"Lord Beromi !, Lord Beromi !," Mia yelled, calling him out in the snow.
"What's going on? Lord Beromi was here a second ago... Hm, just a thought: maybe he got snatched by the thing he sensed," Mia thought as she began to run back.
"I should warn the others. We need to find Lord Beromi," Mia said.
Back in the perfectly enclosed dungeon, Beromi was face to face with a being who called himself Areaca, the Dungeon Master.
"A Dungeon Master? Is it another guardian beast? No, it can't be. It is more... or I will say he is more intelligent," Beromi thought,in a fighting stance.
"So, human, can you please introduce yourself?" Areaca asked.
"Beromi," Beromi said with a nervous but cautious look.
"Well, Beromi, are you here for the trial?" Areaca inquired.
"Trial?" Beromi asked.
"That reaction... Don't tell me he's a first-timer. Wait, I can use this to my advantage," Areaca thought,with a smirk forming on his face.
"Well, Beromi, all you have to do is fight me to the death. If you manage to defeat me, your reward will appear next to you. But if you lose, well, I'm going to use your body for something else," Areaca said.
"Well, I don't have a choice, do I?" Beromi replied.
"Wow, you are smart," Areaca responded.
Beromi did not realize that this trial had just been changed by Areaca. The dungeon master could have gave him two options: get your reward by answering trial questions, or you can choose to fight. Beromi had an option, he did not know that.
They both positioned themselves. In a burst of speed, Areaca vanished from his position, then in a second, Beromi realized Areaca's fist was on his chest. Beromi was then flung backward with a lot of force; he hit the wall hard, coughing out blood in the process. Then, as he was about to fall headfirst, Areaca appeared from above and stomped on his back, making Beromi hit the door with his front.
Beromi could feel a lot of pain in his body; he couldn't even manage to scream because that. Areaca moved to his original position and looked at Beromi with a smirk. "I want to be very respectful here, so I would ask if I should end your suffering right now."
Lying there, Beromi could feel his body in broken pieces, covered in his own blood, and he imagined how good it would feel to be put out of his suffering.
"Hmm?"
"If I die here, then all I have worked for would be gone," Beromi remembered his past when he was a child and the time he spent in this world, even if it was for a little bit."not mention"
"Ho~ such willpower! I like that," Areaca said with a satisfied smirk.
Then he remembered his stepsister pushing him off that building. "WHY!, WHY MUST IT BE!!!?" he yelled, lying flat on his belly, as a burst of energy surrounded his body.
"Oh my, this might get interesting," Areaca said.
As the energy enveloped him, he slowly got up with a terrifying look in his eyes, filled with powerful rage. "I've faced some other stuff in the world, but I can't forgive myself if I die here." With that, the energy gave another windy shockwave. Beromi was now wearing a blue scarf and had a line mark from the bottom of his eyelid onto his cheek; it was glowing blue.
"Keren, be my blade," he said, referring to one of his summons. Keren appeared behind him, wearing an oversized purple robe. He had red eyes and long black hair.
"Well, well, I did not imagine you summoning me like this... wait, did you get a new form?" Keren said with a playful smirk.
"I want to defeat him with one shot and i need help,I want you to prepare your strongest attack," Beromi said. Then, with a very powerful stomp, he launched towards Areaca at great speed, and Areaca did the same.
Beromi's speed and strength had increased dramatically high matching or even surpassing areaca a little.
"Hmmm," Keren said.
Then, as they reached each other within seconds, they began to trade blows with their fists, creating powerful and strong shockwaves each time they connected with very fast, blurry punches.
The whole field began to shake every time. Beromi attempted an uppercut, Areaca dodged it, spun, and countered Beromi with a burst of energy blasts that pushed Beromi back further.
Luckily, Beromi activated his spirit nullifier,as he lands perfectly with his two feet. "That was close. Keren, how much time?"
"Almost there," Keren replied, meditating with his palms together.
"Using many skills at the same time is so annoying... wait, what if..." Beromi clenched his fists,squats a little and closed his eyes to concentrate.
