After such a long day, Glenn was finally able to enjoy a long night of rest, well deserved. He couldn't help but smile in his sleep, burrowing his head in the drapes. How great did it feel to be in clean sheets—
Drip.
Hmm? Did he forget to turn off the tap? What was he thinking, there was no tap in this world any—
Drip.
It's probably going to stop, right? Maybe if he turned to the side he would not hear it anymore—
Drip.
"ARGH, DAMN IT!" Glenn jumped up, his eyes bloodshot. Whatever object was daring to leak, it was heading straight to hell as soon as he would find it. The faint moonlight passing through the curtains illuminated the room well enough for him to see that there was nothing that should cause a dripping sound.
"Fuck, I was so comfortable..." Did he hallucinate? It didn't seem like—
Drip.
The young man turned his head sharply, his eyes piercing through the darkness. The sound seemed to come from the small personal bathroom. It was tiny and less comfortable than the communal hot springs, hence why he preferred the latter, but it was still nice to have. Glenn grumbled, heading with only his underwear in the room, not bothering to light a candle since his sight in the darkness was excellent. Huh, he had forgotten to ask Diamanes about that. He should probably wake the bastard up so he could explain the reason for that change.
He rubbed his face as he opened the door to the bathroom, his eyes passing over the objects in it, unable to find the leak.
"The hell is making that sound...?" Drip. Glenn felt a drop of liquid land on his forehead. He touched with his hand, seeing a dark, viscous liquid. The young man slowly looked up, noticing the source of the drip. His eyes widened in horror as he took a step back, avoiding another drop of black liquid. Where the ceiling of the bathroom should have been was the dark space containing the gigantic heart of the Blessed Grove.
Only the heart had changed. It no longer pulsed with a red light, nor was it streaked with black veins; no, it was entirely black as ink. His eyes could barely make out its shape, but as soon as he saw it, he recognized it. The young man summoned his battle gear with a simple thought and turned to fetch the axe from his room, only to find that the bathroom door had disappeared. There was no way out. Frowning, he turned to face the heart, his eyes lighting up in the darkness, and prepared powerful spells in both hands.
The Mana twirled in the air as the now Dark Heart remained hanging in the air silently, dripping the black goo silently. The space of the bathroom was entirely gone, replaced by infinite darkness. Glenn winced, before pushing his hand forward, projecting a powerful Blackhole that he had charged with a quarter of his total Mana. With that much, it should be able to swallow a little piece of the heart at the very least–
Sigh...
The black hole faded like an extinguished candle as if it had never existed. Glenn felt a cold wind freeze him to the bone, his back shivering as a single bead of sweat went down his chin. The sigh was the product of someone or something. But what? A huge hand suddenly appeared in the darkness with black nails, grabbing the black heart and pulling it the way it came from. The heart disappeared, carried away. A second later, the sound of small, steady steps walking on the mirror-like ground was the only thing left in this dark space.
Glenn strained his eyes, trying to make out a shape from the darkness, but he couldn't find anything. He took a step forward, only to stop in his movement. In his neck, just behind his right ear, he could feel the cold breath of someone standing there.
"Huhhhhh...Gasp..."
Gulp.
The young man couldn't help but swallow his saliva, feeling more than threatened. It was like the scythe of Death was right below his neck, and a slight movement would cut it open. He couldn't turn his head back to see whatever was standing there, paralyzed by an eerie horror. His whole body was having goosebumps, and the tips of his fingers were trembling slightly. Yet, he didn't make a sound, concentrating on surviving this ordeal.
Glenn closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He suddenly used a shockwave of Mana to push himself out of the way while aiming at whatever was behind him at the same time. He flew over a few meters, landing in an agile roll, his hands raised defensively to fight whatever was there to fight.
The first thing he saw was fair hands white like snow, with black polished nails. Black like the void itself. Darkness crept over the fair hands, making them disappear alongside their owner. Silence took place in the space, Glenn holding his breath in terror.
"I see you."
----------------------------------------
Glenn jumped up, his forehead covered in cold sweat. He hurriedly looked around, Mana twirling over his whole body, ready to cast the most powerful spell he could muster, until he realized he was back in his bedroom. His heart rate calmed down as he gasped for air, holding his chest as if it was going to run away screaming.
"What...What the hell was that?" He muttered, looking at his left arm in distrust and fear. This nightmare was the worst he had yet. It felt so...horrible, it was hard to believe it was only that, a nightmare...
