I plan on finishing this arc with the next chapter being the last.

I also plan on making Arcs usually up to 5 or ten chapters long.

This Arc is called the 'Rise of a Hero' Arc.

Chapter 9, A Request from an Ally

Kingdom of Ingrassia, Light Estate

Sivert removed his hood and his helmet after, placing it on the white small round table in front of him. He sat down on his couch, his teacher sitting next to him. "Thank you for listening me out, Sir Light." His good friend Lockwood bowed before sitting down on the couch opposite of him.

"Of course, so what's wrong with your Grandson?" Sivert asked him.

Lockwood cleared his throat. "Young Jamie has looked up to you as a Hero. He's always wanted to be one, so when he was old enough I gave him permission to join the Western Holy Church and try to rise up the ranks and become strong."

Sivert nodded, "But I fear he might've been driven off course by a cult of some sort." The Hunter titled his head in slight confusion,.

"He told me about them. This cult are a group of A+ adventurers who worship some god. They strive to be stronger and be the Hero's of Humanity. I believe that is how he was convinced to join them." Lockwood interlaced the fingers of his hands together and leaned forward. His face was full of despair and worry.

"I immediately tried to bring him back on course to his real dream but he failed to listen and ran away a week ago. I tried everything to Hiring adventurers and requesting Paladins to help search for him but not even the mighty Templar Knights of the Holy church were able to find my boy."

Lockwood started to shed small tears, "So please, Sir Light, the Monster Slayer. One of the Strongest Champions of Ingrassia. The Lockwood Family's Hero. Help find my boy." The old man got down and prostrated before Sivert.

The Hunter smiled, "I'll help. There's no payment required either." He held up the palm of his right hand to halt Lockwood's protest on wanting to pay him. "Do you know the name of this group and where they might be?"

He asked Lockwood, "They are the Sons of Veldt like I recently told you. Where they are, I do not know. But record of their existence shows that they are a demon affiliated group."

Sivert caressed his chin as he began to think of a plan. He had no leads.. So this could be hard. "Alright, I'll do my best in bringing your Grandson back home safely." The Hunter stood up and held out his hand to Lockwood.

The old man began to cry and grabbed Sivert's hand with both of his. Gripping it tightly. "Now, how about we get you something to drink as Sivert here begins his Investigation."

Shizue stood up from her seat and gently grabbed Lockwood's hand. "Yes, please.." she slowly led the Noble out the room before giving Sivert a smile. It was a sign of telling him good luck.

Sivert grabbed his helmet from the table in front of him and placed it over his head. He put the hood of his cloak over his helmet and walked out the room.

Kingdom of Ingrassia, Inner Kingdom

Sivert searched for leads everywhere! He asked some friends of his if they heard anything about this cult and even some powerful allies such as Prince Elric of Ingrassia or famous merchants from all around even from the Eastern Empire.

It's already been a day and he couldn't find a single lead!

While he didn't want to take a break and continue looking for the boy, Aria forced him to check out an expensive bar and relax. So while he's there he can think about his next move over a nice glass of wine.

Sivert didn't have his armor on but he did have his Ace holstered on his right leg. He wore one of his expensive outfits, a white long sleeved dress shirt with a scarlet paisley vest and black dress pants along with his black dress boots and an expensive golden watch on his right arm.

Usually the Hunter wouldn't go to places like this but since he was keen on spending a lot of money. He agreed.

He looked up at the large building, it was currently late at night. The lights were on and there were very few people who entered and exited. Sivert walked over to the building and opened the door, entering.

He let the door close behind him, Sivert was greeted by a waitress wearing a nice suit. She had shoulder length black hair and blue eyes. "Welcome is it just for one?" she asked him.

The Hunter gave her a small nod and the women bowed. She gestured him to follow her, the women led him through the building. It was very fancy for Sivert's liking..

The red carpet and golden walls made him a little uncomfortable. It just didn't feel right being here, he only hoped this place would take a portion out of his cash.

The women led him inside a large room, it was the bar. It was very open and large with many tables and booths.

There were a few other customers inside wearing fancy suits or other outfits.

But..

