On the other side of the portal, Yasu found himself in a small room. Behind him, the portal closed, and he was left with the pedestal holding the other gem. Grabbing that one too, he pocketed them into his yukata for the meantime. From the memory he had extracted from the dark mage, beyond this room would be a chamber full of an assortment of tools and devices. None which would be of use, though.

Walking through, he continued onward to a large chamber where the master stayed. Upon entering, small bones could be seen scattered everywhere. The bones of children. With a frown, Yasu moved his sight to the thin cloaked figure sitting on the throne located in the center of this decrepit place. Noticing the newcomer, the figure was about to speak.

However, Yasu did not give such luxury.

Immediately, Yasu’s mana filled the room and suppressed the undead master. By doing so, he was disturbing any attempts to form a spell by the undead. At the same time, the white flames crawling over himself began to get agitated, turning to a black flame with a purple hue.

“Something like you has no need to exist. And I would rather not have to know of the atrocities you have committed just to get useless information.” (Yasu)

“Hah! Fool! I am immortal. You cannot kill me!” (Undying Mage)

The bag of bones, despite having no face, seemed as if he was gloating, getting the last laugh. But upon seeing the golden eyes of the man begin to shine brightly, a sensation he hadn't felt for a long time began to overtake him. Fear. Raising his empty palm to the bone pile, Yasu spoke clearly.

“「Death’s Flames」” (Yasu)

The black flames shot forth, eager to devour the fool in front of them. As they swallowed the lich whole, they burned up the bones that formed the body, the shell. As they did so, the soul of the undead was left unprotected as it was eaten and torn apart by the black flames of condemnation.

Hiro wasn't knowledgeable on souls and spirits, but he had enough understanding from games and books he had read, letting his subconscious and his mana makeup the difference to achieve the desired effect. As Yasu felt the presence of the dark mage fade away, he spoke one final line to it.

“Where I come from, Death does not let go of anyone… A cruel world, where those claimed by the Reaper, never return…” (Yasu)

A dark shadow fell on the man’s face, as he recalled some of the memories within his mind. Letting it go, he walked over to the throne in the center, used the flames to clean it up, before sitting down on it. His flames returned to white, and spread out across the chamber, illuminating the darkness. Closing his eyes, he checked on how much mana his form still contained.

Originally, he still had power above that of a Magus, but after using all of those flames, he had dropped down to half what he started with. Well, it was still barely above a Magus, so it was more than enough to deal with most threats that would appear from now on. Entering into a meditative state, he began to work on maintaining himself and refilling his mana by absorbing the ambient mana of the world.

After sharing information, Yasu was to remain where he was for now, and deal with any dark mages that come along, as well as to take action based on his own judgement. Hiro woke up from his own meditation, his dimmed consciousness and thinned out presence returning to normal.

As he went down the stairs form the second floor to go get a meal, he laid eyes on Syldis greeting two women that had quite the power in comparison to those he had seen so far. At least from a passive observance.

At the time he sized them up with his eyes, both of them had a sharp glint in their eyes and sunk a bit lower to the floor, taking what looked like a combat readiness pose against him. Shrugging his shoulders, he looked at Syldis and approached her.

“Afternoon, Syldis. Friends of yours?” (Hiro)

“Yeah. Hiro, this is Therese and her apprentice, Leona.” (Syldis)

Therese. She was tall for a woman, and looked in her mid-twenties to early thirties, but in this world, it would be hard to know for sure. After all, her demeanor gave the sense that she was much older and more experienced, filled with dignity. With golden eyes and long, pale, blonde hair, she had a somewhat gentle atmosphere, but still seemed unapproachable. She had armor focusing on freedom of movement with metal armor on the shoulders and chest, leaving the rest to be protected by close fitting chainmail which wasn’t as restricting on the joints as leather. Her weapons was a two handed sword sheathed on her back.

As a side note, she had well shaped assets both above and below.

Leona. Much younger in both appearance and atmosphere, she seemed to be in her late teens, 20 at the oldest. Her pants were sitting lower on her hips than the women he had seen in town, giving her a sexy look combined with the vest which was unbuttoned partly and propping up her cleavage. Still, that didn’t draw away from her skill, as she had an atmosphere closer to an untamed fighter rather than a calm master. With brown hair tied in a ponytail and jade green eyes, her athletic figure was dwarfed only by Therese next to her, and a sharp look in her eye. Additionally, she had a scar across her right eye vertically, as if having just missed the eye itself. Her weapon was also a two handed sword on her back.

“Heya.” (Hiro)

With just that short greeting, Hiro looked at the two with a bit of alertness in his mind, seeing as the two of them were still looking as if they were wondering whether to attack. Syldis gave them both a pat on the shoulder as she spoke to them.

“No need to be so alert. This is Hiro. You saw Viktor’s group with those living metal weapons, and he got them from this youth here.” (Syldis)

Returning to a more relaxed posture, Leona and Therese continued to stare at the youth. Therese approached him and reached up to place her hand on his head, her rather elongated nails visible. Hiro didn’t worry, as he saw no ill will in her eyes.

The moment her hand landed on his head, her irises turned to slits as if they were cat eyes. This only lasted for a very short moment though. Her body had suddenly tensed and slightly persperated, but immediately relaxed as she backed away, her stare gazing at the distance nothingness, lost in her mind for a little bit.

“I understand…” (Therese)

Like that, Therese nodded as she backed up, looking at Syldis who had a somewhat understanding look, but not for the same reasons. Syldis had the three of them sit at the counter as she got a plate of food for the three of them as well as a drink, explaining as she went.

