Re: Ascension Rebirth – Birth of the hero of flames: [Phoenix Hero]

Chapter XXI

PART ONE

[Eternum Calendar - Year 990]

“Rise, hero of flames. The lord of evil has awoken. The Lord of Rage and Vengeance calls thee to his domain.”

* * *

The golden city of Tara, also known as the city of the gods. It’s true location is kept hidden to all except the one that the almighty had deemed worthy enough to know. All the words in the world could not describe the atmosphere and transcendence of this place, but if it needed to be said then the words ‘beautiful’, ‘magnificent’, ‘otherworldly’ would come to mind, though it would not be unfair to also call this place ‘overindulged’. All of its architecture, décor and residents would be described with such words.

After all, in this city resides the highest being in existence, known only as the ‘Golden King’ that oversees this world at its peak. Of course he had a proper title, the ‘High King of Tara’, [Nodens]. Anything less would simply be an insult to his highness’ sight.

At the center of this golden and overtly lavished city were two children. In reality however, whilst they possessed the stature of children they were the furthest thing from. The first was a small girl that looked to be around ten years of age, with golden hair and golden eyes, she bested even the ambiance of the golden city with her radiance.

She was [Macha], the only daughter of the god of Tara. Whilst her appearance was that of a ten year old her true age was not, she merely altered the way she looked in order to match with the other child’s. With a devilish smile, she crept up to the other child in a seductive manner.

The second child, [Odysseus], which was only his alias, was a boy with darkened hair and sky blue eyes that seemed to pierce all with its wisdom-filled stare. With a cute and innocent seeming face, he had a devilish smile of his own that reflected the darkness in his heart.

Well that would normally have been the case but today the boy was feeling unhappy, in fact it wasn’t simply today, it had been like this since two years ago. The girl, sensing his unhappiness, tried to cheer him up, sexually if needed but he had rejected all of her advances with the excuse that he was not yet worthy of laying with the daughter of the king.

That however was nowhere near the truth. Odysseus did not care for the girl nor her position, even the king did not mind if it was him. However in the boy’s heart was only a single person worthy of his attention, however that person was said to have died by the hands of the very king Odysseus had served.

Unhappy about this fact yet not being able to do anything of this made his mood sour. However that was not the only problem.

“Hey, hey~ Odysseus, is something the matter?”

“It is nothing, princess. It just seems like nothing has been going the way I had predicted, well I suppose this is also true in nature to reality. Still, I cannot help but feel a little unhappy.”

“Hmm~ oh how about that, umm, group of people you left behind at the [Crimson Knight’s] base?”

“Hmm? Oh, the remaining family of [Morgant Fallon]. Yes, that too hasn’t been going too great as of yet. Something beyond my expectation had occurred.”

“Something unexpected? What do you mean?”

“They escaped.”

“Ho~ they escaped from that heavily guarded fortress, that’s actually pretty amazing for mere humans.”

Though the forces of heaven had highly favored the human race, in the end they had still treated them as lower forms of life and were only used as servants. If this was the treatment of the race that they had liked, then one could only speculate how horrible the treatment of the race that they did not.

Odysseus gave a small nod.

“I’ve sent out a scout team to search for them. I’m sure they would be found soon but still…”

Even if they were to be found to Odysseus their only value was that they could be used has hostages against Morgant. If the all important player, Morgant was gone then naturally there was no point.

“How did they even escape to begin with?”

Macha asks. Odysseus hesitates to answer but meekly does.

“… A small miscalculation on my part… even under his eminence’s rule the lust of men is a force to be reckoned with. Well, that was merely the catalyst.”

PART TWO

The southern continent, also known as [Arune] was a land infested by harsh monsters that could even make the bravest of veteran adventurers quake in their boots. Most the continent is covered by either harsh deserts or thick jungles. Those were the only two type of environments on the continent, with no real ‘civilization’ to be found anywhere.

