Chapter 17: Chapter 17: The Realms [2]
Chapter 17: The Realms [2]
The silhouette stared at Daniel with a smile.
[I want you to be my vessel.]
When the devil mentioned that, Daniel was taken aback. Confused, he asked, "What do you mean by vessel?"
"Climbing to the last realm, is that right?"
[Haha, indeed.]
[I want you to climb the realms so that-]
Before the devil could complete, Daniel shook his head in denial, "No."
"I will never be your vessel."
"And why would you even ask me for it? I am weak, can't you see that?", Daniel said.
[Weak?]
[I have seen your previous display of strength.]
[One of the strongest spells in the world, that even the Grand Wizards find hard to use…]
[Didn't you chant that pretty easily?]
Daniel, hearing that, merely nodded.
"It was just a one-time thing. Even if I try, I couldn't possibly-"
[Yes you can.]
This time, the devil interrupted. With a deep tone, he continued, [You will be able to do that if you start climbing the realms.]
[You want power, don't you?]
[You want to save the girl, don't you?]
[Then why bother arguing?]
Daniel realized that whatever the Devil said was indeed true. Right now, his first priority was saving Vineca.
Lucifer had already mentioned that Daniel was asleep for at least a day, so it was in his best interest to rush out to search for Vineca. Of course, the question still lingered if she was still alive, but Daniel denied any thoughts related to her death!
After taking a few seconds to think, Daniel, against his will, agreed to the devil.
"What must I do?"
"Tell me, what must I do to climb onto the first realm?"
[The seeker realm?]
"Yes."
[Haha, you must complete a task.]
"And what is it?"
[You need to find the Necklace of Curses and offer it to me.]
"The Necklace of Curses…? You sure know what to ask for…"
The silhouette chucked and said, [It isn't hard. You are wearing it after all. It is the easiest task ever given.]
"Indeed…"
The necklace that showed the numbers previously, that sat around Daniel's necklace had a name - The Necklace of Curses.
It had the power to identify curses, tell their progression and even nullify them. There was no curse in the world that couldn't be nullified or broken by it at the time it was made. But with time, new curses and even stronger ones came into existence, decreasing the value of the necklace.
"Fine, so be it. For power, I am ready to sacrifice the necklace."
"But do tell me, who exactly are you? The devil, I am sure everyone knows."
"But I am even more confident that thousands others are being possessed in a similar way. There is no way that you are able to communicate with all of them at the same time…"
The devil chuckled again, [A few humans know, but since you accepted my request, let me reveal it to you.]
[Not one, not two… There are a total of Thirteen Devils!]
The voice roared and the revelation caused Daniel to take a step back instinctively.
"What?", his eyeballs trembled when he heard that.
"No… that must be a lie, right?", Daniel asked, as if his throat was dry, voice barely coming out.
[Haha, of course not. There are a total of thirteen devils. And each of them is working with a human.]
[Five of them have already created their vessels. But they have yet to manifest.]
The terms seemed confusing to Daniel, the revelation already serving as a shock.
He asked, "Wait wait, vessels and manifest…"
"Are you trying to say that the devils are trying to reincarnate in our world?"
[Indeed. I am doing the same.]
"Then…"
"I have to die?", Daniel asked.
[Yes. When the time comes, you need to die, for two souls cannot exist in one.]
Daniel lowered his gaze after hearing that.
Right now, he needed power. He had been weak all this time, due to which he failed to save Vineca. She was taken away right in front of his eyes.
Such strength, he couldn't possibly develop on his own with the little time he had. The devil was ready to give strength, so he had little choice.
[Remember, you still have a choice. Unlike others, I give the power to the humans, to choose what they want.]
[You can still refuse and go on your own path, or decide to follow me, complete the tasks and rise in realms. Your powers will increase and you will continue to live until you reach the Apostle realm, only when, you will resign to fate, your life that is.]
Daniel clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.
Vineca was his life - this was no lie. And without her, he was as good as dead.
He stared right at the devil, his eyes sharp.
"Fine. I am ready."
"I will become your vessel…", just as he mentioned this, the silhouette all of a sudden turned into a sphere glowing with the same red glow.
Almost instantly, it vanished from the place and rushed straight towards Daniel, entering the scar that remained on his face and taking its root there!
This pushed Daniel, causing him tremendous pain as he screamed continuously.
