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79.61% Lord of Mysteries:Fire of Destruction / Chapter 329: Chapter 246: Revelations From The Messenger

Chapter 329: Chapter 246: Revelations From The Messenger

Adryan's world turned upside down, his head ached and his vision became blurry and turbulent. A constant hammering in his mind made it hard to think and a sense of emptiness was all he could feel.

He could have sworn Flora was saying something but in his current state, she was nothing more than the wind rushing past his ear. 

Through his blurred vision and dazed mind, Adryan could see with some difficulty how he was moving through what appeared to be a door of white light.

This door was moving through a strange world; although it was unknown to him, he knew what it was.

The Spirit World.

A place full of mysteries, where information from the past, present and future was and even interacted with each other. Where directions were indistinguishable from each other.

Where the gray fog reached far beyond what any eye could see and completely covered this world, like an endless ocean that contained the secrets of this world. At the 'top'- although here directions didn't matter as one could not be guided by the logic of the physical world- where one would think was the ceiling as above it was just more of the mysterious and almost omnipresent gray mist were seven rays of light consisting of red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo and violet. Rays that went beyond what the eye could see.

His messenger was grabbing his arm and dragging him through this world. Because of her position, he could not see her expression, all he could see was her raven black hair moving slightly.

The next second and in front of them he saw a door of bright light form.

Suddenly, as if it had all been an illusion in a desert, everything returned to normal and Adryan found himself looking back at the familiar rocky wall. It seemed that they were still in the cave system from before...

For a second, Adryan felt his vision blur.

"Princess what's wrong?! Are you alright?! What the fuck is wrong with you talk!" Flora's roar of fury and concern rumbled in his mind and Adryan finally realized he was on his knees, his hands on the ground.

"Huh?" The redhead muttered completely stunned, his jaw quivering and it wasn't just that, his whole body was the same, shaking violently, covered in sweat, and extremely pale, as if he was experiencing the worst of colds. 

His mind was barely processing his surroundings but he could feel a huge hand on his back and how someone was kneeling beside him. He could feel a gaze on him, sure to be from his messenger.

Opening his mouth but failing to find the words to say something at the same time he was unable to say anything, he could only close it again and tried to catch his breath.

But Adryan no matter how much he wanted to breathe he could not, his body did not respond and a horrible feeling of absolute terror gripped him completely as an anaconda choked and crushed its prey by suffocating them with its massive body.

His mind threatened to follow his body but his will kept it there.

'What's wrong with me... What is this...' Thinking those words took a lot more work than he thought possible. His skin slowly began to release a little steam as light flames began to dance in his fingers.

"Princess go into Cogitation! If you continue like this you will lose control!" Flora's strong but at the same time soft voice pierced the darkness that was clouding his judgment and Adryan barely gave a very weak, almost imperceptible, nod of his head.

Closing his eyes, he tried to empty his mind and slowly began to form the sphere of light. Like grains falling from an hourglass, Adryan felt the control of his body slowly return.

The hand on his back just stayed there, it did not move or try to comfort him but stayed there as a companion trying to say 'I am here'.

After 2 minutes the redhead opened his eyes again and let out a very long sigh and fell lying on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Adryan asked no one, Chicho who had sat next to him tilted his head to the side slightly.

"You tell me you useless-! How can you almost lose control by traveling through the Spirit World?!" Flora was in complete disbelief, she couldn't believe what she had seen.

A guy who keeps moving through the shadows while listening to the True Creator's ravings as if they were an Opera has a panic attack from using the Journey? 

That's ridiculous!

Flora wanted to say more but found herself unable to speak. The eyes and expression the red-haired man had had upon leaving the Spirit World...

It was an expression she never thought she saw on his face and Flora could only describe it with...

'Absolute Horror and Fear' The Jacob thought as she watched the redhead getting up from the ground as he shook the dirt off of him.

"Next let me know when you're going to do something like that yeah?" Adryan asked the giantess who gave a rough nod as she slowly stood up.

"It may have been for my soul. Upon resurrection, my soul is in a really sensitive state so traveling in the Spirit World was like an overdose of sugar and caffeine..." The red-haired man explained to the air calmly.

"Your soul..." Flora mumbled not quite believing what the redhead was saying but she then remembered something.

When she tried to parasitize the princess she was moving through a space full of cracks. That was supposed to be one's spiritual body and thus a mirror to the soul!

'That makes sense... With such a broken spirit body it's not uncommon that traveling through the Spirit World could be overwhelming...'

Adryan for his part couldn't help but remember his recreational time with the Interrogator, the redhead was inclined to accept that theory. His soul upon revival was something... Super sensitive, the slightest touch would have him on his knees drooling and groggy.

Shaking his head, Adryan licked his dry lips as he clenched his fist tightly to stop his trembling. The episode earlier had him somewhat tense but he had no time to dwell on that now.

Looking into Chicho's pearl eyes, Adryan's expression became expressionless, his eyes shining, "While I appreciate your help Chicho. Why did you come for me? I don't remember ringing the bell."

'Bell that right now is resting in my Chest of Calamities.' Adryan added in his heart as he waited for the giantess' response.

Looking deeply into her contractor's eyes, Chicho lowered her head slightly and spoke in a somewhat low voice," The situation in Backlund is horrible... If I could have gotten there sooner but I couldn't find you..."

'So if I'm in Backlund... That's good news and bad news' Adryan wasn't too surprised that Chicho knew it was Backlund, a messenger had to know her terrain after all and she had already sent several messages through the city, it was the norm.

The redhead was quite glad that he had been wrong about where he was and that he sent a little warning to his team. But he was also extremely pissed that the ritual in which he had been the final ingredient was done right here.

'I overestimated too much how far that Charm could have taken me... Tch'.

Burying his annoyance and disappointment inwardly, Adryan frowned and looked deeply into the gray eyes of his messenger, " What do you mean the situation in Backlund is horrible? I've been a bit 'indisposed' so I'm not aware of what's going on outside."

Chicho nodded and instead of answering she extended her hand to her right side. There where she was pointing white bones quickly began to rise up forming another door.

As the classic bird skull embedded itself in the middle it opened and Adryan found himself unable to breathe and paling. His eyes clouded over and the same whispers he heard when he first saw the Doctor flared up again and this time with much more force than before. 

(BURNBURNBURNBURNBURNBURNBURN-) 

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!!!" Flora's disbelieving roar echoed in his head snapping him out of his trance.

Inside the door was an extremely vivid image of an outside view of Backlund. With a starless pitch-black sky and a titanic crimson tree that made something deep inside Adryan burn with fury and irritation.

The crimson color and that bloody glow it expelled. Not to mention the sheer disgust at the sight of it. The redhead knew they were in serious trouble.

Long columns of smoke and forests of fire stretched all over Backlund, the area where he was having the worst time was the place from where the Blood Tree seemed to have emerged...

And that was East Borough.

'So that's what I woke up with my death huh...' Adryan thought feeling strangely empty. Maybe it was because he still wasn't processing what he was seeing well or because he was processing it too well.

He knew that there were only 2 things capable of making a Tree of those magnitudes and he was sure that one of those things was on Earth's side.

Now that he was seeing the consequences of being caught, Adfyan finally got an idea of what the Rose School wanted to accomplish.

'That pillar maybe was sealing that, keeping it at bay. So Rose School used the people of East Borough as a sacrifice to weaken the bastard's seal. Then they used my death to destroy it completely and release that thing...'

'Or could it be that the Bastard hid that thing in that pillar so that it could be used later as a trap card? To give the world a check and facilitate and hasten the demise of this one?'

The redhead thought he had gotten an idea of what the Bastard that brought him here was like, but with the possibility that at some point they might have saved this planet... He felt he didn't really know anything.

