A Soul Reaping Lightbearer Chapter 3, a Bleach + Destiny Crossover fanfic

A Soul Reaping Lightbearer

I don't own Shirtaloon's work (the bulk of this work), Tite Kubo's Bleach, Bungie's Destiny lore or the ideas borrowed from Will Wight and a little taken from Naruto.

Chapter 3: Failure, Capture & Counterattack

Jason realized there were issues with his dual guns: One was that they constantly consumed a small amount of his mana to maintain themselves. Even with his mana engine ability and increased recovery of being a Lighterbearer only slowed it down to a scrawl. He'd have to keep an eye on it, especially in battle when he was actually using its abilities... actually, he'd just have Gordon warn him when his mana was getting too low to keep up Seitoshi Okami-tachi's Shikai form.

The second was that they occupied both his hands, and he'd need at least one to unlock and open the doors. Should he just lay one on the ground or toss it into his inventory. Maybe return it to its sealed form of a combat knife. Too bad the armor didn't have holsters.

That was when it hit him; he could make holsters.

Jason felt his powers, the ones he needed for the task at hand. His Siva nanites that were interwoven into his racial armor -as Gordon had explained that the Titan armor's design was based off the individual's soul- and his omniscience ability. Gordon helped him imagine the modified holsters so they could hold the odd pistols with downward curving blades at the front. With a pull on his mana and shifting of nanites the holsters appeared on his hips. The dual pistols slid in like a perfectly fitted sheath, the blades sticking out behind him by several inches, so he'd have to be careful when maneuvering about or he'd accidently stab and cut stuff.

With his hands free, he pulled out Landemere's old fashion key ring and went through them, trying to fit them into the double door's lock. It had taken a dozen different tries before he'd gotten the right one.

He then exited the room cautiously, dual guns drawn down both directions, his head swiveling in quick succession, to find himself in a mostly dark hall. A few light spots coming from sconces placed several meters apart. Upon closer inspection they turned out be lit by crystals instead of a bulb or candle. The hall stretched out in both directions with the occasional door every four or five meters.

Not sure which direction to go or where the adventurers were being held, he just moved down the hall, silently and with his senses sharp in anticipation for running into hostiles. Gordon was monitoring his tactical map and would inform him if any dots popped up. It'd save him from having to clear each room one-by-one. When he met the turn, he found stairs leading up but turned back to clear the rest of the level first before heading up.

It was back past the bend in the other direction that he came to a room of nightmares. It at first seemed to be a larder holding dried and drying meats. It'd been a while since he last ate, and his stomach had been growling. When he'd found the larder, he'd been happy about having cured meat, almost salivating at them. That was until he saw a gutted and cleaned human corpse hanging on a meat hook over a bloody drain.

Upon realizing what kind of meat it was, his stomach pushed into dry heaving. A painful endeavor as he had nothing to upchuck from his empty stomach.

Once getting control of himself he scowled deeply, forcing out through gritted teeth "These people need to die."

{One step at a time, Guardian,} Gordon reminded him. {First, we find and release the adventurers, then start killing all the blood cultists.}

"I know."

Jason was brought out of his murderous thought when a yellow dot popped up on his tactical map with Gordon's warning, {Incoming unknown normal ranked signature. One essence.}

He saw the dot moving towards his location at a casual pace and thought on what to do as he already had his soul guns aimed at the larder's entrance. One essence meant they had at most five abilities, so limited combat capability possibly none as there were utility powers, like his creation power. They could be service staff, a non-combatant with an essence to help cook or clean. After all, just because a chief had knives and was skilled in using them didn't make them fighters.

He glanced at the carnage around him and reassessed that notion. Everyone here that condoned this didn't have the safety of being a civilian normally got them. They were monsters that needed to be stopped.

Even so, the individual may have some information, like where the adventurers were and the enemy's numbers. A good questioning would require putting the fear of death into the person and he couldn't be sure if his gun would work in a magical alternate universe. That, and guns were loud, and this required stealth for the time being.

Jason reversed his right gun so that the curved energy blade was going upward and forward, like a sword. The elongated handle made sure it comfortably fit his hand even with the trigger guard below his pinky. He could channel mana into it to lengthen the blade, but the seven inches was enough to slit a throat. He then moved to the wall beside the entrance and out of sight.

Then he heard the sound of cheerful whistling. He saw a chubby, dark skinned man wearing bloody butchers clothing entering the larder. The man was wiping his hands off on his gruesome smock still whistling a tune like he was just going about another day's work.

As if he wasn't butchering people for meals.

The door closed behind him, Jason moved, slamming the butcher into some sort of stone fridge and the man's happy tune died immediately.

"What in the-"

The man's indignant voice died when Jason pressed the knife's blade against his throat, under his chin, "Scream or try and use your essence abilities and I'll slit your throat before you can utter a single syllable." The left's downward blade was pressed against his femoral artery, the barrel pointed at his groin.

The pig of a man went pale, sweating heavily as he stuttered out fearfully, "D-don't k-k-kill me. Y-you're w-with those a-adventurers, r-right? I-I can-"

His voice halted as the knife's edge dug into his throat with the tiniest bit of pressure, drawing some blood and blackish green energy started crawling underneath his skin.

"Where are you keeping them?" Jason demanded harshly, his tone icy cold.

The human butcher pointed hesitantly down the hall, "J-just down the hall, third door on the left, w-where we keep the fresh ingredients-"

The man realized his poor choice of words as both blades dug even deeper into his skin.

"I-I mean... t-the... p-please don't ughkk-" his pleading was cut short as Jason slammed the blade into the filth's neck to slit it so as to go through the larynx and sever the jugulars. It'd actually been easier than his experience had told him it'd be. It was like the flesh and bone melted around the energy blade and he ended up going all the way through his neck and into the stone behind him. The monstrous butcher's wide uncomprehending eyes glazed over as his lifeblood flowed out over the black coated green energy, sizzling and eroding away to nothing. The waste of space's body fell to the floor a moment before his head followed.

You have defeated [Blood Cultist Butcher].

Jason took several seconds taking deep calming breaths, letting the rage recede. He'd taken a defenseless life and that twinged a bit of guilt from him but was quickly squashed by the fact that the man was a literal human butcher. The entire blood cult were monsters that needed to be put down like the rabid dogs they were.

He didn't even look back or bother looting the waste of flesh as he readjusted his rights hold on the pistol to use it as a gun again, walked away from the corpse and exited the nightmare larder. He moved with purpose towards the storage room that held the fresh 'ingredients'. The very thought locking his unseen scowl in place and rage burning inside, as he tightened his grip on his guns, ready to start reaping cultist lives.

First, he'd free the adventurers, hoping that meant they could fight and have them aid him in destroying the blood cult. Failing that, they could help him leave and go get the local authorities to stop them. He wasn't delusional enough to believe he could fight magical people when he'd just gotten his own powers, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

Once he got to the door, Jason saw on his tactical map that there were four yellow dots inside that Gordon commented on, {Four bronze rank essence users inside, Guardian. They might be the adventurers but could very well be cultists. Be careful.}

He holstered one gun and tried the handle to find it surprisingly unlocked and slowly turned the handle all the way, cracking it ever so slightly. He steadied himself, returning his second gun to his hand, prepared for a breaching action, and quickly kicked open the door. Fingers on the triggers and aimed at the nearest dots, he was ready to methodically gun down each target in quick succession.

That action quickly proved unnecessary upon seeing what laid before him. There were cages that were lined across the walls. Large ones that could fit bears on his right and smaller ones the size of dog cages on a dirt floor. The roof and walls were rough timber, and there was a pervasive smell of damp earth -or at least he assumed as much as smell was blocked by his helmet. Four of the cages in the cellar contained a person. The smaller ones had a black guy and two white girls in them.

The last one was in one of the bigger cages with thicker bars and drew his attention the most. Inside was an impossibly hairy man that made Jason seem short with how large he was. Though, he looked like a furry, light red anthropomorphic dog, complete with ears and muzzle.*

Jason must have been silently staring at the dog-man for a bit as he growled out, "Who're you? Hmm... that armor is conjured, not forged. So, you're an essence user, and you have a blood cult look to you... You one of them?"

"Clearly," one of the white women with long platinum blonde hair sneered, "whoever it is, is a disgusting blood cultist. Their foul, abomination of armor should make that obvious. Being conjured just means their essence abilities are just as tainted as they are."

"I'm not one of those bloody cultists," Jason stated vehemently, breaking out of the stupor of seeing a dog-man. "I actually killed two thus far and I'm here to free the captured adventurers. I'm assuming that's you lot."

"Yes, we are," the black man confirmed with an elegant, smooth and cultured voice that spoke of wealth and a high education.

"Are you a local adventurer that happened to be passing by," the other woman with strawberry blond hair asked.

"No, I'm not an adventurer," Jason replied. "I was sort of accidently summoned here and nearly eaten. It's a bit of a story really."

"One for another time," the black man cut in.

"That's right" the furry dog-man agreed. "Just hurry up and get us out of these cages. We can get the story of why you're here later, when we're not about to be sacrificed by a blood cult."

"You can't seriously be trusting this impure essence monstrosity," the platinum blonde woman spat out.

"All that matters right now is that he can get us out of these cages," the black guy chided. "Unless you have another way out, Anisa?"

"No, I don't," the newly identified Anisa conceded, "but we shouldn't consort with likes of-"

{Heads up Guardian! Incoming hostile iron rankers,} Gordon suddenly blasted into Jason's mind, his tactical map showing two red dots moving on his position fast.

He whirled around towards the cellar door he'd entered through, weapons raised and fired three rounds, back and forth from one gun to other and back as a figure appeared. The individual was covered in a hooded blood red cloak so he couldn't tell if it was male or female, but it was irrelevant as the first three black-green bullets slammed into them, two center mass and the third in the head.

The figure dropped their dagger, lips open for a shout that never came as the rounds tore through their lungs and heart. The last in the head, four times faster than the speed of sound, through their forehead, spraying grey-matter and chunks of skull out behind them.

You have defeated [Blood Cultist].

The gore coated the face of the young man behind the figure, his hood having been down. Even as the first cultist was still falling lifelessly to the ground, Jason had adjusted his aim and let out another three-round burst from his dual pistols.

Just as he squeezed the triggers a bloody mist like shield popped up between them as the man held up a raised hand, shock and fear plastered on his face. The act seemed instinctual as he just stood there, dazed.

Jason had feared the magic shield would stop his magic bullets, but they slammed through unimpeded and killed the cultist just like the first.

You have defeated [Blood Cultist].

Jason once more mentally dismissed the annoying window, idly wishing the prompts would miniaturize out of sight when in combat.