All attempts to colonize the lands by normal people have ended in failure, either because of economic reason or the team responsible for setting up bases were annihilated by the vile monsters that inhabited the place. The most regrettable aspect was that due to the environment untouched by any mortal hands it was deemed to be rich with natural resources and luscious lands.

However the fact that there were no signs of civilization was not entirely true, there was a small but extremely defensible fortress that served as the main base of training new recruits for the organization known as the [Crimson Knights]. Of course it was not the Crimson knights themselves managed to clear out the monsters and erect their base, it was with the help of the heaven forces belonging to Nodens.

With their help the monsters were easily cut down and an extremely sturdy base was established. At the order of Odysseus, the remnants of the Fallon family were to be transported and kept their under confinement, but due to the sheer distance from North Ariadyne to the Southern continent of Arune, it took slightly over 2 years to arrive there.

Upon arrival they were immediately thrown into confinement with the barest minimum of nourishment to go by. It was to the point that the food they had received during the travel to the place was far better than what they had gotten after arrival. Due to the rather frightening ambiance of the confinement they were placed in, [Ada Fallon], the youngest child of the Fallon family started to cry out.

[Rio Fallon] did everything in her power to quiet the crying baby.

“There, there. It’s okay Ada… everything will be fine. Mama is here with you.”

She tightly embraced the crying baby, eventually Ada fell asleep. [Lena] and [Lina] were also fairly frightened and stuck close by their mistress. As a family placed in such horrible situation this was the best thing that they could do. Such days continued on for a few months, other than harsh treatment and uncouth environment there were no big scale trouble.

It was only a few days after that a problem occurred. Due to the nature of the fortress, most of its inhabitants were fresh recruits, more specifically men who were undergoing harsh combat training. Especially when surrounded by the deadly environment, the tension between the recruits skyrocketed and they needed find a way to vent their stress.

Though Odysseus had ordered the one in charge of the base to not touch a single hair on the captives of the Fallon family, the commander did not share the same view. The men were getting exceedingly frustrated, even the commander himself felt the same way. The base’s commander merely thought Odysseus to be an oblivious and ignorant child and decided to sate their frustrations by ‘attacking’ the women.

It was then it happened.

As the women’s virtue were about to violated a single beam of light that fell upon the women of the Fallon family, protecting them. Unsure as to what kind of light it was, the men, frightened by its sudden appearance did not dare draw close.

The person at the center of the light was Lina. However, as the light fell on her, Lina’s expression changed; her demeanor, her atmosphere, her posture, they all carried an air of elegance. Her mistress Rio and her younger sister Lena watched in awe as the blue light circled around her.

As thought it was a gift from the heavens themselves, a single blade fell from the sky and lied before Lina. With a strange, oriental design, the black and blue blade had mysterious carvings engraved on them.

“To survive, you must take on the burden of the cursed blade: [Muramasa].”

It was voice that Lina had known before, a friendly but stern voice. The voice of [Sebastian], a fellow servant of the Fallon house that was slain in battle. Prior to this Lina had been certain of his fate but now she was unsure.

“Sebastian…?”

Lina uttered under her breath.

“Merely a remnant of his memories; a message left to you for when the situation became dire.”

“When did you… ?”

“It was during the time I had been controlled and stabbed you. I left this message within you in hopes that you would survive.”

“I see… so you’re really…”

A single tear fell from Lina’s expressionless face.

“Unfortunately if this message is playing then it is so. I am sorry. However since this message is playing that means the situation you are in had become dire.”

Lina observed the situation emotionlessly, as though she was merely a third party looking in. Her unnatural, near zen-like state could be attributed to Sebastian’s calming aura that was surrounding her in the form of the blue light. She reached out and grabbed tightly onto the hilt of the cursed sword.

Lina struck into an attack stance with blade forward and ready to mercilessly cut down anyone who dared to touch her beloved family. Her happiness may have been destroyed, the place that she loved may have been razed to the ground and the person she loved most may have been killed. However, she wasn’t going to sit by idle and watch her remaining family be ravaged as well.

