As the battle was proceeding between the girl and the materialized being, on the sideline was the boy who was lying on with a tree as his support.

Ryuu was observing the battle from afar; his prying eyes were directed to the ‘something’ that was created from the lump of dark mass earlier.

“I see, they contained the dark energy in a place and it caused all of these happenings.”

He was already returning to consciousness when the black fog had been released, his face frowned as he was determining at the severity of the situation at that moment.

“Damn it, why it has to be a troublesome [Wraith]…”

His mouth was curling in dissatisfaction and switched his sight towards the young girl who was battling the skull.

She was bravely contending her enemy as she wield her blade to slice the incoming attacks while using lightning spell to damage it and occasionally used her greatsword to attack her foe directly.

At a glance, the difference in ability could be seen that the girl had the upper hand.

She was skillfully deflecting the incoming attacks of the [Wraith], which comprised of the standard long-range attack utilizing the summoned skulls. While the occasional horrifying screech could be heard implied the attack was actually had effect onto the enemy it pierced the layer of dark energy directly to the core.

However, the innumerable black fog that was blanketing the area was starting to recover the damaged part as soon it was damaged.

It also served as a seemingly infinite fuel for the wraith to launch her magic attacks.

While the girl was limited with her own mana capacity.

‘If this goes to a prolonged battle…’

‘She will definitely die”

Ryuu quickly realized this fact and came to a conclusion.

He was no longer able to wield his broken weapon, thus he left it behind and stood up. Using a [Reinforce] Spell, he then quickly joined himself into the battle and stood by the young girl.

“Hey! Do you have any killing move?!”

As he was beside her, he loudly voiced his speech towards the girl

With a surprise, she turned her head in shock at the sudden appearances of the boy. However, it took her a moment before she treated the man as her allies and regained her composure.

With a decisive answer, she nodded in confirmation and in a flash disappeared as one of the skulls was in trajectory. Ryuu also evaded the attack at the same time as the girl. The skull hit the ground and exploded, causing a small hole in the already uneven ground.

The two was separated and circled the enemy from two sides, at this time.

“Alright! Conserve your move while I do something about the dark energy.”

With a roaring sound unlike a young child could muster, Ryuu was able to communicate with the girl.

The girl understood his direction and quickly zoned out from the [Wraith] range, leaving the boy alone to fight with it.

Perhaps, it was because she believed in the boy’s capability that she decided to follow him.

Ryuu confirmed her cooperation and quickly smiled,

With no hesitation, He released tens of ice spears from his back using [Icicle] spell and launched it towards the enemy. All of them made direct contact but was destroyed as it unable to pierce through the dark cloak.

The spell was like tickling rather than damaging,

However it successfully changed its attention towards Ryuu and raised its pale hand and released a dark beam.

‘A high class [Wraith] is still a [Wraith], a being with no intelligence…’

Ryuu smirked towards the enemy and moved sideways to avoid the incoming beam.

Then he readied his [Icicle] spell and repeated the move few more times to ensure that it completely forgotten about the girl.

A mad scream could be heard from the enemy and it released numerous skulls that charged towards the man. Ryuu quickly controlled his numerous ice spears to counter the skulls from coming through him.

Afterwards, Ryuu looked at the girl and realized that the mana was swirling around her in a faster rate as she was already in focus on her task.

Ryuu closed his eyes for a moment and took a single long breath while the wraith was preparing for another barrage,

His mind was quickly dissolved and quickly turned into void, he had attuned himself to fully immerse in the battle.

“Play is over, [Wraith]”

His gaze was fixed onto the enemy,

Opening his right palm, he is started to mutter in a small words.

“Ye’ shone upon the darkest of nights”

A small grey fire was formed above his palm; it quickly rotated around his body.

The [Wraith] opened his hand and released dark energy, this time it was much bigger than the previous attacks. Although, Ryuu was able to avoid it easily and speedily moved towards the back of his enemy.

“Cast me not away in thy gentle presence”

Ryuu chanted, causing another grey flame to rotate around his body.

“Thy will make known to me the path of life”

The next flame rotated around him and causing the wraith to waver as it looked upon the dull flame.

“I summon thee, O’ brilliant light”

Another flame rotated around Ryuu’s body, his face paled as he was holding the spell and little sweat was forming on his face.

He avoided another attack from the wraith and then pointed his finger towards it, before softly muttering the name of his spell.

‘[Origin Spell: Light]’

The four flames suddenly rose up to the sky, before dropping itself in four different directions on the wraith. A chain of lights was constructed, connecting the flames to each other in a circular fashion.

After the chain was fully connected, the small grey flames turned into four stakes and driven itself to the ground, causing a pillar of light rose inside. The outside black fog was severed, making it impossible to utilize the energy from inside.