{Will do, Guardian,} Gordon spoke up. {I'll make sure any interface prompts stay out of your way going forward.}

{Huh, thanks,} Jason mentally replied. {You can hear my thoughts?}

{Of course I can. I have full access to your body and soul, which are one gestalt entity. Remember?}

"Yeah, just not a priority at the moment," Jason said aloud. "Need to hurry now. Someone must have heard all those shots and will be here soon."

He ran back into the cellar and aimed one of his weapons at the dog-man's cage while barking out an order, "Back up! We're out of time; I'm going to shoot out the lock."

The dog man was painfully wincing while holding his downcast ears as he growled out through gritted teeth, "Ow, my ears are ringing. Those strange weapons of yours are loud."

"I know," Jason clipped back. "I'm sorry but it'll go away. Now move back so I can bust you out."

"That won't work," the black man informed. "Gary's cage is made to handle his strength and would require at least a silver rank essence ability to break or a gold rank power attribute. My aura is restrained because of the suppression collar but I can still sense that you are only iron rank, right?"

Jason nodded.

"That's what I thought," he sighed. "Even our smaller cages are too much for your level."

Before Jason could argue the point, his vision shifted so that he saw an energy flowing through the entire cages.

{They are reinforced with magic of much higher quality than your capable of beating,} Gordon explained. {Even with transcendent damage as it doesn't bypass the inherent resistance of being higher rank.}

Jason sighed and relented, "Alright umm... Have you got a name? I'm Jason Asano and just thinking of you as the black guy is rude."

"Kaname Remore," the man responded.*

"G'day," Jason greeted. "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

"Jason, you don't happen to have a silver or gold ranked spirit coin, do you?"

"Hang on a sec," Jason replied, holstering his right soul gun.

There were 26 silver coins and 6 gold ones, all looted from Landemere Vane's body. He took out one of the silver ones, idly noticing how none of the adventurers were surprised by the action.

Item: [Silver Spirit Coin] (silver rank, common)

A distilled quantity of raw magic (crafting material, currency).

Effect: Used to fuel silver-rank magic items or as a ritual component.

Effect: Consume to briefly increase all attributes to silver rank.

"Oh," Jason dragged out in understanding. He had previously examined the lesser spirit coins, which didn't have an option to increase attributes. He vaguely remembered there was a strength attribute or something.

"So, I consume this to increase my attributes?" Jason asked for confirmation. "Consume, as in, eat?"

"Yes, Jason, it's very easy," Kaname answered simply. "You just put the coin in your mouth. Once you do, you'll only have a fleeting moment to break open one of the smaller cages, like mine. Gary's would require a gold ranked coin."

"So, these attributes," Jason replied, "I assume one of them is strength?"

"The power attribute increases strength," Kaname explained. "The coin will increase them all, but only for a very short time."

As Jason wondered how to remove his helmet, which automatically dematerialized, Gordon interrupted {Wait, Guardian,} forestalling his consumption of the coin. {After using a coin with more power than your body can handle, you'll be greatly weakened. I suggest you use the keys inside your inventory first. I'll highlight the one meant for the cages.}

"What are you doing?" Kaname asked upon seeing Jason return the coin to his inventory. "You'll need the coin to free us."

"I told you we can't trust him," the platinum blonde woman stated smugly.

"Actually," Jason corrected, "I think it'd be better if I just use the keys." He emphasized the point by holding up Landemere's key ring, and as Gordon said, one was highlighted in his vision.

"And where'd you get those if you're not with the blood cult?" Anisa asked as if she'd just caught him red-handed.

"Enough Anisa," Kaname barked out firmly. "He obviously got them from one the cultists he killed. Two of which we witnessed him kill. So, unless you have something useful to say, keep your mouth shut."

"You dare-"

{Incoming!} was as far as Gordon got as a sudden explosion of force slammed into Jason, a shattering sound as his shield broke, tossing him into the far wall hard, cracking his armor and bones in equal measure.

All the air had been violently forced out of his lungs, making him gasp upon rising to his hands and knees. But the gasp was quickly choked by goblets of blood spewing from his throat.

He'd managed by pure dumb luck to hold on to the key ring, but his left pistol had been somehow ripped from his hand. Glancing down at the appendage, Jason saw that his fingers were twisted and broken, the armored glove torn and chipped with bone sticking out here and there.

It had happened so fast that he hadn't even processed the pain of having his hand mangled. Looking back at where he'd stood just a moment prior, he saw an elegantly beautiful woman of similar Mediterranean looks as Landemere. Most likely his sister from the youthful, early thirties look to her.

But those were inconsequential details as he also noticed that she was holding his twin Asauchi gun, the metal warping and cracking in her vice grip. Then there was the absolute fury burning in her eyes that paired horribly with the twisted malicious smile on her face.

"Hello there, little rat," an elegant voice matching the woman's beauty but was also heavily laced with the fury of her eyes. "I found what you did to my son."

A chill unlike any he'd ever experienced before ran up his spine, completely overshadowing the fact that a man in his late twenties or early thirties was her son.

Jason knew he was going to die.

{You need to flee, Guardian,} Gordon shouted into his mind. {She's silver rank. You don't stand a chance against her.}

"There's no escaping her here," Jason stated grimly as he stood shakily, helmet rematerializing, storing the key ring and then drawing his remaining gun.

His vision was blurry, and his health icon was orange all over with a few dangerously red spots. His hand was in agony, making him grit his teeth but it also helped him focus. With only one of his dual guns, he couldn't use its powerful attack as it required both and only his transcendent soul weapon could hurt the silver ranker... or so Gordon had informed him. None of his essence abilities would do anything to her and even if he used the amplification power he'd run out of mana before getting far enough away to escape a silver ranker.

So, he did the only thing he could and raised his pistol. There was just the one reticle in his HUD this time as he aimed at the woman's face.

"Good," her grin grew even wider, splitting her face, "you know that you're cornered and like any cornered animal you'll trash and bite. But iron rank trash like you can no more hurt me than you could a god. The tyranny of rank."

Her eyes gleamed with an evil, joyous light as she gripped his pistol with both hands and tore it in two as if it were wet tissue paper. She tossed them aside as she slowly advanced on him. Jason actually screamed a little as when she tore his twin gun apart it felt like she'd ripped off a limb. The ramifications of which were concerning but he had bigger issues at the moment.

"Even so, I'll enjoy your struggles as I break you for daring to defy the Vane family."

Jason fired as fast as he could, transcendent rounds slammed into the woman's head and chest area. To her shocked pain, the rounds pierced her body, causing blood to spill from a dozen odd skin-deep little holes, and felt as if she'd been run clean through by red hot pokers. As if the small bolts hit her very soul, making her freeze up in the unfamiliarly deep, alien pain. To Jason it was surprising they were so small and shallow, like pinpricks. Most things would have holes that went clean through them the width of a finger.

He just kept pulling the trigger, as fast as he could, emptying his mana at a prodigious rate. The booming sounds of the rounds were so close and loud it sounded like a never-ending explosion. When squeezing the trigger resulted in a screen appearing to tell him that he was out of mana and couldn't maintain Seitoshi Okami-tachi's Shikai form until it recovered. The gun in his had glowed reverting into the combat knife as the broken one dissolved into black-green streams that flowed into it. He was mauling over whether to risk using his mana engine as the effects of mana exhaustion left him wavering on his feet with a splitting headache.

The woman shrouded in a blood red aura started advancing on him in a slow, measured pace. Worryingly, the small holes were healing shut at such an extreme rate that besides her torn clothes and dripples of blood, she looked unharmed.

{Into your soul vault, guardian!} Gordon shouted into his head as the Ghost activated his soul vault's ability, a Torii gate rose from the ground, leaving it unmarred. It was barely halfway up when the woman smashed through it as if walking through a cobweb.

The silver ranker had the same malicious grin on her face, though filled with fury that was clearly heard as she tisked, "Trying to portal away little rat."

He tried stabbing her in the face with combat knife in a reverse grip. Her silver rank reflexes allowed her to easily grab his enclosed fist that held the blade -wary of his weapon's transcendent damage, stopping it cold. The pressure on his hand caused the bones to crack along with the armor failing to protect them. Suddenly, the sealed form of his Seitoshi Okami-tachi disappeared from his hand, getting the silver ranker to narrow her eyes at his empty hand.

{I stored it in our soul vault. We don't want her getting it.}

Jason didn't have the time or concern to question it, he just liked the idea of getting one over on his soon-to-be killer.

Then with her raw strength, she crushed his hand with the same ease as closing her fist. Bone shattered and flesh tore as they splintered out of his skin, invoking a scream of pain from Jason, that he cut off with a grunt.

"That's it, little rodent, scream and beg," the woman gleefully chuckled.

"Go bugger yourself," Jason spat.

The woman snatched him by his throat and lifted him into the air in a blur, with the ease of holding up a glass of wine. "Tsk, tsk. That's no way to speak to nobility, commoner trash."

Her right hand was still enclosed around the mangled mess that was Jason's hand while her left was wrapped around his gargling throat. So, he tried kicking her, which resulted in more cracks in his armored boots and pain shooting up his legs. All it got out of her was another round of chiding chuckles.

"A hard learner," her eyes gleamed as she spoke in a dark voice. "Good. Let's start by removing the inappropriate attire you're wearing."

Lady Vane released his mangled left hand to proceed in ripping off his armor, like she was peeling an egg. The sounds were terrible as metal screeched in protest as she tore away handfuls at a time. She also made sure to periodically change the grip on his throat so that he struggled to breath but wouldn't pass out. It was once he was left in just his fatigues that she noticed that his broken left hand was almost completely healed, and the mangled mess of his right one was starting to resemble the vague shape of a hand.

"Oh, you have a passive healing ability," she said too cheerily. "That'll make this more fun."

Jason glared at her and tried spitting in her face, but her reflexes were beyond human capability, and she easily jerked him enough to avoid it. It was quickly followed up by a seemingly gentle slap from her prospective but ended up shattering his jaw.

"Really? How vulgar," she sneered.

Then with her free hand, she pressed into his ribs, slowly cracking them, one-by-one, eliciting gargled grunts of pain from Jason. When his right hand was restored, she started in on his fingers: bending until they snapped, yanking until they tore and hung limply from barely attached ligaments and skin.

Through the fog of pain Jason thought he heard several voices yell out curses and slurs at the woman in the attempt to remove her foul attentions away from him. His favorite was Gary's about her being a meat chugging bitch.

Despite the cruel glee the woman took at torturing him, Jason never stopped glaring at her. The fire in his eyes disturbed the woman as not many had the will to endure such things, let alone so defiantly.

