Chapter 2

I was lost for words, the old man didn’t tell me that he was going to bring me here. It was well known that nobody actually knew where Lucifer was buried. I knew that nothing good was going to come of this, so I started looking for ways to leave.

“H-hey old man, how do I get out of here?”

“Wahahahahahaha, I do not know foolish boy...”

“W-what! You mean you brought me here and you don’t even know how to leave?”

“Wahahaha, I did not bring you here, in fact, I’ve never been here before, I’ve only known the general area that this place was located.”

“H-how the hell am I supposed to get back to Seir and the others!”

“Wahahahahahaha…It’ll be OK...Probably.”

It was hopeless, I knew that I shouldn’t have listened to this old dragon when I set out to find a new familiar. I was now trapped in a land that I’d never heard of and had no means of escaping, just when I was going to fall into the pit of despair, I spotted a huge bird flying toward me. It landed a few feet away, it was a mixture of varying colours and parts of its body where from different kinds of birds, despite this, it was regal and majestic in it’s posture and overall presence.

“Kukuhkuh, if it isn’t Bahamut-san, I was wondering when you were going to join us, how long has it been? The moment I felt your demonic energy, I had one of my kin lead you here.”

“Wahahahahahahaha, well if it isn’t Feng, it’s been too long old friend, how’s the family? Huang doing OK?”

“Kukuh, she bides fine.”

“Sorry to interrupt an otherwise lovely little reunion, but just who and what are you? Can you tell me how to get out of here?”

“Kuh, Oh? So this is your new master Bahamut-san, when I received word that you had taken on a new master, I thought you’d finally gone senile, after having a look at him, it’s safe to say that I was correct in my assumption.”

“What was that you glorified three piece meal!? I haven’t eaten actual meat for a few days now yknow, I bet you fry up pretty nicely.”

“Kuk, well I never…”

“Wahahahahahahahahaha, now now everyone, let’s not get carried away. Feng, this is my new master Kuro, foolish boy, this is Feng, he is also a former familiar of Lucifer and Head of Administration and Maintenance for this site. He is a Fenghuang, but I suppose you’d be more be familiar if I called him a Phoenix.”

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“Head of Maintenance? This place looks likes it hasn’t seen any maintenance in centuries.”

“Kuhkuh, I’ll have you know that Master Lucifer happened to…”

“Wahahahaha, now now.”

I went back and forth with Feng for a while until the old man managed to calm us both down. Feng explained that Lucifer’s former familiars actually resided in these burial grounds and Lucifer assigned each of them a task upon his demise. I suppose even in death that bastard was a slave driver.

According to Feng, the only ones able to find these burial grounds and enter them, were Lucifer’s former familiars. He even went on to say that if I happened to fall through that whole without hosting a former familiar of Lucifer, then I would have never seen the end of that tunnel and would have been continuously falling until my dying breath.

The old man explained to Feng that I was after another familiar, after initially laughing his head off, Feng reluctantly explained that as long as Bahamut was with me, I had free roam of these lands. He said that since these grounds were separate in both time and space to the rest of Hell, time ran differently here. According to him, two weeks here would level out to only 1 day in Hell.

The overall feel of the place reminded me of the realm that my own familiars resided in, except that time ran the same there. The only thing that stuck out to me with what he said, was that it was possible for me to sustain injuries and even die in these grounds, which was different than my personal realm. Apparently the only way for me to leave was to reach all the way to the other end of these burial grounds and use the warp point from there.

Feng soon left me and the old man and said that he would inform the rest of Lucifer’s familiars of Bahamut’s visit, as well as the fact that I had trespassed onto these sacred lands. I gave the Fenghu-whatever a few more choice words and began walking toward the direction of the horizon, where the exit supposedly was located.

“Well old man? Where is this perfect familiar you were on about?”

“Wahahahahaha, you just met him…”

“W-what!? You mean that guy? No way, he’s not compatible with me at all.”

“Wahahahaha, foolish boy, he is a Phoenix, I know of no creature with more healing and regenerative abilities as he. However, it is obvious that you two do not match. It’s most likely because he senses the impurity within you, even I was offended when a halfling like you approached me and boasted that you were going to make me your familiar.”

“W-well, I guess I’ll have to just go and convince him to join me, it’s not like he has to stay forever, after the summit you can all return to wherever the hell you want.”

“Wahahahahaha, I’m afraid it’s useless foolish boy, Feng is a very stubborn individual. Once he has made his mind up about something or someone, nothing will change it.”

“Well, what do we do now? Just make for the exit?.”

“Wahahahaha, I wish it were that simple…”

“W-what do you mean?”

“Wah-well...The other’s aren’t going to like you being here, I had hoped that Feng would find us the moment we arrived, agree to become your familiar and show us the shortest route to escape without the others noticing, but everything didn’t quite go according to plan…”

“S-so what now? How bad is it?”

“Wahahahahahahaha, w-well...Start running foolish boy, don’t stop to even to look back or breath, if SHE finds us, then even the great ME won’t be able to protect you.”

“W-what the hell old man! OMG, I’m gonna die! I-I haven’t even kissed Shiro yet, d-damn you old man!”

I didn’t waste even a single moment and began running toward the ever burning red sun, praying that I would be able to make it back alive.