Sivert stopped in his tracks when he noticed the beautiful women in dresses and revealing clothing walking around. "Aria.." he whispered in slight anger. His ghost only snickered quietly.

This was all part of her plan of getting him to 'relax', but he did not panic. All he had to do was avoid the women and enjoy a nice cold drink. "Is something wrong, Sir?" the waitress that led him inside asked.

"No, sorry." She only nodded and led him to a booth. Sivert scoot in towards the middle and sat down, "What would you like to drink?" the waitress asked while bowing.

"Um.. can I have some champagne?" Sivert asked with a small smile. He didn't really drink alcohol a lot. So he didn't know what to get, and only guessed. "As you wish."

The waitress walked away leaving him alone. Sivert sighed in relief, he scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment. He placed both his arms on the golden round table in front of him and relaxed.

The waitress came back a few minutes later with a large glass of red champagne. Sivert didn't know it'd be this big.. she placed it on the table. "Enjoy." She said before bowing and leaving.

The Hunter sweat dropped a little, he grabbed the glass carefully with two hands and took a sip. "!" it was surprisingly good! He might become an alcoholic now if it tasted this good!

He took a few more sips and placed the glass gently back on the table. Sivert leaned back on the comfortable seat and looked up at the nice ceiling. He didn't know what to do..

How was he going to find this kid.. "Excuse me." Sivert looked back down. Standing in front of his table was a dark elf with black hair and brown eyes. She wore quite the revealing outfit with the color red.

She had all sorts of jewelry on her, "I couldn't help but noticed you are stressed. Mind if I help?" she asked with a gentle smile. Sivert was surprised she knew but also a little suspicious of her.

"Um. Sure.." the elf continued to smile, she scooted in his booth and sat next to Sivert. He noticed her carrying some sort of glass ball in her hand which she placed on her lap.

"So, Mister Hero. What is troubling you?" she leaned closer to him and asked.

The Hunter was confused.. "Hero?" the dark elf nodded. "Of course. Have you not noticed the attention of elemental spirits your drawing?" he shook his head slowly not understanding what she meant.

"It's all around you. Your like a shining light, it's even attracting my spirit." The elf said with a small giggle afterwards. "But, why does mean I'm a Hero?" Sivert asked, still not getting it.

"It's very rare for someone to attract this many elemental spirits, it's said only Hero's can attract this many." She placed a finger on his forehead. In an instant, Sivert was taken back from the amount of glowing lights around him.

They were all sorts of different colors. "I didn't even notice them.." he whispered in amazement. The elementals floated around him, there had to be at least twenty or even more!

"Their all lowing ranking spirits though. While it may sound rude, you can just ignore them they'll eventually leave you alone." The elf placed a hand on his shoulder. "So, may I ask what is stressing you out?"

Sivert cleared his throat and focused his attention away from the floating elementals and back to her. "I'm looking for a missing boy. He was taken in by a Demon worshipping cult, but I can't find any leads on where they could be."

Usually the Hunter wouldn't give out information like this, but this elf seemed extremely nice and caring. Even mentioning the many spirits floating around him.

"Ah, the Hero cannot find the one he's supposed to save. Well, allow me to help." The elf removed her hand from his shoulder and scooted closer to Sivert. She placed both her hands on the glass ball she carried.

"What is this boys name?" The elf asked him, "It's Jamie Lockwood.." her eyes widened in slight surprise. "Is he perhaps the grandson of a powerful Noble?" Sivert gave her a light nod. Confirming her question.

"I see. Give me a minute." She lifted her hands and moved them slowly over the glass ball. Suddenly the ball glowed and revealed the young boy he was looking for, standing amongst a line of other young men while wearing a dark cloak.

"How-" Sivert had no words he couldn't even fully speak! "Spirit magic, I'm what most call a fortune teller." She said and giggled from his reaction. "Um is it possible to locate where he's at?" he asked in slight desperation.

"Of course." The fortune teller placed a finger on the glass ball. The image changed and revealed a large, abandoned fortress within a dark forest.

"The Black Forest.. it is rumored that those who enter do not come out the same." The Elf's kind voice changed to a low ominous one. Sivert focused his eyes on the forest around the Fortress.