That was when she ripped his pants off, giving him an appreciative once over, "Well, aren't you blessed... though, once I'm done there's not going to be anything worth using."

Jason was internally panicking but maintained his hard glare.

"Let's see. Hmm... I started with your right hand so; I'll start with the left this time," as her hand griped his left testicle she added, "If you give me that transcendent weapon I will stop here and just end your miserable, worthless life. No more pain."

Apparently, she must have noticed the nature of his weapon and wanted it for herself.

Jason stared into her cruel eyes and serpentine grin as he replied, "Shove it where the sun don't shine you sadistic cunt."

Eyes flashed with fury, but they went dangerously cold quickly, "Fine, we'll do this the hard way."

The agony of her slowly clenching her fist around his testicle until it was crushed was what got him to start openly screaming. By time she crushed his second testicle, Jason finally, blessedly fell into unconsciousness.

Cressida Vane had admittedly gone a bit overboard in torturing the iron ranker, having ripped off his genitals completely and caved in his face upon passing out. There wasn't much fun in the act when the subject wasn't screaming anymore, and he'd nearly died.

The filth deserved death, and she'd be able to loot his corpse with a harvesting ritual to get his transcendent weapon as he clearly had a storage power. She had no idea where an iron rank nobody got their hands on the extraordinarily rare, bonded item, as that was what it had to be. There was no other way an iron ranker could use a transcendent item. In all her life she'd only seen one and she'd taken it from Kaname Remore.

It wasn't a surprise that the young Remore had such a weapon -a legendary Asauchi, the masterpiece of the most renown craftsman in the history of the world: Ozmanthus Nimaiya, whose skills have made weapons from iron grade materials that could exude silver rank power- as his family was wealthy and powerful. Rumor was that their Diamond rank patriarch Roland Remore and his wife Unohana Yachiru Remore, the feared Kenpachi herself had their own Asauchi.

Once Kaname was sacrificed, she'd be able to bond with it and gain her own, unique transcendent weapon. One that was said to be able to allow anyone that has mastered it to temporarily jump up one rank for a time. Not the simple boost to attributes that last seconds like consuming a higher ranked spirit coin does, but a full rank bump that could last nearly an hour.

There was the concern that killing Remore's grandson would bring down the wrath of a Diamond ranker but there'd be no way for them to know. He'd have appeared to have died out in the desert as all witness would be silenced and the Vane family had enough influence to make sure his contract 'disappeared'. So, all they'd find was that Kaname and his team simply died due to the hazards of being adventurers.

Cressida couldn't be sure if the iron rank filth's weapon was the same, but it could be. Even so, she wanted him to suffer more, to suffer for all eternity and she had a way to do that. Her cult was set to perform a sacrificial ritual to summon and bond a Sanguine Horror, an apocalypse beast that feeds on blood.

An ideal familiar for the Blood Cult that could grow to devour all life on the planet.

All that was required for the ritual to be finished was the four live sacrifices in the sacrifice chamber out in desert far from her Estate but isolated with nothing remotely living around. They'd completed all the preparations requiring a lot of ingredients including dozens of local human lives to ready the blood pit there. These last four would give up their very souls and that was what she wanted from her son's murderer.

His soul would be destroyed, increasing the power of her family.

And who knows, maybe the transcendent weapon would survive for her to claim.

Thus, she had forced a bronze rank healing potion down what resembled his mouth to keep him from expiring right there and then. Had one of her servants bring her an iron rank suppression collar and tossed him into one of the larger cages for added measure.

His attacks had surprisingly got past her newly acquired silver rank resistances and felt like they hurt her very soul. It must have been the transcendent nature of his weapon but the gulf between silver and iron was so massive that they were just minor injuries her silver rank recovery easily healed. But they could've easily killed any iron rank being. Even some Bronze rank ones could be overwhelmed and brought down, eventually.

And in the silence of her mind, she was frightened by the pain his attacks inflicted on her soul. From everything she knew, attacking the soul was impossible and could only be impacted by extreme differences of rank. It was how most essences users that have soul scars got them; from taking damage from much higher ranked beings.

Or transcendent items created by gods.

The last thing Cressida wanted was him breaking out and escaping.

Now she rested in her dining area, drinking an expensive silver-rank wine as Dougall, the estate's gardener, gave her his report on his findings on what had happened.

"Who'd we lose, besides my son?" Cressida asked, in a controlled, elegant voice.

"Noah, Hellen and Jasper," answered the gruff male voice of Dougall.

"Shame about Noah," she tutted. "He was truly the best butcher our family has had in a long while. This iron ranker has cost us a lot."

"Yes, milady."

"His aura is stronger than a new iron-ranker's should be. With his age he most likely has most of this first two essences' abilities. Still how did someone who didn't even have a full set of essences kill Landemere?"

"It seems the young master had mostly done himself in, milady. Summoning spell gone awry, from the looks of it."

"Is that why all those little monsters are running around?"

"It would seem so, milady."

"So, whoever this is got lucky and killed my son when he was at his most vulnerable?"

"Not that lucky, milady. He met you"

"Just so, Dougall," she acknowledged. "Do we know what Landemere was trying to summon?"

"I had a bit of a potter through his notes, milady. It was one of them entities from beyond the void."

Cressida sighed deeply.

"Astral beings," she muttered unhappily. "I told that boy it would be the death of him. We're a nice, traditional blood cult family. This nonsense about ineffable ancients from outside reality was never going to work out. What did you do with Landemere's body?"

"Mulch, milady."

"You mulched my son?"

"Well, he won't be mulched yet, milady. Composting isn't a quick process. I can fetch him out from the pile if you like, but milord won't be happy. He was quite specific as to the dispensing of the body."

"I don't care what my stupid husband thinks; he married into the family. This is my manor, my family, and we do things the traditional way. Goodness knows what poor Landemere will taste like after having gone in the mulch pile."

"I'll give him a good and proper wash before I bring him into the kitchen, milady."

"Thank you, Dougall. Excellent work, as always. Now, do we know where this man came from?"

"No idea, milady. He seemed to have entered through the well entrance in the hedge maze. I was tracking his aura after killing the monster that had stolen my trowel. I still can't figure out how he got on the premises. Our contact only knew about the four bronze rankers, I'm afraid."

"Have Daniel check our arrays and see if there are any openings this intruder used to sneak onto the property," she ordered. "And press our contacts in the Adventure Society to see if they sent any iron rank adventurers out on a contract nearby."

"It will be done, my lady," Dougall bowed. "Do you want me to send him to the kitchen as well?"

"No. He killed my son; I don't want him trotting off to death with his soul intact. Put him with the others for the blood feast."

"Yes milady, although that will be one too many."

"I don't think the extra blood will be a problem."

"I was thinking about the high priest, milady. You know how he gets."

"Yes, quite right, Dougall. Very well. Pick one of the others you like and keep it for yourself."

"Very generous, milady. I'll take the elf, if milady has no objections."

"Are you sure, Dougall? Elves are quite stringy."

"Derrick was keen to try one, milady. I warned him, of course, but you know how young ones are."

"Oh, yes," she said. "They never believe you until they suffer the consequences for themselves. Just look where it got Landemere, and my daughter isn't much better. If it wasn't for the cult, I swear I never would have had children. Go fetch my idiot son's body before you take the elf. I don't want him picking up any more flavor than he already has."

"Of course, milady."

Jason found himself in yet another unfamiliar area, but unlike the hedge maze, he felt like he knew this place. Even connected to it in way that ran deeper than his connection to Gordon and his powers. As if it had been a part of him all his life and he'd only just now discovered it.

Though, the first thing he did was to quickly check his beans, gently cupping them to confirm they were whole. The sigh he let out was deep as he thoroughly examined his junk before looking around at his surroundings.

It was a large valley whose perimeter was marked by four monolithic mountains. The northern mountain was a glowing mixture of yellow, red and orange stone that radiated warmth throughout the entire valley. The western mountain was the more typical stone color but had a geyser of crystalline water that sparked with electricity constantly firing and supplying a river that ran through the entire valley. The eastern mountain was pitch-black stone covered in pale white trees topped with purple leaves and who's peak had a dark purple halo surrounding it. The southern mountain looked like it was made of black metal with red vines interwoven throughout it.

There were miles of forests with cliffs, rivers, ponds and gorges throughout the valley that radiated with vibrant life and dark deadly shadows but what caught the eye was the massive city of towering skyscrapers. Despite recognizing them as skyscrapers, their architecture was completely foreign. They were sleek metal with lines of energy flowing through them like veins or circuitry. Gardens and parks perfectly curated into the structures' roofs, balconies and domed areas.

An imposing wall surrounded the shining metal city, interposed with watchtowers heavily armed with mounted AA guns, artillery and machine gun nests.

Jason was standing on the largest tower in the middle of the city, nearly as large as the mountains. It was a massive platform the size of a stadium with an arcade for shopping but with no people and trees interspaced throughout the area. There were even stairwells and elevators leading up and down to different levels.

The sky was a blanket of starlight and massive galaxies that made the night sky bright and beautiful. But what caught his attention were the items floating amongst them, somehow visible despite their miniscule size. They had a glow that drew his attention.

"Are those really my items?"

"Yes, Guardian," Gordon's voice boomed from all around, the sky flashing with each word.

Jason whipped his head around, not seeing the small, shelled eye anywhere. "Gordon? Where are you?"

"Everywhere. I am part of your soul."

Jason looked closer, or more accurately, farther at the sky. There were parts that separated to reveal an endless void, and the sky parts were highlighted. Those parts looked like the segmented parts of Gordon's shell.

It was like the valley was inside the Ghost.

"Okay, mate," Jason replied. "Am I actually here? Because last I remembered I was having my plums crushed by a cruelly evil beauty."

"No, you are not here physically, just mentally," Gordon clarified.

"How long has it been?"

"A few hours, Guardian. I've been exceedingly busy healing the damage done to your body."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Do you know my current state outside?"

"You're mostly back to normal, but you have been collared and locked into a cage. Your powers and most of your racial abilities are being suppressed."

"Well, that's not good," Jason muttered. "What can I do?"

"With some effort, you should be able to push my physical shell out. The suppression collar is simply iron rank, a low quality one at that. With your aura power, the increase to your aura and state as a half-transcendent being, you could theoretically push back the restraining effect long enough for me to leave your body."

"Hmm..." Jason hummed in thought as he planned his next steps.

Jason was jerked back into consciousness as agony lightly flared around his face and groin. His head was filled with stabbing pain, nowhere as bad as his beans, and when he opened his eyes, everything blurred like he was under water. The only clear thing was the little silhouette showing his health, the head and privates a bright yellow that was slowly shifting towards green with every passing second.