'If we are still alive then that should mean that the Gods were able to contain this disaster. But why I'm not seeing an army of Angels destroying that thing is beyond me.' Adryan thought emotionlessly as he looked at the image on the door.

At least he could tell that the Church of the Angry Pigeon was doing something, if the thunder shower in the treetop was anything to go by...

Honestly, Adryan wasn't surprised by what he was seeing. He would even say that it was about time something like this happened.

With all the despair, hatred, evil, depravity, pain, etc. That was there, he was just surprised it hadn't happened sooner. He would even say it was a miracle it took so long.

'The inability and uselessness of the Three Churches finally combined and created the mother of all consequences.' Adryan thought with empty eyes as he looked at the massive tree.

His icy eyes moved to Chicho," What did you mean by getting me out of here?"

Chicho's already cold expression turned icy to the point that Adryan felt as if his soul was freezing.

After a few seconds, the messenger replied.

"The Gods have sealed Backlund."

Taken by surprise by this, Adryan didn't take a second to express his disbelief.

"What?!"

"What does that bouncer mean by that!!!!! Adryan?!!!" Flora was panicking and if she had his body she was sure she would be hyperventilating.

Gods sealing a city! That just meant that whatever that Tree was it was bad enough to make the usually inactive Gods move together!

Ignoring his companion who was going into a muttering, panicked episode. Adryan looked dumbfounded at his messenger. 

"Explain yourself."

If she was annoyed by the bluntness, Chicho hid it like a master, and her already rather expressionless face only added that. Lowering her head slightly, she explained in a soft but deep elvish. Like that of an experienced warrior telling stories of her battles.

"Backlund was sealed off from the outside world. Not even angels are allowed to enter. The Gods made it so that if they failed to contain the corruption that was released here they could more easily purify it."

"... Hey..." The red-haired man's voice descended into dark tones. What Chicho just revealed hit him like a meteorite would a planet.

"Purify?! But it's a whole city! Don't you know how many would die in that?!!!" Flora screamed in disbelief, what the Gods wanted to do was genocide!

Backlund according to the most recent studies had a population of more than 30 million people!

'Purify a city of millions of people...' Such a large number made Flora's mind cloud over. She had read events of a similar scale in the family library books but those were numbers that only appeared in the 4 Epoch!

In the 5th Epoch, there were no war events that came close to touching even the shadow of the millions, even up to billions in some other books, of dead in the previous Epoch.

Not even the Battle of the Vilated Oath, and that war claimed 5 million lives!

Adryan also shared those thoughts but much deeper, the information he had as a Transmigrator was showing him the big picture and the consequences that a 'purification' on that scale could bring.

'Purify is a nice word for when the children ask their parents about why there is a huge bottomless hole in the North Continent and they can say that the Gods did a cleanup.'

'The best way, and the correct way, to call it would be Complete Annihilation. Leave not even the ashes of whatever that Tree has touched and miles beyond to ensure its complete destruction and that its foul root has spread no further.' Adryan narrowed his eyes at this.

"I would understand if it were the God of Combat and the Eternal Blazing Sun, they would gain much advantage from this disaster, perhaps a little of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom but I refuse to accept that Earth Mother, the Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms and the God of Steam and Machinery would allow that."

"Because the former's whole being is about valuing and protecting life and that amount of lives lost would be ridiculous for her to accept, it would go against who she is. But the last ones are the ones who have the most to lose. Do you seriously think they will be able to sacrifice so many anchors?" At this point, Adryan sent the honorifics to the Gods to hell, if they had a problem with him not doing the 57 shitty dances to show respect then send him a bolt of lightning because right now that could go right to hell.

'From sequence 2 onwards one needs 'anchors' to stabilize one's mental condition. The insanity that comes with becoming a Full Mythic Creature and acquiring so much divinity makes one have no choice but to have anchors to maintain their Self.'

'There are Pathways that can do a bit of 'cheating' for this. Like for example, the Error Pathway can use the clones of themselves that they can create from Sequence 2 as 'anchors' or even steal them from others in higher sequences by impersonating another being's identity.'

'But even a Pathway that was focused on stealing, cheating and manipulating bugs has to have 'Anchors.' Even the Raven wasn't spared from that.

'And it only gets worse each time one moves further into the sequences...' 

'The True Gods are Sequence 0, hence they need a large amount of anchors to maintain their sanity. With Backlund's population and with how rare it is to be a non-believer in this time...' Adryan could only compare what would happen to the gods to someone cutting off the legs and arms of a mountaineer in the middle of climbing Everest.

'They would quickly fall into the abyss and their only salvation would be the harness of the other believers in other parts of the world... But of course, even if they managed to stop their fall into the abyss that would still leave them in a highly vulnerable state not only against the Evil Gods on Earth, who would no doubt take the opportunity to finish them off, but to the hungry wolves waiting beyond the barrier protecting this planet...' His eyes widened slightly, his eyebrows rising in realization.

Adryan could see how the pieces of the puzzle were quickly beginning to fit together, how what had once had him confused was now being shown to him in its true form.

'This is what the Rose School wanted!'

'An extreme situation that would leave the Gods in a horrible state, no matter what they did to avoid it that would always be the end result. With that, they would only have to worry about the Angels and Grade 0 Artifacts trying to control the situation but at that point, they would have the advantage in numbers. They would have won...'

'And the Apocalypse would come much faster than in the original story!'

Adryan felt that he had finally seen Rose School's true plans and he could only shiver from the chills it caused him and clench his fists in fury.

Chicho looked deeply into Adryan's icy scarlet eyes. Her expression was just as vacant as a statue.

"They will have no choice." His messenger's words were ice water to Adryan, like the final nail that only finished off his theory.

He gritted his teeth followed by a deep growl. The red-haired man brought a hand to his face and let out a heavy sigh, after a few seconds he replied.

"...I know." 

"WHAT?!" Flora was incredulous. The big hero was fine with letting 30 MILLION people be purified?! Bullshit!

"Adryan think about what you're saying?! It's crazy! Are you seriously agreeing to this?!"

Not wanting to cause any misunderstanding or confusion, Adryan allowed himself to give a short explanation, not caring that his messenger was watching him talking to himself.

"Flora believe me when I say that I am repulsed by what the Gods plan to do but trust me. If you knew what was really going on you would know that even though it is extreme, it is the only option."

"The only option?! What could be worse than killing millions-

"The End of the World. That would be worse." Adryan cut the games short and went for the atomic bomb.

Stunned, Flora could only blurt out a stuttering, disbelieving, " W-what?"

Closing his eyes, Adryan thought for about 3 seconds about his next words.

"I can't explain due to this information being the worst corruption but believe me when I tell you. The purification they plan to do may be the only way to stop the End of the World."

Being a 200-year-old demigod, adding that she was part of an ancient angel family like the Jacobs. Flora immediately understood what the red-haired man was trying to explain.

A loud shuddering sigh sounded inside her head, Adryan could hear and feel how it carried the experience of a long life.

"Is this what the Scarlet Monarch was referring to? Your goal of preparing a team?"

At the question, Adryan shook his head," No, I'm preparing them for something worse. This thing that's happening now... It doesn't even touch the horizon of what's coming." When he said that Flora did not respond, she remained quiet processing what had just been said.

Jacob's mind drifted back to the night when the red-haired man introduced the female-named bug to his team and the Scarlet Monarch's objective.

After a long 3 minutes of silence, Flora finally said "Worse things are coming, aren't they?"

Instead of answering and taking a chance at corrupting his little worm, Adryan just nodded.

"..."

Doubting that his companion would say anything again, the red-haired man returned his attention to his messenger. His expression turned serious and his eyes took on a dangerous gleam.