“I will not let you take a single step forward. I will protect everyone.”

The light had subsided but Lina’s calm demeanor did not, allowing her, a person with zero combat experience and zero experience in killing other to strike brutally. The men noticing the absence of the protective light smirked as they breathed a breath of relief.

The first man stepped forward, disregarding Lina’s warnings. With his weapons drawn and underestimating Lina’s non-existent skill the man stepped into Lina’s striking distance and as he did his head flew off before he even realized it had detached from his body. The man’s body still continued to move thinking it was fine but after a few more steps it fell down noticing that it had already died.

Such blades would normally weigh around 2 kg, however the cursed blade was twice as heavy at 4 kg. Though not an outlandish weight, with the slender arms of a maid it would be fairly difficult to swing it around skilfully. However, Lina was guided by the spirit of her former colleague’s skill.

Seeing this horrifying sight, the other men understood the gravity of the situation and also drew their weapons and positioned into a stance.

Once again, two men stepped forwards with a defensive posture but Lina managed to find their weak spots and slashed at them, killing them both with a single strike. However another man from the distance took advantage of this situation to strike at Lina using ranged [ice] magic.

Although Lina had access to Sebastian’s skill, they were still insufficient to stave off magical attacks. In the end Lina had no combat experience or intuition to dodge accordingly. Before the [ice bullet] spell could hit Lina, a small magical barrier intercepted the attack.

“Don’t go discounting me. It’s been many years but I was still a [Praetorian Knight].”

It was Rio, though her skills had rusted over time, there was once a time she was known as a genius magician. With Lina at the front and Rio supporting from behind they were able to annihilate half of the fortress’ soldiers and successfully escaping into the dangerous forests of Arune.

Later on, this information was passed onto Odysseus.

PART THREE

“I should’ve known. It was at that time when I made that butler attack the maid.”

Odysseus said dejectedly.

“Hmm~ for humans they’re pretty strong, to have wiped half of that base.”

Macha said as though she was actually happy of the events that took place. In truth she did care a single ounce about what happened to the men at the base, she only viewed this incident as a sort of entertainment.

“Wait, if this all happened in Arune, how did you receive the message of it so fast? Weren’t you officially supposed to be in North Ariadyne? Don’t tell me you let a human through the portal?”

“I apologize for bringing the unworthy to this place, but please keep it a secret from his eminence. I simply felt that it was much more convenient to use it.”

“Well I don’t particularly care but father would indeed get more than a little angry at you. Very well then I shall keep it a secret, but you’ll have to owe me a favor later on.”

As Macha gave out a devious smile Odysseus felt an unpleasant aura course through his body. It surely couldn’t have been a good omen.

“Then, Princess Macha, allow me to head back to my quarters. I’ve been feeling a little light headed recently.”

“Ah~ okay… take care then.”

Macha reluctantly let Odysseus return.

* * *

As night had fallen in Tara a single foreign presence could be felt moving about. A young woman wearing a cloak made of black flame and hair that was not only the color of flames but also moved around as though it was fire itself. Small white orbs surrounded slowly orbited around her as they illuminated her path.

At frightening speeds it moved around the golden city that was blanketed in darkness in search of a single person. Shifting with the darkness cast by the buildings, the young woman finally found the place she was looking for. She stood in front of a large ornate door and slowly opened them. Inside was a large interior with many lavish decorations and at the end of the room was a large king sized bed. Sleeping within was Odysseus.

The young woman reached out to awaken him but Odysseus intercepted and grabbed her arm; he had already been awake from the start. He had already realized the presence of someone in his room; cast out in every inch of the room were near microscope threads that would break if someone touched them but the person wouldn’t notice it. It was a sort of alarm system that alerted Odysseus, and using it he was able to see notice the young woman’s arrival.