His racial gifts as a Lightbearer working overtime to put him to rights.

Slowly, he came to something approximating his senses as the yellow turned to a solid green. There was a light source somewhere up ahead, but the light it put out was blood red. Otherwise, the tunnel was dark, but his vision power allowed him to see through it. He was in a cage, the same kind of heavy cage the dog-man had been in, with thick, heavy bars.

His cage was being rolled down a wide, stone tunnel, on some kind of moving platform. It was more like a train tunnel than a cave, with an arched roof and flat floors. There was even a rail, like for a mining cart, with his platform being pushed along it. Three more cages were being pushed the same way, one ahead and two behind.

The people pushing wore bright red robes and ugly demon masks. More of them led the way up front, carrying lanterns with stained glass that produced the ominous red light.

Jason was going through the plan he'd worked out with Gordon. A plan that hinged on him being able to force Gordon out of him. The suppression collar around his neck kept his essence abilities and some of his racial ones locked up. But he was a gestalt entity that made his aura almost physical in nature and his power more potent. A low-quality iron collar wasn't enough to fully suppress him, and he could feel it.

His racial abilities were weakened, fuzzy but accessible.

As the group continued down the tunnel, Jason looked around to see if anyone was watching him. Once the cost was clear, he huddled up and lifted his back to make a space hidden from view. Then he focused with all his might, pushing against an unseen barrier with Gordon's guidance. It was a frustrating endeavor as his head split and throbbed harder with every inch gained. It reached a new height of agony that reminded him of his nirvanic transfiguration and started to faulter. Then, with a mental pop, Gordon materialized into the little cranny he made with his body. He was able to disguise the sigh of relief as a grunt of agony as his vison once more became a kaleidoscope of colors that hurt his eyes.

That got a few vicious grins and chuckles from the sadistic cultists.

Gordon remained quiet as Jason turned his focus to controlling his Electromagnetic Sight. It felt like knives were plunged into them, but he was able to will it into the base state Gordon kept them in. Though, if he even so much as squinted, his sight would change, and he'd have to fight it back into place. Thankfully the procession took some time, giving Jason enough time to reel in his vision power. He wouldn't be using infrared or x-ray vision anytime soon, but he could see normally, with a bit more detail and crispness than most.

The long tunnel ended in a pair of enormous stone doors into which impressive but grotesque images had been carved, depicting some kind of cannibalistic orgy. Four cultists stepped forward, two to a door, grabbing the handles and pulling back until the doors swung ponderously open. When they did, red light flooded the tunnel, accompanied by an incredible heat and a bitter smell. It washed through the doors and over the group like a wave, carrying with it a coppery taste that lay thick on the tongue.

Jason just continued to stay bunched up in his cage, staying as quiet as possible. The smell reminded him of some of the worst experiences of his life throughout his military career. Nightmares come to life that exposed the cruel nature of mankind.

Whatever awaited him behind those doors wouldn't be good.

Beyond the doors was a vast, circular chamber, like a great cylinder carved straight out of solid rock. Some twenty-five meters across and at least twice as high, it was enough to boggle Jason's mind. The walls were black, like some long-dormant magma chamber, but even starting from a natural cavern it would have been a monumental labor to bring it to its current state. Flat stone slabs, carved out of the same black stone, had been inserted into the walls like pegs. They made a punishingly steep set of stairs that wound their way up to the higher parts of the chamber.

Dominating the room was a red pool of roiling, bubbling liquid, taking up almost all the floor space. It was the source of the light, along with the heat and coppery stench of blood. The center of the pool churned, as if on the point of boiling. The sound of thick, sloshing liquid echoed up through the chamber. The red light shone from deep within the pool, washing the whole chamber in red as if everything was coated in blood.

"That isn't good," Jason heard from one of the other caged people. It sounded like Kaname. The dog-man, Gary, was there in his own big cage, along with one of the two women. The other was nowhere to be seen.

One of the robed cultists bashed on the side of Kaname's cage, "I said quiet."

"Or what?" Gary grumbled. "You'll sacrifice us in your creepy ritual pit?"

The other prisoners were also dirty and ragged, but nothing like Jason. He was butt-ass naked and there was blood crusted all over him. His face was coated in blood from his, now healed, broken face and cracked skull.

Disturbingly, so was his entire pelvis area.

The rail that had carried the cages on platforms through the tunnel ended at the door. The cultists lifted the cages off, two people to each small cage, and four to the large ones. They carried them up the steep stairs, audibly straining at the effort. The dog-man's cage was the most troublesome, even with four people lugging it. The stairs wound up and around the circular wall, the group pausing after a quarter turn. They had reached a platform, set into the wall like the stairs, but much larger. It extended well over the blood pit below.

"Leave the big one first," one of the cultists said. "No point carrying the heaviest one all the way to the top."

Jason recognized the voice of the woman that had crushed him with ease and literally tore his balls off. He was never more thankful for magic healing as the pain was gone and with a thorough palming, everything was whole and where it should be.

"Thank you, milady," one of the cultists said gratefully.

Jason did not recognize the voice.

The cage carrying the big dog-man was left against the wall. Unknown cultist one and another faceless crony walked over to the edge of the platform and took up a waiting position, facing out over the pool below. The rest continued on. The stairs continued to wind upwards beyond the platform, making another quarter-turn around the room before reaching a second platform.

"Leave the other big cage," the woman ordered.

"Isn't he the one that killed the young master?" the cultist of before asked. "You don't want to save that one for last?"

"I'm not going to make you haul that thing all the way up for my own satisfaction."

"Thank you, milady."

The four cultists roughly dropped Jason's cage up against the wall. He made sure to make a groan of agony that time. Appearances were important after all. He didn't want them thinking he was up to something.

As at the first platform, two cultists took up positions at the platform's edge while the rest of the cultists with the remaining two cages resumed the climb. Jason watched as they made another quarter-turn ascent to the next platform, which hid them from sight.

Jason took a look around. The platform he was on looked like rough-hewn obsidian, shiny and dark. He had no idea how the massive stone platform had been shoved into the wall like a six-ton peg. His best guess would be on magic because... well, it was magic.

Examining the cage closer, Jason realized there even seemed to be faint traces of magical engravings on the thick metal bars. Oddly, he recognized them as reinforcing magic. The knowledge from the skill book was making itself known. It was an odd sensation, remembering something he had never learned.

He looked up at the two people standing at the edge of the platform. He couldn't tell if they were men or women in their hooded robes, but neither were paying attention to him. Instead, they were at the edge of the platform looking out. If he could escape the cage quickly enough, there was a chance to gun them both down before they could put up any resistance.

Thankfully, Gordon had explained that bonded Asauchi have a self-repair function due to it being a part of the soul. The combination of the severity of the damage and his focus and determination to heal Seitoshi Okami-tachi influences the time it takes to heal. Add in his gestalt nature and Gordon's healing power, both guns were already fully functional despite one having been torn in two.

Though, he'd have to chant his incantation to turn his sealed Asauchi from a combat knife to its dual guns. The cultists would hear that and attack him before they finished forming. So, he'd try out Thundercrash as it'd launch him at them, stunning them and take them out with the knife form. But first he had to set the stage as all hell would break loose and he would be swarmed. Worse if the silver rank mother of Landemere moved against him. He needed the bronze rank adventurers uncollared and ready to move.

Jason looked down at Gordon and gave him a nod and the Ghost moved towards his neck. Light streamed from his one robotic eye and started shifting in shape and density. It took a minute or two, possibly more before a click signaled the collar unlocking.

He quickly snapped his head at the two cultists on his platform, worried they might have heard the soft click. Thankfully, they hadn't heard it. The first step was a success as he wasn't entirely sure Gordon could have pulled it off. Now the little light had to unlock his cage, which Jason knew he could do as Gordon had access to all the items in his inventory; the key ring included.

Gordon proceeded to slip through the bars and did the same light trick as with Jason's collar, but the click was instant. Jason had removed the collar and switched it out for his bonded Asauchi in his inventory, holding it in a reverse grip in his right hand. Now, Jason just had to wait as his Ghost silently floated out of sight and down towards Gary's cage.

One by one, Gordon would free the adventurers and then they would strike.

Gary was having a bad day, an understatement if there ever was one. His entire team had been ambushed thanks to a traitor from the Church of Purity. They were captured, collared and all their gear taken. A random iron ranker, a pretty powerful one based on the strength of his aura and how easily he killed a couple of cultists, had tried to save them. His powers were strange, but essence abilities were a crap shoot that produce many weird powers. A right shame Cressida Vane had reached silver, which had been a bad turn of luck, and crushed the valiant man.

Terribly so as she'd crushed his balls and tore off his prick. Gray shivered at the memory. And now their would-be savior was set to be sacrificed in some creepy blood ritual with them.

As an adventurer he'd long gotten used to the possibility of dying. It came with the benefits of the job: power, respect, wealth and connections. He'd made a lot of coin, getting his large family full sets of essences and monster cores to get them to bronze rank. They were set for good lives. Gary could take solace in that. And that Kaname and Farrah were great friends he trusted with his life. They had a lot of fun over the years. Short his life may have been, longer than his two friends as he spent a long time at iron perfecting his smithing craft, but it had been a full one filled with laughter and adventure.

That was when some odd floating eye thing slipped into his cage. Gary wasn't worried as he'd seen many familiars, and he could tell this one was a support type. Probably recon or communication. Seeing as it looked similar to the iron ranker's armor, it must have belonged to him. Which was complexing as he'd been collared.

Before he could open his mouth to ask what the little red and black shelled eyeball wanted, it spoke in a whisper that only his superior bronze rank senses picked up, "I'm here to remove your collar. Move around so the cultists can't see your neck."

Gary grinned, his pronounced canines showing. It seemed like he might just make it out of this mess after all.

After struggling to turn just enough to hide the lock of his collar from view, his massive bulk had him squeezed tight in the cage, the eyeball had a beam come out of its odd eye and straight into the lock. Within seconds, the collar clicked open, and he removed it.

Gary was about to summon his armor and start rampaging towards his friends when a strange sight appeared in front of him.

You have received a party invite from Jason Asano.

Accept Y/N?

Those words floated in front of him, getting him to look through his periphery to see that the two robed pricks hadn't moved.

"Accept and speak with your thoughts," the familiar whispered before unlocking his cage and zipping off around the edges of the platform.

Gary mentally thought, {Yes,} then the words disappeared.

{Hey, uh, Gary, right?} the voice of the iron ranker entered his mind.