"What is your plan Chicho? If you wanted to get me out of Backlund you would have done it by now, you're after something else."

Did she trust what Chicho had shown him? 100%, that primal instinct assured him that it was really happening.

Did he trust Chicho's motives? No.

He was confident that she wouldn't hurt him because if she had wanted to, she would have already done it. Besides, she had revealed information that made him not take it as a game. Not that he hadn't taken her seriously before but that little revelation made his messenger move up several notches of danger in his book.

"You're not a Demigod are you?" Adryan asked directly and Chicho just looked at him.

"Only an Angel or receiving the direct protection of a God would you be able to withstand the corruption of information you seem to possess. So that leads me to believe that you are one, am I correct Your Excellency?"

That information brought out Flora who stared blankly at the 5+ meter giantess. So much information revealed in such a short time was making it hard for her to keep up, if she was in her normal state this wouldn't be a problem but her state was still horrible so even this amount of information was proving to be too much for her.

'The Princess's messenger is an Angel?!'

"And not only that... You're part of 2 Pathways" The redhead added oblivious to the state of his corpsmate.

Flora for her part simply turned to stone.

Adryan was certain that Chicho was part of the Death Pathway, the bone gate, and how the temperature always dropped with her arrival was more than enough proof in his books. But the way she moved through the spirit world and that door of light?

Of course, he knew that from sequence 5 the Beyonders of the Death Pathway could move through the Spirit World but the way Chicho had done it was nothing like the way the Beyonders of that Pathway did it!

Those were unique to the Door Pathway! 

'As far as I know, the Death Pathway cannot copy the abilities of other pathways... Not only that, there was a point in history when the Death Pathway and the Door Pathway were together...'

Finally, many things made sense, like how she always found the place to deliver the letters or packages despite vague descriptions or even the way she sealed Creeping Hunger with that strange seal!

It all pointed to the same being! The same Old God!

'The Ancient God of Death of the Second Epoch, The Ancestor of the Phoenix, Gregrace!'

'But she fell when the Ancient Sun God emerged so there's no way it's her, surely it's a descendant of her race...'

'Not to mention that she has no mutations or any malformations expected of a being whose times one would swallow any Beyonder ingredient. Not to mention that she seems to retain her sanity quite well... That alone lends further weight to her being only an extremely distant descendant.'

'And most likely the last of the Phoenix...'

Squinting at his messenger, Adryan asked in a serious voice.

"What does a descendant of the Phoenix want with me?"

Snapping out of her stupor a bit, Flora aside from being stunned, disbelieving, stunned, and mentally blocked, also found herself confused.

'Phoenix? Like the legendary immortal firebirds?'

At no time since he started speaking did Chicho's expression change, she just looked at him with a calm and expressionless face as was usual of her.

After a long and choking 5 minutes of silence, the supposed Phoenix let out a slight sigh and her expression softened. Her lips lifted into a resigned smile.

"I had hoped to keep this hidden a little longer... But I'm not disappointed, if anyone could find out who I was that someone was you... Herald." In a gentle voice and perfect Elvish, Chicho responded by bowing Her head slightly with a small lift of Her lips.

Gone was the strong nod or the inability to show emotion.

The change was so brutal that Adryan felt he was seeing 2 completely different people!

Recovering, Adryan snorted, "It was all an act then?"

"Partly yes and partly no. I love chocolate much more these days" Chicho replied with a subtle smile.

"At least your sugar addiction is real." Adryan said mockingly as he snorted to the side. Looking back at his messenger, he added, "You didn't answer my question."

"I am your messenger, Herald. I seek neither to harm you nor to wrong you." Chicho said with a serious face, eyebrows furrowed slightly and one hand on Her chest.

"And what I seek... I'm sorry but you're still too weak to know."

"Hmp I guessed as much. It's never the easy way right?" Adryan rolled his shoulders already having expected that answer.

Chicho tilted Her head slightly, looking at him curiously, " You're taking this better than I expected Herald."

Cracking his neck with a resounding plop, Adryan shook his head, "Meh, sooner or later I'll end up learning it. If you don't want to tell me now it's not because of corruption. You know more about me than I expected."

"huhu Every great existence that has been on this planet long enough knows about the Heralds. The Gods are no exception" Chicho commented with a slight chuckle.

Clicking his tongue with slight annoyance, Adryan complained, "Call me Adryan, you calling me by that title at this point is a bit pointless don't you think?"

"If that is your wish Lord Adryan. Then I hope you keep calling like you did before." Chicho gave a somewhat deep bow as a sign of respect.

'If it were a better time I would be sure to find out everything you know about the Heralds but now is not the time.' Knowing that every second was worth more than gold as it was one more life lost and he had already gotten the most important thing out of the way, he already faced the main problem.

"Why didn't you get me out of here if you know how important I am?"

Chicho's soft expression turned hard," That's why I didn't take you out of here. Because you're a Herald."

Without waiting for the question she could already come up with, Chicho continued as she pointed to the door still showing the image of the Tree.

"At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the Gods level Backlund. We cannot allow that. The consequences will be worse than the current situation."

His head tilted slightly to one side and he also raised an eyebrow," And how do you want me to deal with that? I'm only sequence 7 I don't have anything in my arsenal that can damage a Tree of that size. Besides aren't you an Angel? The only one in Backlund like you said? Why don't you go help or are you afraid? I didn't know my messenger was a coward". 

'My most powerful attack is the Plasma Beam but that one takes a long time to charge. Now with the digested potion I can charge it in 15 seconds but it's still a long time! And the noise caused by compressing it would make it impossible to sneak attack...'

Despite his harsh words, Adryan wanted to help but he wasn't an imbecile. The redhead knew when he was outmatched.

So why not pass the problem to hands much more capable than his own? Like, for example, an Angel?

"You just insulted an Angel, you crazy bastard! Do you want to die so badly?!!!" Flora was completely frozen with terror. And it showed in her voice that came out more like a hurt puppy squeal than a scream.

Chicho's eye twitched for an instant, clearly not having expected that response. Recovering quickly, she shook her head with her lips showing the tiniest shadows of a smile.

But it only lasted a second before her face immediately became serious again, she replied in a deep voice laden with disappointment and helplessness itself.

"That Tree is as if the Moon were walking on the earth. The nucleus at its root is like the Blood Moon, the mere fact that I even come a little close to it would make my fate no different from that of The Gate to a Thousand Worlds. I've already risked too much by withdrawing you from there, I can't do more than this."

"And that's just talking about the core. If I go outside I wouldn't last a second before being wiped out by the Night or fulminated by lightning. The Phoenix are not welcome in this new era."

Hearing the new information, Adryan looked with a flat face at Chicho, after a few seconds, he gave voice to his softer thoughts as the harsher ones were buried.

"...Are you telling me that at this instant you are just as useful as a comb to a bald man?"

"Princess! For once in your life could you try not to provoke someone!!!" Flora roared trembling.

Chicho on her side pursed his lips and gave a weak nod.

"That would be the best way of comparing it. Yes."

"Do you at least have a plan?" Adryan asked as he put a hand to his face in exasperation, time was running out and here they were wasting it.

Chicho nodded with a serious face, her posture taking on a more dignified and uplifted tone, Adryan unconsciously straightened his back.

"To finish off that Tree it is necessary to destroy the core. I can't get close but you can!"

"Wait wait wait! Are you forgetting that I'm only Sequence 7?! I don't have any attacks strong enough to destroy a core!" Adryan raised a hand and cut off his messenger, his brow furrowing in restrained annoyance. 

"Cores aren't as strong as the tree and you don't need to destroy it either. You only need to weaken it. That will give the window to the Gods so They can purify it without leveling the city." Chicho quickly explained as the image on the door changed to being a single projection of the tree.