“You know, I’ve not been feeling too well these days so I don’t feel like playing around right now. I will spare you only a bit of my patience so make it good or else I’ll have to deem you as a trespasser and break this arm for intrusion.”

The young woman was taken aback, following a gulping sound she opened her mouth to introduce herself.

“I- I am [Fifth Bright], a [Fire Vampire] and high priestess of the Lord of Rage and Vengeance, [Cthugha]. If it more convenient for you, you may call me simply as [Bright].”

Odysseus clicked his tongue in mild annoyance. ‘Cthugha, the deity of fire, the living flames from the lovecraftian mythos. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised since I’m living under the rule of a Celtic deity but still…’ he thought to himself.

“I don’t care about what to call you, tell me why you are here.”

“I- I was sent to guide you to the domain of Lord Cthugha as he has summoned you.”

“And why does he want to summon me?”

“A great evil has awoken; Lord Cthugha’s greatest rival, the Lord of Dread and Malice, and Lord Cthugha has chosen you to become his champion. It is a great hono-“

Cutting off Bright, Odysseus raised his voice.

“Haa?! ‘Great honor’? Did you forget where you were? This is Tara, the city of the high god and I’m working directly under him, but you wish me to just leave this place and work for another deity? Forget it, Nodens may be overlooking some of my lesser selfish actions but he isn’t the kind of person who would tolerate betrayal. You think I’d live to be Cthugha’s champion if I just left right now?”

“B- but at the very least, please visit Lord Cthugha! He is dying and saw only you to be fit as his successor!”

“Forget it, I’ve no interest in being the successor or servant of some eldritch abomination.”

“It seems Lord Cthugha was right about you being stubborn.”

“What’s this now?”

“Lord Cthugha is a mighty and wise being. He has seen deep into your heart and have acknowledged the great thirst for vengeance against a certain man. He has told me to use this as bait to draw your attention towards us.”

Odysseus sighed.

“… You know normally you’re not supposed to reveal the fact that it was a bait, and for some wise and mighty being he sure doesn’t understand my heart that he has so deeply seen into. Vengeance? No, what I wanted was something different; acknowledgement, but it’s all useless now if the target is dead.”

“T- that may not be so!”

Odysseus’ ears twitched at the sudden denial of his beloved devil’s death.

“What did you say? Did you say that he wasn’t dead?”

“T- that, if you wish to know the answer to that, you’ll have to ask Lord Cthugha himself!”

“Tsk, you know you’re not convincing anyone with that taunt, but well it is true that I’ve been feeling a little depressed about that fact for a while now and just about any information about the chances of him being alive is worth my time. Fine, then where is this ‘Lord Cthugha’?”

“He resides on the lowest floor of the dungeon in Arune. It is not too far from the base of operation of the humans organization, the Crimson Knights.”

“Hmm~ is that so? Well, if that’s the case I might as well go then. I did have some business to attend in Arune as well. So I just have to get to the lowest floor of the dungeon?”

“Yes, but you will have to fight your way through.”

“Haa? He’s the one who summoned me and he wants me to clear a dungeon? Don’t give me that crap.”

“Lord Cthugha wishes to test your mettle and resourcefulness.”

“Tsk, these deities, so high up on their horse and looking down on me. Fine whatever, I’ll clear that dungeon in a single day.”

“Then since you have decided to accept I shall give you this.”

Bright hands over a small darkly tinted circle mirror that fit on the small hands of Odysseus.

“This is?”

“[The Dark Mirror], my real body. Since you have decided to accept Lord Cthugha’s call I too have decided to become your servant hence forth.”

Odysseus examined the small tinted mirror.

[Dark Mirror]

+[20 Agility]

+[13 Dexterity]

“It’s not a bad item. I will be holding onto it then.”

“Yes, please do.”

Bright says as she disappears in the same manner fire would when it ceased burning.

PART FOUR

“This is the place?”