Gary had to cut off the reflexive vocal response and thought his words, {Yeah, that's me. Was that eye thing your familiar? And is this some sort of ability?}

{Yes, that was Gordon and I'm Jason by the way. In case you forgot.}

{Alright, Jason,} Gary replied. {Is there a reason you're interrupting me from killing a bunch of cultists?}

{Yeah, I think we should properly set the stage before you go on a well-deserved killing spree. My mate, Gordon will free the others the same way he did you and invite them to our party chat. That way we can coordinate our counterattack.}

{Smart,} Gary conceded. {It'll take me and my friends to handle Cressida.}

{I'm going to assume that was the bitch that tortured me,} Jason grumped.

{Yup. She's the head of the Vane Family and this branch of the blood cult. Worse yet, a silver rank essence user. Way beyond what an iron ranker like you can handle, no offense.}

{None taken,} Jason chuckled. {She did literally tear me apart... with ease.}

Kaname Remore has joined the party.

{Uhh, hello,} Kaname's rich cultured voice cut in.

{Kaname!} Gary mentally cheered.

{Ouch,} Jason flinched. {Watch your volume there, mate. It goes directly into our minds so; we can't cover our ears.}

{Sorry,} Gary apologized.

{This ability is very useful,} Kaname commented. {Now we can plan our next moves.}

{Let's hold off until the last of you joins in,} Jason suggested.

{Farrah,} Kaname informed.

{So, can the three of you really handle Cressida?} Jason asked. {Because if you can't, we can always go with escaping instead.}

{Oh, we can handle it,} Gary's growly voice stated with mirth.

{We're close to reaching silver ourselves,} Kaname explained, {and any competent team of bronze rank adventurers should be able to handle a single silver ranker. Especially one that just hit silver like Cressida.}

{A fresh rank up tends be shaky,} Gary added. {You need time to adjust to the boost to your stats and silver is an exponentially greater increase than iron to bronze.}

{Silver is when you really enter the level of true power. To go beyond the understanding of normal ranked people,} Kaname stated. {So, she'll still be hard to put down as her powers are more potent, resistances higher and much harder to kill. Even putting a sword through her brain won't be enough.}

{That's why we'll remove her head,} Gary chimed in happily. {Most things tend to die without a head.}

{On that we can agree,} Jason replied. {Just wish I could help.}

{You'll do your part,} Kaname stated firmly. {Keeping any of the weaker cultists from helping her will do us wonders.}

{Yeah,} Gary agreed. {We'll have our hands full with just killing her.}

Farrah Hurin has joined the party.

{Hmm, what a fascinating ability,} Farrah's voice joined the rest inside their heads.

With the addition of Farrah, they could plan their next moves.

Jason started, {I recommend that we move all at once, quickly disposing of the cultists on our respective platforms. Then me and Gary rush up to meet with Kaname on his platform before making our push towards the last one with Farrah. I'm assuming Cressida is there.}

{Yes, guardian,} Gordon cut in before Farrah could. {The silver ranker is on the last platform with miss Hurin and two bronze rankers.}

{Your familiar is correct,} Farrah confirmed. {One is the head priest performing the ritual and the other is Alicia Vane, Cressida's daughter.}

{Farrah, do you think you can dispatch one of the bronze rankers when we gather their attention?} Kaname asked.

{And hold off Cressida on your own,} Gary stated grimly.

{Assuming she doesn't just come crashing down on us with the fury of a hurricane the moment we act,} Jason added.

{Any one of us, not counting you, Jason, can hold her off alone for a while,} Kaname stated with absolute certainty. {That's why I want you to fall to the rear as me and Gary lead the charge.}

{Understood,} Jason agreed.

{I'll strike if I get the opening,} Farrah said simply. {I will prioritize one of the bronze rankers. If I don't, then I'll wait until you reach my platform.}

{Alright, stay in contact, indicating your success before moving up,} Kaname ordered. {On three, we move. Everyone ready?}

Kaname got a chorus of {Yes} from the rest.

{One... two... three!}

Jason wasted no time, pushing open the cage door with his left hand and conjured his armor around him at the same time. He immediately activated Thundercrash as soon as that was finished. Arc power surged through and around him, sparking off him in arcs, his knees bent and arms at his side as he was poised to pounce. The two cultists turned at the sudden noise, but Jason had already moved.

He was launched forward like he was fire out of cannon, arms out head of him as he became horizontal like he was superman flying. The world seemed to blur around him as air rushed by him and in the blink of an eye he slammed into the cultist on the right. There was a crunch, explosion of thunder and agonized screams all at once.

The robed figure he hit directly went careening over the side, cloth burning, skin singed, ribcage caved in and body spasming as they plummeted down to the blood pit below.

Jason had to shake his head at the rapid and sudden changes before turning towards the second cultist on his left. They were in a similar state as the first, just undamaged ribcage and on the ground writhing in agony.

With his left pointer finger in the ring of the knife he chanted, "Reap our prey and protect the pack, Seitoshi Okami-tachi."

The knife transformed into the energy bladed dual pistols, and he raised one to fire a black shrouded green energy round into the cultist's head, ending their life.

Minimized prompts had flashed in Jason's periphery, most likely informing him of the cultists' death.

{Clear,} Jason confirmed his kills through the party chat system.

Two more screams and plops farther down signaled that Gary disposed of his cultists in a similar manner as his own.

{Mine are dead,} Gary informed, a low, rumbling growl to his voice. {Headed up now.}

Loud metal clanking and thuds confirmed the large dog-man's accension up the stairs. Jason turned and aimed his weapons at the next set of ascending stairs in the event a cultist made their way down passed Kaname. He doubted it, but he wasn't taking any chances.

{I've finished off mine, but more are headed my way,} Kaname informed. {One bronze and two irons. Engaging.}

A clash of sounds rang up from above with flashes of light just as Gordon floated down towards him and reentered Jason. He felt the pinch in his brain as the Ghost took over handling his sight power.

{Good job, mate,} Jason said.

{Just doing my job, guardian,} Gordon responded. {It's a Ghost's responsibility to help their guardian any way we can.}

With Gordon back Jason didn't have to put so much effort in controlling his vision and moved on to the next step. Jason looked around, keeping an eye on the stairs headed up. He found some kind of ceremonial bowl built into the top of the cage. Inside was a round crystal, very dark red in color.

He picked it up.

Item: [Awakening Stone of the Feast] (unranked, common)

An awakening stone that unlocks the power of consumption (consumable, awakening stone).

Requirements: Unawakened essence ability.

Effect: Awakens an essence ability.

You have 12 unawakened essence abilities.

You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Feast]

Absorb Y/N?

He shoved the stone into his inventory and redrew his second pistol just as Gary made it to his platform.

"Let's move," Gray grumbled as he kept moving at a surprisingly fast pace. He was in armor made of thick and heavy dark steel plates held together with large bolts. Engraved into the surface were runes that looked to have been carved out with a blade, rough but radiating strength. Where the engravings dug into the dark metal, red forge light shone from within.

"After you," Jason stated as he gestured up to the next platform, which had another flash of light come from it that pressed down on his senses, screaming danger.

"We need to hurry," the large dog-man replied as he marched up the stairs. "Otherwise, Kaname will kill all the cultists before we get there."

"That would be a shame," Jason replied dryly as he followed behind the behemoth of fur and iron.

"Thanks, for freeing us," Gray said, gratefully, "You didn't have to. You could have just escaped on your own."

"I have a bad habit of trying to do the right thing, even at my own expense," Jason waved his gratitude off.

"Instincts of a hero," Gary supplied.

"I supposed I do have a bit of a hero complex, but I've learned to temper it... the hard way," Jason responded.

A flash of silvery light and a cut off scream echoed from the platform with Kaname.

"I think at this point," Gary suggested, "they may be wishing they'd just killed you outright. How did you get mixed up in this, anyway?"

"Not really the time," Jason replied sharply, ascending the stairs with a firm grip on his bladed guns, aimed and poised to fire at a moment's notice.

"Right. Good job, though."

"The kills were quick and clean, but I made too much noise," Jason replied analytically.

"Those weird, weapons of yours do make a painful amount of noise," Gary agreed.

"They're guns and well, the bullet... uh small projectile breaks the sound barrier when it moves, so it can't be helped. On the bright side, they do a crap load of damage... more so that they're magic bullets," Jason explained.

"Whatever you say," Gary laughed out as they crested the third platform, which had four dismembered cultists' bodies pooling blood onto it.

There were two bronze rankers moving up the stairs while exchanging a series of flourishing strikes that were too fast for Jason to follow. One had a chipped steel sword, a robe slashed to ribbons and was soaked in her own blood. The other had six thin silver metal arms coming out of his back, like spider limbs that ended in katana blades. Two over the shoulder, two mid back and two coming out the lower back.

This gave Jason his first clear look at Kaname: he had dark skin, long black hair that was braided and tied back in ponytail, purple goggles and was stupidly handsome with full lips and elegantly sharp facial features. He was dressed in a garment composed of a white shitagi (under clothing), a black kosode (small sleeve), a black hakama, a white hakama-himo, though it was sleeveless showing long, lithe toned muscular arms that were ideal for a swordsman, black fingerless gloves and white boots.

Kaname was roughed up and grimy from his ordeal, but otherwise unharmed. His opponent on the other hand was admittedly a beauty but was flagging with blood loss from the numerous cuts' allover her body. Just as she raised her sword a bell like sound rang out, emanating from Kaname's six sword arms, poised like scorpion stingers, her own blade ringing in response and blood splattered from new cuts that appeared on the woman.

She staggered, screaming and then, a flash of silver, a ringing of a bell and Kaname was behind her, all six blade arms piercing her body.

The woman whose beauty nearly matched Cressida's heart, brain, lungs kidney and liver were all punctured, she died instantly. She slid off Kaname's bladed arms and down to the pit below, a splash and roiling of liquid all the needed confirmation of her corpse's fate.

"You'll die in pain for that, Remore," Cressida's voice came fiercely down along with a sea of that danger sense he felt from Kaname and Gary.

{That'd be their auras,} Gordon informed him, bringing up the miniaturized prompts of him being under the influence of various auras. Two, Gary's and Kaname's were giving him boons while two, the cult leaders most likely were impeding him.

"Looks like we missed the fun part," Gary grumbled. "Still," the dog man gazed up at the last platform that radiated with the murderous silver ranker's aura, "the hard part awaits. Ready, Kaname?"

"More than ready," Kaname's voice answered with a cold resolve. "Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Go back down and guard the entrance to the chamber," Kaname ordered. "The fight ahead of us is beyond you."