This projection went down to its roots, in that projection showed a complex system of caves at the same time as a small red dot where the trunk and root were located, juxtaposed by the huge dome Adryan assumed it was where the Pillar once stood. Much farther away from this, almost on the other side, there was also a white dot.

"This is us." Chicho pointed to the white dots," This is as close as I can get without being in danger I can't control." 

'If this is to scale then we are 10 kilometers from the dot...' Adryan made a quick mental estimate.

"...And this is the core." The messenger taped the red dot," This is the weak point of the Tree, if anything happens to it, no matter how small a small crack is enough, the whole structure of it will begin to fail. And it will be able to be purified without risking Backlund."

Staring at the red dot, Adryan frowned noting the most obvious of problems.

"Then that core will be more protected than a nun's sanctity. How am I going to get close enough to damage it if I'm busy being demolished by the full force of Rose School?"

At his clear doubt, Chicho smiled sideways.

"You won't have to worry about it. It may be impossible for me to get close but that doesn't mean I can't move you." The white dot flickered off only to reappear in the huge corridor that connected to the core.

"Is this as close as you can get me?" 

"Closest wit-"

"Yes yes, I know." That she would be corrupted, he already got it right the first time she didn't need to repeat it.

"...You have a huge death wish." Flora commented after watching a Beyonder of Sequence 7 cut off an Angel.

 

Ignoring his worm companion, Adryan looked seriously at the core.

"How many demigods and angels can I expect in there? Will you be able to get me out of there once I do my part?"

"There won't be any demigods or angels."

His head whipped toward the giantess in something of a daze. 

"That core is like the Blood Moon. Its light makes the divinity of the saints and angels 'bring life'." Chicho explained while touching her belly at the same time she drew a huge belly in the air with her hands.

"Once the divinity is infected, it is impossible to remove. You will spend every day, every second of your existence giving birth to new beings. That is until all your characteristics are inherited and you are left only as a broken incubator."

"And not just Beyonders. Artifacts after being long exposed to light will start to fail and after 3 minutes they will break and go back to being characteristics."

'Giving birth? But that's more on the side of the Divine Whore not the Overdeveloped Bush...'

Adryan looked stunned at this, then realization shone on his face as he realized a big problem.

"I refuse to go! Adryan! Get me out of here! I refuse to be a human incubator!" Flora Jacob, The Parasite from Sequence 4, A Demigod, began to cry from fear of her possible fate if she went there.

And Adryan also refused to have baby worms moving inside him... But in this situation, there was nothing he could do about it.

'Flora isn't able to parasitize me completely at the same time as she can't leave my body. I know Hunters Hallow acted when she first entered and made her like this... But couldn't that also mean that she unwittingly relies on a bit of its protection as well? The robe has shown to possess a conscience so they can easily assume that letting Flora get hurt will mean that I will get hurt so it will protect her?' This was a mere theory with almost no foundation, the only way to check it would be on-site...

Letting out a slight sigh, Adryan looked seriously at Chicho.

"That there aren't going to be any demigods would mean that beyonders below Sequence 4 can move around there without a problem. How many will I have to deal with once I'm inside?"

"Most of their forces are above but the cave system is still full of them. In the entire cave system, there are exactly 315 enemies, all varying from normal humans and Beyonders from sequence 9 to a single sequence 2 angel. The angel and demigods are all on the far end so you won't have to worry about them."

"Last time I checked, a few minutes before I rescued you, I saw 5 go way down the tunnel to the core. I can't see past that without risking infection."

Squinting, Adryan clicked his tongue in annoyance at such a number. His mind already jumping to some suspects, "Don't worry. I think I know who they are..."

'A foul-smelling dog, an anemic bat-murderer, Gasparin's ugly cousin, the brainiac, and the evil version of Dr. Chaplin...'

'Yep! My current self doesn't stand a chance, I can't hurt the ghost and a single hit from the bat will knock me out... Not to mention if it possesses me I'm dead again, not to mention the Doctor's ridiculous healing ability and the brainiac has a very hard body that will be difficult if not impossible for me to break with my current strength...'

'The neutered dog won't be much of a problem, the headache is those 4... Not to mention there may be more than them...' Adryan's mind began to plot every possible move but they all ended in the same thing.

Failure.

His current self wouldn't stand a chance, even if he could take Tauk Millennium and Hangover Time his chances wouldn't grow much.

Again, he was only Sequence 7, what could he hope to accomplish being so weak?

'But if I was Sequence 6 I might have a chance to do this...' His eyes flashed, a crazy idea forming quickly in him.

'Yeah... It could work!'

Chicho said nothing and just tilted her head to the other side somewhat confused, the motion very similar to how a bird would do when it sees something curious.

Ignoring his messenger, Adryan walked to the wall.

"No one can hear us right?" He asked calmly as his fist burst into flames illuminating the dark cavern and making his scarlet eyes glow.

"Princess. What stupid thing are you planning to do now?" Flora asked accusingly and with enormous suspicion, she knew that tone very well!

That was the tone the Princess used before doing something crazy!

"I locked the door. Even if someone walked by they wouldn't see or hear us." Chicho replied curiously.

Adryan's smile sharpened as he raised his fist, "Excellent!" 

Bang! 

The wall shattered under the power of the blow and chunks of rock flew everywhere but before they could go too far they disappeared after crossing a certain point behind the giantess' back.

Chicho looked curiously at her contractor who now carried a particularly sharp rock.

"What do you plan to do Lord Adryan?"

" Isn't it obvious?" the red-haired man's feral grin grew as he made a long cut on his hand from which warm crimson blood began to drip.

"I plan to do something incredibly stupid!"


Chapter 330: Chapter 247: Conspirator

Flora wasn't even alarmed to see what the redhead did, she quickly understood what he wanted to do.

"An emergency ritual?"

"I have to make sure there's nothing wrong with us." The redhead replied seriously, this was something that couldn't take any longer than it already had.

Chicho looked somewhat confused at the red-haired man, "... You've been talking to yourself for a while now. Is that a peculiarity of yours Lord Adryan?"

'So not even an Angel with some control over the Door Pathway can see Flora? Magnificent.' Adryan was extremely impressed with Hunters Hallow's abilities at the same time his smile only grew bigger as he looked around satisfied.

"Maybe~" 

If Chicho couldn't see Flora that meant the Doctor couldn't either! 

His best-hidden card was undoubtedly the perverted worm!

Shaking his head slightly, Adryan considered whether he should tell his messenger about his little friend living inside him. 

'Talking to Flora right now is necessary so I won't always be able to act like I'm talking to myself. There's also the fact that Chicho is an Angel, she may have already gotten the idea that I'm talking to someone but because of Hunters Hallow she can't see my little worm in the apple... Besides it may be more useful for her to know than for me to try to hide it uselessly...' 

With the decision made, Adryan let out a pleased chuckle and snapped his fingers lightly.

"Chicho if I'm talking to myself don't pay much attention to me. I'm just talking to my very dear imaginary friend Flora. Maybe you can meet her someday, she's all love~"

The love they were talking about now if she could, she would have blushed a little, "Idiot."

Chicho's expression didn't change, she kept that somewhat curious look as her eyes shifted slightly from side to side in search of that friend. One eyebrow gently raised in doubt whether what he said was true or not.

His foot burst into flames and Adryan gave a light stomp. A soft but strong wave of fire erupted from it and moved all the debris out of the way freeing up a good space for what the redhead wanted to do.

The flames disappeared from his foot and he crouched down, with the blood that fell from his hand he began to draw the tip of a spear on the ground. Making sure to fill the tip with red with soft, slow strokes.

"The Scarlet Monarch that burns depravity..." Ancient Hermes began to sound as his spirituality moved with his hand, accompanying each stroke and charging the blood.

