The man turned to his companion "Hurry up and set up the artifact,"
Nodding other individuals brought out some sort of circular device. However, both of them quickly turned and saw the imposing figure of a man. He was wearing silver armour which fit nicely with his blonde hair. However, his face showed his incredible rage as he looked at the 2 individuals.
"Shit hurry!"
The black energy quickly surrounded the man again as he charged forward. Drawing his sword he quickly swung it but the next second he was sent flying backwards.
Coughing up blood the man felt his broken ribs that were slowly falling into place.
'Damn, what the hell was he doing here!?'
That man was one of the paladins of the Holy Emporer, a person so great that not even their God dared to challenge him. However, their main base was in North America, and while they did operate all over the globe it wasn't to the point where a strong force like his personal paladin would go. In fact it would violate one of the agreements that was signed with Europe.
So why was a servant of such a great lord all the way in Europe?
The cloaked figure stretched out a hand, sending a barrage of black beams toward the paladin. But with a simple flick of his wrist, the beams were destroyed.
The next second, the paladin appeared above him, ready to strike. But before he could, the cloaked figure grabbed him, and a bright flash filled the room.
***
Bluebell Le Doux's POV
Getting up from my seat I looked grabbed my case which was above me. After I grabbed it I quickly started to exit the plane. After getting to the airport I then sat in a chair catching my breath.
Looking at the long guitar case, I opened it carefully. Instead of a guitar, inside was a long, thin magic staff like the ones you'd see in movies or TV shows. The staff was made of a dark blue metallic material, and at the tip was a large pink gemstone. Quickly closing the case, I leaned over it and groaned.
"What have I done?"
This magic staff wasn't exactly… normal
You see this staff was considered a "Sealed Relic". This was because it held the "Queen Of Calamity"
In ancient times, a witch had caused havoc on the land. Her powers were so great that they in fact revealed that of the Holy Emporer at the time. Left with no other choice he had to seal her away.
Thanks that her soul resided in this staff making it extremely dangerous as people could easily be able to let her loose if that gemstone was shattered. To make it even more secure it was placed in a staff that regularly drained its magic power.
"You seem to be in distress," hearing the voice I looked up and saw no one not that I was surprised.
"Oh, I wonder why? Maybe it's because I stole an artifact holding the thing that could probably end the world!?" I hissed
"Nobody forced you to steal me," hearing that I let out a sigh
While she wasn't right she also wasn't exactly wrong.
I stole this staff because I needed to otherwise it would've landed in the wrong hands or so I was told. And that wasn't even the worst part.
The worst part was that I was going to be framed for causing the destruction of an entire country!
Now you're probably wondering how I knew this. Well… it was because of a fortune teller. Most fortune tellers are frauds, but some witches take up fortune-telling as a side job. It's not well-regarded among witches, though; those who do it are considered "lesser witches."
However, I was interested in mysticism which revolved around rituals and stuff like that. So I thought seeing how real witches did stuff would help. I knew a few witches so I went to them but one recommended another witch.
So I went to where the witch was.
But when I was learning she used me as an example. She basically told me that I was going to be framed for three things and I was even told how I could prove it and that I should steal this staff on a certain day.
Honestly, the details are a bit fuzzy now but what she said was true.
I was almost framed for murder, and then violating the rules of the academy.
However, this hit a boiling point when my best friend tried to kill me. So in self-defense, I killed her which was proven. This caused me to remember what that witch said.
Thus I stole it.
"Ahhh, I'm so regretting this," I muttered
My goal was to meet to give this to the Magi Association but I didn't exactly know how to go about this as I didn't know where it was.
"I'm screwed,"
"You should run now!" hearing the panicked voice I got up and looked around. However, I then found a man looking around. He was wearing some sort of suit however, the energy rafting off of him made me shiver.
'It's like hers…'
Remembering the time when I almost died due to my best friend caused me to shiver. Quickly getting a cap, I put all of my hair in the hat before putting it on. Using the other exit to leave the airport, I looked at the city around me and then tried to find a train station. After I found one, I bought a ticket.
While I was waiting for my train I looked around trying to see if I had been tracked.
"You know there is an easy solution to this," hearing that I froze
"What? What is it!?"
"Release me," hearing that a shiver went up my spine.
"No," I replied instantly
Remembering all of the stories I had read about her I knew that once she was released chaos would consume the world.
And the rumors that the Holy Emporer disappeared didn't make me feel any better.
I took a deep breath "I'm sure I can think of something…right?"
***
Adrian Thornebrook's POV
Closing the door of my storage unit in frustration, I couldn't help but think about how I would have to assemble my bed. There weren't any instructions meaning I had to find a video or buy a new bed which was something I wasn't willing to do.
Besides how hard could it be?
As I was about to leave, my gaze fell on another storage unit nearby. Remembering what was inside, I walked over and opened it, revealing a sleek black car.
It was something my dad had bought, and I'd kept it stored here.
Entering the unit I shuffled through the keys until I found the right one. Unlocking the car I sat in the driver seat and started the car, adjusted the settings, and got everything ready. Once I drove it out of the unit and locked everything up, I headed back home.
Feeling the cool breeze coming through the open window, I let out a sigh.
'Now I remember why I hate driving.'
Even though I had my driver's license, I didn't enjoy driving. It was pretty stressful for me as I always thought of the "what if's". But now it felt like a waste of fuel when I could just teleport. But remembering that I couldn't teleport right now, I slumped in defeat.
When I arrived at my house, I parked the car and locked it. Entering my room a bunch of wooden structures appeared on the floor along with some bolts. Tossing my screwdriver onto the floor, I sat down and picked up a piece trying to organize it and also trying to figure out which piece should connect to which.
"Human, someone's at the door," the Great Calamity said, breaking my thoughts.
Listening carefully, I realized he was right as the doorbell rang.
Getting up from the floor, I started heading downstairs when the Great Calamity spoke again.
"Human, be careful. Something feels… off."
"Off?"
"I sense a strange energy," he replied.
'A strange energy?'
Cautiously, I opened the door and was met with the sight of a familiar woman in a suit.
"Aunt Katherine!"