He lay in his bed, pressing down on his eyes with fatigue. Unable to find his sleep, he stood up and walked to the bathroom, his hand reaching for the handle. Glenn froze in the air, listening for any dripping sound. He clenched his hand tightly, before sighing and relieving the pressure. He decisively opened the bathroom door, taking a look at the ceiling. It was the same ceiling that should have been there in his nightmare.
"It's just a nightmare, why am I so affected...?" Glenn shook his head, before powering the magic faucet with his Mana, invoking a thin stream of cold water. He splashed some on his face, only to see that the water was tainted with a little bit of dark, goo-like liquid.
"Curses..." Glenn turned on the light, muttering a quick Lux, and stared at the mirror in front of him. His forehead was smeared with a dark viscous substance that was now familiar to him. Glenn hurried to remove it, rubbing his forehead as hard as possible. He made sure there was nothing left before leaving the bathroom and went to sit on the edge of his bed, facing the window. He hid his face in both hands for a moment, making a gesture of prayer, before straightening up to face the window. He leaned against it, enjoying the view of the two cloudless moons hanging in the sky.
There was a warm wind in the night, making his hair flutter slightly. It was calming to the heart and made his worries temporarily disappear.
"Did I receive a hex or something...?" Glenn smirked dejectedly, his eyes drooping down. The only reason for such a curse would be the nightmare he received. But how could what he dreamed of appear outside of his dreams? Was there some kind of lasting influence from having destroyed a Seed of Darkness?
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His eyes gazing down suddenly sighted robed figures moving in a tight formation, jumping from roof to roof while heading toward his direction, the Cleaner Workshop.
'Who the hell are these guys?' The young man rested his chin on his hand, watching the figures move swiftly in the night. There was some satisfaction at being the only one noticing this covert operation. They stopped in front of the huge Dormitory, nodding at each other before getting close to the walls. Glenn leaned forward, curious.
"I wonder what they want to do..." One of the robed men was carrying a huge duffle bag. He slung it down from his back, opening it. Moonlight made its contents glisten within it, the gleam of cold steel blades shining in the night. Each figure armed themselves while muttering incantations. Glenn frowned when he saw one of them slide a knife across their forearms, splurging blood on the ground and the wall.
'The fuck?' The young man grabbed the edge of his window, not smiling anymore. The figures then seemed to pray in a circle, ignoring their bleeding companion. A second later, a deep, green vine came out of the ground, voraciously sucking the blood on the ground and the wall. The person who spilled the blood grabbed the vine, tenderly caressing it. The vine then shook the leaves growing out of its main body, splitting into tinier vines that looked like some weird handles. There were thorns in the spot which was supposed to be grabbed.
'Why would it grow this way?' A repulsive feeling washed over Glenn when the robed figures all grabbed a handle, feeding the vine their blood without hesitation. The vine shook again, pleased, before rushing upward along the wall of the Dormitory, heading straight for his window! A gust of wind gave Glenn a glimpse of the face hidden under the robe, a face covered with familiar scars.
"The Thorn Church!" Glenn spat, his eyes filling with bloodlust. He summoned his sleeveless suit, adjusting his bow tie before grabbing the axe on the nearby desk. The blade strained with black veins gleamed darkly, ready to have its fill in flesh and death. The young man jumped on the window ledge, staring down with predatory eyes. These guys had left him alone for way too long, they had to hide something!
One of the members of the robed group chanted midway up the building, and silence seemed to replace every sound in the periphery. Glenn's eyes narrowed, and he bit down on his lips, touching his throat with his free hand.
That was the Silence curse but at a much bigger range! Indeed, the chanting of the robed figure was completely erased by the curse, effectively covering their operation without risking waking anyone strong enough to become an obstacle toward their objectives. The young man's lips slightly curled upward, his hand clenching the axe tightly.
If the whole area was covered with a Silence curse, that meant no one would hear him slaughter these guys!
The second he was about to jump down with a spell and his axe to destroy the Thorn Churches cultists, their ascension alongside the thorny vine stopped, at the Silver-rank floor. Glenn watched with dumbfound eyes as they broke through the small window of the room below, jumping in in turn.
Glenn shook his baffled expression off his face before jumping down. He planted his axe in the wall, using it to slide down at the level of the window. The vine had long disappeared, leaving the Thorn Church exit route a mystery. Glenn grabbed the ledge, glancing into the dark room. A half-circle of exactly seven robed figures surrounded a single bed. Thanks to the area-wide Silence curse, the mess they made by breaking in didn't wake the person sleeping there.