Chicho's curious expression changed to one of genuine surprise which in turn was mixed with curiosity.

Adryan ignored his messenger completely and focused all his attention on what he was doing. Although the job was quite simple, the slightest mistake would be fatal. The book of rituals that his teacher had given him taught him a lot about rituals, he was not at Charlotte's level but his rituals were nothing to be ashamed of.

[When you don't have all the materials to make a ritual of sacrifice it is possible to use a single element that represents the Entity you want to sacrifice. The element must not be weak and must point precisely to the entity. There is almost no element that fulfills this, but that is why we can transform our blood into a basic altar to the entity].

"You are the Calamity of the Old Days..."

[This brings certain risks as it becomes an obligation to extend the Honorific Name to ensure that the one we are sacrificing is the correct one. Of course, this changes if it is a God since it will not be necessary to add another line. But good luck trying to test this ritual with that, They never respond to a ritual made of just blood...]

"You are the Closest to the Oldest One..."

[This is one of the most dangerous methods and only in the most extreme cases can one THINK of perhaps using it. With my most recent tests, I discovered that the danger can become greater if one is not careful in the amount of blood that is used. Too much blood and you can easily target an evil entity regardless of whether you have used the correct Honorific Name.]

"Your humble servant prays for Your attention..."

[But if performed correctly this Emergency Altar can become extremely useful. In my great opinion... ]

"I pray for more strength..."

[This method is a 4.3 out of 10. I would not recommend it but they were fun experiments. One would think that with such a low score the best thing to do would be to destroy the information about this method and make the greatest effort to hide it. But I refuse! The more knowledge that is spread around, the better people will be able to protect themselves!"]

"I pray that You open the gates to Your Kingdom!"

[And that I will defend until the day I die!- Chapter 216 Blood Altars-Introduction to Rituals By Debulg Heiseng]

Whispers reached his ears but Adryan had already begun to draw the sphere of light in his mind.

In a few moments, he found himself in front of the magnificent City that reminded him so much of home.

His eyes only lingered on it for a few seconds before moving to his side, in search of the familiar flame.

'There you are.' Floating gently a few feet away from him were 3 flames dancing despite the lack of wind. Two of them were pulsing slightly.

Without looking, Adryan held out his hand and from his pile of items floated a familiar golden medal accompanied by two containers and a new change of clothes.

'At this rate, I'll be nothing but a Gambling Addict. Always defying fate...' Reviewing once again what he was going to do, the red-haired man couldn't help but think that he was trying his luck too much.

'That may be part of my honorific name...<He who defies Fate>... Mmm, I like it.' It was time to change the last line of his Honorific name and this one sounded pretty good...

At the same time as the warm metal fell into his hand, his own appearance changed. 

Instead of wearing the tight-fitting pants, he was now wearing a long crimson tunic, and rust-stained red armor covered his body. 

With the appearance of his Scarlet Monarch persona at the ready and with the Anti-Babys in hand, Adryan stepped forward.

The next second he was on top of a yellowish cloud, but instead of his body falling through it he was sitting on top of it. 

The only thing limiting what he could do here was his imagination. If he wanted to he could become a giant and act like a Kaiju stomping around the outskirts of the city... Of course, that would drain him of his spirituality the instant he tried it... He already proved it.

Making sure it looked good by adding a bit more glitter along with more smoke to cover his face, he finally extended his hand towards the flames that had been following him.

'Everything is in order... Using a three-line honorific name must have been a surprise to Chicho so part of the plan must have worked... If she really is someone that old then, even if the likelihood is next to nil, she should know a little about the Sephiroth... Adding that she is from the Death Pathway, one of the paths adjacent to Hunter and Demon but incompatible with their Sephira, then she should be able to recognize the City of Calamities...'

'Of course, the likelihood of her knowing what the City is is so low that she's even completely unaware of what it is... Although her ancestor tried to accommodate the tribulatory of the River of Eternal Darkness so again, it wouldn't be too crazy to think that she has an idea of what the sephiroth are...' His hand that was fiddling with the cloud beneath him froze for a second. His eyebrows rose as a revelation hit him.

The blank space in his memory suddenly filled up and the red-haired man found himself in complete disbelief.

Gritting his teeth, Adryan let out a low sigh followed by an incredulous chuckle. "How did I not notice it before? It was in front of me the whole time!"

Shaking his head, the redhead would think more about this when he was in a safer place. 

Checking one last time that everything was in order and making the smoke covering his face a little thicker, the redhead let his spirituality spread.

'I would have preferred a little more brightness but I have to save my spirituality for this. I can't leave a single detail out!' With determination shining in his eyes at the same time the flame door opened.

It was time to fool an Angel!

...

Chicho looked down at the kneeling figure of her contractor, her lips raised slightly.

'This is certainly unexpected...'

The surprise only lasted a few seconds before She remembered something. Giving a slight chuckle, Chicho shook Her head and waited patiently for the red-headed man to finish.

Suddenly, the smile on the giantess' face froze as Her eyebrows rose to touch Her hair at what She was seeing.

The blood on the floor began to bubble. The bubbles popped with loud pops that released a large amount of what appeared to be... yellow smoke.

The next second, the blood ignited into orange flames, these flames swirled in front of the kneeling Adryan and began to rise high, quickly forming a gate of flames.

The fire that consisted of the body of the gate began to release more of that yellowish smoke and after that, an image showed through.

A magnificent city covered almost entirely in that same smoke, with pure-fire humanoids wearing ancient armor patrolling the streets. And above the City, sitting with His knees crossed and His chin resting on His right palm was a figure.

This one wore red armor covered with a robe of the same color. The same smoke covered His face making Him impossible to see, that figure was releasing an aura of majesty and power, no doubt to crush anyone who confronted Him.

"Impossible..." Chicho whispered breathlessly. Her hands began to tremble the same second she saw the city. But quickly she recovered, her expression became serene and her eyes cooled slightly, her eyebrows slightly tightened. By reflex, she lowered her head until her gaze touched the ground, a light layer of sweat forming on her forehead.

The yellowish smoke rising from the fire door took on a golden hue and exuded an aura of holiness. This holy smoke moved as if it had life and quickly enveloped Adryan in what could only be described as an embrace.

Chicho's jaw trembled slightly and her eyes glistened for an instant.

After about 15 seconds of embracing Adryan's body, the golden smoke receded into the door, which closed leaving behind 4 objects that were not there before....

Opening his eyes, Adryan let out a soft sigh as he straightened up and made a military salute with reverence, "Praise the Scarlet Monarch!"

"Praise the Scarlet Monarch!" Flora repeated vehemently but showed her respect for the God. Her voice quieter as already knowing that the red-haired man would still go to war, she took advantage and not only asked for cleansing but protection against whatever was there.

Without turning around, Adryan simply grabbed the button of his pants.

"Could you turn around?" 

Without waiting for an answer from his messenger, the red-haired man shamelessly pulled down his pants. 

There was a slight bounce and the unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh and Adryan couldn't help but sigh with relief, those pants felt like they wanted to cut off Junior's circulation!

Chicho had already turned around, her back to the redhead and her expression unreadable. Imperceptibly, her black eyebrows were quivering.

"I'd slap you if I could..." Flora murmured in complete resignation as she sank into her depression at what the redhead had just done.

Who gets naked in front of a very possible Angel?!!!!

Letting out a chuckle as he buckled into a much more comfortable and of his trouser style, the redhead's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yeah I bet you'd like to show me my place wouldn't you~" Adryan whispered slurring the words as he licked his lips, his voice sweet and thick as honey. His hands moved down from his chest to his waist in a sensual and provocative glide.

"Adrya- Princess-t-t-you! Now is not the time for this!!!" Flora extremely embarrassed, complained in a high-pitched voice.

No matter if he whispered, she doubted that the Angel hadn't heard that!

'I know but I'm just mentally preparing myself for this...' He may not have said anything but the depth in his gaze was noticed by her favorite Parasite.

Eyeing him suspiciously, the Jacob's attention moved to the containers that came out along with the clothes and the oddly named artifact. 

Immediately recognizing them, Flora shivered slightly and she felt her nonexistent lips go dry.

"The likelihood of you surviving is too slim you know that don't you?"

 

Pulling his black jacket over himself and finishing adjusting the emergency tools he had, Adryan nodded.

"If I want to stand a chance against them, I need to be stronger." Sitting down on the ground and crossing his knees, he grabbed the containers and placed them on top of his lap.

Undoing the wall of spirituality that covered them, he opened the containers.

One jar was filled with a green liquid and a purple brain with lumps and throbbing black veins floating in it, in the other was a large purple eye with a bright red iris and whose sharp pupil was ghostly white, this eye still had the nerve hanging out like a tail.

The Sphinx's brain and the Black Hunting Spider's composite eye respectively. These were the main ingredients of the Conspirator Potion. 

"What is my exact chance of survival if I consume the main ingredients raw?" raising his voice, Adryan asked the older and more experienced people in the 'room'.

"I don't recommend it Lord Adryan."

Shaking her head gently, Chicho spoke in a calm voice." Consuming the raw characteristics would be equal to consuming the most potent poison one can imagine. Those are the ingredients coming directly from the creatures so it will be worse." 

"Most likely your body will break down before you even have time to lose control."

"'She' is right Princess." Flora showed her acceptance of the angel's response but she wanted to make sure the redhead understood so she deepened that.

"If they came from a Beyonder at most you would only have to worry about overcoming consuming an extra 9 to 6 potions as well as dominating the residue of the Beyonder's will without the supplemental ingredients to suppress it. In other words, you would not only be fighting against the Beyonder's will but against what would be equal to consuming a minimum of 4 extra potions."

"Consuming the raw ingredients is nothing better, it would even be worse. While coming from the creatures directly you would only have to worry about their will and no extra potion. The effect they will have on your body is worse!"

"Being characteristics the effect they will have on your mind is extremely reduced by having gone through a Beyonder before. But the raw ingredients do not..."

"Many main ingredients are shared between Pathways that are adjacent to each other. Being 'raw' ingredients, supplemental ingredients also serve to suppress any other effects they might have that are not from your Path!" 

"My Family did many tests throughout history, many of the experiments and their results were lost but of those that survived the descendants we can be sure..."

"Consuming ingredients that have not gone through a Beyonder as a way to advance is worse than consuming the raw characteristics. If you consume them your chance of survival will be one in a million" Flora explained in a deep serious voice, at no point did she pause and she spoke at all times clearly. 

Adryan listened to the explanations with a serene expression, his eyes never moving from the brain and eye.

"So... The most likely thing to happen if I consume this is that my body will break down first before I lose control?"

"DID YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ANYTHING I TOLD YOU MOTHERFUCKER?!!!" 

"... I'm sure."

Nodding at the women's responses and ignoring the ringing in his ear, Adryan felt that his plan might work.

"So that would mean that if my body could be repaired at the same rate it breaks it could work?"

Flora's furious screams came to a screeching halt, and a huge silence filled the room. Realization hit her and she immediately realized what the redhead wanted to do.

"Adryan... You're not thinking about that are you?"

After hearing her contractor's question, Chicho frowned slightly but after a few seconds, she replied in a calm voice.

"... If that were the case and you could bear the mental burden of consuming the ingredients without losing control... Then yes." 

Adryan's lips turned up in a predatory smile, like that of a dragon ready to devour the sheep.

"That's all I wanted to hear~"

Quickly, Adryan uncapped the jar containing the Sphinx's brain, he placed it in the same container as the eye, and crushed them with his bare hands. He began to make a pulp of those foul ingredients.

The pulp now had a blackish-purple color and was releasing a vomit-green liquid. Adryan looked at his hands and he whistled somewhat surprised, there was no trace of the ingredients left between his fingers or fingernails.

"Well... Here goes nothing."

Raising his right hand, he placed it on his chest, his heart beating calmly despite what was coming. But before doing so, the redhead let out a slight sigh.

"I made a promise that I wouldn't do this. And I never would if we weren't in this situation but things happen that are out of our control that make us break promises and hurt the people we care about... I just hope she can forgive me for this and not get too angry."

"...I'm sure whoever she promised that to would understand the situation." Chicho consoled horribly and the redhead couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.

"You're not very good at this you know?"

Flora on her side looked speechless at her partner, unable to give words to what she was feeling. She just wanted to lock herself in her room in her Mansion and cry, but she also wanted to laugh like a fool at the comedy of romance she saw so much in the theaters when she was still in her twenties.

'Is this idiot seriously thinking about a promise like that right now? Why did he just now have to care about how I feel... You're seriously a bastard Adryan Kenway...'' 

Despite what she wanted to say, the demigoddess couldn't help but feel good that he at least remembered what she said... She felt really good.

So, swallowing her chagrin and emotions, Flora snorted with a little more emotion than she wanted to.

"You better make this up to me."

Adryan smiled but, unlike the previous times, this was a very gentle smile, and nodded. Looking over his shoulder at Chicho who was looking at him curiously, his gentle smile turned into a grin.

"Listen Chicho, if we are going to do this. We will do it my way you understand?" His voice left no room for a denial and Chicho knew it.

She knew that if she refused, the man would do nothing. She had seen those eyes before, there was no room for negotiation here.

"And what would be your plan then Mr. Adryan?"

"It's simple. We will do everything you said until the end."

"..."

After a long pause of 5 seconds and in front of the flat look of his messenger, Adryan continued with a sideways smile "Adding more things of course"

"... I don't even know why I'm trying anymore. You have no salvation" Flora was completely resigned to the fact that the redhead would never not provoke someone no matter how powerful or important they were.

"...What do you have in mind Mr. Adryan?" After a long pause of her own, Chicho asked, voice gentle and soft as always, but hidden within that softness was a tiny hint of annoyance.

Being a Provoker, the red-haired man detected that hint as if it were a shark sniffing a drop of blood in the rough sea. That made his slight smile turn into a full one, but knowing when it was time to stop, he decided to stop with the teasing.

So, with a tone that did not hide his amusement at all, he explained the 'improved' plan. 

"As soon as I teleport out, I want you to completely seal the tunnel and the core site, no one can get out or in."

"I also want you to make sure the Angel and those demigods stay behind playing Tea House. Even if in theory they can't get close, the emptiness they have for brains and the madness of following that malformed bush won't make them hesitate to go protect the core."

"...That...won't be a problem." Keeping her face calm and with a voice that could no longer show annoyance, the Phoenix accepted her share of the pie. Her eyes were slightly wider in slight surprise.

"... In fact... I can't believe I'm saying this, but that's a much better plan than your messenger's, Princess." Flora half-grudgingly admitted, she hadn't considered the madness of the Rose School of Thought members.

Giving a toothy smile, Adryan gave a satisfied nod, his hand still resting on his chest.

"Good little birdie. By the way, Chicho, don't freak out about this."

"Freak out about what-"

Plush! Crack!

Thus, looking into the confused eyes of his messenger and with his classic smile on his face, the red-haired man plunged his own hand into his chest and crushed his heart.

"!"

With blood dripping from his mouth and ignoring the slight discomfort in his chest, Adryan gave a mocking laugh at the giantess' incredulous expression.