"Yeah," Gary agreed, "watch our back while we put that right bitch that tortured you down for good." The dog man grinned fiercely, show his sharp canines.

Jason nodded his agreement and turned to march back down the stairs. He had no illusions at being able to do anything to Cressida after their last exchange. Besides, watching the rear might not be the most exciting of jobs but it was important. Victory was easily snatch from one's grip by an unexpected arrival of reinforcements.

Kaname watched the strange iron rank man that astonishingly had an Asauchi -a rare weapon even his family was hard pressed to get, his grandmother procuring his- that took the form of odd weapons that fired very fast and loud bolts, resolutely march back down the stairs. A useful and powerful weapon for his rank but the tyranny of rank was a large hurtle to overcome even with transcendent damage.

Especially a divide as wide as iron to silver.

It made him greatly miss his own Asauchi: Suzumushi. Like a part of him had been taken away and no matter what, he'd get it back. Without it, this fight would be harder but simple enough as Cressida was Greenstone quality.

Jason on the other hand, even with his Asauchi, had no place in the fight against the blood cult leaders and Kaname was glad the heroic man didn't argue the point. He'd met many young, talented iron rank adventurers overestimate themselves and die because of it. Somehow, Jason gave off the vibe of a seasoned adventurer despite being an iron rank essence user with most of his abilities still unawakened. He fought and killed with his weapons with a practiced ease that came with years of real combat experience.

Despite that fact, Jason knew when to step back to let others take over. Perhaps the maturity of his age and the life experiences that went with them. Then there was the oddity of his aura; not particularly powerful but it almost felt physical like his grandmother's aura.

And that was frightening prospect as the 'Kenpachi' was one of the strongest mortals in the world and an unparalleled sword master. His grandfather holding the second ranking in swordsmanship, outdone by her superior skill but kept pace with his raw power.

Kaname figured that Jason's aura came from mastering his Asauchi and reaching Bankai. But to do so when he was still iron rank, not even a full one at that was an astounding feat that Kaname couldn't completely accept. His grandmother took until silver to achieve Bankai and most others that had the fortunate luck to have an Asauchi didn't at all or well into gold -like his grandfather and father.

Honestly, the need of Jason shouldn't have been necessary in the first place. Kaname had received the best training possible, lauded for his genius and ability back in his family's academy. Told he'd be a great adventurer his whole life. He was well on his way to achieving Bankai by time he reached silver rank, like his grandmother.

Yet, at the first opportunity to prove himself, to go out on his own and be an adventurer, he'd gotten his whole team captured. If not for Jason, they'd have been sacrificed. It was time for him to focus and be the adventurer he knew he could be.

Kaname put those thoughts away and refocused on the task before him, activating his vison power: Byakugan from his Insight essence -one of the highest rarity essences just not as sought after as Dimension and Vast. Veins bulged around his expanded lavender-white eyes giving him 360 degree x-ray binocular vision. He could even see the flow of mana going through people.

Added with his conjured Moon's Eye Lens ability that displayed information on the quality, aspects and weak points of everything he saw, there was little hidden from his sight. Insight was an essence that allowed him to see deeply, through illusions and even the deceptions of people through the micromovements of their body language and from their aura. An ability most didn't acquire until they reached gold rank.

It was one of the most undervalued essence in the world, in his opinion.

Add on to that the Web of Fate racial gift he received gave him enhanced perception, amplifying his vision powers, he had the best vision of anyone at his rank. Possibly even most silver rankers, except for those he met that also had the Web of Fate racial ability. At silver he'd be able to see everything around him with invisible strands at all times, no mana or focus required.

If he had reached silver or used his two vision powers when meeting up with their contact Kaname could have seen the trap before it was sprung. He'd have detected the hidden magical array before it sealed up their essence abilities, like a large area effect of the suppression collars. Cressida and a dozen of this branch of the Blood Cult surrounded them, abilities primed and ready to rain down on them if they hadn't complied.

Thus, they were collared and caged, set to be sacrificed.

Going forward, unless dealing with people he knew and trusted, he'd have his conjured goggles on and Byakugan active.

Upon reaching the top platform, the final two cultists had both removed their masks and hoods, not that they obscured Kaname's vision in the first place. The woman was beautiful and young-looking, as if she was still in her early thirties, no older than her daughter. But the beauty and extended lifespan of being a silver ranked essence user belied her appearance. The truth was she was probably twenty years older than she looked. The man next to her, in contrast, was plain looking in his ceremonial robes.

Despite his appearance, the man was still bronze rank. As he threw out his arms to demonstrate his power, Farrah's power bloomed along with a stream of lava that consumed his head and torso. She was decked out in her obsidian stone armor, covering her from head to toe. Farrah had even conjured her obsidian blade in her other hand.

They had now reduced the enemy to one and had her surrounded.

Before the body of the dead ritualist of the blood cult could tilt and fall, blood red vines surged into existence. The silver rank essence ability didn't just wrap around Kaname and his two friends but also the corpse of the ritualist. He'd quickly sliced through the vines with his sword essence ability that resonated cutting energy from anything that held a sharp edge -like his sword arms- called Endless Sword. Farrah chanted a quick spell to have fire orbs intercept and burn them away. Gary's armor flared, the runes becoming molten and he ripped them off with ease.

The dead cult leader on the other hand was fully wrapped by the bloody vines, his form rippling as the vines pulsed.

"Things have been going wrong the moment that iron rank man appeared," Cressida spoke out in an icy tone. "First my son, now my daughter? They may have been worthless but weren't for the likes of you to kill."

"Not exactly mother of the year material, are you?" Gary quipped.

"Enough prattle, beast," Cressida sneered. "You're all going to die, screaming."

"Wow, who'd of thought the leader of a blood cult would be a racist," Gray snarked.

Despite his playful banter, Gary had used his Forge Essence ability to craft a crude shield and war hammer -by Gary's standard as they were well made equipment one would expect to see in a basic weapon shop- while maneuvering in tandem with his teammates. Farrah had already whipped her blade at Cressida, which parted into razor sharp teeth-like segments held together by a rope of lava, moving to wrap around her.

At that very moment Kaname charged in with Silver Step: a movement ability that let him move with blurring speed by channeling a burst of sword energy to his feet, cutting the floor beneath him, sword arms arcing in a blur of motion and glowing with his Flowing Sword that strengthened them every second, leaving the appearance of silver streams in their wake. Kaname didn't need to communicate to coordinate his team's attack, years of experience made it second nature. So, he moved where he knew Gary and Farrah would move Cressida.

True to form, the silver rank cultist dodged the obsidian lava whip-sword, and right into a shield bash by Gary -whose physical strength was at silver. She ended up being hurled right into his scissor slash of his top two sword arms, aimed to remove her head. Most of his abilities have ranked up to silver, including all his Sword essence abilities, the first to reach silver actually thanks to his inherited racial ability: Sword Affinity.

Unfortunately, Cressida was a silver ranker, so she was able to react in time.

Thick bark with veins of red coated her skin, slowing the blades enough that she kept her head. Though, there were deep cuts that sprayed blood but that was a short won victory as the wounds closed almost instantly. The blood vine around the dead cultist glowed and his body shrived into a dried-up husk as she glowed with a vibrant red.

Kaname figured it was one of her Harvest essence abilities. He'd done his research on the Vane family and Cressida had the Blood, Plant and Hunger essences that gave her the Harvest confluence. It was an essence combination not known for offensive power, but it'd make her hard to kill with various healing and defensive abilities.

Even so, he wasn't surprised when she launched a thorny lance at him. Every essence combination, even passive healing ones tended to have at least one or two attack powers. Kaname had seen similar attacks and knew better than to block the projectile with his sword arms and used his Justice confluence ability: Held in Contempt to intercept it. The ability dissolved the magic of the lance that was about to burst into a wide expanse of thorns, shooting out in all directions, and locking that ability from being used for two hours.

If not for his ability -that had reached silver rank- the entire platform would have been riddled in the silver rank shrapnel. They'd have been shredded if it struck. Though Farrah and Gary had powers to block such an attack, he himself could turn transparent from his Shinigami Affinity racial ability or use his Balance essence's ability: Moment of Oneness that would have made him immune to all damage and afflictions for two seconds and return all that he'd have taken back onto whoever he struck within eight seconds. Both options ate up large amounts of mana and he was saving his immunity/retribution ability for a dire moment.

Cressida shrouded herself in a large flower bud and he activated two abilities at once, firing his Blade Storm special attack at it. Such defenses were usually impenetrable to same rank and lower attacks but with his Overruled ability from his Justice essence active all his essence abilities did transcendent damage. The storm of needle-like blades was shredding Cressida's protection just as Farrah and Gary were pouring on their own attacks of molten metal and lava.

His aura ability: Edict lowered his opponents' or the guilty's resistances and penalized their usage of mana while increasing his allies' or the prosecution's resistances and boosted their usage of mana. Thus, their attacks were more affective.

Even as she burned, her defense breaking, she cast a spell, "Bleed for me."

All three of them started to bleed profusely from their eyes, ears and mouth.

You have been afflicted by [Bleeding]

She chanted another spell on top of it, "Your blood is not yours to keep, but mine on which to feast."

All their blood flowed out of them into the smoke and fire covered Cressida.

Kaname could feel his health and stamina drain from his body, which was confirmed by indicators through Jason's racial ability. It was useful, especially for new essence users, but for him it was a minor distraction. Thankfully, the screens disappeared the moment he wanted them to as he had to move.

Gary and Farrah had let up their barrage and his special attack ended. Now was the moment to strike the decisive blow. One Farrah had picked up on as an obsidian dome started to form around Cressida, to keep her in place.

He activated his Tipped Scale power, the world slowing to a crawl as he blurred with a Silver Step into the closing dome. Sealed inside with the enraged, healing silver ranker, Kaname unleashed a fury of blows upon her. Once more her bark-like skin weakened his slashes but this time, condensed to two subjective seconds, she couldn't respond to his assault. Plus, her bark skin was charred, torn and weakened by his teams combined assault. Adding onto that, his Overruled and Flowing Sword abilities were still active, devouring his mana like a bucket with a hole in it.

And as Gary said, removing the head was always the surest way to kill a person... not counting certain essence abilities that could revive upon death. But the ones he knew about, Immortality being the most famous, didn't revive someone until gold rank. So, with all six of his sword arms he slashed through her neck over and over again.

Each cut getting deeper with each slash, revealing her windpipe, jugulars and finally her spine. In those two seconds, he cut into her over two dozen times, sawing through her neck like an axe through a tree. The whole time, from his view, she didn't move and there was no blood pouring from her ever-deeper neck wound.