The young man didn't hesitate, shooting an Enhance Magic Bullet. By jumping to the True Initiate rank, the quality and efficiency of all of his spells had been tremendously enhanced. If what he was shooting before could be compared to a powerful handgun, now it was more similar to a heavy assault rifle. The bullet flew through the air silently, influenced by the Silence curse, before piercing the center figure's head, blowing their brains out. The figure crumbled to the ground and the other figures watched on, puzzled and confused. One of them turned around, only to get similarly silenced by a shot in the head.
With another of their comrades down, the five remaining robed figures finally reacted, creating a circle of protective thorns around them, their eyes searching through the darkness for their opponents. A small orb of light appeared hanging against the ceiling, revealing Glenn who was shooting from the darkness. One of the figures, the biggest one, lunged through the thorns, the spines opening a way for him. His eyes were covered by a rusted iron mask, his bald head covered with the now unoriginal scars that every Thorn Church member had.
The man revealed a huge sword from under his robe, striking horizontally at the young man. Due to the tightness of the room, the blade planted itself in one of the walls. Glenn grinned, lunging forward while shooting a Magic Bullet at his opponent. A transparent barrier stopped the attack, blocking it once.
'A magic item?' Glenn didn't think hard about it as he used the opportunity to strike with his axe. The man's eyes flashed as he forced his giant sword through the wall, creating a huge cut in it, and counter-attacking the young man powerfully. Glenn hurriedly blocked with the blade of his axe, projected against the nearby wall, shaking it down. He crouched down, rolling sideways to avoid another attack. The ground split beside him, and the giant man's sword remained planted for a few seconds.
Glenn's eyes flashed and he jumped forward, creating a long blade on Half-Moon with his Mana, increasing its range and destructive power. Without hesitation, he hacked down on the man's chest, the invisible barrier breaking like glass, letting him split his enemy in two while burning the produced halves in a dark red fire.
"Three down, four to go..." He muttered, turning back toward the remaining enemies. It was only then that he noticed that they were forming a strange formation, the four of them kneeling with their wrists slit open. They were chanting madly, the sound of their voices still covered by the Silence curse. He could only see their lips moving frantically. Without hesitation, he shot another precise Magic Bullet at one of the men, the projectile stopped by yet another formless barrier.
'Damn it, why did it work against the others but not anymore?' Glenn mentally scowled, rushing at them with his Mana-covered Half-Moon. He stopped right beside the rightmost figure, planting his feet on the ground. With a straining twirl of his waist, he used the axe as the tree-felling tool it was supposed to be used as. Only, he was hacking down a human's shield. The powerful hit made the shield tremble heavily, creating rifts in the ground and the walls by its power. It trembled, but it held on.
Glenn cursed, before taking a look at the figure still sleeping in the bed. Somehow, this mess still hadn't woken him up. The young man sighed, before yelling inside his mind.
'DIAMANES!! TIME TO GET TO WORK!' A yawning mouth appeared in his left, purple hand, complaining.
"Urgh, I was having the dream of my life, I swear..." The entity yawned again, before smacking its lips together. Diamanes was about to say something when Glenn slapped him against the formless barrier protecting the four cultists in the middle of their rituals. Unable to do anything else, he began absorbing the barrier, weakening it, and giving it to his host. One of the figures glanced up, only to see Glenn's hand breaking through the barrier, grabbing his throat and squishing it. The figure, a bald woman with a missing nose muttered one last word before her eyes suddenly rolled back in their sockets, turning entirely into a creamy white.
Glenn dropped the woman in disgust, only to see that the other three cultists had also crumbled on the ground, their eyes filled with dead white similarly.
"What the fuck–" Thorny vines exploded out from the four corpses, piercing the sleeping figure in the bed one after the other. The sleeper was a handsome man with a noble face, and the tattoo of a rose imprinted on his neck. Glenn watched in horror as the thorns mangled with their victim, rolling around him and entering its innards. Luckily, it seemed like the man was dead on the spot. It would have been one of the most horrible deaths he had ever seen if that hadn't been the case–
"Gargle... help..." The man opened his blue eyes in pain and confusion, blood splurging out from his mouth. His last breath was blown when the vines moving inside him straightened his body in an inhuman position. His legs and arms were bent in the most horrible, impossible angles, and his head was slightly pushed upward, giving it a stretched look. His mouth was wide open in a silent scream of pain that he didn't have the time to yell.
Like a broken puppet, the man walked forward, his legs moving with sharp, robotic movements. Red roses bloomed in place of his eyes, appearing on his arms and legs like some weird contamination. A vine appeared and encircled the man's head like a crown, an emblem appearing engraved on it.
The Thorns Church's emblem.
The creature raised a broken figure toward Glenn, cracking its mouth open in a stretch of flesh strings, smiling widely.
"Hi, 3333."