He was making use of this magic by marking landmarks he'd remember. "Thank you. How can I repay you back?" Sivert asked. The Elf smiled, "You can by coming back here once your done and spending some time with this lonely elf."

She leaned on the Hunter, Sivert was attracted by her smell. She smelt like flowers.. it captured his mind. "Alright, I will." He said before standing up scooting out the booth.

Before he could walk away, the fortune teller grabbed his hand. "Mister Hero, come back alive. You may have saw the spirits around you, but you do not hear the Spirit Queen's call for you."

She pulled him in closer, leaning her head closer to his ear. "You are a Chosen Hero, possibly the Last. Come back to me and I will help guide you to the dwelling of the Spirits."

The Elf whispered. Sivert didn't respond, he was to surprised from her words. "I also find you to very handsome. Just like the many other elves staring at you right now." She nibbled on his ear.

Sivert blushed in embarrassment and it got worse once he noticed a few other elves staring at him. "Us elves have spirit blood in us. So you know what that means, correct?" She whispered and blew in his ear. Of course he knew what it meant! He didn't only attract spirits but also elves!

The thought of many elves surrounding him made his body shiver a little. "Be safe now." She gave him a small kiss on the cheek and walked away with her magical glass ball. Sivert used this chance and ran out before he drew more attention.

He almost ran past the waitress from earlier and quickly stopped in his tracks. He pulled out ten gold coins from his pocket and handed them to her. "Thank you." Sivert said with a smile and ran out.

The waitress was shocked from the amount of money she handed him!

Two Days Later, The Black Forest, North of Ingrassia

Sivert stood on a large branch of a tree, covered with large dark green leaves which was good for hiding his presence due to his dark armor. It was night.

He searched for hours finally finding the Fortress,

He was currently looking through the scope of his Adored Sniper Rifle. Sivert zoomed him on the Fortress, there were a few men in dark robes at the front entrance. This was troubling..

He didn't even know how many people were inside, he counted 3 men guarding the entrance and ten more men on the walls of the Fortress. "Tch." Sivert wrapped the leather strap of his rifle around his back.

The Hunter hopped off the tree and landed silently on the grass, he quietly made way for the walls and avoided the eyes of the guards. Sivert placed a hand on one of his knives but immediately drew it away.

"No killing…" he whispered to himself. He jumped up twice and climbed up the wall. Sivert landed quietly on the curve, he slowly walked up behind one of the guards and dropped a chop on the back of their head with his hand. Knocking them out.

"Wow.. I really have a lot of strength.." he whispered with an amazed expression under his helmet.

Sivert gently laid the body on the curve and went to take out the other guards.

Quietly and undetected the Hunter knocked out every guard on the wall.

He looked down at the large building in the center of the fort. "He has to be in there…" Sivert whispered, he hopped down from the walls and landed on the stone floor silently.

Sivert looked up at the large building. It was a tower.. he triple jumped into the air and climbed up the stone walls of the building. Making his way to a large window, He took a quick peek through a broken crack, no one was inside.

He opened the window and hopped inside, quietly. Sivert looked around him. "This must be some sort of office.." it was very decorated. With lots of gold coins and expensive weapons on the ground. Who'd just leave expensive items everywhere?!

There were also a lot of drawings of some women in a maid outfit. They weren't very well drawn in his eyes.

Sivert walked over to the door in the corner of the room. He slowly opened and took a peek outside the room.

Outside the room was a large hallway with many other doors. Sivert walked out the room and closed the door silently. He walked down the hallway and heard voices as he did.

There was a small crack on the wooden floor he stood on which caught the attention his eyes. Sivert crouched down all the way and took a peek.

Below him were at least half a hundred men in black robes sitting together in the formation of a large circle. In the middle was one man who showed his face, it was an old man with a bald head and white beard.

Sivert looked around for Jamie but every single person sitting in the circle had hoods on. He couldn't see any of their faces, "Oh this is very risky.. but perhaps it just might be easier then sneaking around."

The Brave Hunter took a deep breath and stood up. He placed his foot on the crack of the wooden floor, as he slowly put more pressure onto his foot he could see the crack opening a little larger the more he pushed his foot in.