Said a tall, bulky figure. His hair had greyed out from age but his body was extremely beefed up to extraordinary levels. His arms were size of logs and figure made even warriors from the [Titan] race look like children. We was adorned in great silver armor but even through the plate metals that covered his body, the pressure from his figure alone could make everyone steer clear from his path.

He was the War God - [Dagda]. He spoke asked as though he was unconvinced that this was the right place.

“Hmm~ this place doesn’t really look like much, are you sure some fire god is living here?”

To his side was a small girl, Macha.

“I am positive that this is the place, princess.”

Odysseus took out a small greyed out mirror as though he was asking for its confirmation. A small flash shined through acting as if it was confirming that this was the place.

The place that they had arrived at was a moderately sized stone tower. It reached up about 5 or 6 floors and the diameter of the interior only seemed to be of about 30 meters. On the outside walls there were strange engravings but most of them were covered in moss and damage over time. There were various pillars surrounding the place, with engravings and markings of their own but other than for decoration’s sake it seemed like they served no real purpose.

Other than those points there was nothing that stood out to the three that had gathered in hopes of conquering the dungeon of a ‘fire god’. In fact this was extremely disappointing considering the grand title of the being that lived here, even Odysseus himself was a little discontent at what he saw.

They lined up in front of a large stone door that was of a slightly different shade to denote its peculiarity and be distinguished as the entrance.

“I guess this is the entrance.”

Macha commented on the obvious.

“I guess it is. Shall we enter?”

Odysseus asked with a half-hearted tone.

Upon entry, it was a lot different than what the trio had expected. They merely expected some monsters and stairs but what they were taken to was a place that resembled the surface of a barren moon. Nothing but grey dust in the air and the skies were darkened out with only the light of the stars. There was a near infinite expanse of grey dirt in every direction.

Though it wasn’t as though it was truly outer space, they were still able to breathe.

“Well, this certainly is much more impressive than what was shown outside. I’ve never seen a dungeon like this, but with no stairs or any kind of ascending or descending mechanism how do we progress through the floors?”

Macha asks excitedly. To her question Odysseus takes out the tinted mirror once more and gives it a couple of harsh stares and like before it starts to glow as though it was answering the question.

“Apparently this dungeon operates on a ‘wave’ based system where a number of enemies will spawn and to proceed through the levels we have defeat the waves that keeps getting stronger and stronger. There are 5 waves in total and the types of monsters will vary on each wave in a strengthening format. Once we defeat a wave the ambiance of this place will change slightly.”

Odysseus explained.

“I see, as expected of Odysseus! You’re so smart!”

Macha compliments as she hugs onto him tightly.

“Hee~ a straight up brawl huh? Now that’s my kind of dungeon.”

Dagda replies with a smile.

“Yes, so please go all out. Though I doubt you’d have any actual challenge since you’re a level 172.”

Odysseus says as he sits down on a small protruding rock, already having given up participating in fighting at all. Macha joins him by his side as she clings onto his right arm.

“I don’t know what you mean by that but it sounds strong!”

Dagda says as he awaits the monsters that would soon spawn.

* * *

The first wave consisted of weak fire based monsters such as [fire elementals] and [fire demons]. Overall it was an extremely weak start and Dagda almost felt insulted.

“Are they looking down on me?”

Dagda asks.

“Calm down, they’re going to get stronger as you progress, though I doubt you’d have much of a challenge even at the 10th wave.”

As they defeated the first wave, a giant red sun could be seen in the distance. The light from the sun wasn’t as bad as it should’ve been for a sun in such close proximity.

The second wave consisted of [Flame wyverns] and [Fire bats]. When they defeated the second wave, pillars of flame burst out from the floor and converted the floor from grey ashes to into black charred lands. Odysseus summoned his Colossus Puppet to avoid the heat.

The third wave consisted of [Inferno Drakes] and [Phoenixes]. After the third wave, ugly dark blotches mottled the red surface of the sun, and with a feeling of intense anger overcame the three present in the dungeon. However they were all disciplined warriors thus were able to resist the effects of the dungeon and continue on unhindered.

