Hey guys,
I'm really sorry for the delay.
I've just been really behind in lots of things ever since the national race back in August.
It just never stops. I thought I would be able to catch up with a lot of stuff while I was on vacation but nope.
Going back to HK after 14 years means lots of things I have to do besides attending my cousin's wedding.
I was basically out every single day so I couldn't write like how I wanted to.
I'm still not 100% back into my normal schedule yet but I'll get there eventually.
Hopefully I can get back to writing this more frequently as it's almost done!
After the Glast Heim trip and the reunion, Aki was seen hanging around Mikan and the gang a lot more.
Apparently he had finished his field assignments with his mentor so he's allowed to do as he pleases until the next mission comes up. This gives him the free time to hang out with friends and catch up with them.
Of course this does not please Natsume and Ruka at all whenever they see Mikan and Aki together.
Hotaru and Koko finds their reaction very amusing and purposely invites Aki over whenever they get the chance.
If they are chilling at Mikan's house, Natsume will refuse to join them. Instead he'll hang out in the garden by himself but keeps a watchful eye on Aki.
If they decide to go out and train, Natsume has no choice but to go along with them as Mikan will drag him along whether he likes it or not. But at least this way Mikan is never alone with Aki.
Today was one of those days where the gang is hanging around Mikan's house. As usual, Natsume was hiding in the garden, sitting in the tree pretending to read his manga.
"Hey Natsume," an annoying voice called out to him.
He looked down at the unwanted visitor in annoyance. "What do you want?" He asked rudely.
"Now that's not the way to talk to your senpai." Tsubasa chuckled.
Natsume only responded with a glare.
"Anyways, we got some news. The assassin guild has made new findings. Or actually it found us. Last week they received a request for help to investigate something about ancient prophecies by a strange man, let's call him Mr R. They thought it was suspicious so they took on the case and approached it with conscious." Natsume sat up from his lazy position and looked at Tsubasa intensely as he fill him in.
"So they actually had two things going on simultaneously. They assigned Lin, an assassin cross, to help assist him and to see if any findings would be useful to us. They assigned Kidd, another assassin, to dig up information about him and kept tabs on him. Lin's search led them to Thanatos Towers. They uncover some prophecy about the devil called Satan Morroc. When Lin went to confront him, she was led into a trap. He had set her up to be used as a sacrifice to raise Satan Morroc. This whole sacrifice business sounded like what Mother Marthilda mentioned when we rescued her." Natsume's eyes narrowed at that comment.
"You mean what they wanted to do to Aoi once I was not useful to them?" Natsume said with distaste.
"It could be a possibility. Well our assassin cross was lucky because Kidd came to the rescue just in time but the Mr R fled. But now that we found the camber they were doing sacrifices in, there are plans to have that place looked at by the high priests to see if we can recast the seals to keep Satan Morroc from rising again."
"So why are you here telling me all this?" Natsume asked.
"Well, I'm one of the people that will be going to protect the high priests. The General is asking for you to come with us to see if you recognize anything when we're there. It's just to confirm that all of these events are indeed related." Tsubasa explained.
"Hn." Natsume replied.
"We will be leaving tomorrow morning at Dawn. Come to the castle beforehand and we'll get you geared up."
Natsume nodded in reply and then Tsubasa left.
The next day, Natsume shows up bright and early at the castle. Tsubasa helps him get geared up and introduced him to the rest of the Protection team.
While the team was gearing the group of priests sent for the exorcism came.
Natsume was surprised to see Aki there as he thought the church was only sending strong, experienced high priests.
"Natsume! You're here as well!" Aki exclaimed when he saw Natsume.
"What are you doing here?" Natsume grunted out unpleasantly.
"Oh, my mentor has been assigned to this mission and he got permission to bring me along to gain the experience. The church figured it should be fairly safe so I was allowed to come along." Aki explained. "That's my mentor right there, Gin." He pointed to the high priest that seemed to be instructing the other priests.
"You must be really strong to get chosen for this mission." Aki continued to babble on.
"Hn" Natsume absent-mindly replied while he focus on packing supplies.
Once everyone was ready, the priests open up several warps and everyone went in.
Once they stepped out of the warp, warm gust of wind greeted them. They walked towards the old Morroc castle which is used as the town centre. Apparently there was an entrance to this underground facility that is accessible via one of the cells in the castle.
The army has not yet explored the place to see what this facility holds. This group is only going to the ritual room that the assassin guild has reported.
As they got closer to the room, Natsume recognized the symbol branded on various objects in the place. "Yes this is their doing alright. All their members are marked with that symbol." Natsume told Tsubasa as he pointed to the symbol on the torch that lit the hallway.
"Thanks Natsume. Did you want to leave now? We don't want to get a civilian involved more then they have to." Tsubasa asked.
"I'll stay." Natsume replied firmly.
Tsubasa nodded and continued leading the group.
The ritual room sent shivers down the spines of the group. The room was lit with red candles and the sacrificial altar is there in the middle. You could see the ground stained red with blood and the smell of blood is still there.
"Let's get to work," Gin commanded the group of priest.
The priests surrounded the altar and started to set up to perform a sealing ceremony.
