Chapter 2: Brimstones and Perpetual Fire
May 2nd, 2014
Tokyo, Japan
Amidst the dead night of Tokyo when the calls of Gaia was silent, a young maiden ran.
The fair maiden's crimson hair that was tied into a ponytail bopped with vigour, reflecting the enthusiasm of it's human. Her blood-coloured eyebrows furrowed in concetration as her look was of determination.
Dodging an incoming car with ungodly speed, her emerald orbs glistened with fiery willpower as her body glowed eternal white, leaving behind a trail of afterimages.
The dark streets of Tokyo seemed to illuminate due to the maiden warrior's exceptional presence.
Soon as she reached her destination, her feet met friction as her aura died down. What followed her was a strong gale that blew everything away due to the speed she was running at.
"Hm. Still as beautiful as ever." She smiled as she looked upon her destination and calmly walked into it, relishing in the immediate cold caress of the night air.
The lavish carpet of dew-licked grass crunched under her feet. The chill of the night still followed her body like a love-stricken teenager but she paid it no mind. As the crunch of grass was replaced by the groan of dirt and gravel, she stopped.
The Great Tree of Japan that was said to realise dreams and revoke lost feelings stood tall and mighty before the crimson haired maiden. Marvelling at the Great Tree, a series of brutal memories suddenly came clawing at her mind as her heart was filled with longing and reminiscence.
"Isabella. . .", She clenched her heart, longing for her past wife and soulmate.
She remembered how they used to practice and constantly flirt with each other.
She remembered how her wife always used to nag at her for being too focused on her work.
She remembered how they used to talk about finally ending the great war and having a. . .family.
A pang in her heart made her clench her chest further. Despite the beautiful memories, looking upon the Great Tree, she still felt like there was a hole in her memories.
In an attempt to settle the grumbling of her mind, the maiden walked forward. The roots of the Great Tree trembled. Her body, holding a close relationship with Gaia, also trembled.
As the moon took it's seat in the highest throne of night, the Great Tree went under a metamorphosis. It had finally shed it's green mask and took on it's true beautiful form.
The chosen hue of heaven painted the leaves, blessing the Tree to bask in an eternal glow. It sashayed excitedly at having to finally reveal it's true inner beauty at the world. It called for it's slumbering beautiful little children. Almost immediately, small orbs of light groggily woke from below and danced in joy around their old mother.
The hole in her memories was instantly filled. Oh, how could she have forgot?
This was the place they had their first meeting.
Smiling like a complete idiot, she let the impatient herd of memories loose and saw a series of images.
She could still see the silky, golden hair of her soulmate that bathed in the familiar golden color of the glowing Great Tree.
She could still feel the blazing look of duty and power in her past lover's aureate eyes.
She could still smell the enticing cinnamon aroma waving around the mana-blessed air.
"Isabella. . ." a breathless whisper escaped the maiden's lips as the look of longing was replaced with a look of resolution. "I promise I will make you mine again. I promise I will free you of your burden. I, Aurora BrightBurn, promise on the sacred name of Gaia that I will find you again!"
Lightning rumbled three times among the clouds as the earth trembled with glee. An oath bearing the name and dignity of Gaia had been made.
Aurora sighed. "Until then wait for me, my lovely wife." She sat down and leaned her head against the Great Tree, content to sleep like this for the rest of the night. Her parents weren't home so it would just be her alone in her house anyway.
But fate was not so kind.
'[A Dimension Gap?!]' The frazzled girl immediately opened her eyes. What she saw was a hole in reality, a wormhole, a dimension gap. She looked inside. A never ending swirl of colors and energy that belonged to the world or realm which was situated beyond the portal.
Aurora calmed her heart. This was it. The day she had been waiting for and the day she would come home with a mythos's head. Ignoring her excitement, she calmly weighed the advantages and disadvantages.
On one hand, she felt she was ready to take on [Gaia's Dream]. She had long since entered the third stage of [Samsara Body] and created a handful of magic and physical skills. One such example was her [Overspeed] where she incorporated the elements of pure Light, Lightning, Air and Fire on her own body to reach the epitome of speed.
Of course, she had not yet reached such levels of speed as the most she could reah at was only around Mach 2. Aurora still felt indignant at the amount of time she had spent to reach the perfect blend between the conspiring elements and even more to wield it perfectly.
Shaking her head out of the wallowing grasp of anger, she focused on the matter at hand.
On the other hand, the realm beyond the portal could be too much for her to handle. The monsters could potentially be around S rank, based on the wave of raw mana she felt from the [Dimension Gap].
The warrior maiden placed a hand on her chin and pondered. 'But then again, Japan's Gifted HQ should probably have already noticed the mana wave this [Dimension Gap] gave off. A group of Gifteds should be approaching as I speak. So it should be fine for me to explore a little.'
'Un. Guess I'm going in.' Aurora closed her eyes and circulated pure mana throughout her body, reveling in the warm embrace.
"[OverSpeed]!" A ghostly aura of blinding power roared around Aurora's body as her cells furiously absorbed the multitude of elements into itself. The world seemed to have slowed down for the crimson haired girl, all 5 senses heightened to the pinnacle of focus.
In the blink of an eye, she disappeared into the [Dimension Gap].
???, ???
The smell of embers and dried air entered Aurora's sensitive nose. What she saw next was a wall of red paint.
She looked around more carefully.
Red. Fire. Lava. Brimstones. Death. Pillars of fire erupted from the lava-embraced ground like furious dragons as they kissed the smoke-covered sky.
She looked to the sides.
Lovecraftian Towers that seemed to be made out of the blackest of soulstones and a river of literal corpses grimly wallowed in pain.
She looked up, sensing multiple energy signatures.
It was a disgusting sight. Demons and devils that looked like they had been made out of excrement with even uglier wings dominated the sky, killing and eating away at everything that moves; even their own brethren.
Tearing her sight from the nature-failed products, she felt the ground shake continuously with terror.
Aurora peeked down.
Behemothic unsightly demons that were the size of buildings roamed the icky land, pouncing at anything that had life and devouring it. They roared and shrieked with savagery.
Yet. Aurora did not feel an ounce of terror at these. .'creatures'. Her body involuntarily shuddered as she gagged at the sight of these demons.
As an Ex-Grand Magus and World Champion, if she lost her wits towards such repulsive and low-levelled mythos she would never have even been granted the title. However, there was something different about the looming wall that spanned endlessly throughout her heightened vision.
Aurora could feel that, for some reason, she had been in this realm before. She cursed at the faint-memory side effect of the [Samsara Cycle] technique. Nevertheless, Aurora knew the only way to find out more about this disgusting, filthy, realm was to explore. Besides, Gaia was firmly supporting her decision too if the chiming wind was anything to go by.
And that was what she was gonna do.
But of course, not before cleaning the piles of trash littering her view.
She closed her eyes. "[Imperial Guard]" Fluid ephemeral swords that had been embedded with the elements of Light, Darkness and Water hovered around Aurora protectively, ready to kill anything that dared defy her royal decree. "[Frenzy]" The swords tripled in size, number and potency.
"[Overspeed] [Elemental Protection]" Time slowed down for the rose-haired warrior as a raging aura of ivory clutched onto her skin.
Aurora opened her eyes, revealing the bloodthirsty glint in her emerald orbs. She grinned. "Now then, shall we start the massacre?"
Only dried dust and a powerful gale was left in Aurora's spot.
Tokyo, Japan
Outside the HQ of Japan, an otherworldly beautiful receptionist sighed. "I'm sorry but I'll have to respectfully decline." She had, yet again, rejected another confession from one of her many pursuers.
The bearded buff man looked crestfallen as he walked away in self-pity, throwing away the bundle of roses he had prepared for his ex-crush.
Looking at the heartbroken man, the receptionist felt guilty for a moment before covering it up with her usual professional look. She walked back inside the HQ and stood up before her counter and sighed once more.
"Oh my, why is our lady of Japan sighing? Perhaps, she didn't get the usual 100 letters of confessions today?" A raven haired coworker teased, poking at the face of the gorgeous woman.
"Don't joke around, Mizuki. It's the opposite in fact." The beautiful brunette replied with a tired look as she swatted away her friend's curious hand.
Mizuki rubbed her hand before realizing what the brunette just said."Eh? You got more than 100 letters?! Wh-What is the secret behind your beauty, Chiba Ena?!" Mizuki fell to the ground for dramatic effect.
Giggling at her theatrical friend, Chiba took out her pocket mirror and looked at herself. "I'm not that beautiful though.." If her fans heard what she said, they would immediately die of shock and frustration. The doll like girl had the face of an angel, cute and pristine whilst having the opposite for a body. An hourglass figure that was equipped with two knockers that jiggled with pride as she stood tall at a height of 5'9 with perfect child-bearing hips.
She was, in all honesty, a divine beauty that had the ability to topple nations. Yet she felt hatred and disgust towards herself. 'If only I wasn't cursed with my body, father and mother wouldn't be placed with such a burden.'
The divine beauty bit her lips hard. 'Maybe I should just submit myself to that man. . .' Her eyes started getting cloudy with a distorted sense of duty. However before her train of thoughts could race any further, an irritatingly loud shriek returned her back to reality.
"Kyaa! [Lion's Pride] is here!"
"Eh? Are you serious?"
"Oh my god. Their equipments look like it costs millions! As expected of the number 3 guild in Japan!"
Chiba cringed at the constant shrieks, wondering what the hell was going on as she couldn't see anything from the crowd of people covering her view of the so called [Lion's Pride]. She was about to ask Mizuki what this [Lion's Pride] was but the expressional girl was nowhere to be seen.
She looked around for her friend, her eyes darting around rapidly until she noticed the atmosphere was now silent. The beautiful brunette soon found out the reason.