Without thinking any further, Sivert stomped his foot onto the crack breaking the wooden floor below him and causing him to fall down.

He landed behind the Large circle of cultist, the old man in the center looked at Sivert with many others doing the same. "An intruder? Tch, take him out!" the old man ordered a few cultist.

They drew short swords from underneath their robes and charged at Sivert. "Damnit.." he wasn't looking to kill anyone but he had no choice. There was to many of them!

Sivert reached for his Ace and drew it. The Hunter fan fired at the few cultist charging at him, killing them instantly.

He quickly reloaded and aimed at old man in the middle.

"I'm here for Jamie Lockwood, that's all and I'll be gone." Sivert said out loud to the cultist. The old man in the middle chuckled.

"Young Jamie is no more. He was one of the sacrifices for yesterday's ritual." Sivert's eyes widened, no.. it couldn't be true! His grip on his Ace tightened. He was too late..

"You can still meet him, if you sacrifice yourself.." the old man spread his arms in a welcoming gesture.

Sivert gripped his weapon even tighter, "Kill him!" the old man pointed at Sivert and ordered the cultist. They all stood up and pulled out different kinds of weapons.

"You bastards.." the Hunter bit his lip in anger.

"Be grateful that I will still give you quick deaths." Sivert whispered, his gun was suddenly enveloped in solar light along with his whole body.

This would be a massacre..

A Few Minutes Later

The old man fell down on his back in fear! This intruder or whoever he was wielded a weapon that left molten gold in its wake! He killed every single man sent to attack him. Their bodies were no more.

"Girard call Ayn immediately! If the Sons of Veldt are to survive we must summon our God to protect us!" The old man shouted at a cultist hiding in the back.

"But Sir! Lady Misery has forbid us from summoning her unless ordered." The man called Girard protested.

"I will take full responsibility! Just hurry! I will hold this monster off as long as I can." The old man shouted at him. Girard eventually obeyed and ran off!

The old man stood up and drew a sword. The solar flames that once enveloped Sivert were gone, he holstered his ace and pulled out a knife.

"Ha! Like a mere knife wil-" Before the old man could even finish he felt a large pain in his chest. He slowly looked down and saw a knife ignited with flames stabbed right into him!

"No-!" The old man was disintegrated and was erased from existence.

Two people ran out from a room in the back, it was the man from earlier named Girard and with him was a women in a cloak. Hiding her face. "Hurry Ayn!" Girard shouted at her.

The women nodded and clapped her hands together. A large summoning circle appeared in the middle of Sivert and the two cultist. The women collapsed after finishing her summoning, she'd be asleep for a few months after summoning something like this..

Sivert prepared for what was to come…

The magic circle glowed green and out of thin air, a beautiful women wearing a crimson maid outfit with long green curly hair and green eyes that shined like emeralds appeared. She stared at Sivert.

The Hunter could feel the power that came from this women! She was no joke! "Lady Misery! Sir Gal-" the maid held up her right hand to silence Girard.

"You are permitted to retreat. Rebuild however you can, just survive or I will not allow your soul to rest." the now named Misery told the Girard.

"Yes, my God!" the Cultist picked up his unconscious comrade and took one last glance at Sivert.

"You are a fool for coming here! Now you will deal with one of the most dangerous beings alive. The Green Demon Primordial Vert!" Girard laughed in an evil manner before running off.

Sivert mentally panicked, did he just say Primordial?!

"Sivert your no match retrea-" Before Aria could even finish, in the blink of an eye her guardian was sent flying into a wall by the Demon.

Aria didn't even see her move! She was just a blur!

Misery walked over to Sivert, who was laying on the ground. The Hunter slowly stood up and drew his Ace, before he could even fire. The gun was grabbed by the demon and crushed into small pieces right before his very eyes..

He was immediately fueled with anger but he couldn't do anything! Misery leaned down and grabbed him by the throat lifting him.

"I am impressed you were able to survive such an attack. No matter, you will die slowly." Misery tightened her grip on his throat. The Hunter pulled out a knife and ignited it with Solar flames.

He stabbed the knife in her arm, surprising the Demon. She threw Sivert at another wall before taking the knife out of her arm. "It penetrated my barrier?" Misery mumbled in slight confusion.