"Don't worry I can revive~"

"I'll be back in a little while~"

After saying that, his eyes closed and the red-haired man fell on his side with a thud, dead.

Chicho looked at this with her mouth half open, unable to find words for what had just happened.

'It may be suicidal... But I can see the joy in upsetting an angel.' Flora thought to herself, not having enough courage to say it out loud for fear of provoking her excellency.

She wasn't that crazy.

...

Underneath a recently abandoned factory on Kus Street.

Red candles were burning, their soft yellow flames causing huge shadows in the dark room, shadows that seemed to be moving as if they had life. 

They watched everything that was happening with eyes hidden behind their curtain of shadows. 

Ugh...

A faint moan sounded in the shaded room, the shadows seemed to laugh at the pain that the person kneeling in the circle of candles that in turn were raised on an altar was going through.

This person had the appearance of a handsome man, with black curls covering his back and somewhat delicate eyebrows. He wore a long black tunic that covered his whole body and whose hood was down.

Mr. M of the Aurora Order, one of the 22 oracles. 

And lying on the altar in front of him, without a shirt showing how there was a human face on his chest that by the closed eyes seemed to be asleep, was Lanevus.

The Swindler's expression was one of pure pain but barely a whimper came out of his mouth, he could not move and could only watch in despair as the face on his chest slowly moved upwards towards his own.

Lanevus knew it was only a matter of time before he died but no matter how much he wanted to he could do nothing to fight that fate.

'I don't want to die I don't want to die!' bitter tears fell from his eyes along with another painful whimper as the face on his chest moved higher. He tried to think of any way to escape, anything, however small.

But there was no way out!

Not only could he not move, but he could feel the control of his body getting smaller and smaller. The closer that face got to his, the more it felt like he was not himself!

Another pathetic whimper came out of his mouth, the clear tears on his face turned to red and Lanevus watched in terror as shadows began to cover his legs as ravings began to rage furiously in his mind.

'NO! NO! NO!' He could feel his sanity slipping away and what little control he had over his body was taken from him. 

The falling tears dried up, and the horrified expression became a flat one but with the corners of his lips raised slightly. The only thing that showed that the swindler was still there was the enormous emotion in his eyes that in an empty expression stood out like a lighthouse on the coast on a night without stars or moon.

Now Lanevus could only watch everything in horror, trapped inside his own body. He had a mouth and a voice...

But despite that, he couldn't... He had a mouth and he couldn't scream. 

Mr. M looked at this and let out an exclamation of delight. A huge smile on his face as he bowed his head to the ground in extreme reverence.

...

'That was much better than being boiled to death' Letting out an internal sigh, the red-haired man felt strangely happy with himself. After all, the last 2 times he died were quite painful.

'I think my tolerance broke a little, I barely felt it when I burst my heart...'

Shaking his head, Adryan finally opened his eyes and could see the familiar emptiness that seemed to be turning into his recreational room...

Squinting, he remained still and did not move at all. 'Something's wrong...'

The limbo he was in now felt different. It looked and felt the same but he could also sense that something had changed. Something that shouldn't be.

Looking around with slow and careful movements, Adryan felt the discomfort in his stomach grow.

The discomfort only continued to grow little by little, as if something was closing in on him. The redhead felt that right now and unlike the previous 2 times he was here...

He was not alone.

Quickly realizing the danger he was in, Adryan let his instinct guide him as he started swimming fast toward where he felt his body was.

'I have to get out of here and fast!'

His spirituality flared and the red-haired man reflexively swam to the side.

A horrible chill ran through his soul and he gritted his teeth.

Despite not having made any noise or being seen, the red-haired man was sure!

'Something tried to attack me!'

Sending discretion to hell, he accelerated with all his might. He tried to summon his fire control but no matter how deep he looked, nothing was answering him!

In this emptiness, he was a normal person!

His soul's painful protest was ignored as he gave another nadon to the side. 

'Again!'

And he was sure it was not the same one!

In the distance, he saw the familiar flash and the red-haired man felt extremely relieved. 

The exit had been found!

But the next instant he almost froze, and just kept swimming on instinct.

With the new source of 'light', he could now see in this emptiness. And what he was seeing only made him force his soul to move even faster through this darkness.

Rapidly ascending from the deepest part of the abyss and surrounding him from almost all sides, an infinite number of beings of pure darkness extended their dark appendages upwards.

And that mass of darkness that only seemed to grow larger and larger was rapidly approaching him!

'SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT' 

Adryan was sure that whatever attacked him earlier must have been one of these things of darkness!

He felt it! As soon as he could see them he felt it! 

One of those things would touch him and he could kiss his resurrection goodbye!

He would definitely be dead!

'FUCK SHIT FUCKING SWIM!!'

Roaring all sorts of insults in his mind at the same time he felt his soul could barely hold itself together. Adryan gave his all to get to his body whose light was getting bigger.

He could already see his new hole in the chest of his body, just a little more and he would get there!

From the mass of darkness that now seemed more like a gateway to the abyss, three slender beings of darkness shot out. Their movements were like those of a fish in water and they were rapidly approaching him!

Gritting his teeth, Adryan quickly made a sideways swim barely dodging the surprise onslaught. His soul protested again at the brusque movement but was ignored with great effort.

The beings of darkness stood still after being dodged as if they didn't know what to do now that their attack had failed, but this only lasted an instant as the next moment they lashed out again at the red-haired man.

'This wasn't the party I meant!' cursing his big mouth, Adryan accelerated his swim, barely dodging another lash.

Again the same thing happened as before, those things stayed still as they were dodged. Giving precious seconds to the red-haired man who, even though he was confused by the way those things acted, would not waste them!

He reached out his hand, his body almost within reach!

The beings of darkness, regaining control of themselves, rushed towards him. The distance between them and Adryan was that of a breath!

His soul begged him to stop, to rest, that he could not take anymore! But the red-haired man didn't care so with a last whip of his legs and the claws of those monsters millimeters away from touching him, he stretched out his fingers as far as possible but it wasn't enough!

Just before he could be touched, the darkness around his body came to life, and with a powerful whip, it pushed the creatures away from him and after doing so formed a circle of darkness enclosing Adryan along with his body.

Recognition shone in his eyes and he grinned from ear to ear.

'Hunters Hallow!'

The red-haired man had never been so happy to see his robe.

The precious seconds he needed were his!

Finally, surrounded by the abyss itself and having swum what he swore was a marathon...Adryan's hand made contact with his body.

A huge light was born from where he touched his body, purging the monsters and painting the darkness white.

Adryan felt his sanity slipping away, the pain of now. No, the AGONY... It was...

As his mind slipped further and further out of reach. Far away, far beyond what his demolished, tortured mind could bear....

A huge number of voices were speaking, nowhere was there the harmony of the first time. 

Where once all the voices were saying the same thing at the same time, in one great and somewhat overwhelming chant, now there was only chaos and disorder. Horrendous screams of anger.

A myriad of voices were speaking, none at the same time, and each and every one of them was saying a different thing.

To the redhead's delicate mind, at this exact moment, he felt he was seriously going to lose control. The only thing that kept him anchored was his tolerance for these horrible raps thanks to the True Creator and the Burnt Bamd.

Squeezing as tightly as he could be squeezed, Adryan focused all his attention on the white light. The voices were getting louder, now screaming with full fury sounding more like apocalypse drums than voices.

The red-haired man could feel himself slipping but clinging to his sanity, he stayed anchored!

When the light reached its highest point and consequently the voices, Adryan could feel the voices suddenly go quiet.

Before he could rejoice at that a single voice cried out, a single voice that completely eclipsed the previous ones. For the power it brought behind it, it was by far the loudest as well.

"#€¬###!!!!"