"Arghhh!"
He fell to the ground, grabbing his face that burned in pain and ultimately losing consciousness even here which caused him to awaken back in the real world.
As he opened his eyes, he found himself resting on the bed. As he looked to his left, he found Sir Noah who was resting as well. Lucifer was nowhere to be found, but he didn't think about him right now, for he had a task to complete.
He muttered, "The necklace is all yours…"
He merely touched the necklace seconds after which, a red haze oozed from his fingertips and covered the entire necklace, sucking it inside seconds after which the necklace vanished into thin air.
The moment this happened, the scar on his face started to glow a little, right after which, Daniel felt a burst of strength inside him.
His pupils turned red momentarily before returning to normal.
"No way… this power…", he could feel his body brimming with energy.
[Congratulations lad, you are now in the Seeker Realm.]
He thought the process would be painful, and he was completely wrong.
Gulping down a large chunk of saliva, he asked, "What about the next realm? Can I-"
Another voice interrupted him, "Daniel, are you alright?"
Daniel abruptly turned to the left, finding Noah sitting upright.
"Why are you talking to yourself?", Noah questioned.
Daniel merely shook his head and said, "Nothing sir, I-"
Again his words were abruptly interrupted, this time not with a simple shock! He paused speaking because Noah's eyes widened in shock as he watched something or someone.
Daniel turned his gaze towards the place, the door.
"Daniel…", a soft feminine voice erupted from the opened door.
"Maya?"
He was surprised to see Maya enter.
"Yes.", Maya ran towards him, jumping and hugging him.
A lot of tears drenched her face, its traces clearly visible. The same was true with Daniel as well. A few drops of tears left his eyes as he hugged her.
"Thank God…", Daniel said as he patted her back.
He further added, "Where exactly had you been!?"
Maya, pulling herself back and wiping her tears said, "I was in the dark forest, a little bit tired. So I took rest."
"But then I realized it was not too far from here, so I came walking…"
"However, when I reached here, everything was in ashes…"
Daniel realized that because they used Stynom, they had probably missed the fact that she was in the middle of the path. As they teleported back and forth, they had no way to find her in the middle.
"I heard about the attack…", Maya shook his head again and again.
"I just couldn't believe that a single person could wreck such a havoc!", she added.
Daniel merely nodding at her words, said, "Yeah, he took away Vineca too."
"Yeah…", her voice lowered.
"And I plan to save her."
"Wait what!?", this caught Maya by surprise.
"No… how?", she asked.
"Of course, by finding the person and the place to which he took her. I can't leave her to die, can I?"
"But Daniel. You… you aren't strong. You-"
Before Maya could say anything else, Daniel interrupted saying, "Doesn't matter, I will do it."
"Please don't stop me."
Maya didn't utter any other word, calmly sitting down on the chair.
Daniel stared at Noah, his eyes asking the question - "Will you help us sir?"
Of course, Noah wanted no trouble. That's why he had been living alone in the dark forest. So he was going to deny it, but seeing Daniel and his determination, a flame birthed inside Noah.
He smiled and said, "Sure."
Daniel chuckled, getting the answer to his question.
"I will join you Daniel.", Maya added.
Daniel had no objections for she was talented and more powerful than him. She could come in handy and if it was dangerous, they always had the Stynom spell to escape.
But what he did not expect was Lucifer butting in after eavesdropping from the door.
"Me too. I want to save her."
And his request was met with a stern - "NO!"
Daniel didn't want to take Lucifer with him, for, even without him they could save her. However, Lucifer had to give great reasons due to which Daniel could no longer refuse.
"Vineca is my savior. I can't just leave her when she is in danger."
And when Daniel said, "It is dangerous. Adding to that, you are weak, so obviously you-"
"I am strong, Daniel. I can use strong spells, don't forget."
Of course, this caused Daniel to shut his mouth, Maya chuckling at the reveal and Noah laughing out loud.
"Aye, let him come.", Noah said.
"But sir…"
"Don't worry lad. I will take care of his safety."
Daniel reluctantly agreed to it.
"But where do we go? Where do we start our search from?"
Daniel, having communicated with the Devil and got the information he wanted, said, "To the temple of Diablos."
Lucifer's pupils momentarily turned red with a smirk sitting on his face as he uttered, "Ah…"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone