In the royal palace
The group of five creep down the hallways of the palace. Kuzeli leading the way while keeping the princess close behind. Akira,Shu, and Seiji following close behind.
Hinata was rescuing Aiko, Meld and Tio are keeping watch on the kingdom's walls. And they are on their way to warn Kaori and Hinata's other classmates... mostly just Kaori.
After they arrived, they quickly sneak through the castle. They avoided contact any soldier, regardless wether they were afflicted by the void "disease".
They even ducked under windows so that no one can spot them from outside. All they had to do was go to the sleeping quarters warn Kaori and-
*Crash*
They all cover their heads as the window they were ducking under shatters.
"What was that?!"
"No...it can't be.." they rush to broken window, Lily and Kuzeli were astonished while the others stare in confusion. Tiny blue bits of light, falling all over the kingdom.
"The...the barrier..." Kuzeli let out in a shaky voice. She and the princess can't believe it. The barrier that had protected the kingdom for centuries and was believed to be indestructible just suddenly crumbled.
"Seiji."
They all break from their shock after hearing Tio's voice. Seiji reaches into his pocket and pulls out the shell he received from Myu. Hinata had enchanted it with Telepathy, just in case they got separated like they did in Melusine.
"Tio, what's going on?"
"It's an invasion."
Lily and Kuzeli turns pale.
"There's an army of monster coming straight here. That white dragon is also here." That fact made a reaction out if the boys. "It fired through the barrier, breaking it."
"Wait! But how could an army had just appear like this?" Lily frantically asked.
"Exactly, border patrols would've warned the kingdom!" Kuzeli followed.
"Spatial magic." Akira answered
"Right." Shu nodded.
Akira and Shu were able to instantly figure it out. Especially since they faced it before...
"Well...then we have to get the other-"
"No." Akira cuts her off. "We split up. I'm going to face the army."
"What why?" Seiji asked.
"He's there..." Akira's red eyes start to glow. "The asshole that hurt Hinata."
Akira gritted his teeth.
Shu tried to cam him down. "Hold on, I know you're upset but.."
"Aren't you?!" Akira shot back.
"Oh of course I am." Shu said, changing his tone.
"Well then, see you later." With that Seiji watch as Akira and Shu just jumped off to the frontline. A part of him wanted to join them. But he has come to accept that he contribute to the party in a different way...also he felt bad for the princess.
"They ditched me..." Lily said while trying not to cry.
"Princesssssss!"
Meld hacks and slash monster as if they were grass. But unfortunately other monster were still able to break the walls. Unlike Ur, Heiligh had a much different terrain. Thus Meld can't use the same strategy. And also...
"Flame bullet." Tio rapidly shoots down the flying creatures before they can fly past the wall.
Shimizu didn't have any flying monsters in his army. He also mostly controlled the leaders of the monsters. Every single one of the monsters here are being controlled by the ancient magic wielded by the demons.
"Tio!" Akira calls out as he and Shu land near the dragon. "What's the situation ?"
"Not good, wait, weren't you suppose to be with the princess?"
"Change of plans." Shu casually replied.
"But..."
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Meld shouted while he jumped up to the wall to join the other three. "How could you just ditch princess?!" He angrily asked.
"Bite me, as Hinata would say, but don't tell her I said that." Akira bluntly replied.
"Gah, Princess please be strong." Meld silently hoped. The four was ready to jump to the fray when suddenly...
'Tio!'
Tio feels the telepathic message through the artifact around her ring. And so did Meld. It seems didn't realize this.
'Come here for a sec. Got a tough bitch to deal with. I need you to take Sensei off my hand- Ah, hurry!'
"Hinata..."
"On it Master!" Without wasting another second, Tio jumps off and becomes his dragon form ready to fly his master's side. However he was suddenly bewildered when he felt a somewhat heavy weight on his neck.
"WHAT THE- MELD?!"
The knight captain had also jumped off. "Go!" Meld immediately ordered.
"But what abou-"
"Just go!" He commanded again. Not really wanting anymore delay, the dragon conceded." Akira, Shu, guard the kingdom!" He shouted while flying away.
"Huh?!"
"That hypocrite. Wasn't he mad at us a second ago for ditch-"
"Akira jump!" Instead of finishing his sentence. Akira followed Shu's sudden warning, knowing what it was. Right after they jumped, the place they were just standing got destroyed by a massive blast.
After they use their Aerodynamic shoes they hear a familiar annoying voice. "It seems you are indeed clairvoyant, all the more reasons to kill you."
There he is...the bastard they will kill.
"This will be where you die, Uranos!" On his command the white fires another blast. But instead of dodging, this time Akira simply snapped his fingers. A spatial gate opened in front of them. After the blast wen through he gate, Freid turned to the light that suddenly appeared behind him.
Realizing it was it's own attack, the dragon dodges it. Although Freid is safe, the blast managed to engulfed some of his men. "Grr you bas- huh? Where did they go?" the individuals of his anger were nowhere to be found.
Then with a feeling of deja vu, he turns around again and see Akira running at him with his sword. Freid stumbles back causing Akira to managing to slice the side of his stomach befor jumping off Uranos's head.
"It seems you have good reflexes." Freid grits his teeth while holding his wound." How does it feel to fall victim to your own trick twice."
Before he talks back, Freid suddenly heard a noise and turns to it. He now sees a grenade coming straight at him. He crosses his arms to block what he can. The grenade explodes cocering Fried and Uranos.
Shu smiles giddily, seeing his shot make through. Uranos comes out of the smoke. Shu gets ready to attack again and leaps.
"Fire!"
"Woah!" Shu blocks an incoming fireball and leaps back. He sees multiple riders firing towards him blocking his path. "Uh Akira, looks like I'm gonna be busy. I'll see you later."
Akira nods and points his blade at Freid with a devilish smile.
Shu holds his hammer steady, he looks to the at the leader of the squad that attacked him. The blonde haired demon was looking at him with pute hatred.
"You! I will kill you and bring your body to that girl you love." The demon spat.
"Ooookay...that sounded personal. Have we met?" Shu tilts his head.
"Grr do you know a demon woman named Cattleya?!"
"Who?"
"She beautiful red hair and was killed in the Orcus labyrinth!"
"Oh herrrrr, yeah, I remember her."
"She was my fiance, and you murdered her!"
"Ohhhh...so what?" Shu shrugged.
"So what?! How dare you!"
"She tried to kill us, even after Hinata told her to go away. I'm not gonna feel any remorse for that. And if she was your fiance then it's normal you would feel this way. But it doesn't matter to me in the slightest, because she was our enemy. And right now you're invading the capital, killing who knows how many loved ones. So not only are you a hypocrite, you're also a whiner." Shu said with no mercy.
"S-SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPP! KILL THAT BASTARD!" The demons behind him start the barrage if spells and poison needles shit by wind magic.
Shu gracefully dodges every attack as if he was dancing on air. He poured oil on the fire that was the demons frustration. One guy managed to get a lucky shot and hit Shu with the needles. A prick was no big deal but the poison was.
Shu immediately crushed the demon's relief by stopping the poison with Regeneration Magic. Shu begins his counter attack, turning his hammer to it's shooter mode and aims. The front circle of his weapon opens up revealing six canisters, he presses the trigger blasting all six at once.
Once near, the Demons the canisters explode making a thick could of smoke. Out of his treasure trove Shu puts on a pair of goggles. These goggles are similar to Hinata's, through it he is able to see the mana signatures of the demons and charges in.
While the demons were trying to get out if the smoke, they were greeted with the impact of a hammer on their face. Soon demons and monsters kept falling out of the smoke and plummet to their dooms unless they were already dead from the initial attack.
The blonde demon from before manages to get out just as the smoke was clearing up. His eyes widen in shock seeing only Shu standing.
Realizing all his men were killed, The demon goes berserk. He fires as many lightning he can to Shu, only for the rabbit to either dodge or deflect them while also charging closer and closer.
"DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT WHAT ARE YOU?!"
Shu leaps up." Just your average rabbit boy." He slams his hammer down on the demon.
The demon crashes to the ground like a meteor. Shu lands below and sees the man still alive.
"You...monster.." The soon to be a corpse weakly said.
"Teehee thanks, if it makes you feel better, i hope you're reunited with your fiance ." With one final swing, Shu ends the demon's life and happily jumps off to rejoin Akira.
"DI-"
*Shink*
The soldier's head was swiftly decapitated by Akira. Akira then proceeds to drive his sword to the head of the soldier's beast.
"Fire!" Freid commanded. The mages behind hime fire lightning at Akira, who simply blocks all of them with one swing of his sword. He then raises his hand. "My turn." He casts Draconic Thunder, but the dragon suddenly headed straight down rather than it's target.
It flies down to one of the monsters on the ground, a turtle, the same turtles back at Gruen. The dragon went inside it's mouth.
"What the?"
"Ha, as long as the absod is here , all your magic are basically useless." Freid pridefully boasted.
"Oh please." Akira rolled his eyes. He snaps his fingers, in an instant 5 different dragons appeared. Fire, water, earth, wind, and of course lightning. The dragon razed the ground and the skies. The turtles that Freid bragged about was eliminated instantly. The thing can only absorb one type of magic at a time.
Even the monsters that Freid created himself showed fear seeing such power. Growing desperate, Freid started ready to cast his most powerful spell.
"Void Fissure!" The spatial magic was forcibly contracted,it then expanded causing a massive shockwave and explosion.
Of course Akira had defended himself. He fought fire with fire, the spell Illusion Cage can lock space in place to create a barrier. Though not with a heavy cost of mana.
Once the explosion settles and Akira gets rid of the barrier, he keeps an eye out for the red haired basta-
"I knew you would survive that!" A spatial gate opens up behind Akira and before the vampire can recact to it, Freid charges straight.
*Shink*
One of Uranos's horn punctured Akira, Uranos also had one his hand in his mouth. Freid smiled triumphantly, but unfortunately for him...he wasn't the only one smiling.
"Fool, Revival Reversal."
As soon as he said that a fountain of blood gushes out of his chest. Uranos also had a similar ound on his chest.
""GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"" Freid and Uranos screamed at the same time. Uranos but right through Akira's arm. Akira took the chance and leaped away.
"Does it hurt? The wound Meld and Tio gave you. Oh what I wouldn't give to have inflicted something more severe." Akira sadistically smiled while his wound was healing.
"Did he revive my injury?" Freid asked in disbelief. He can only feel fear seeing Akira's smile. "I can't beat him, in that case-"
"Like hell." Akira gets ready to cast another spell, but before he could he was intercepted by multiple magic attacks.
"Lord Freid please retreat. We'll hold him off."
The soldiers fired a futile barrage against Akira, though it did allow their leader to regrettably escape. After Akira easily gets rids of the soldiers, Shu came along.
"Hey Akira. is that red hair guy still alive? Because I want a hi- uhh." Shu freezes seeing Akira's face, his eyes glowing red.
"He got away."
*Bang*
*Bang*
*Bang*
Hinata aggressively fires her gun at the angel. Her hand gripping the gun, all while Aiko clung onto her for dear life.
Noint easily blocks with his two swords. He then unfurled his wings and multiple feathers is blasted towards them. Hinata switches from her handgun to her machine gun rifle, she fires it, destroying most of the feathers then easily pulled Aiko and dodged the rest.
However as soon she finished dodging, she suddenly sensed something behind her.
'He's fast.'
She turns around and sees Noint charge at her. She reacted quickly and uses her legs to block him and jump away, while carrying Aiko. As she jumped, she brings out two of her drones and they both fired and hit Noint. But as soon as the smoke is gone, Noint is revealed to be unharmed.
"What!?" The apostle then flew like an arrow towards Hinata, blades ready in his hands. Just as they get close...
WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Hinata pulls out her chainsaw to block the blades, sparks fly out as the two fighters glared at each other. Hinata can see that her chainsaw was starting to cut through the hard blades, but so did Noint. The apostle raised his foot, and kicked the chainsaw up, with Hinata off balanced, Noint thrusted his sword.
Thinking fast, Hinata deactivates her Aerodynamic and falls to dodge it. She then created another one, landed safely on it, but had to pull Aiko back up.
"To think you are still able to fight so well despite your...baggage." Aiko looks down in shame, she knew what he meant. "You are indeed too strong to be my lord's pawn."
"That's probably because I'm more fit to be a queen, you son of a bitch!"
"No, you simply aren't necessary for my lord's plan."
"If I'm so unnecessary just give me a way home then I'll be on my way."
"Your death is the thing that my lord desires, therefore.." A red magic circle appears in front of Noint. "That is what he will get. Hellfire Tsunami." A giant torrent of flame comes out of the circle ready to engulf Hinata and Aiko. Hinata pulls out her shield, then she and Aiko hides behind it while tanking the flames.
This was probably the first time the two of them are grateful for their small sizes as they were both able to safely hide behind the massive shield.
After the flames dissipate, Hinata puts away her shield. She then notices something odd. She can see small blue notes light coming out of...her.
"Uh, what the-Wait, what's that noise?" Off in the distance she can hear...singing.
"It's coming from the church." Aiko pointed at the direction of the Divine Mountain's church.
"Is this a debuff?" Hinata can feel her mana being decreased by the second.
"Ah, it must be Ishtar. He knows his place, he is a good pawn, unlike you." Noint readies his sword. "Unusable pieces shall be removed."
Hinata switches back to her hand gun. Noint charges forward only to be intercepted by a stream of purple flames. As he moves back he them sees something coming from above, it was Meld.
He brings his sword down on the angel, however Noint was able to match his strength and block it. But Noint then felt massive impact on his stomach after Meld landed his fist, knocking the apostle back to the the ruins of Aiko's prison.
"Huh, Meld?"
"MASTER, WE ARE HERE!"
"Yeah yeah yeah good, here, take Sensei and get out of here." Hinata quickly places Aiko on Tio's neck and then quickly approach Meld. "What are you doing here? I only called for Tio."
"You accidentally conveyed the message to me also."
"That still doesn't explain why you're here, Meld."
"The fact that you would make that small mistake is what alerted me. Besides..." Meld looks at the rubble where the Noint crashed into. "It seems my hunch was correct."
"You came...to help me?" Hinata shakes her head. "No, wait a second! I was doing fine. And what about the kingdom? It's under attack right now."
"Yes it is, that is why we need to finish this battle quickly."
"But- What ab- Why-" Before she muster up a word, Noint comes out of the rubble and flies above them once again. "Crap. Tio, go! And make sure to keep Sensei safe!"
"ON IT MASTER." Aiko can only look as Hinata and Meld prepare their weapons as she flies away on Tio , wishing the best of luck for them both.
Noint looks at Meld. "Ah, so the second irregular has arrived. Very well, this will make my task easier."
Meld kept a straight face at the remark. "Ehit, he is the one you serve correct?" Meld can't help but think about him when he saw Noint.
"Yes, my name is Noint."
"Then tell me Noint. If Ehit did sent you, why are you not helping the kingdom? It is currently under attack."
"If the human kingdom falls, then it just means that's how things are suppose to be. My lord has not given me an order to help them in any way"
Then Meld's calm face drops replaced with anger. "So it is true...Ehit does not care for humanity." Even after Orcus, a small part of Meld gas always clung on to the beliefs he grew up with. But that tiny piece no longer exist. "If that is true, does the same apply to the demons and their supposed god Alva? Or is he just Ehit in disguise?"
"And what if he is ?"
"So that's how it is." Hinata spoke up. "He's got a foot in both camps. He plays for whichever side he feels like helping... Tch, tell that idiot master of yours to pick a lane and stay in it!"
"This world exists for the sake of my lord's entertainment. As long as he finds it enjoyable, it does not matter which side triumphs or falls."
"You motherfu-"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." Hinata needed some time to process she just heard. Meld just laughed like a madman out of nowhere. Even Noint was a bit confused.
"Uh, Meld, you ok? Disturbing laughing is usually my thing."
"Oh I'm fine Hinata, in fact I'm very very relieved. Now that I have no more doubt in my heart." Meld raises his sword at Noint. "Apostle of Ehit! I, Meld Loggins will punish you and your lord. For all the crime against the world of Tortus!"
Hinata simply rolls her eyes at Meld's long winded speech but nonetheless prepares to fight. And Noint does the same...
Tio keeps rushing forward at great speed but not too great that Aiko could fall off. "DO NOT WORRY, I WILL HAVE YOU BACK ON THE-"
"No wait!"
"HUH?"
"Mr Tio, we need to go to the church. They're casting a debuff that's weakening Hinata and probably Meld, we need to stop them!"
"MY MASTER WISHES FOR YOUR SAFETY, I WILL DEAL WITH THEM AFTER I GET YOU-"
"There's no time! We're too far from the kingdom. I will be fine, my magic is on the same level of Amanogawa."
"YOU CONSIDER THAT A GOOD THING?" Tio's face irked at the mention of the annoying by.
"Y-You get the point!" Aiko bites one of her fingertip and uses the blood to draw a magic on the back of her other hand. She already did this back in her cell. And she'll do it a many times as she needs to, it it means she can help her students. "I can offer you support. I can't keep being a burden for Hinata. So please!"
Tio slightly looks up at Aiko's determined face. Her master's teacher raises a good point. And she can also see the stubbornness Hinata mentioned Aiko had.
"VERY WELL." Aiko is relieved as Tio changes his direction. The dragon swears protect this woman's life no matter what.
*Clang*
Meld holds his ground at Noint's charge. The two men pushes each other back. Noint once again casts Hellfire Tsunami, which Meld counters with Wind Wall, dispersing the flames.
Right before the flames were gone.
"Now!" Meld ducks revealing Hinata with her sniper rifle, fires at Noint, who flies away. Switching to her minigun, a hail of bullets starts chasing Noint. Little did Noint know, Hinata was chasing straight to Meld who was ready to hit him after using the enhancement magic, Herculean Might.
Noint reacts by quickly blocking with his swords, getting knocked back to Hinata's shot range. Back to her sniper rifle and accompanied by two of her drones, Hinata fires all three and hits Noint causing an explosion.
'Did we get him?' Hinata asked mentally, Telepathy is how they've managed to coordinate so well while making sure Noint doesn't catch on. Meld and Hinata still holds their weapons steadily.
The cloud of smoke burst apart revealing Noint coated in a blue aura.
'That aura...Limit Bre-'
Before she can even finish her thought , Noint vanishes and reappears behind Hinata. She can only fall back as Noint swings his sword slicing her rifle, the blade was just inches from her face.
"Hinata!" Meld charges down plunging his sword right between the the two only for Noint to pull the same trick twice.
This time while expecting it, Hinata pulls out one of her handgun and tries to parry it. Although successful, Noint's strike alone was still able to break her gun. Hinata responded by raising her leg, attempting to hit Noint with Gale Claw. But the apostle easily dodged.
With their backs against each other, Hinata and Meld can only observe as Noint appeared and disappeared all around them.
'He's too fast, I can't watch his movements.'
'Then let's try this.'
Noint finally decides to strike, but Meld had been able to act first. Before he can reach them, Meld had already used Hallowed Ground, which he had combined with wind magic and Meld was now in a sphere made of rotating wind which managed to deflect Noint's sword
'It won't last.' Hinata said through Telepathy.
'I know, but now we have some time to discuss strat-'
*Crash*
Meld and Hinata's eyes widen in horror as they see a beam of light, hit the barrier, as it dissolves into bits of light, like Aiko's prison was.
'He broke through it that fast?!' By the time Meld thought of those words, Noint had already closed the distance.
He suddenly thought back to Orcus, the place that had given birth to the new him, the new stronger him. Akira was much better at magic, but Meld was still able to give ample support with his own. And yet, even when he learned to uses chantless magic, learned to combine magic, here he is, and he can only ask himself this...
Is god this strong?
As for Hinata, the only thing she can see was the blade, it was coming down at...Meld, the man who..who...who...
"WATCH OUT DAD!" Hinata jumps forward, shoving him away. But Noint was already near them with his blade, so...
*Slit*
The next thing Meld realize was Hinata falling, he grabbed her arm to catch her. He then saw two objects falling beneath them, they were Hinata's legs. He then sees Noint, he grabs Hinata's back, and jumps away.
He then looks the teen who had a shocked face. "Hinata..."
"I-I'm ok, it's just my legs...and about what I..." She was struggling to talk. She was still wondering why she said what she said. But instead of waiting for her to finish, Meld sees Noint charging at them, and is expression quickly changes.
"Hold on tight." Meld swings Hinata back and drapesher hand over his shoulder. Hinata then grabbed on to that hand. Meld readieshimself for the incoming crashes onto Meld, however...Meld didn't budged an inch. He just held up his sword blocking Noint's.
Noint was perplexed at how Meld achieved such strength until...he saw the aura.
Meld had activated his own Limit Break, the red aura compliments the anger on his face. "Storm Gust." With one swing Meld conjures a powerful whirlwind, strong enough to blow Noint away.
At this point Hinata had gotten her head back into the game. She decided to postpone the matter from before. She also happens to notice how more serious Meld looks now. 'We won't win a battle of endurance. I don't think this guy us running out of mana.'
'Try to find his weakness. I'll hold him back until you do.'
Hinata nods and puts on her goggles. Noint comes flying back in and it starts. The two swordsman's blades clash. When Noint tried to attack Hinata, Meld managed to turn around and easily block him.
Despite her...odd placement and Noint's highspeed movement, Hinata has managed to lock on him enough to spot his weakness.
'His heart is mana crystal, a strong one. That's where his infinite mana is coming from.'
'I see...then now we have a plan to beat him.'
'Better make it quick. Your Limit Break isn't gonna last forever.'
Meld grins. 'You're right, my Limit Break is running out.' After hearing that, Hinata knew where Meld was coming from.
*Clash*
Meld deflects Noint one last time. After the apostle flew away, Meld activates gravity magic and pulls Noint closer. The angel didn't understand the purpose, considering they would just be clashing swords again. He was even more confused when Meld's sword suddenly disappeared. That is because Meld had put it back in his treasure trove.
Once Noint got close Meld grabs his forearms and pull him back. He then wraps his arms around Noint by grabbing his upper limb, holding him in place and prevent him from using his blades.
However wasn't Noint wasn't worried, he immediately tried to cast Hellfire Tsuna-
*Crack*
Noint's pupils shrink as he turns back and sees a knife stabbed right into where his mana crystal is. And the hand that was holding a a knife was coming out of a spatial gate. What's more, the hand was covered in a purple aura. The hand retreats and disappears along with the spatial gate.
Noint looks back at Meld, who's aura is disappearing. Once it's gone , Noint can see a new color, purple. Hinata reveals herself with a smile while waving the blood stained knife. She had activated that her own Limit Break, just for that one attack.
She switched out her knife for her other handgun and aims at Noint's chest. "Not so bad as baggage, am I?" Noint's biggest mistake was disregarding Hinata, simply because she lost her legs. When she was far more dangerous with or without it. Hinata pulls the trigger.
Bang*
Noint finally showed an emotion on his shot face, shock, as he fell and plummeted to the ground.
Meld and Hinata finally have a chance of relief, though after Noint fell, they both awkwardly look at each other. "So..."
*Boom*
Hinata was immediately cut off by the sound of massive explosion. They turn their heads to see the explosion had come from the direction of the church.
"Thank goodness- I mean, what the hell was that?!" Hinata said while being internally grateful for the distraction.
"Let's go." With that, Meld goes to investigate, leaping on multiple platforms of condensed air. Once he reached the church, or what was left of it, they immediately spot Tio and Aiko standing in front of the rubble.
"What happened here?" Meld asked as he landed. He then kneeled in front of a piece of rubble, Hinata let's go and sits on it.
Upon seeing her..
"Nagumo!"
"Master!"
Tio and Aiko run to Hinata's side. "It's fine, I just lost my legs."
"That doesn't sound fine at all!" Aiko cried.
"Could you not just fix it?" Tio asked.
"My legs fell somewhere in the forest, it'll take too long to find them. I'll just make temporary substitutes." Hinata brings out the materials she needs and starts transmuting. "On the other hand, what the hell happened here? I thought I told you to get her out of here, Tio."
"Your teacher insisted on helping."
"Wait. Lady Aiko , you did this?"
"Uh no no I just wanted the barrier- Tio couldn't break it so..."
"It was quite magnificent master, your teacher is quite magnificent. I've never made a fire breath that powerful before." Tio complimented with glee.
"I don't understand."
Hinata tried put the pieces together- uh of what happened, not the pieces of her temporary leg. Aiko helped Tio break the barrier, but how? Her magic stat is high but Hinata doubts she knows any enchantment spells, considering she's only farmed since they - wait, that's it.
"Did you make methane, Sensei?"
"Methane?"
"It's a highly flammable gas. If you combine that with dragon fire, well...you can see the result." Aiko had shown her status plate to Hinata back at Ur. She remembers seeing a fermentation skill, that would make it possible. "Way to go Sensei, that was kinda badass of you."
"Hinata, you're mistaken. I just wanted to make sure that Tio..." Aiko suddenly trailed off with horrifying realization. She turns back to the rubble. "Wait, what about the people of the church?"
The other people look at each, knowing exactly what Aiko just realized. Hinata spoke up. "Sensei...you don't actually think anybody survived that did you?"
That...was not how Meld would've put it, but Hinata is correct.
"No...it can't be...I didn't...mean.." Aiko falls to her kness, her whole body shaking with fear...and she vomited. Meld immediately went over to comfort as she cried and also helped cleaned her vomit. Hinata continued making new legs, she felt bad for Aiko, she really does, but her having no legs wouldn't exactly have helped.
She finishes, her new legs can't even be compared to her previous ones, but she can still walk and that's whats important. Aiko had also finished recovering, it seemed Meld being near her helped. Now they can-
"Master, who is that?" Everybody looks where Tio was pointing. And there a bald man standing on top of the rubble. They can see that the man was wearing clothes similar to the church people. At first they assume that someone had survived. But when they look closer.
"It's a projection." Hinata concluded once she realized the man's whole body was glowing. "It's like Orcus and Melusine."
"This place is a great labyrinth, correct?"
"Yeah, but those projections only appear after you clear one." Said projection started to float away.
"Hey, come back here!" Hinata runs off after the projection, nearly tripping while getting used to her new legs.
"Hinata wait!" The girl was already leaving them behind. The other followed her in a rush.
The projection stopped. The group then saw a bright light from underneath the rubble. The rubble above it started floating revealing a glowing magic circle. It's enveloped everyone, the next thing they knew they were in a familiar looking room. A room that had a big magic circle in the center. The only other object worth nothing is a pedestal with a book on it.
All four of them walked onto and it started glowing. As three of them guessed, they all received a new gods age magic. Aiko felt a headache after also receiving it. The magic they received this time was..
"Spirit magic, the power to control someone's very soul."
"Hmm so that's how Miledi got that body of hers. By transferring her soul to a golem." When she asked the bitch the first time, she was all like. "You gotta find out for yourself..."
Hinata walks over to the book and starts skimming through the pages. "Let's see...Laus Barn blah blah blah something about Miledi blah blah blah male pattern baldnesssss...aha! In order to clear the clear this labyrinth you must fulfil these three conditions. The first, you have cleared two labyrinths. The second, you must not have any faith in god. The third, you must defeat something under god's influence."
"Wait, so that's all it takes to clear the labyrinth?"
"Now that you mention it, perhaps fighting the church and that apostle, is the challenge itself. Not to mention that first condition."
"Hold on, Sensei, did you learn Spirit magic too?" She asked the farmer who got up after the headache.
"Huh? Uh, yeah I think so. To think magic like this exist."
"But you didn't clear two labyrinths."
"She didn't, but she did meet the other two conditions, considering..." Meld decided to trail off, not wanting to remind Aiko of what she had done. But regarding the second, Aiko has always sort of disliked the church for making her students fight and Meld already informed her of Ehit's true identity. "Anyway, perhaps you and me clearing 4 labyrinths each, makes it up for what she lacks."
"Okay...feels kinda weird though." Hinata picks up the ring she found in between pages, feeling a bit unsure about the labyrinth. She wasn't gonna complain about getting gods age magic. But it was a bit weird that the labyrinth would give Aiko a pass for that one.
Perhaps it's because of the theme of the labyrinth, Laus wanted to make sure that only those who oppose god can use this, meaning that the other two conditions were more important than the first, even if it was the hardest in her opinion. The second was easy and the third was vague, thus making it flexible. For example you can just beat one pri- Wait, why did she feel she was being derailed from something?
"Oh, the capital is still under attack!"
Oh right.
"I hope everyone is ok."
"Eh worst case scenario, they're all dead. Best case scenario, everyone but the people I tolerate are dead-OW!" That comment earned a chop from Meld.
"Come on, let's regroup with the others." The paladin ordered. After teleporting out of the room they make their way down the cliff side.
Aiko kept holding onto Tio while crying. Meld wanted to use spatial magic, but he wanted to save mana in order to defend the kingdom. As they go, he can only hope the kids are holding out.
Meanwhile in the kingdom
"Guk...gah..." Shizuku was fighting the pain. The pain of her stab wound. The pain of held down on the ground. The pain of seeing her friends in the same position is. And the pain of seeing that...bitch. Smiling down on them.
"HehehehahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
I'm really excited for the next chapter, and I think some of you know why.