This time, Adryan could recognize what it said but not understand it. The meaning, he felt, was on the tip of his tongue but at the same time it was far, far, far away.

Without knowing why, an enormous sadness choked him at the same time that a great sense of fulfillment enveloped him, the emotional pain was such that it even eclipsed the spiritual pain he felt.

Before he could make sense of what was happening ... it was all over.

...

Right now Chicho was sitting on her knees, her back slightly hunched as her gaze was completely focused on the recently dead man in front of her. 

Any minuscule change, whether it was the way the blood was pouring out of his body from the hole in his chest, the way the new clothes were stained with the same, or how the red-haired man's smile didn't diminish for a moment...

'The attention with which she's looking at him would make any dance teacher proud.... Yes, even you Professor Jennifer...Damn bitch...' Flora felt a little uncomfortable even though she wasn't the target of that look that brought back... bad memories of her childhood.

'Adryan please hurry up! I never thought being looked at by an angel would be so uncomfortable!'

As if answering her prayers, her prince charming arrived. Sitting up suddenly while taking a huge breath of air, Adryan had come back to life.

Although his vision was a little blurry and he was still a little groggy from what he had heard, Adryan didn't waste a second. With the large hole in his chest closing rapidly, he quickly grabbed the pulp he had made earlier.

Not even bothered by the strong smell of ammonia from it, Adryan opened his mouth as wide as he could and...

GULP!

With a loud gulp, Adryan consumed most of the pulp, and ignoring the bad aftertaste it left, he quickly ate the leftovers that escaped him.

As soon as he had done that, he immediately tried to go into cogitation in preparation for what was to come.

Huff Huff

It didn't take three seconds for it all to begin.

All the air left his lungs and Adryan had to stop his fall by placing his hand on the ground. 

Powerful illusory ravings reached his ears and assaulted his mind, but they were so weak to what he was already used to that he just ignored them as if they were an annoying puppy.

"Ughh!" a small whimper came out of his mouth and Adryan watched the changes that were quickly appearing on his hands.

The smooth pale skin was quickly covered with thin black hairs, hairs that were getting longer and longer making it look like he was wearing gauntlets of hair. 

His muscles bulged out of shape, tearing the shirt he was wearing and almost tearing his jacket as well. The fur was torn followed by the skin and large amounts of blood suddenly began to gush out of it, releasing steam all over those wounded nerves due to the warmth of the blood.

His veins suddenly became visible all over his body, throbbing exaggeratedly and a horrible black color. The whites of his eyes were suddenly covered with red veins about to explode, red blood pouring from them.

Teeth sharpened and grew with ridiculous speed, piercing even the cheeks. 

His now claws sank into the rock, easily slicing through it and the red-haired man coughed out a red, fleshy lump.

His body was breaking and Adryan knew it. What Chicho said would happen was happening. 

But he could feel it too, how he was advancing! Slowly, information was coming into his brain and he could feel his spirituality and his power growing!

"Hahaha...AHHAHAHAHAHA!" Adryan laughed madly, a horrible sharp-toothed grin on his face.

His eyes moved to the hole where his heart was and he saw how the heart was already completely regenerated and the hole was already closing. 

The smile on his face froze and he let out another growl, only this one more bestial and guttural, not at all like the sound a human would make. 

His sight moved to the cracks and mutations in his body and he watched in annoyance as regeneration was overtaking them. 

The huge cracks in his hands began to close faster than they were breaking! The hair covering his skin was falling out rapidly!

His spirituality stopped growing and he was shrinking again, the new information coming into his brain stopped as well.

The plan was working too well! Regeneration was not only healing him but it was trying to expel what was harming him from his body!

The regeneration was trying to expel the ingredients from his body!

'No! I need more time!'

He still hadn't advanced, there was still more to go!

Without wasting a single second, Adryan raised a sharp claw and pierced his stomach. His organs were scattered on the ground but they were barely out for a second before they came back in.

Not wanting to risk his promotion and not wanting to kill himself again - for he knew that if he died again he would not be able to escape these things - Adryan went for the nuke.

Raising both claws this time, he went through his stomach again, only this time he didn't pull out his organs.

His crazed spirituality glowed and he lit his insides on fire.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA THAT BURNS" Adryan laughed as he made the flames as hot as he could. He could feel his stomach, intestines, kidneys, lungs and newly regenerated heart were being cooked.

But his attention was on his arms and how they swelled back up and the skin was breaking again along with the fur growing back.

His toothy grin was back in full force as new information came back into his brain and his spirituality was growing again.

Cough! Another lump of flesh came out of his mouth only this one was burned.

The pain was horrible but it was nothing he hadn't already gone through and overcome by far. So as soon as he coughed up that lump of flesh, he returned all his attention to cogitation.

Several times the ball of light was drawn in his foggy mind, over and over again as he kept his insides burning. A balance that was so delicate that it would break with the slightest distraction.

This was something Chicho and Flora knew so neither said or did anything.

Chicho looked with serious eyes at her contractor while Flora felt like she was going to die from worry, her insides twisting and only being able to watch as her partner danced on the fine line to the abyss.

Huff Huff Huff Huff...

...

To Adryan it seemed that this should have lasted longer but the new information and his new spirituality told him that it was all over.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw his hands that were covered in warm blood but were those of a human.

He had made it. He was now a Sequence 6 Conspirator.

Reviewing the new information of what he could now do, eyebrows much more delicate than before rose slightly.

"That's... something unexpected." His voice was now much more sensual, with a softness and texture such that it chilled the skin.

"Princess?" his worm's extremely concerned voice rang in his mind and the redhead gave a soft smile.

"The one and only Miss Worm."

A small sigh of relief sounded in his mind followed by a question, "Are you going to turn that off or what? It's giving me a thing to watch it heal only to be destroyed..."

He could feel his insides still burning. The pain of it didn't bother him one bit.

If he was the same as before he would have already put out those flames... But he wasn't anymore. He felt... not like him.

This should alarm him but strangely enough, he didn't care at all...

But not because he didn't care at all he would put it aside, but because of that, he had to relive it with more urgency even if he didn't feel it.

'When I finish this I have to see what's wrong with me...' Noting this down to check later, he smiled softly again and shook his head.

"Huhu Don't worry. I'll need that if I want to have a chance."

Tauk Millenium that was still on the ground suddenly rose, as if being lifted by invisible threads to the open palm of the red-haired man who looked at this calmly.

Grasping the artifact of the Sun pathway, Adryan opened his mouth.

Gulp!

"WHAT THE FUCK ADRYAN?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" Flora shouted in disbelief.

He had swallowed the artifact!

"Chicho said that any artifact that is out in the open will break in 3 minutes," Adryan commented casually as he wiped his lips with his sleeve.

"Tauk Millenium is an artifact that I don't need to touch to use. Being inside me will ensure that nothing is going to happen to it and I don't have to worry about the 3 minutes."

"Same for you Flora. Being inside me, nothing is going to happen to you."

"...What the fuck happened to you Adryan?" after a few seconds Flora asked, her voice stiff and groggy.

Adryan lowered his gaze to his hands which were quickly covered in golden fire. With the new body of Sequence 6, these flames no longer hurt him.

"...I don't know."

Scarlet eyes that now glowed like flames moved to his messenger.

Chicho had a blank expression on her face, her eyes showed nothing and she was looking at him as if she couldn't recognize him.

"I'm ready."

The messenger said nothing, just gave a rough nod as she raised her hand.

In front of Adryan a door of white light formed, showing the corridor with the cages.

Without another glance at his messenger or another word, he took a step and entered.

The door then disappeared and Chicho stared for a few seconds at the place where her contractor once stood.

"That's not good... Not good at all..." The Phoenix muttered before sighing and she too stepped through her own door.

She still had a duty to perform.


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