The instant his Moment of Oneness power ended, Cressida's head rolled off her shoulders, her face still contorted into a sneering wrath.

She died without realizing it.

You have defeated [Blood Cult Leader]

"That was easy," Gray commented.

"She was Greenstone quality," Farrah replied, "and only just ranked up. She was never a real threat to us. We would have never been caught if not for our contact's betrayal."

Gary growled in agreement with her assessment.

"Did it get hotter in here?" Kaname asked. He'd noticed the loud noise earlier but was too focused to pay it much mind.

"No," his two teammates answered together.

Before he could argue with their respective heat resistances; Gary being a Lykonid which were physical more durable and Farrah's fire and lava essence making her almost immune to fire and heat, a bronze rank aura appeared below them. It felt like a sea of blood with an endless hunger and was clearly some sort of summons or monster.

"We need to move," Kaname ordered as he turned and sped down the staircase to aid Jason, his friends following after him. He'd tuned his Byakugan's sight on the blood pool and saw a swarm of bronze rank creatures coalescing from it.

Jason left the three adventurers to the battle with the cult leaders and moved down the stairs to guard the door. He'd returned Seitoshi Okami-tachi to its sealed form to conserve mana. Along the way down he made sure to check Kaname's and Gary's cages. They each had the same ritual bowl and awakening stone on the top.

Making it all the way down the stairway, he looked around.

The space near the large doors leading out was the widest area around the pool, with most of the room having only a small lip between the edge of the red liquid and the wall. When they first entered the chamber, the pool had been churning in the middle. Now the whole thing was like a pot of water threatening to boil over, splashing red liquid over the sides.

As he moved to cover the entrance, peering down the tunnel, Jason felt the overwhelming auras collide above him. It made the air seem heavier to him for some reason. Idly, he saw one of the two red dots on his tactical map blink out at that very moment. He'd looked up to see a stream of lava shoot out over the pit.

"That's awesome... and one down," Jason muttered.

{That still leaves the silver ranker,} Gordon chimed in. {The biggest threat.}

"True," he conceded, "but if what I feel from their auras is accurate, the divide is small, and they have numbers on their side. They can handle her... right?"

{Odds are good. Their auras are finer, sharper. The bronze rankers are better trained than the silver ranker. Raw strength can be overcome by superior skill, but only within certain limits.}

Jason chuckled, "Like how she tore me apart earlier?"

{Correct, Guardian.}

The roiling grew so loud that even the explosions from above were drowned out and the heat became so stifling he felt it through his armor. Jason whirled around to face the pit as a strong aura started emanating from it.

{That's a bronze rank aura,} Gordon informed as his tactical map signified the pool of blood as a hostile target.

{I thought we stopped the ritual,} Jason mentally ranted as the noise from the pit would have drowned out his words. But then he thought how one of the cultists on his platform fell into the pit and based off the noise from Gary's platform, they'd joined them. Then there was Cressida's daughter that Kaname finished off. They were set to sacrifice the four of them and they had tossed four cultists into it instead.

Jason groaned, {We completed the ritual for them... Do you know what it is we just created?}

{I can't be certain, but I can safely assume it's a summons of some sort. Most likely one centered around blood.}

{Yeah, I doubt it'd be something cute and cuddly like a rabbit or cat. Probably something with a lot of teeth and a large appetite.}

{Most likely Guardian.}

Suddenly the blood, which had been roiling like a stormy sea, went as still and serene as a sheltered pond. The roaring noise immediately fell silent. Ripples disturbed the edge of the pool, and something emerged from the blood, smaller than he had expected.

"Is that a leech?" Jason asked aloud.

It was the right size and shape for a leech but had a gaping tooth-ringed maw of a lamprey.

A second leech crawled out, then a third. They came two at a time, then five, ten until they were spraying out like runoff from a storm drain. They piled on top of one another, forming a squirming, writhing mass of blood sucking leeches.

Jason released his Shikai again and aimed at the mass of horror. The transcendent damage of the weapon would help with rank disparity even though it hadn't helped with Cressida, but bronze wasn't as big a leap as silver.

The undulating mass of leeches that kept on growing had cloth strips coming out the pool and collecting them to form a humanoid shape. The pool also seemed to be shrinking as the leech monster grew. That made it easier to attack as the swarm was centralized but he knew he didn't have enough mana to shoot every leech. There were hundreds of them.

So, he thought of trying out his essence abilities and used his Shadowshot ability. He glowed purple and instinctually brought his guns together in front of him; top of each barrel touching and with the curved blades at the ends gave it the appearance of a bow being held horizontally. Then, just like him, they glowed that same void purple-black.

Then he fired a Void Anchor at the feet of the writhing strips of leeches.

Suddenly tethers attached to it and every little leech around it, slowing them down and weakening them.

The glow around him faded and his mana was a lot lower but still over half full, though dropping slowly with his Seitoshi Okami-tachi's mana cost. Seeing as he was already in the position, he channeled the rest into them. The black coated green energy blades glowed brightly alongside the barrels' ends, forming an orb.

"Riaritipiasa."

A pitch-black beam coated in green the circumference of a basketball fired out towards the humanoid leech mass.*

It punched a perfectly smooth hole through the creature, erasing all the leeches that were once there. He could even see several clean-cut smaller leeches at the edges. Despite that, the hole was being filled in with fresh leeches, just slowly as they were tethered by void energy. Even purple-black coated strips of its cloth were slithering towards Jason.

Your mana is low.

Jason's head started to pound but he simply activated his mana engine ability to convert his health into mana until it was as close to full as he could get without endangering his life. The result was that his mana was 2/3s full and his health was maybe down to a third, red glowing allover his body icon.

With more mana to work with he separated his dual pistols and started firing at every leech he could. One bullet taking out one leech per shot but there was still a lot of them. Dozens of shots later and his mana back in the low area he remembered the explosive quality to the void anchor tethering them down. He aimed at his own anchor and fired a single shot.

A transcendent explosion of void energy consumed the vague man-shaped leech swarm, irradicating most of it with chunks of leech flesh and toothy maws everywhere.

You have defeated [Sanguine Horror]

Jason let his soul guns revert back into the combat knife and sagged in exhaustion. His mana was all but gone and his health silhouette was a blaring red. It'd been a close call.

Thankfully his nirvanic transfiguration ability was slowly up ticking his health back up to orange and in time would return him to green.

"What happened?" Kaname asked, glowing sword arms poised for action.

The dust cleared where the leech swarm was, revealing a few chunks of bloody flesh and dust. Maybe a shredded piece of cloth or ringed maw here and there.

"We accidently finished their ritual, and a pile of blood leeches was what came out," Jason explained. "Barely managed to kill it, burning through all my mana and most of health to do it. But I did it."

"Leeches?" an armored Farrah asked, matching obsidian sword in hand.

"Uh... sanguine horror," Jason muttered out uncertainly. "At least that's what my interface power said it was."

{It's an apocalypse beast,} Gordon informed into all their heads through the interface ability. {They've been known to scour all life on several worlds.}

Gary, despite his massive size and heavy armor, he'd made it down before Farrah, just behind Kaname. And scoffed, "No offense but something that could be killed by an iron ranker couldn't possibly kill all living things in the world."

{Not at its current rank,} Gordon explained. {It had just been created at bronze, not even fully formed when Guardian Jason destroyed it. When apocalypse beasts reach diamond rank then they are capable of depopulating worlds. It'd have taken the sanguine horror devouring an entire continent to have reached such a level and certainly a diamond rank essence user would have stopped it before it got that far.}

"Oh, that makes more sense," Gary replied.

"I did wonder what they were trying to summon with all these extensive preparations," Farrah said academically.

Jason looked at the pool of red and asked, "Is that all blood?"

"No, it isn't," Farrah answered. "Mostly it's an alchemic mixture, although there is a lot of blood in there. At least a dozen people's worth. Maybe twenty."

Jason growled softly, he was never one to like innocent blood to be spilt, he highly doubted the Blood Cult kidnapped evil people for this monstrous ritual. "There won't be anymore. We're ending the Blood Cult here and now."

Gary laughed out joyfully, "Told you, instincts of a hero."

"That's what we're here to do," Kaname agreed firmly. "But it'll just be this branch of the Blood Cult. It'd take much more powerful people than us to completely destroy the Red Table. They're an old, powerful organization spread throughout the world."

"They're not an officially accepted organization, are they?" Jason asked in shocked rage.

"No," Farrah answered calmly. "They're an underground one that is often hunted down and destroyed once found. But in out of the way places like this region they grow unchecked. Often ingratiating themselves with the local powers and killing in secret."

"There's a lot of desert out here," Gary added, "and numerous isolated villages with little protection. It wasn't all that surprising to find a Blood Cult out here. They tend to thrive in places like this."

"Good," Jason said in relief. "I can tolerate having to let certain pricks go due to politics and power, but I wouldn't be able to let cannibals be. No matter what connections and power they have. There are some things that simply shouldn't be tolerated."

"On that we can agree," Kaname nodded his approval.

With some of his strength back Jason moved over to the remains of the leeches and tapped it with his booted foot.

Would you like to loot [Sanguine Horror]?

Jason gave his mental assent.

[Blood Essence] has been added to your inventory.

[Hunger Essence] has been added to your inventory.

2 [Awakening Stones of the Apocalypse] have been added to your inventory.

100 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

1,000 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Jason was surprised to finally get two whole essences, but the listed awakening stones garnered his attention. Apocalypse. That didn't sound particularly good.

Seeing that Farrah and Gary released their magic armor into thin air and the silvery metal bladed arms behind Kaname's back had retracted into him, Jason couldn't help but wonder.

"If you guys can so easily kill your way through the cult's best, then how did they catch you in the first place?" Jason asked with a raised brow.

"Ambush," Kaname supplied with shame mixed with rage. "We were meant to resupply and get information from a local contact. Instead, he set us up for capture."

"We're going to go find him," Gary growled out.

"And have a sizzling conversation," Farrah added with a cold type of fury lacing her voice.

"But first," Kaname interrupted his comrades vengeance filled thoughts, "we have to get back to the Vane Estate. They still have Anisa, and our mission is to destroy the Blood Cult. We may have killed all the members here, but there are more at the estate."

"I guess we should hurry before they decide to make Anisa into breakfast." Gary replied.

"Ideally, yes," Kaname responded. "The contract did come through her church, and they might see her death as a failure on our part."