The fourth wave consisted of [Inferno Dragons] and [Giant flame effigies] which were basically automatons. After the collapse of the last monster on the fourth wave the skies turned from a tranquil blackness to a sinister red gas color. The grounds below them started to shake and crack open and lava flowed out from below the charred surface.

The fifth wave consisted of [Elder Liches] and [Fire vampires]. After the end of the last wave an electrical storm brewed over them; no rain, simply thunder, and the skies roared with an intense fury. After a while a large ball of flame fell down to the surface as though a meteor was striking down.

A large ball of fire appeared before them. Odysseus took a look at the tinted mirror in his hands as they flashed.

“It’s him.”

Odysseus called out. Sifting through the searing lava, Odysseus moved his colossus puppet through and stood before the ‘Lord of Rage and Revenge’. There was an intense heat coming forth the large angered flames but Odysseus only smiled back with a sinister glow.

The ball of fire slowly took a humanoid shape, it had no face aside from an open mouth as though it was describing itself as the all-consuming fire. The being of fire called out to Odysseus in a strange language that the other two could not understand - English.

“You are… [Mordred Seynt]…”

Mordred Seynt was Odysseus’ real name, though it was a name Odysseus had given up a long time ago.

“I bring you fair greetings, Lord Cthugha. Though I would prefer the name ‘Odysseus’. In any case I believe you have summoned me to your domain in search of a worthy successor, and I assure you that you have made the correct choice in seeking me.”

Odysseus enacted the conversation.

“Within you, a desire for violence, vengeance… for acknowledgement.”

“That is correct, Lord Cthugha, I had previously assumed that you did not truly understand my heart but it seems that observation was mistaken. I am thoroughly impressed by your wisdom. Now then, I believe your servant, Bright has told me of a certain piece of information concerning the person I seek out the most.”

“Morgant Fallon… He lives, as the successor to the Crawling Chaos. Evil… He must be stopped, he must be destroyed.”

At this confirmation, Odysseus’ face distorts with sheer happiness. A sinister, malicious, devious smile, one he had put all of his heart into making. For there was no information greater than this that could possibly make him happier. The one he sought out, was alive.

“I see. Yes, that man certainly is the devil incarnate and if he were to roam free with such powers there will be countless untold levels of destruction.”

“Power… I shall grant you my power… You must stop him.”

“I will accept it with grace.”

Hiding a sinister smile underneath Odysseus receives the power of the [Living Flames] and accepts his new role as the hero of flames - [Phoenix Hero].

PART FIVE

About a month had passed since escaping the fortress of the Crimson Knights. The remnants of the Fallon family had managed to only barely survive out in the wilderness through constant fighting with the local monsters. There were only extremely brief moments of rest and food was scarce as most of the vegetation that grew in these lands hadn’t been for human consumption in centuries.

“Sister… I think we should rest a bit. Mistress is feeling a bit tired, and so am I.”

Lena pleaded to her sister who walked ahead. Lina looked around to see if there were any sights of enemy monsters and gave a small nod.

“We’ll rest in that small opening over there.”

Lina pointed to a small treeless area.

Following her instructions, the party went along and rested against the walls. They took out small bottles and food to sate their hunger. The situation had seemed extremely dire, either they would eventually die from the monsters lurking the continent or they would be caught by the Crimson knights and with them being stuck on the southern continent they had no real way of crossing the sea and back to the mainland.

“Sorry… Lina, for making you do all this. Because I’m weak.”

Rio apologized with a pale face. From the start she had always had a weak constitution thus prolonged struggle through dangerous forests were catching up to her. Just as Lina was about to catch her breath she noticed a strange movement in the area around her; the presence of a person.

“Spies?!”

Lina shouted as she got up with sword in hand. The wind blew, rustling the wind as everyone became silent, letting Lina search out the presence of the spy. However what they had gotten was far more than just a simple spy, but a single boy.

