~Raaa!~
A scream swept through the arena, it's volume enough to kill any normal human passing by.
"Tsk, disgusting creature." Cypher lay at the opposite end of the room. The cold black lenses of his mask pierced straight through the monsterouse husk he was fighting like it was a piece of meat.
After ascending to Caliber two, he had requested another fight. This would allow him to measure his strength improvement against a rank one husk. And the result...for the last hour, he had done nothing but beat the creature with barely any effort. It had been crushed, stabbed and ragdolled across the room like a toy. Infact, the only reason it was still alive was it's healing factor.
"Sigh...," Cypher decided to give Rain a challenge," Go, take it's eyes."
The bird on his shoulder spread it's wings, gathering power before taking off.
Caw!
Rain staired directly into the eyes of the husk as it shot straight through the sky towards it.
"Use it, Rain!" Cypher shouted.
'Demonic deception- Hundred eyes technique'
Time seemed to slow down for the husk. Even in it's near mindless state, it couldn't help but feel some semblance of fear.
Why?
In it's vision, the area around it grew deathly cold. Light faded from the room until ut stood in an eerily silent black void.
Screech!
It's scream echoed into the empty space, yet nothing changed.
Caw!
Like a flip had been switched, yellow light shone down onto the husk from above, it's luminosity like a beacon in the void.
However, as the husk looked up into what should have been the sky, it's fear reached a tipping point.
In the black sky, lay hundreds of bird like sickly yellow eyes staring down at it, unblinking. The sensation of being completely defenceless left the husk frozen in dread.
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"It's more impressive than I thought," Cypher narrowed his eyes as he watched the show. In his vision, the husk stood completely frozen, it's eyes bleeding with tears of blood.
This was the result of Rains unique soul power- Demonic deception. It was an illusion based technique that could trap anyone who looked into Rains eyes into a hallucination. Though the affect was rather weak when used on Cypher or other Dreamweavers above Rains rank one soul caliber, it was still extremely effective. And this was only his rank one technique, who knew what he could do in the future?
'Like a mini lovecraftian god!' Cypher mused as he watched the bird claw the husk's eyes out. It didn't even resist, having still been trapped in the illusion. In the future, Rain might be able to send people insane just by glancing at them, a scary power indeed.
"That's enough, Orion should be here in a moment." Sending a mental command for Rain to retreat, Cypher stretched out his hand and gathered energy.
Below the husk, a pit of sand formed and hardened.
SHINK!
The husk was brutally impaled through the chest by a white spike. It's body hair Ng limply in the air, a pike running straight through it's body.
Unlike the first time, where the boy had to cut off it's head to kill it, now it was much simpler. The sand from the spike easily entered the husk's body, corrupting every living cell it touched until all that was left was a statue hanging from a spike.
Rain flew from the sky and landed on Cyphers shoulder. An eyeball lay in its beak, slowly being chewed and swallowed.
Clap!Clap!Clap!
"Wonderfully done! Though, I could of done better." Standing at the entrance, A tall man with beautiful long red hair stood leaning against the doorway. Beside him, a tiger stood calmly and staired directly at rain.
"Orion....I'm overjoyed to see you." Cyphers dead fish eyes staired straight at the man with clear annoyance.
Of course, Orion also didn't like Cypher. Why? Simply, he didn't view Cypher as worthy. He was originally a peasant, destined to live in poverty and dirt.
"Come on Cypher, your my favourite person in this world. No need to be like that." Orion forced a smile. Regardless of their feelings, they would still have to work together.
Grrr!
Unfortunately, the Tiger that was bonded to Orion couldn't hide it's disdain and growled.
"Sure, I'm your favourite person." Cypher deadpanned. Dreambeasts often shared the emotions of their partner, and clearly Orion didn't have a favourable opinion of him.
"Sigh..." Orion pulled out a piece of parchment from the pocket of his robe and threw it towards Cypher.
"Huh," Catching it, the boy began reading the rather concerning orders written in neat noble style lettering.
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~Dreamweavers of Endo, you are to report to the main chapel immediately. Failure to attend is punishable by death. Gather all your necessary artifacts, Dreambeasts and clothing before you arrive.
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"Has something happened? We weren't going to leave for another few weeks?"
From the message, Cypher had already guessed that it was related to the war effort.
"I don't know, but those Nova basterds must be up to something." Orion was just a Beastmaster. He didn't have that much access to higher level information, " If they just surrendered and handed over everything they had, we wouldn't even have to fight!"
"Uhh, exactly." Slightly bewildered, Cypher decided to change the topic," Shall we get going? It seemed urgent."
Orion snapped out of it and straightened his robe," ahem... yea, let's head out."
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The two arrived at the main chapel, or what was once a chapel. Now it resembled a small military gathering.
Everyone stood in perfect unison, with rows upon rows of personel. Each one equipped with swords and weapons aswell as robes that symbolised the religion. At the back of the rows were the priests, responsible for the supply lines and building of camps.
Ofcourse, Cypher and Orion walked confidently to the front row and stepped perfectly in line with the other Dreamweavers, symbolising their status.
At the top of a large podium, Vanderwald was in the middle of a speech. His aura more fierce than before, despite not participating in the battle himself.
"The Nova scum have begun moving their troops faster than we initially expected! They have already secured the Dragon core and are preparing to move it back to their disgusting homeland." Clear fury intertwined with his voice as he delivered the news.
The troops clenched their fist, knowing what that meant.
"Make no mistake, this battle will no longer be a simple skirmish. IT WILL BE A SIEGE!"
The statement might sound simple, but this was a highly dangerous situation.
Cypher, having been in the military in his previous life, knew exactly what this meant. Assuming that the mission objective had already been secured by the enemy, they likely already have heavy fortifications around the area to protect it.
No matter what, the side in defence almost always had the advantage. If they were to capture whatever a dragon core was, they would need to pay a heavy price.
Cypher subconsciously fought of the New York landing- the battle he had died in.
The russians had to invade through newly developed air ships. Since America had already set up fortifications, the sky was filled with the falling body's of Russian paratroopers attempting to land. Theyost likely lost thousands of troops just to touch the ground. This was a clear example of why you never want to be on offence unless necessary.
"But, you will not fear. The Empire has increased the number of troops they can spare. One million soldiers, along with the churches Dreamweavers will never face defeat! For the glory of Endo, you will not fall!"
"For we are the protector's!" Everyone in the room beat their hand into their chest and changed.
"We are the saviours, we are his angels incarnate!" After their battle cry, nobody held any fear in their hearts. Only the list for battle remained.