"I don't have to use my abilities independently; I can just merge them, and it will still give me the same effect as it was separated," Beromi thought.
" i will call it AURA!" Beromi surrounds himself in a blue aura, then launches himself. It seems that he has spirit amplification, a spirit nullifier, as well as his new ability, spirit modifier, mixed together. Now he can use all of this at the same time.
Mixing it with his new form he became a 1000 times more powerful.
Areaca launches a very big and powerful burst of energy, aiming for him, but Beromi counters it with his fist.
"What!!!?" Areaca exclaims.
"It really worked," Beromi replies.
"Well, how about this? Roaming bomb!" Areaca throws a huge ball of energy towards them. "Spirit cage!" Beromi activates a force field that slows the attack down with both hands, but Areaca keeps pushing. Beromi clenches his teeth while trying his best to stop it.
"Lord Beromi, it's ready," Keren said as he stood behind Beromi.
The bomb hit, and it forms a large explosion, sending huge amounts of dust and debri into the air. "Well, I had fun," Areaca remarked.
"Well, the fun is not over," Beromi replied.
"What?" Areaca asked.
Beromi appeared behind Areaca, with a small dagger in his hand. "FULL POWER!" Beromi screamed as the power from the blade sliced through the air with immense force, decapitating Areaca.
"What... just happened?" Areaca fell to the ground, both body and head.
"I can't believe you made me turn into a blade i thought that was a metaphor," Keren said.
Beromi looked at Keren as he turned back to his normal state. "Well, I needed a powerful weapon."
"Beromi, was it... you are strong," Areaca said as he began to disappear.
"You were too," Beromi replied.
"Well, as promised, here is your reward," Areaca said, pointing behind them. A total of 50 soldier-like beings appeared. They wore dark blue armor and were about 7 feet tall. The female-looking ones were holding bows and arrows, while the male ones had swords.
"What? Wait," Beromi tries to turn to Areaca, but he has already disappeared completely. The soldiers then kneel before Beromi in silenced.
"Well, well, well... I guess he was right about you being his successor," Keren said with a smirk, nudging him with his elbow.
Mia and the other wolf kin were searching for Beromi. "Did you find anything?" Mia asked.
One of them shook his head, then a kid pointed to the distance. "Mia, look!"
They all rushed to the entrance of their village with excitement. They saw Beromi but were very surprised to see some big soldiers behind him and Keren on his neck.
"Lord Beromi, I'm very speechless," Mia said.
"Figures," Beromi replied.
After settling in and Beromi explaining what happened to him about the soldiers and Keren, the wolf kin began to grow their loyalty towards him.
Beromi was outside with both Mia and Keren, as well as the soldiers.
"Are you sure it will work?" Beromi asked.
"Trust me, just use the talisman I gave you, and you will be able to seal them inside as your summons, like us generals," Keren said.
"This is exciting!" Mia exclaimed.
"See?" Keren said.
"Huh...fine"beromi said.
Beromi concentrated, and with a quick and small burst of light, the soldiers were gone. Beromi then looked at the talisman. "It really worked!"
"Beromi yawns. 'Well, how about we get some sleep? Tomorrow we'll get to planning.'"
The three move towards their sleeping areas.
◇◇◇◇
Keren went back into Talisman and was in the pocket dimension with the kitsune Yeriku and the shogun samurai Mirumi.
The pocket dimension was pitch black, with only a whitish-grey tile beneath their feet.
Yeriku was a tall, mature-looking woman with orange fox ears and nine tails. She kept her eyes closed and was carrying a long sword. "Well, he sure was interesting. I hope he summons me too."
Mirumi was also a tall male with a very small beard. He wore a full dark red samurai armor, excluding the helmet, and had three katanas on his back. He also had dark skin. "Patience; our time will come when he needs us."
"Well, he planned to go to a different location tomorrow. I bet he will need us all eventually," Keren said.
"Agreed," Yeriku replied.