A loud scream could be heard from the wraith as the white light caused it to weaken, then it fell down to the ground in painful writhing. The black fog was no longer seen inside the brilliance of the light.

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“Go!” Ryuu exclaimed.

The girl, who was standing by outside the strike zone of the wraith, opened her eyes at the cue of the boy. Her greatsword was driven to the ground behind her.

She took out a yellow amulet, similar to which Hana used, and with two fingers she held it closely on her chest.

As she concentrated, the yellow amulet started to brim in bluish color and there were crackles of lightning all over the amulet.

“Fly, Mirror of Lightning”

She swiped the amulet hardly and it flew towards the sky, directly above the pillar of light that Ryuu created with his spell.

A huge magic circle with <電> symbol was forming above the amulet and then forming a black clouds in circular fashion. Ryuu moved away from the area as the range of the magic spell was large enough to hit him at his original spot. He then looked at the sky at a safe range, he was sweating profusely from the after-effect of his intervention.

The cloud was getting denser, and numerous blue lightning was roaring on the particular area and let out crackles every so often. Then, a single lightning fell down, it was huge enough to cover the whole magic circle, towards the weakened wraith.

A flash of light filled the peak of [Sacred Hill] and exploded, the soundwave from the lightning boom had caused the prevailing wind to forcefully disperse the black fog away, the protective barrier that was used in protecting the sacred hill shattered.

It was spell of destruction.

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The decayed grassfield was turned into a burning ashes at the aftermath of the huge spell.

It only took a split second for all of the massive destruction.

Ryuu had enveloped himself in numerous layers of mana barriers into safety.

It didn’t take him long before he witness the whole wasteland in front of him.

“Impossible!”

He was astonished,

In front of him was a glazing black ball was floating in the midst of the area, it was enveloped with a dense dark energy.

The spell that Ryuu created was still in full effect, rendering it from movement and also recovery.

However, Ryuu’s heart grew weary.

He thought it was supposed to be over, but it wasn’t.  

Ryuu made a gesture with his finger, causing the pillar of light to illuminate even brighter, to the point the black crystal couldn’t be seen from outside the pillar.

Confirming the strengthening of his sealing spell, he turned his vision towards a certain girl that was lying flat on the ground.

Dashing frantically, he approached the girl and starts to speak anxiously.

“Hey! Are you fine?”

There was no response as body lied lifelessly.

He could see her breathing was ragged and also her face was getting whiter,

As if her soul was sucked out from her.

‘Is she under [Mana Poisoning]? though her physique is still fine.’

He then looked over at the greatblade that was lying nearby,

There was numerous cracking over the black-colored blade.

A [Divine Weapon] was a weapon manifested from her soul.

Damage towards the divine weapon means damage to her soul.

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‘Her [Divine Weapon] is breaking…’

 ‘!!!’

Ryuu quickly utilized his [Spirit Sight], this time the color was so intense that the usual light blue had turned into a deep-sea color. The normally pleasant green colored stream of mana was brightly shining to the point it was a nuisance.

At the same time, he could see other supernatural phenomenon that was occurring in the area.

The leylines* inside the ground. 

The four grey flames that had a white line connected to him,

Also, a thick black line was connected from the girl towards the glistening black crystal.

He deactivated his sight; he had answers of the situation.

‘I see… The [Wraith] actually possessed a part of her soul.‘

It caused their death and life to be connected like a thread

‘Reckless!’

‘There’s no way a severe the connection like that’

His irritation grew more intense at the weakened girl.

Somehow, he couldn’t let himself to lead this girl to her doom.

Although he knew that she was nothing more than a stranger.

In all hopelessness, he was trying to search for something

‘Should I rely on that?’

Suddenly, his mind had thought of something.

He knew that it might bring him an opportunity.

“NO!” Ryuu shook his head quickly and dispersed the idea.

The girl suddenly opened his eyes, her weakened soul made it hard for her to maintain grasp of her own body. Her facial expression was still cold and stoic.

Ryuu was slightly relieved from her returning consciousness, but it was far from delighted. He was still supporting her head on his left arm, tightly grabbing her hand on the other hand

“Do you know what are you doing?”

Ryuu questioned her softly while he tried his best to maintain his gentleness to her.

The girl gave out a silent treatment, but her head was nodding weakly.

He wavered, the girl was actually understood what is going to happen.

He couldn’t help himself but to let an outburst of anger towards her, his expression was painful to see at that moment.

“Then why!”

No response…

Ryuu was waiting for her answer…

“I want to break this curse…”

Instead, tear flowed from her eyes like a small stream.

She mustered all of her remaining will to open her mouth.

“I just wanted to be friends with them…”

“But they branded me a monster”

“A calamity demon, the cursed existence”

“Even though….”