She shook her head and threw the knife away. The Demon turned around to finish off Sivert.

The Hunter quickly stood up and pulled out his Adored from his back, aiming it at the Demon. He fired a shot at her head but she caught the bullet with her fingers!

Sivert's eyes widened in disbelief!

She just caught a bullet!

Misery crushed the bullet with her fingers and vanished, reappearing in less than a second and sending a powerful punch that moved beyond the speed of sound towards Sivert's face.

Once again he was launched back from the sheer amount of power. His adored sniper rifle fell out of his hands and he crashed into another wall shaking the building it supported.

Misery looked down at the rifle on the ground, she stepped on the weapon crushing it in half.

Sivert watched in anger as his sniper was crushed! He once again healed whatever injuries he had and triple jumped into the air.

He was enveloped with solar flames, three knives appeared in both his hands. Before he could even launch his flaming knives at the Demon, she appeared right before him and grabbed him by the neck throwing him into the ground and interrupting his move.

The Hunter could feel almost all of his armor shatter from the amount of power!

"You are quite resilient for a mere human. Are you perhaps an enlightened?" the Demon peer asked him as she floated down onto the ground next to Sivert.

"What does it matter to you? You Bitch." Sivert slowly stood up once again despite his body's desperate attempts of trying to get him to stay down.

He unsheathed his rapier and ignited it with fire magic and solar light. He was going to use a move he copied from Shizue's Inferno flame but added a few kinks to it.

He raised his rapier, and the flames grew larger. "Light Slash!" Sivert shouted and swung his sword down. Sending a powerful wave of mixed flames towards Misery.

The Demon Peer just stood there as the flames crashed into her. Sivert watched in shock, the smoke blew away and Misery was still standing there.

"You are interesting. You use abilities that a demon such as I have no knowledge of and you reek of elemental spirits. You'll make a good test subject for my Lord."

Misery brushed a little bit of dust off her maid uniform. "You'd have to kill me for that to happen." Sivert said in a calm tone, despite his fueling rage. Misery showed no hint of emotion, still keeping a straight face.

"Oh I will if I am to provide results for my master." Misery vanished once again just as the Hunter predicted. He swung his sword blindly only for Misery to appear in front of him and caught the blade intended on cutting her head off.

In an instant his sword shattered into millions of tiny pieces catching Sivert by surprise. It was a rare grade weapon and she just broke it with her hand!

Misery raised her left hand and dropped a chop, cutting Sivert's left arm off. The Hunter tried to jump back but he was grabbed by his left leg and thrown against another wall.

The Demon Peer walked over to Sivert but stopped once she saw his left arm regenerating. "Ultra-speed regeneration? On a human?" that was mostly a skill among powerful monsters..

She shook her head again and continued to walk over to Sivert, once again he stood up and raised his fist this time.

Ready to go hand to hand with her! He doesn't know where this sudden energy he's getting is coming from because by now he should've been exhausted! Or hell even Dead!

Sivert threw a punch and Misery caught his fist, crushing it. That didn't seem to stop him though, Sivert threw a kick at the Demon hitting her in the stomach, sending her back a little luckily releasing her grip on his hand in the process.

The Hunter healed his broken hand, Sivert pulled out two knives and ignited them with solar light and magic flames. Throwing them at the Demon, Misery caught the two knives in her hand and they exploded.

By her surprise, her right hand was gone. "It.. broke through my barrier again?" Misery was amazed! Mere knives harmed her! And she even felt the pain!

Before she could heal her right hand, Sivert launched towards Misery with more solar ignited knives in his hands.

He landed in front of her and swung them, managing to get a few lucky cuts on the Demon despite her incredible super-fast speed!

Having enough of playing around, Misery swung her left arm hitting the Hunter and sending him flying back once again.

Only this time he landed on the wall he was supposed to crash in and launched himself towards her. He threw another solar ignited knife at Misery, she easily avoided it but by her surprise the knife exploded right beside her face.

Leaving a nasty scar, Misery placed her left land on the injury. "I am afraid I won't be able to run tests on you. You have desecrated the body my master has given me, this is punishable by death. Time to put an end to this." Misery healed her injuries and vanished.