"Milady, may I have the honour of knowing your gorgeous name?" The blonde handsome man in front of her asked, his posture kneeling. Moving his attention away, she noticed everyone in the HQ staring at her with looks of envy and rage.
Chiba sighed again. "Sir, if you would please state the reason you are here?"
"If you are here for a raid, please head onto the Seeker's board over there." She smiled politely at the blonde man and the group of well-equipped [Gifteds] behind him as her hand gestured to the giant beeping board on the side.
The Seeker's Board was a high-tech board where all the most recent locations of Dimension Gaps were shown onscreen and could be easily be assessed by any [Gifteds] with but a touch. This was crafted by the collaboration of nature attuned [Gifteds] & specialized scientists and is currently available all over the world.
The blonde man looked offended. "I see. Maybe we can get to know each other more over a cup of coffee, my beautiful lady." He slyly put his business card down on Chiba's stand and walked away with his team.
Chiba looked over it. It was a typical business card belonging to a certain Kaminari Hozuki, the supposed man who was the cause of all this commotion. She looked at the back of the card. It read, 'Property of the [Lion's Pride] Guild's Ace, Prince of Madness.'
'How arrogant to call oneself a Prince. Well, not like I should be surprised anymore with the amount of crazy people going after my hand.' The fair maiden cringed inwardly and put the card away in the special bin she kept for her 'supposed' suitors. 'Now where the hell is Mizuki?'
"Oh my god. You must literally be the luckiest girl in the world right now." Speaking of the devil, her friend literally popped up right in her seat and acted like she had always been there.
Chiba ignored her statement and asked her, "Where the hell have you been? You disappeared the moment that douchey guy entered the room! Who is he anyways?" Mizuki's eyebrows twitched as she heard her friend's description of her lifelong idol.
"Who is he? WHO IS HE?! Please tell me you aren't joking right now, Chi-chan." The raven haired girl wanted to smack her beautiful friend for being so frustrating but swallowed her anger. She took a deep breath.
"Kaminari Hozuki-sama, the handsome idol you just wonderfully dubbed as 'douchey' happens to be the Ace [Gifted] of the Guild, [Lion's Pride]; the third strongest guild in all of Japan. THIRD." Mizuki tucked a stray hair that had fallen due to her exasperation. "Furthermore, with a genius brain and an affinity to Divine Lightning, he started a business named Hozuki enterprise at the tender age of 16. He is more commonly known as the Child of Hope in Japan."
Chiba cringed more from the idol explanation given by her love sick friend but unfortunately, Mizuki wasn't finished.
"He is also a very strong A rank Gifted and well known for being cold towards women. Yet, a guy like that practically give you his reputation on a silver platter and what did you do?" Chiba was ready to vocalize her words but was overspoken by Mizuki. "That's right. You REJECTED him. Haa. .I love you Chiba. I really do but it's times like these I worry for you. Are you ever gonna settle down? For Gaia's sake you're already 20 and you've never even once dated!"
The brunette looked down, both literally and metaphorically. 'I know that. I, of all people, know that. ' She looked up.
"But, I can't just give up my work. You know I have too much at stake to be pursuing some stupid romance like a teenage girl, Mizuki." Beads of tears started to form in the corner of her eyes. Mizuki's heart ached at the sight.
She hugged her. "I know. Shh shh, I'm sorry for reminding you about them. Everything's going to be okay. Shh. . "Mizuki silently whispered words of comfort and gave every onlooker the stink eye, telling them to piss off.
After a few moments of quiet sniffling, Chiba Ena tore away from the warm embrace of her childhood friend. "Thank you, Mi-chan. I'm really glad to have you as a friend."
Wiping off her tears she joked, "Come on, the counter isn't going to work itself you know?"
"Imm." Mizuki smiled and hugged her friend one more time just to be sure before going on to her counter. And with that, The HQ of Japan returned to it's normal chatty atmosphere as the focus on the brunette and blackette was relieved.
Chiba felt a lot better after finally getting it off her chest. 'I should stop looking at the negative points of my life. Anything could happen in life after all. Maybe having a couple of friends to confide secrets in isn't such a bad thing.' She calmly watched the [Lion's Guild] walk out the exit, wondering what type of high-ranked [Dimension Gap] they were heading into.
________________________________________
???, ???
"99. . .100" A flash of light and a soft voice was all the ugly demons heard before they fell into an eternal slumber as the savage slaughterer grinned.
Granted, the blood-stained warrior knew these mobs were nothing in comparison to the real mythos but she still felt an adrenaline-filled joy seeing the blood of her life-long enemies spill like a giant bloody fountain.
"450. . .500." Aurora suppressed her tempestuous aura of absolute speed and smiled. "That should be all of them."
In an instant, all of the horrific demons that had filled up Aurora's vision were no longer nowhere to be seen. She breathed out calmly and noticed her blood soaked attire.
Aurora casted a simple wind spell, cleansing herself of any filthy blood that had managed to dirty her enchanted black crop top and black tights. "Ahh~ that feels so much better. I really should do this more often."
She looked around her. A depressed grave for every demon she had pummeled and killed.
She heard a slosh and turned back. A river of blood flowed through every creak and hole, enhancing the gory scenery of this nightmarish realm.
The crimson haired girl's attention turned to the gargantuan void-black monolith that had no end.
"Now then, what to do with that. . .thing?" she asked herself with a curious smile. "It's definitely not something ordinary if it's causing such a reaction with my soul." Her mind throbbed in defense to the nagging sensation her body was forcefully providing.
"The pressure it's releasing is off the charts. Seriously, it's practically an A rank mythos by itself." Aurora shivered as she looked on from a kilometer away.
'Maybe I should just come back another time. It's too risky for the current me to go explore it. Perhaps I'll see it again since our destinies seemed to be entertwined.' Aurora thought hopefully.
However deep down, Aurora knew that was unlikely. After a [Dimensional Gap] opens in a certain location, there is an 80% chance that it won't open in the same area again. Besides, she also knew that if she doesn't kill the boss level threat in here, the [Dimensional Gap] would serve as a beac-
The ground shook violently, bringing Aurora into survival mode where all of her defenses and spells were automatically activated. She frantically looked around for the cause until her eyes settled on the wall, nay, the abnormality standing in front of the wall.
Fear. Excitement. Dread. Death. As the red moon of the hellish realm shone on the mysterious cloaked being standing guard of the wall, a series of emotions filled Aurora's heart.
The sheer pressure of the being was enough to leave the fearless warrior. . .fear.
The thing in front of her was something that wasn't supposed to exist yet. It was something that was supposed to only show itself when the mythos invaded Gaia and laid waste to the world. It didn't make sense.
Unless. . .
Almost instantly, her stubborn memory spilled the beans as she remembered where she was currently.
'No, this can't be. His realm doesn't merge with ours until Gaia weakens!' Aurora agitatedly bit her fingernails. 'And that isn't until another 6 years!' She couldn't exaggerate how bad the mere presence of that thing was for the world and for her plans.
Sure, the being was cloaked but she would never forget the terrifying might of that accursed mythos.
'For Gaia's sake, what the hell is Samael, the curse of god doing in hell?!' Her eyes divulged in shock. This was a being that had been one of the main destroyers of her world.
A fallen seraphim and lord of divine light that was easily a strong SS rank mythos.
To explain how grim the current situation was, in gaming terms, he would be the final boss.
Yet despite all the fear her body was swimming in, she still wondered Samael's purpose in coming to the bane realm of his existence since it was common knowledge that divinity and corruption didn't mix well.
'Nevertheless, I can't do anything crazy or I'd get killed instantly.' Aurora bit her lips enough to draw blood before realizing something. 'No, wait a minute.'
She furrowed her brows in concentration. 'This is Samael, an SS rank mythos. The fact that he didn't find the fact that hundreds of filthy demons went missing is odd. And why hasn't he spotted me yet? After all, I'm still too weak to repel his prying eyes.'
Aurora's thought process was interrupted however by the stirring of Samael's movement. 'Ah. He started moving.' Aurora focused on the cloaked being, enduring the crazy amount of energy that rolled off Samael like waves.
She saw Samael touch the center of the wall and reality split apart.
As the grand titanic wall parted, Aurora's mouth gaped in shock.
Her brain went haywire. The Ex-Grand Magus, for the first time in her lives, could not comprehend what she saw.
Nothing. There was nothing!
In what was supposed to be a pathway into hell's city, there was a gaping void of space. A gaping maw filled to the brim with shark-like teeth came into existence as Lucifer approached it with fear.
He seemed to be screaming some incoherent words to the overbearing seemingly sentient mouth before it smiled snarkily and shrieked. Aurora had to cover her ears physically so as to prevent the two strong mythos from focusing on her.
Lucifer yelled in fear as he immediately flapped all 12 of his cursed wings, trying to escape the hungry maw. In the blink of an eye, it bit off Lucifer's wings and swallowed him whole.
'What?!' Aurora's mouth could now fit a whole watermelon.
The anomalous creature burped feathers, indifferent on the fact it had just killed an SS rank mythos instantaneously and messed up Aurora's entire plan.
"No, no, no, no. It can't be." Aurora muttered like a maniac under her breath. "I expected some holes in my plan but this? This is a huge freaking hole!"
She bit her nails and thought furiously. 'Even if I may lost some parts of my memories, I can still clearly remember the path of hell that was supposed to be there!" The crimson haired girl looked at the sleeping maw of void.
'This is bad. Really bad." Aurora heaved. 'I've never heard of a mythos that could devour an SS rank mythos instantly! If abnormalities like these appear it could spell the doom for my plan and therefore, the entire human race!'
'Which means. . . 'The fear-stricken girl looked scared as a thought crossed her mind.
"I will lose everything I love again." Aurora whispered without energy. She tried to refuse the very statement as he mind worked overtime, reworking and revising everything in her grand plan.
She tried to refuse the sadistic game the abhorrant gods placed her race into.
She tried to defy the law of the heavens.
She tried.
But, there was just too many variabilites. Even with all her intellect and wits, the Ex-Grand Magus couldn't rework another masterplan in which humanity had an absolute certainty of triumphing against the mythos race.
The colour of her eyes grew dull as the brilliant flame of ambition paled by the minute. 'So, I guess that's it? Humanity has absolutely no hope left?'
'Why did I even bother? Why?' She chuckled in her idiocy. 'I should have known we didn't have a chance from the start.'
'After all, what can a race of mortals do against the mighty mythos?' Aurora started to giggle. 'Ah~ I give up.'
"You hear that, you damned bastards? Rejoice, for you have broken the spirit of a hero and mortal!" The broken maiden broke into a full blown laughter.
"Fine, I'll play by your rules then!" She kneeled like a girl that had heard the word of God and screamed, "All hail the great Gods and Demo-"
A smiling image of a beautiful woman carrying her adorable baby and leaning against a tall, lean warrior appeared in Aurora's mind. In that one moment, Aurora could swear she saw her soulmate looking at her disapprovingly at how easily her undying spirit broke.
The Ex-World Champion's flickering flame of determination immediately came back with a roaring revenge.
'Isabella. . .I'm sorry.' Aurora warmly smiled at the image before she stood up slowly and silently.
Her body burst with concentrated rage. Brilliant white arcs raced across the blood-bathed warrior's body, as 7 angry elements of nature ascended towards their mother's head, forming into an ethereal white crown.
"Congratulations. You've successfully made me angry." Aurora brightburn, Ex-Grand Magus and Ex-World Champion, muttered with a silent anger as her eyes and hair turned a bright white.
"Cerberus." A multitude of spider cracks appeared in space until reality itself shattered like a broken glass mirror.
"Ugh." a grunt sounded near Aurora's ears but she ignored it.
She was too busy basking in the warm radiation of the true hell. 'To think I, Aurora Brightuburn was fooled by such a simple illusion. . .' She looked at the source of the sound.
A huge mythos that had arms the size of trees and legs the size of cars towered over Aurora even if said mythos was kneeling in pain. It wore mystical enchantments all over it's robe-hugged hell-kissed body and a set of skulls that dangled from it's neck.
"Maiden. . .How did you break my illusion?" Cerberus spoke with difficulty, healing itself from the rebound of his grand spell.
Aurora looked at the giant demon with disdain. "Shut up. All you need to know is the fact that you've made me pissed." Her violent aura raged even more in testament as her children vouched to annihilate the filth staining their mother's vision. "Very much so."
"[Armageddon]" Aurora intoned, her raging aura of power slowly condensing into a soul sword made of pure solidified light and darkness that extended it's holy rays and devouring darkness towards the sinful hell. The sentient sword trembled in disgust at the corrupted realm it's lord had called it in and urged to return such a dirty realm back into the void.
The giant mythos wearily stood up, feeling fear for the impossible sword of bane and even more for the warrior holding it. He took out a giant violent staff that glowed gently with prestige and prepared himself for the battle of his life.
'I haven't witnessed a human this dangerous in my entire life. And, so young too.' Cerberus steeled his resolve as he looked at the warrior maiden of blood. 'She must be eradicated for the glory of hell.'
Meanwhile, Aurora's blood pounded in her ears, her mind stilled into pure concentration as adrenaline raced in her veins.
This would be her first fight to the death with a worthy opponent since she reincarnated.
But nevertheless, she would win.
"Come at me, you piece of filth." Aurora growled.
________________________________________
Meanwhile in Tokyo, Japan
A party of 5 A ranked [Gifteds] stood before a [Dimension Gap] and prepared themselves for the intense fight they would have, judging from the crazy amount of energy that was pouring out from the moaning [Dimension Gap].
Hozuki Kaminari, the leader of the raid team frowned before turning to his team. Looking at his balanced team, some of the pressure was relieved as he mentally applauded his guild leader.
A petite and cute girl that wore an oversized robe and held a staff made out of mystical wood.
A tall, buff man that donned a bulky armor and a large shield that was bigger than the man himself.
A lean man that seemed to merge with the shadows of the great tree yet equipped with an abundance of impossibly small weapons inside his slick armor.
A beautiful girl that wore a courtesan's dress that barely covered her seductive body and carried a large harp.
'Hanami Fujiwara. Sora Akiyama. Haruto Hirai. Aoi Himawari.' Hozuki rearranged his team's names into their respective roles. 'Mage. Tank. Assassin. Support. And with me, a warrior.'
Hozuki called for lightning as it answered in the form of a sparkling spear. "It is time." He signaled for the start of the raid as he calmly walked inside the [Dimension Gap] along with his team.
As they arrived at the other realm, the first thing they noticed was the searing heat on their skin that hit them instantly like a truck made out of the sun. Their body activated it's sweaty response promptly as the raid team's thoughts of survival were hindered by the extreme heat.
Reacting with reflexes befitting of an A Rank Gifted, Aoi instantly casted heat resistance buffs on her team who sighed in relief at the cool caress of the mystical gale that was blowing across their body.
"Ahh~ Thank you, Aoi-chan." Hanami expressed her gratitude towards her childhood friend.
"Yeah, you really saved us this time, Aoi. I fear to think what would have happened if you weren't here." The tank, Sora flashed a brilliant smile.
"Thanks." Haruto grunted and turned away.
Aoi smiled. "Of course. You can always count on my support. Right, captain?" There was no response.
"Captain?" Aoi asked again but was met with the same response. She turned to look at Hozuki, the leader of their raid party and saw that he was standing as still as a tree.
The rest of the team also grew worried but noticed something. Their leader was looking at something, underneath the cliff they were standing on.
"What's wrong cap? Cat got your tongue?" Sora quipped as he walked over to his friend and down. "What the hell are you lookin-?!" He fell into the same state as the raid captain.
Utter and complete silence.
The two women looked at each other, wondering if the men had taken some weird pill beforehand. Soon enough, they also followed after the footprints of their tank and warrior and looked down.
Their mouths gaped wide enough to fit a golf ball. 'Wh-Who the hell could cause such destruction?!' The same thought ran through everyone's minds.
The scenery before them was even more hellish than the realm they were currently in. Beforehand, they had expected to risk their lives destroying the realm heart and therefore, closing the [Dimension Gap]; maybe clearing some mythos wave.
But it appears someone had already taken care of that.
Ignoring the stereotypical pillars of hellfire and rivers of lava, they saw the devil's carnage tempered with the colours of black and red. Mountains of behemothic mythos that looked like they had been brutalized to the extreme filled up the ground to the point they couldn't even see the floorbed. The amount of monsters murdered was so astronomical that their blood had turned the extensive land of hell into a sloshing ocean.
As the curtains of the sky opened, the red glare of the moon shone on the bloody deathbed of demons, making the view even more like a scenery from hell.
Even an experienced Gifted would have vomited at the sight yet everyone in the raid party magnificently held in the urge, a testament to the long years they served as Gifteds.
'How grim.' Hozuki frowned in displeasure at the gory work the culprit did. 'One thing's for sure. Whoever he/she is, the person extremely despises the mythos race.'
"Ugh. I feel like I want to vomit." Hanami cringed in disgust. As she looked at the bones sticking out from the demon's bodies, she even felt pity for them.
The men of the raid team simply gulped down their disgust and locked it deep in their memories, silently promising each other to never talk about this.
"Nevertheless, we have to keep moving." The genius Gifted motioned to the titanic wall of void that was stationed a kilometer away from their position.
"Imm." The team nodded hesitantly.
"Hanami. If you could please." Hozuki stood back, allowing the still mentally disturbed support to walk forward.
Hanami placed her hands away on the floor of the cliff. "[Terraform]" She intoned as the tip of the cliff transformed into a rug and started to hover.
"Woah. I still can't get used to this spell of yours, Hana-chan." Sora marveled at such a physics defying spell, caressing the floating rocky rug with his hands.
"Hmph." The assassin of the team merely grunted before sitting down with his eyes closed as the rug started to fly towards their next destination, the giant monolith.
Meanwhile, Hozuki was running theories though his head. 'If the slaughterer isn't a human, that would spell really bad news for us. Granted, the monsters were C and B ranks at best but their size and number is enough to overwhelm even a whole platoon of Gifteds.'
'Furthermore' He released a trickle of lightning to the ocean of demonic blood which returned back to Hozuki after a second. 'The blood is still warm meaning whoever did this cleared the horde of demons quite recently. Also the bodies all have a mark of some sort on them before being brutalized.'
Hozuki checked his watch. 'Also, The [Dimension Gap] only opened an hour ago, at 10 pm. It's 11 now but we arrived here at 10:30 so that must mean they were all killed in 30 minutes. . .'
"Regardless of the culprit's race, he/she is not someone we can afford to offend." Hozuki mumbled with a troubled face.
Sora took one look at his old friend and knew he was unsettled by the whole demon massacre. So he walked over and sat beside him. "You know." He started. "You always put on a brooding face when you're troubled by something."
Hozuki scrunched his eyebrows in denial.
Sora laughed. "Look. We'll be all right, okay? You've got me, the best tank in the world to save your brooding ass after all." He pounded his chest and put on a proud face.
Hozuki smiled, laughing inwardly at his old friend's self-proclaimed title. "Imm. I know. We'll survive this together like we always do."
Sora grinned. "Now that's the spirit!" The magical carpet was then filled with the boisterous laughter of Sora and the silent chuckle of the lightning genius. Whereas, Haruto sunk his face underneath his scarf and smiled underneath.
At the same time, the two women of the raid team had a mother's look of satisfaction seeing the warm, homely chatter of old friends.
Time soon passed by as the terraformed rock flew towards it's destination.
Boom!
The floating rock trembled and shook violently, alerting the party of Gifteds on it. "Enemy attack?!" Hozuki immediately called for his lightning spear as he looked around for the source of disturbance.
The rest of the team heightened their senses to the extreme, ready to attack at a moment's notice. They looked around for minutes until they stood warily and confused.
"I don't get it. Did the enemy just attack and leave?" Aoi mumbled as she casted buffs on her team. Everyone was befuddled as they tried to make sense of the situation.
"Shh! Listen carefully. I hear something." Haruto shushed his party. "Metal on metal." He followed the trail of the sound until it led him to look down.
Hozuki and his team followed after their assassin's movements and looked down. 'Eh?!'
They received their second shock of the day. 'What's a teenage girl doing in a [Dimension Gap]?!'
They saw a beautiful rosey haired maiden who wore nothing but a simple crop top and pants fighting against a demon the size of a house. And from the pressure it gave off, Hozuki was sure the demon was no less than an A rank mythos.
Yet, a young lady who was presumably a B rank Gifted at most was holding her own against such a creature! Nay, from the erratic movements of the demon, she was even winning!
The party looked on with shock at the logic defying battle as they tried to shrug off the immense pressure the giant demon was giving off.
Sora was the first one to snap out of his daze and yelled to his team. "Oy whoever the crazy girl beneath us is, shouldn't we go help her?!"
"Ah! R-right." Hanami placed her hands on the rock and was ready to order it to descend before the raid captain stopped her. "Captain?"
"No." Hozuki ordered with a stern glare.
Aoi and Sora were appalled at the order. Even the quiet assassin looked displeased with Hozuki's order.
"No?" Sora mumbled before yelling. "What do you mean no?! That is a teenage girl! We need to save her or else. . ." The heart wrenching image of his dead sister appeared in his mind. "Or else, the same thing that happened with my sister is going to happen again."
Hozuki grimaced. He had always blamed himself for not being strong enough then to save his dear old friend's sister but he still repeated his order. "No."
Sora looked like he was about to explode from frustration so Aoi took over. She spoke calmly, "Captain, your reason?"
Sora calmed down enough to listen to his captain's answer whereas Hanami and Haruto focused on the intense fight that was breaking common sense.
The lightning clad genius sighed and pointed to the mysterious maiden underneath. "We will just be in the way of the warrior's victory."
"?!" The team was shocked by the words coming out of their leader's mouth as they immediately focused their attention on the absurd battle. And as they assessed the battle, they realized their leader was telling the truth.
The young maiden warrior was truly gaining the upper hand against a mythos much stronger than her!
Sora glanced at his old friend and saw him smiling. 'I see. He must be happy now that his dream is actualizing.'
"Nevertheless, I still think we should be prepared to help the girl just in case something unexpected happens." Sora remarked.
Hozuki replied with a soft smile. "But of course."
"Um. . .Guys? I think you should see this. The battle's reaching it's climax." Aoi said, her hands ordering the floating rock to move towards a better location to pay witness to the zealous clash of might and magic.
The entire raid party's attention was now wholly aimed at the crimson haired warrior and didn't even blink their eyes, afraid that they would miss a second of the battle.
'Now then. Let's see how you will end this, warrior.' Hozuki returned his spear into the divine sky.
Meanwhile with Aurora,
Aurora breathed out a puff of elemental air and intoned, "[Overspeed]".
A flash of grey was the only thing Cerberus could see before the dangerous combatant disappeared into thin air.
"What?!" Cerberus's senses immediately heightened as he looked around frantically for his race's bane until he felt a stiff sensation in the air above him. "[Teleport]!" He intoned quickly and reappeared 50 metres away from his previous position which had been already been reduced to nothingness.
The giant demon was stupefied. It was as if the very ground he was just standing on was never there!
The guard of hell's gates felt his senses go off again but this time, he was too late. "Agh!" His hands instinctively reached for the gash in his torso and felt nothing. He took a peek at it and was horrified to find the complete lack of meat and muscle.
Again, it was like he had always been born with a chunk of his oblique missing! 'The Sword! I can't let it touch me at any cost!' Cerberus quickly speculated.
"[Great Cure] [Infernal Spears]!" The meat of his left oblique started to reform out of magic as spiralling spears of flames were sent towards the speedster swordswoman. "[Grand Barrier]!" A dome of blue mana erected around Cerberus and further amplified Cerberus's healing wound that had formed due to Aurora's vicious sword.
The emerald-eyed little monster cursed at the healing speed while dodging and destroying the homing blazing spears. 'A quick caster type. How annoying.' She cut the last spear up with her ethereal sword and sped around Cerberus's field of vision, hoping to find a blindspot.
She had been a Grand Magus, the highest plane of magicians in her past life and therefore knew how annoying mages could be if they were given time and room to cast their spells.
'Guess I have no choice.' Aurora called for more of her mana as she surpassed the sound barrier, entering the slow world of Mach 2. The maiden was now equal to a ghost as only her afterimages could be seen.
The ghost of vengeance ran in a circular motion around the demon guard of hell as she tapped certain areas with her feet whilst destroying the new barrage of flaming spears.
'What is she doing?' Cerberus wondered, looking at the grey afterimages that was running around him like a madwoman. 'Agh!' He grimaced in pain as his wound almost finished healing. 'Who cares? The moment I'm finish healing myself, it will be your end human!'
Seeing the almost complete healing of Cerberus's wound, Aurora finalized her spell and jumped back.
"[Ignite]!" She roared, her mana pool quickly shrinking to the size of a small swimming pool.
Flames in the form of giant hydrangeas exploded in unison around the shielded, unsuspecting giant demon and soon enveloped him in a brutal burning hug. The blue aegis instantly shattered the moment one of the merciful hydrangea touched it.
"Agh! Gahh!" Cerberus screamed in pain, the air in his lungs burning away. Even the natural fire resistance gifted to all hell-spawns wasn't enough to keep the blue flames of mercy from peeling his red skin and hair.
The huge dome of the hydrangea shaped flame lasted for a minute before disappearing into Gaia's skin.
Aurora took a long breather as she cancelled her speed. "That took way too much out of me." Aurora panted before glancing at the wide depression that was caused by her mana-taxing spell. "Surely that did the job, right?"
Her weary question was replied by a blood-curdling roar that emanated from the depressed bowl of ash. A smoky body jumped out of it and landed on the ground of hell.
'Are you kidding me? Even an A ranked mythos would have suffered a lifelong injury from that!' She looked on, her mouth gaped wide to see that Cerberus had took on her spell and escaped it unscathed except for a few burns here and there.
Cerberus grunted in anger. "Not bad girl. You utterly destroyed my first life."
"But, it's my turn now." He lifted his magic staff and intoned. "[Infernal Grudge]" Tendrils of flame explosively wrapped around the dismayed Aurora and glued her to the ground as she tried to tear her exhausted body from it.
Continuing on with the barrage of spells, Cerberus wearily chanted,"[Wrath of Hell]!". A small orb of hellfire appeared in the humongous demon's palm and sucked in all the oxygen from it's surroundings. The smell of iron dominated the air as Cerberus kneeled from the sudden attack of fatigue.
Aurora felt her senses demanding her to quickly move out of the way as her child of water fought off the invading hellfire.
Cerberus's lips twitched into a bloody smirk. "This shall be your grave, warrior!" The small sparkling orb turned into a colossal flaming dragon that roared and hungrily looked at Aurora like she was a piece of meat. It roared once more and flew to Aurora, swallowing everything in it's path.
Aurora finally got out of her imprisonment but was far too late to dodge the blazing dragon that had already opened it's maws. 'Shit! I wanted to reserve this but so be it!' She held her loving [Armageddon] with two hands that shone bright with love in response.
Aurora and her sacred child's souls linked and became one as a domain of a 100 metres was laid out in their mind. Time slowed to a great extent as she closed her eyes, patiently waiting for the dragon of wrath to approach their domain.
It was but a matter of seconds until the dragon reached her. She counted down the seconds.
3. . .
2. . .
1. . .
It was time.
Aurora instanty opened her eyes, unflinching at the sight of a giant maw so close to her face and intoned loudly. "[Sever]!" In a split second she swung her sword vertically and cut the gigantic dragon down to it's very atoms. And she did it as silent as the wind.
The flushed terrain was silenced for a while until a shriek pierced the air.
Cerberus's eyes threatened to pop out of it's sockets, guffawing at the complete annihilation of his greatest spell.
Now normally, he would have teleported away from his defeat and report the dire situation to his master but he got arrogant and took a risk. Cerberus had casted his greatest spell, hoping it would be enough to put the maiden into eternal slumber.
Unfortunately, he lost the bet of life and was stunned eternally from the cost of his spell. "Wh-What are you?"
"That is for me to know." The familiar sheet of absolute speed hugged Aurora as she reappeared behind Cerberus with her holy sword clasped tightly in her hands.
"Ack! Cur-Curse you, child of Gaiaa!!" The high ranked demon's words were muffled from the blood that was pouring out of his neck. His huge body collapsed into a puddle of blood.
Cerberus, the guard of hell's soul had returned to the primordial void.
"And, for you to find out." Aurora swung her sword down, plastering an arc of demonic blood onto the ground. After a few minutes of silence, the teenage girl also collapsed.
She grimaced in pain. "That was way too close. If I had been one second late, I would have been burned into a crisp. Not even my resistance to fire can stop a fully powered dragon made out of hellfire."
Aurora felt her strength leaving her body. The physical skill really was too taxing on her body. "Ahh. . .I really shouldn't do something stupid like this ever again. Lesson. . .learned."
The last thing she heard before she fainted was something falling on the ground near her and a worried face.
~~~X~~~
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