“I never wanted this!”

She couldn’t hold herself anymore, the tears kept on flowing non-stop. A floodgate had been broken through her eyes.

Weeping and weeping, her immoveable body could only let the tears flowing.

Ryuu was silent and looked at her,

His entire mind was shaken by the words, as it carried weight on it.

At the moment, he could only see a broken girl.

As well her honest self that she had been holding forever.

Then, he released her from his side and brings her to lie down on the ground, where the grass was thick and soft.

If one were to look at his expression, it was nothing more than a face filled with determination.

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After he had brought her, he slowly brought himself towards the area where the black crystal was located,

It was still being trapped while trying it’s best to materialize itself but it had no more black fog remaining inside the pillar of light. Ryuu approached closer and then swiped his right hand, causing the stake disappeared into the thin air.

The spell disappeared, granting the crystal its freedom and without hesitation it absorbed the remaining fog as it merged with the core.

Ryuu was quiet as he witness from a close distance,

He didn’t seem to mind at the actions and waited for it to finish.

More like he was delighted as a smile pasted from his face.

At the same moment, his mind was still reeling from the after glow of the girl.

He grasped his palm as his face was smiling wryly.

As he remembered the scent and temperature of the girl he was holding.

The coolness of her skin as well the smell of the fallen leaves, perhaps due to the years living in the area.

“She is like the autumn”

Ryuu glanced back at girl who was still letting out her tears.

“Well… Release all your pain”

He scratched his nose and focused himself back towards the black crystal,

The crystal had completely absorbed the last of the black fog, but wasn’t able to materialized as a complete [Wraith] any longer as the last of the black fog wasn’t enough to fuel it. There was only the wicked face and the black cloak remaining.

He looked the incomplete transformation and smiled,

“Thanks to you, I had to break my own conviction”

He went into silence; his smile was overwritten with a frown.

 “You got to pay for causing trouble, for my family and that girl”

‘[Heroic Transformation]’

A swirl of white energy was swirling out from the feet of his body towards the sky.

Ryuu’s eyes was light blue, he had activated his spirit sight, while his body was enshrouded in the swirl of energy.

At a glance, illusionary white cloak was forming from the back of his body. It was akin to a knight cape.

His right hand clenched, the aura was congealed and starting to materialize into a weapon.

A white javelin, around the height of his shoulder, was formed as he was approaching the remnants of where the shrine was constructed.

The black fog suddenly wobbling wildly, as if it was scared at the presence of the javelin, but they couldn’t escape the restraint of the black crystal.

Ryuu made a casual swing in the thin air where nothing was there,

But a black line that was connecting the girl and the crystal was severed.

It was the thread of connection between the spirit and the girl, as it was no longer.

The [Wraith] made a huge wail as it had no more connection between itself and its host, it was enraged by the fact and raised it’s last attempt by charging towards the boy with its semi-ethereal body.

Ryuu was quiet; his demeanor was cold as he looked at the wraith.

He released his javelin and summoned a dull silver flame, he transformed it into a silver chains that chased after the [Wraith] like a snake.

With no effort, it locked the [Wraith] on its head while the other end was on Ryuu’s palm. He slowly walked towards the enemy; while the chain was automatically readjust its size to ensure it was tight.

As he was approaching the enemy, he softly made a whisper where only he and the [Wraith] was close enough to hear.

“[Wraith] is stupid, they have no intelligence…”

Then he was in front, continued his whisper.

With a colder voice he uttered his intention,

“But, I’m sure they have emotions within them.”

A silver flame had suddenly burning on the [Wraith]’s body,

Loud screech could be heard from it, as it was struggling over the burning flame. The dark energy was slowly dissipating from the body, as it was erased from existence from the purification.

At the time when the [Wraith] was almost extinguished,

Ryuu coldly whispered to the wicked face,

“Don’t you think it’s nice to escape by death?”

All of the sudden, the ground was swirling in dark energy, identical to the black energy that was cloaking the [Wraith].

On his left palm, a dark flame was hovering.

It was quickly transformed into a stake and pierced the head of the wicked face

The black stake absorbed surrounding dark energy, forcefully replenishing the lost energy by the burning white flame. Making the [Wraith] unable to die from the loss of its fuel.

Realizing this, the [Wraith] made a loud scream of pain and anger, it was the loudest amongst the screams that it had ever created before.

“Quiet”

After he said the word, the whole world had turned black for a moment; the [Wraith] then lost its ability to speak.

Ryuu looked at it before he whispered,

“Remember this pain, in your next life.”

‘If there’s any more left within you, that is’

As He released the chain on his palm, the end of it was transformed into a stake and driven towards the ground.

With that, Ryuu left it in pain until his spell loses its effect.