“Therese and Leona are from the Beast Lands to the east. Therese is a part of the Lion’s Clan, and Leona, the Wolf’s Clan. It’s said that beastmen are able to sense and detect a lot about a person, simply by touching them, due to their strong instincts. Well, that’s the belief, anyway. No one but the beastmen themselves know for sure, after all. It’s a customary thing.

They’re also a bit reclusive and don’t speak much, finding more meaning in actions, expressing themselves with action rather than words. Though since the human and beastman culture tend to interact so much, the species as a whole will at least talk when appropriate.” (Syldis)

As she finished saying that, four plates of meat were placed on the counter, one for each of them and herself. Alongside that was a tankard of ale. While Syldis and Leona looked at Therese before eating, Hiro just went ahead and started eating the meat from the plate. It was delicious as usual. He doubted he would be able to do the same.

Well, he might be able to. He used to space out too much and ruin the food, but maybe now he would be able to focus on cooking a meal?

As he munched on some meat, he looked over to the trio and saw Therese eating normally, Leona looking at him disdainfully, and Syldis looking at him apologetically.

“Ah… I forgot to explain to you. It’s customary in beastman culture for the strongest one at the table to take a bite first before the others can eat, as a sign of respect.” (Syldis)

What’s done is done, so Hiro just nodded and bowed slightly in response and politeness before returning to his meal. But it seemed Therese herself didn’t mind, which puzzled the other two who were familiar with her strength and her adherence to the rules. After eating or a little bit, Syldis started a conversation seeing as nothing was happening.

“Therese and Leona are looking for a weapon made of living metal, the same as the ones Viktor has. And as it turns out, since I figured that you gave them to him, you might be able to help them with their request?” (Syldis)

“Well… It’s not impossible, I suppose? I can’t reveal where I got them from, but I could probably have one brought along if I knew what kind of weapon is needed, and for what purpose. But before that...” (Hiro)

Looking at Leona who seemed to be wanting something, he glanced between her and Therese.

“Is something wrong?” (Hiro)

Leona and Therese shared a silent look for a while, before Therese gave a nod. Leona turned to Hiro, changed seat to be next to him, before asking.

“May I…?” (Leona)

Her hand was outstretched, wanting to do the same thing as what Therese had done earlier. Nodding his head, Hiro lowered his head of black and white hair for her to better reach. She also had no ill will in her gaze, so he found no harm in letting this happen.

As the wolf beastman put her hand on his head, her body tensed up as she began sweating and breathing a bit heavily, her eyes glazed over as they became sharp like those of a wolf.

…

……

…

In Leona’s beastman instinct mindscape, she found herself standing in a meadow with flat to rolling hills. The sky above was hard to see, but it looked to be in a twilight, with the sun and moon seen on opposite horizons. Surrounding her was a dense blanket of fog, obscuring most of her view.

Before she knew it, she looked towards the sky, and saw a full moon. Except it wasn’t. It was the eye of a gargantuan beast standing not too far away from her. The iridescent blue iris emitted a pale light. As she focused on her, all the hairs on her body stood on end, her instincts screaming at her that she would die in an instant if the beast so chose to.

As her eyes focused, the fog shook slightly and separated, allowing her to see the massive beast the size of a mountain. It was a white furry beast with black stripes. A white tiger. Or more specifically, the Byakko. And from the look in its sharp gaze, it was getting frustrated and angry. As it took a step to turn towards her, the ground shook her to the ground.

White teeth were bared at her, a low growl as if thunder had descended on her entire being. Shaking and scared, she closed her eyes, covering her face, all her battle prowess gone, turning her back into just a girl.

With her arms in front of her face, awaiting her death, she heard only silence. Opening her eyes, the large Byakko had suddenly calmed down, and was looking at her shoulder. Directing her eyesight there, she saw a small feline.

Its presence was so thin that it was as if it never existed. Even its form would have been invisible to her had she not known the beast had been looking at it. That was how thin, how weak it seemed. And yet as it turned its golden cat eyes to her, the Lynx emitted such a feeling as if it was seeing her entire being.

Coming to rest on her lap, the Lynx looked back at the beast which was now laying down, staring at the sun on the horizon. When Leona looked at its face, she felt her heart beginning to break. The emotions she could feel were… crushing.

Loneliness, enough to paint the sky black. Loss that broke her heart. Hardship that would break her back. She felt that the Byakko was lost, forever trapped in this fog, never finding its way, suffering over and over without escape. And even a feeling of guilt and shame towards the Lynx sitting in her lap. The Byakko felt… incomplete.

Looking at the feline, she felt as if it was the only thing keeping the Byakko from giving up. Coming to this realization, she went to stroke its head, before her senses brought her back to reality.

…

……

…

Wordlessly, Leona looked into the distance, her entire body relaxing again. She stood up and tried her best to hold herself together without looking at the youth. Sitting back down with Therese in between her and Hiro, she put her head on the counter so that her face couldn’t be seen.

Silently, a few tears leaked out.

Therese, understanding what she had just seen, stroked her back to help her calm down. In all honesty, she also felt like doing the same, but she knew better than to show something so unsightly. Such was the power behind the vision she had seen.

Among all of the people she had touched, this youth’s was the strongest presence, and the most vivid and clearest of visions she had experienced. She didn’t know what the youth had experienced or been through, but what she could interpret from what she had seen… no, she didn’t want to linger on it.

After a few minutes, Leona had regained herself and wiped her eyes, and they all resumed eating. Hiro seemed nonchalant and carried on as if nothing happened, despite sensing the fluctuations in the inexperienced Leona’s emotions. Therese ate silently, Leona did her best to eat despite losing her appetite, and Syldis seemed confused at what had transpired.