Farrah, in the meantime, held her hand out over the ground and a large chest made of dark brown stone rose out of the ground. It didn't break through the floor, but instead rose up through it, like a ghost. Farrah pushed open the hinged, heavy lid and took out fresh clothes for herself, Gary and Kaname. They all started changing clothes, with no qualms about stripping down to their underwear -Kaname's samurai like clothing disappearing in tendrils of darkness- in front of Jason or each other.

Jason glanced surreptitiously at the three of them. Kaname and Farrah had bodies of Olympic athletes -lean muscle filled with power of coiled springs. Very similar to his own build, but more defined and perfected than what he currently had. His year spent in in depression and drink had caused him to lose a bit of his muscle's definition, but over the last couple of months he has regained much of his previous physique. His six-pack was back... mostly, and the love handles that were starting to form were gone, but he was still not as defined as before. Gary had a completely different build; he was so huge he made bodybuilders look like they were still under construction. His fur and canine features completed his majestic appearance. Jason didn't know what passed for handsome in Gary's species, but he suspected Gary was it.

The most startlingly depressing difference between them and him were their ridiculously gorgeous faces. Where Rufus and Farrah looked like warrior supermodels, Jason had a face that was a little too sharp to be handsome. Not that he was ugly by any means but closer to average than not. It was just standing next to these ridiculously gorgeous people made him feel ugly. Even his body was a tier or two below them, but it was still a warrior's body, tats and all.

Jason moved past the thoughts of his inferior looks, as it always brought back how his brother was the handsome one. So much so that his childhood best friend turned love cheated on him with Kaito. So, he dismissed his armor, revealing his naked body -though he made sure that his genitals weren't in view of the woman- and used his omnificence ability to once more make his fatigues from before -remembering the boxers and socks this time- and got dressed.

He'd assumed the adventurers would be shocked at him making clothes appear out of thin air but apparently, they were used to such things. They didn't even give him a sidelong glance.

"Clothes are fine, but we need to get our gear back," Farrah complained.

"We'll get our stuff back and more once we raid the Vane Estate... taking a few valuables for all our troubles." Gary grinned out.

Watching the others change clothes and getting dressed himself reminded Jason that he had completed the quest to get a shirt. That was before being tortured by the silver rank beauty and being informed that he'd died. He pulled the shirt from his inventory, discovering it was an olive drab green singlet with the SASR symbol of the winged dagger in the center. Holding it out in front of him, he read the text printed on the banner going over the blade.

WHO DARES

WINS

Jason shook his head as he chuckled out, "Very fitting."

{You may have left the SASR, but it's still very much who you are, Guardian,} Gordon spoke just to him.

"What does it say?" Gary asked, moving up to examine the shirt and breaking Jason out of his thoughts.

"You can't read this?"

"It's not a language I know."

"It says, 'Who dares wins'," Jason answered with a fondness. "The motto of the SASR..." He stopped to think about how to word it. "...an organization I was a part of for a long time."

While Jason was taking stock of his condition, the others were recovering theirs with stamina potions from the magic chest.

After drinking his, Kaname made a sour face, "Oh, that was sickly. What happened to the other potions?"

"Gary chose the flavor," Farrah explained.

"I think it's nice," Gary said defensively.

"Me too," Farrah agreed. "Kaname only likes things when they're bitter."

Kaname scowled at Farrah, who ignored it and asked Jason, "Do you need a stamina or health potion?"

"No, I have an ability that slowly regenerates my health, mana and stamina," Jason answered. "In a few more minutes I will be back to full strength. Thanks for the offer though."

"That's a very useful ability," Gary commented enthusiastically. "It's hard to get healers on your team so self-healing abilities can be a lifesaver."

"It also cuts down on costs," Farrah added. "We go through a small fortune in restorative potions."

"Yeah, but it didn't come cheap," Jason replied, thinking on how he was bound to the Abidan in some form. Probably setting himself up as their pawn for some grand plan or minor move.

Jason had followed Farrah back up the stairs as Kaname and Gary went to check the tunnel and wagons for anymore cultists. She had wanted to go collect the ritual book on the alter at the top while he collected the last awakening stone on top of her cage. After he stored the feast stone in his inventory, he moved to the alter. It was decorated with grotesque carvings that appeared to heavily feature teeth. On top of the alter was a thick book, that Farrah was flipping through.

Glancing over the text, he could only understand fragments. Having used the ritual magic skill book, he took from Landemere, the knowledge it imbued him with offered some insights, but this new book was still above his head. The contents seemed to involve a more specific field of magic, operating at a higher level than the skill book allowed him to grasp.

Farrah notice Jason looking over her shoulder, reading the book. "You understand any of this?" she asked more out of curiosity of his knowledge base than anything.

"Some of it," Jason answered. "Looks like they were trying to make something, but that was obvious considering I'd just killed it. But for the most part it's well beyond my expertise. I only found out magic exists today. I'm Jason, by the way."

She gave him an odd look before responding, "Farrah. Thanks again for the rescue."

"No worries. I kind of excel at hostage rescue. That, and it never hurts to have some help when escaping a blood cult filled with cannibals. Can you make anything out from that book?"

She turned her attention back to the pages in front of her.

"You're right about them making something," she said, flipping through pages. "Like your familiar said-"

"Gordon," Jason informed. "His name is Gordon."

"Like Gordon said," she corrected, "they were making a Sanguine Horror and from what I can gather, they had plans on making it a familiar."

"Really?"

"It's an educated guess," Farrah admitted, "but there is an entire section in this book about how to lower its rank and use specific awakening stones to get the right essence ability to bond it."

"Seems like a lot for just a summons, considering all the lives lost," Jason commented with a heavy scowl and anger lacing his tone.

{Well,} Gordon chimed in, {an apocalypse beast can grow to become a really powerful weapon.}

Jason sighed his acknowledgement, "And people are always willing to do terrible things for more power."

"Yes, but it's still a big gamble with an apocalypse beast," Farrah replied.

While she continued examining the book, Jason looked around and found a small white sack next to the alter. He picked it up and looked inside; it held a white, crystalline powder. He pinched some between his fingers.

Item: [Salt] (normal, common)

Ordinary salt (crafting material).

Effect: Common ingredient for use in cooking or magic rituals.

"Salt?" he said curiously.

"It's good for making quick and easy magic circles," Farrah explained, not looking up from the book. "A lot of ritual magicians keep some around. Myself included."

Jason tossed the sack into his inventory, never knowing when he could need it. Help add some flavor to a dish, perform a ritual, or just sell it to a restaurant in need of some more salt. If there were any restaurants in this world.

There didn't seem to be anything else of interest, so Jason looked over at the stairs leading down, thinking now would be a good time to ask something that's been bothering him.

"Can I ask you something about Gary?" he asked.

"What's that?"

"Are there a lot of dog people running around, or was he cursed or something?"

Farrah looked up from the book, again giving Jason a curious gaze, "You've never seen a Lykonid before?"

"I'm not local," Jason simply replied. "Lyko... wolf? He looks like a dog though."

"Yes," Farrah agreed with a wince, "but don't let Gary hear you say that. He has less wolf-like features that are common amongst his kind and has faced a lot of ridicule for it all his life. It's a sore topic for him."

"Will do," Jason replied seriously. "Thanks for the heads up. Now, Lykonids?"

"Lykonids are a normal race you'd see anywhere in the world."

"Good to know."

As Farrah's attention returned to the tome, he wandered over to the two cult leaders' bodies. Giving a tap with his foot to the charred, shriveled husk of the High Priest.

Would you like to loot [Blood Cult Leader]?

Jason gave his mental assent.

[Recovery Potion (Bronze)] has been added to your inventory.

5 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

18 [Silver Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

276 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

341 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

671 [Lesser Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Just like Landemere, the high priest had over a thousand coins on his person. As to where he had them stowed away, was a mystery to Jason. Possibly an inventory system like his own.

He didn't waste too much time on pondering the thought and moved to loot Cressida Vane with a tap to her headless corpse.

5 [Recovery Potions (Silver)] have been added to your inventory.

1 [Suppression Collar Key (Bronze)] has been added to your inventory.

12 [Recovery Potions (Bronze)] have been added to your inventory.

12 [Gold Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

172 [Silver Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

526 [Bronze Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

623 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

5,381 [Lesser Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Jason then continued to survey his surroundings. He peered over the edge, down at the crimson pit far below. It was calm now and the heat seemed to be dialing down now that the ritual was finished. He spotted Kaname and Gary making their way back up the stairs.

"The others are coming back up," Jason informed Farrah.

"That's fine," Farrah muttered, lost in the book.

Jason chuckled at how absorbed she was, lightly biting down on her bottom lip. It was cute really, and he found himself just staring at her, absorbed by how beautiful she was with her pale skin, strawberry blonde hair, pixie features and button nose. Looks like hers was rare in his world and they most certainly weren't combatants. Thankfully she didn't notice, and he was snapped out of it by the others' arrival.

"No sign of any living cultists," Gary reported, "and most of the wagons were still there with the heidels in their reins. But one wagon looked like it took off in a rush. It seemed that a cultist in charge of the wagons must have heard us kill all their fellows off and fled."

That got Farrah to break free from reading the book and recognize her teammates arrival, "So they know we're coming?"

"Possibly," Kaname nodded. "Either way we've spent too much time here as it is. We need to rescue Anisa and finish our contract."

Kaname eyed Jason and asked, "It'll be dangerous, so I'll understand if you want to stay behind. We can come back and get you after finishing off the rest of the Blood Cult."

Jason shook his head as he responded, "No, they need to be put down, but I'll understand if you think I'll be a liability."

Gary laughed, "Liability? Ha! You killed your fair share of the cultists and saved us while you were at it. We'd gladly bring you along."

Jason looked at Farrah and Kaname to see them nodding in agreement with Gary.

"You are iron rank," Farrah chimed in, "so we'll take the lead, dealing with threats too powerful for you to handle."

"Are there more silver rankers like Cressida there?" Jason asked, a little concern bleeding through.

He knew he'd not stand a chance against such a person. It had honestly shaken him to his core at how helpless he was in the hands of a single person. In his world, people were for the most part on the same level of power. Sure, there was wealth, political power and even those born with greater athleticism and build -like himself- but no one was so strong they could shrug off machine gun fire and literally tear a person limb-from-limb with the ease of plucking a flower's petals.

"No," Kaname stated with absolute certainty. "Bronze rank will be the strongest left and that will just be Cressida's husband. They brought all their strongest members here for the ritual."

"Alright, let's go," Jason said firmly.

*Yes, Sajin Komamura in appearance but still Gary as I'm replacing Leonids with Lykonids (Lykos meaning wolf).

*Yes, Kaname Tosen in appearance but not blind nor Aizen's lackey, obviously.

* Think of Ulquiorra's cero oscuras just scaled down.