Darkened black hair and a seemingly innocent face that covered a rather dark persona.

“Y- you are…”

Lina remembered the boy, how could she not? It was the boy that destroyed her entire village.

“Hee~ is it me or has your level increased? Level 52? That doesn’t sound right… Well whatever, I’m honored that you have remembered me when it is only our second meeting.”

The boy gave a sarcastic bow as his mannerisms became insultingly polite. Sensing the danger and gravity of the situation, Rio tried to stand up to fight alongside Lina but was forced to stop by Lena.

“You can’t mistress, you’re far too injured.”

“But… Lina is.”

“Don’t worry, sister is strong. She won’t lose to him, not this time.”

Lina drew her sword towards Odysseus but all she got in return was a fake smile as he scoffed at her attempts to resist. Disregarding the blade pointing at him, a few more steps were taken all without breaking the sinister smile.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am known as Odysseus, the hero of flames. I serve his eminence, the high god of Tara, Nodens. Now don’t be afraid I will promise that you will only be hurt when necessary. You are all valuable chips against that man after all.”

“Stay back, else your head will roll.”

Despite the warnings Odysseus continues to walk forward, with neither weapon nor shield in his hands he draws closer. Once he gets into striking range, without any hesitation Lina strikes directly at his neck in hopes to end it with a single blow. However to her surprise the blade phases through as though it cut through nothing.

“What?”

“[Augmentation - Aspect of the Phoenix]. Well, it used to be a different skill but it has since evolved into this. Unfortunately for you I can no longer be harmed by conventional weapons, so if you want to put even a single scratch on me you’d have to get creative.”

With a snap of Odysseus’ fingers the entire area becomes surrounded in flames, cutting off any potential retreat paths. Small humanoid figures made of flame appear and slowly creep towards the remnant of the Fallon family.

“Isn’t it cool? This skill I received from Cthugha, it’s known as [Legion]. While I don’t really want to harm you, you’ve really given me no chance so I’ll the opportunity to harm only a bit of you. So prepare yourself.”

“No! That’s enough!”

Lina shouts. The sword in Lina’s hand starts emanating a dark aura and the blue parts and engravings on the sword start to turn deathly in color. This was Sebastian’s special ability, but as the inheritor of the cursed blade Lina too was able to use it.

Lina charges out and tries to deliver another strike, but sensing that something was different from before, Odysseus moves to dodge. The sword grazes him a little but the attack did go through, as proof on his right arm was a small scratch and blood oozing from the wound.

“Whoa~ that was dangerous. Well I’ve got to give it to you for that one.”

Suddenly Lina’s vision starts to blur, and after a few seconds she falls unconscious. This was the kind of skill the [cursed blade] was, in exchange for the power to create miracles it would destroy the user.

Odysseus gave out a small sigh as he looked back at the remaining hostages.

“Like I said, you don’t have to worry. You’ll only be hurt when it is necessary…”

And once more the Fallon family has been captured.

PART SIX

Back in the golden city, a certain guest had arrived before Nodens and kneels. Silver hair, azure eyes and a fierce aura, a member of the [Therianthropic] race, more specifically the leader of a small faction of werewolves, but also one of [Astaroth’s] trusted demon general. Behind her are two more werewolves with similar features also kneeling before Nodens.

[Andras Silverfang].

Though she was to serve another master, she kneels before Nodens.

“I am grateful that you have allowed me an audience with you, your eminence. Please allow me to thank-“

Before she could continue, Nodens raises a hand to stop her.

“I do not wish to hear pleasantry from those of the demon race. You are merely here for a simple trade, are you not? Then state your business.”

“Yes, we wish to have the curse of our Lycanthropy lifted. In exchange we pledge our services as humans.”

Nodens stands from his throne and walks down the small steps and stops before Andras. Stares down at her with a dramatic smile.

“Very well, I will lift your curse. In exchange we will destroy your master. From here on out it is war with the forces of Vertloch.”