Appearing in front of Sivert midair and kicking him in the face, sending his head flying back by the sudden force. Before he could even react to this attack, Misery grabbed him by the cape and span the Hunter around a few times.

Finally Throwing him full power against another wall, shaking the building. Sivert slowly stood up, there was a crack on his visor. Then by his surprise his helmet shattered, revealing his bleeding face. He looked down at his shattered helmet on the ground.

His armor was shattered, his cape was in ruins.

Sivert dropped to his knees, why? He didn't really know know.

Just seeing his helmet shatter.. shattered all hope deep within him.

His helmet was a big reminder of who he was.

What he was.

Where he came from.

Misery picked him up by his neck and slammed his against the wall over and over and over. She dropped the Hunter and placed her shoe on his head.

"I will admit, you fought well. You should be honored to earn my praise but you are not forgiven for damaging this body. So as an appreciation gift for showing me interesting powers I will grant you a quick painless death."

The Demon peer removed her shoe from his head and backed away. She held out her left hand, a black flame appeared in it. It grew larger and larger..

Sivert looked down at the stone ground. He didn't move a single muscle, "Get up Sivert!" he heard Aria shout at him.

But he did not respond..

"Sivert oh so help me traveler I will never forgive you! Stand up!" Aria shouted at him once again.

Sivert slowly looked up at Misery, her green eyes met his black ones. They stared into each other's eyes.

"You've fought stronger opponents then me.. I can see it in those eyes." The demon peer said.

The black flames in her hand vanished. "Amazing. I am most impressed." Finally she showed a hint of emotion. Misery smiled, after eons she has smiled for the first time.

She was going to have fun with him. Perhaps even make him a slave for her to learn more about the humans.

She was right.. he's fought worse before! If anything this doesn't compare to close to anything he's fought! So why wasn't he standing up?!

"Get up!" he still heard Aria shout at him.

"Tch.." Sivert balled his hands into fists, slamming his right one on the ground.

He quickly stood up and felt a new supplement of energy flow through him. "Your right.. and I managed to steal one of their weapons." Sivert told her, he held out his right hand.

Misery watched in slight confusion when a foul and powerful energy enveloped his hand and summoned a weapon similar to that of a spear.

Sivert summoned Lubrae's Ruin and as soon as he did he felt tons of Darkness energy flow through him.

He got into a stance, holding the Glaive with one hand. Orange resonance energy flowed through him.

Suddenly he dashed at Misery, catching her by surprise from his new speed! The Hunter swung his glaive and hit the Demon Peer in the side of her stomach. Breaking every magical barrier she had placed there to defend herself.

The Primordial was sent flying out the building by the power of the weapon.

"I'm glad I never got hit by this.." Sivert whispered. If it could do that much damage to a Primordial then he was for sure going to start using this weapon a lot more. Then he noticed something, the elemental spirits around him were merging with his glaive?

Empowering it with spiritual energy..

Sivert shook his head and returned his focus to the task at hand, he jumped through the hole Misery made when she was sent flying. He spotted the Demon Peer slowly standing up. Her crimson maid outfit in ruins.

Misery looked at the damage to her outfit. "You will pay for tha-" she was silenced as powerful resonance energy mixed with spirit magic, shot from Sivert's Glaive hit her in the stomach.

Sending the Primordial crashing into another wall and finally injuring her.

What the hell was this power!? Misery thought.

To be able to penetrate her barriers and eventually injure her! Even with the help of spirits this shouldn't be possible.

She couldn't help but chuckle quietly. She's never been injured like this in eons!

Misery slowly stood up and glared at the human who injured her. "It seems I will have to get serious now." She healed her injuries and replenished her barriers.

"Please do, It's been a while since I had a fight like this." Sivert said with a smile on his face. He knew he was getting a little cocky but to him, a little humor is what keeps him in the fight.

"You abomination of a human! I will make you regret looking down on me!" The Demon peer sent out a powerful wave of Demon Lord Haki to show him she wasn't lying. But that didn't change the smile on Sivert's face.

The battle between the two would be one that would go down in Human History.

End!

See you on the next chapter.

Chapter 10, The Birth of a Saint