Once they were ready, all the priests started to chant together. Everything was going as planned but then one of the blue gems being used started to glow red instead of blue.
One of the wizards beside Tsubasa noticed this and shouted, "Stop!! There is a bad catalyst! Someone is trying to sabotage us!"
The priests immediately stopped chanting.
Gin starts laughing, "It's too late now!" He exclaimed and grabbed the priest to his right and slashed his throat and threw him on top of the gems on the altar.
He said some words in Latin and the gems beneath the dead priest turned to dust and glowed red.
"Stop him!" Someone in the melee group yelled.
Several knights charged towards him. But before they could reach him, everyone heard a loud cracking sound. Then the altar exploded sending rocks flying in all directions inside the room.
A deep evil laugh filled the room, "It is now complete. The seals cannot hold me any longer."
Red light suddenly shone out from the hole the altar has left, "My time has come again." The voice said.
The black light mixed in with the red that was shining out from the hole. An overwhelming dark power was felt. The power had a crushing effect on everyone in the room.
"Priests, warp out!" Tsubasa commanded.
"Hurry! Now!"
The priests quickly casted warps around the room and the party got in as fast as they could.
A knight tried to grab Gin before stepping into the portal but the black light surrounded Gin just as he was about to get a hold of him.
"You have served me well."
Gin smirked, as he thought that he was being protected by his master.
"Now, serve as my strength."
Gin's smirk immediately disappeared and was replaced by a panic looked.
He felt the immense pressure around him starting to crush him.
"Master! Why?!"
"Foolish human. Now that the seals are gone, the best way you can serve me is to make me stronger. Now die."
The black light picked up Gin from his spot and sucked him into the hole.
"Noooooooooooooooo." Gin screamed as he was dragged in.
"Actually, all of you can serve as my strength!" The voice laughed manicingly and strong wind started to suck everything into the hole just like what a black hole would do.
The rest of the party hurried into the warps before they were dragged as well.
"Pity they got away. No matter, there is more blood to be spilt. Now let me get out of this hell they sealed me in."
After that the wind reversed it's direction. The air started to heat up and then a huge explosion erupted in the middle of Morroc. The explosion levelled the castle and caused lots of damage to the surrounding buildings. What use to be a castle is now just a huge gorge.
Many people were hurt or killed when the explosion happened. But before anyone could react to the explosion, Satan Morroc came out of the gorge along with his minions from the other dimension where he was sealed.
Any people in town that were further away from the explosion fled as fast as they could.
They couldn't even turn back to help those that were closer to the centre of the city as the minions went wild killing everything in sight.
There was no mercy from the minions. Any living creature in sight whether it's human or animal was killed on sight.
The only thing the people of Morroc could do was flee from the city and pray that the monsters don't follow them if they're far enough.
By this time, the General and the church has been informed of Gin's betrayal and the release of the devil. They began immediate action, rounding up as many resources as possible. Rerouting and gathering people who are off on their current mission to go and help contain Satan Morroc.
Every available hand was called, soldiers and experienced adventurers alike were gathered at Prontera castle. Everyone was brief on what was happening and then sent off to outside the town of Morroc to receive further instructions by the Majors that were already dispatched.
"Natsume, go to Mikan. Make sure she doesn't try to come. She's still too young and not yet experienced enough." Tsubasa commanded him while he resupplies himself.
Natsume nodded and ran as fast as he could to go home. On the way out he saw a shell shocked Aki sitting against the castle wall.
Natsume can hear him muttering, "This is not happening," over and over again.
"Hey, snap out of it." Natsume slapped Aki across the face.
Aki's eyes focused on Natsume, "What's happening? Where's Gin? Is this real? I'm so confused!"
"He was lying all along. Now snap out of it. Do you have a warp to Mikan's house?" Natsume asked him.
Aki nodded weakly.
"Warp me now." Natsume commanded.
Natsume stepped into the warp and pulled Aki in behind him.
"Natsume!! I've been looking for you all day!" Mikan exclaimed.
"I woke up this morning and you were gone! I thought you left me without telling me! Do you know how worried I was?" Mikan yelled at him.
"You're not my mother, I don't need to tell you when I have to go out." Natsume retorted.
"You're unbelievable." Mikan said frustratedly, "And to think I was worried about you."
"Aki?! What's wrong? Did something happen? Why does Aki look like that?" Mikan asked when she spotted Aki looking so out of it.
"Something happened to his mentor and he was there and watched it." Natsume explained.
"I need you to watch him and tell me if he does or say anything weird."
"Okay." Mikan replied and took a hold of Aki's arm and led him into the house.
Natsume never liked the idea of Aki being close to Mikan but now knowing his mentor was apart of that guild makes him even dislike this situation even more.
He doesn't know if Aki is really truly innocent in all of this or if he's just a really good actor. But if Mikan is busy watching after Aki, then she won't be able to join the battle in Morroc. He would just have to be extra watchful while Aki is around.
I actually wanted to put the battle scenes in here but I guess I'll leave that for the next chapter.
Still haven't refined those scenes.
Would you guys like a more detail battle scene? Or we don't need that much action?
Thanks for still reading this!!! I promise you I'll finish this story!!!