The location surrounding the Seventh Death Forest was full of dangers, but it was a perfect place for a hunt of any caliber. Surrounded by the Centralis Kingdom's core of influence, it was hard to escape from in almost any case, and Murai's was terrible. Every piece of land around this forest surrounded more Centralis lands. To escape it, was not easy, but it was exactly Murai's task.
The surroundings weren't something that Murai know, nor Will of the Battleworld gave it any importance. Lisa was the same, and instead of voicing it, she let him to a difficult time. Escape would be possible, but one would still end up in the Centralis Kingdom anyway, so the Encounter, or what Murai was having as a goal, wasn't the finite end of the struggle. It would be a different kind of struggle if he escaped by other means.
He didn't know about them, however. Lisa did ever since she woke up. Seventh Death Forest was familiar in her eyes regardless of her current form, but she wasn't one to talk about it once again. She acted around it, forming a plot to help Murai through some other means which ended up at the Death Valley.
That was the location that the Centralis Kingdom got out of Ultrek, and now, Ceila got hold of it thanks to Lia and her little help.
“Murai is in the Death Valley.” Lia's voice proclaimed from the far distance, speaking to Ceila as if she was right beside her ear.
She heard her right, yet she was having trouble comprehending the sensitivity of this issue and what she can do about it. A Death Valley? She couldn't help but furrow her brows, asking about it once more, just to be sure. “Are you sure? I know that place is... close, but you can't be serious. For them to go from the jaw of the hunt to the claws of a dragon? Just what kind of hunt goes against them to force them to do such lengths?” She voiced her wonder, afraid she was correct, but surprised Murai would even go that far. It was her bet he wasn't willing to do something like that, so the situation was so poor, it was literary his last option.
She wasn't wrong but she wasn't entirely correct.
Though, when she thought of it further, the situation must be out of his choice. Helpless, he moved to a location that could loom over the Encounter a bit better. It was against the Centralis Kingdom's hopes which was an issue she realized immediately.
“Serious? Kidding? You can't be serious yourself, Ceila.” Lia said, chuckling at the words of her triumph. “Do you think those assholes would be clever enough to talk about it without knowing I am near? They weren't lying about it when they didn't notice I am near. Someone almost caught Murai up in some trap, but failed and forced him to Death Valley. Simple as that. He had no choice, so he chose to be ruthless in his choices. I suggest going there at once, retrieve him before he dies.” Lia argued, clutching the head of the officer all so tightly.
After initiating combat with the minor regiment consisting of 10 messiahs, Lia didn't kill them, fearing God's Wrath that may or may not come from the above. She still wasn't upset or fearful of that possibility. It could take time, and she was careful. God's Wrath in the context of the Encounters wasn't always deadly unless the degree of the Wrath would reach the degree of spitting at the god's face, or ignoring the rules way too much.
Minor things like these officers' deaths wouldn't end up overthrowing any rules, even though the Encounter was within this forest. So it was correct to be careful, and Lia was doing well. It wasn't a time to be like a hot-blooded dragon path which she respected with her whole heart. Ending up injuring a few was easy, while a few slaps, thrusts, and punches were enough for the officer to reveal more information.
The man bleeding from every pore of his body was a coward among the messiahs. Mana was dancing around his shivering hands, mouth quivering in some prose to talk, but the hot grip of Lia's claw was clutching his very own life. It wasn't a great feeling, but this man was up to Ceila's disappointment that it was Lia who was successful and she wasn't.
“So dying wish he had? I wonder about that, but what do you think he will do there if he is already there? Time may be not on our side. Is he aware of where he is even going and what this Encounter is about?” Ceila asked, hesitating and wondering what Lia was thinking. Having more opinions would give her some edge.
“The official part of the Encounter is clearly starting, but you seem to not know a lot yourself, Ceila. Obviously, some things will go in different directions as it always does. Some rules and gods will try to move some things around, but it depends on the context of the stakes and both sides of the Encounter. If you speak of my expertise as a 12-time Encounter Champion, then this is irregular... It is affecting the power of the nations from the get-go and involves some nasty figures already. It is... weird. Someone is pulling some strings. Then, there are us, but it is mainly the Centralis Kingdom that is clutching this chance for themselves.”
Then, Lia paused, as if collecting her thoughts before continuing. “Why, you must wonder? I have no doubts more troubles will soon follow, but it is still early to tell what will come. It will probably come into play after the 1st part. If it's my guess, the Murai's location was or wasn't part of some... plans? Plots? It is hard to tell, considering the timing and how Murai endured his time.” Lia acknowledged the truth. “What it may become later is something else altogether. Maybe he is running from something. I heard from this asshole that some minor officer fought with him, but he managed to escape to the Valley after slaughtering his way to the edges of the cherry section. That journey didn't bother him so much, I bet, since he was able to escape. He even butchered the trio of mid-tier messiahs with Grand Enchantment under their belt. I wish I was there to see that. Is a child Anatidae going ham against those assholes? I am disappointed I wasn't, sadly.” she said, whimpering in fake tears.
“I see your points and am glad to hear them, Lia. Our Lady was of various opinions too, but yours have other validations since you experienced them yourself. I am glad to have you, so good work sending me this message” She thanked her in return, changing her face to a serious one, while her eyes gleamed in a new light. She decided on something on the spot.
“Still... Do you want my help?” Lia asked, unafraid of God's Wrath.
“Are you out of your mind? Get out of the forest and leave the rest of this work for me. Our Lady prohibited you to be so free anyway, and this damned place is like a perfect excuse to get rid of you. Out, you hear me?”
Hearing her argument, Lia sighted and smashed the officer's head to the ground. He will live, but if his head will be fine, was none of her concern.
Lia agreed with her, knowing full well that this was her only option. It didn't matter if she was safe, as the situation may change when some high-rank officer may come here to hunt her down by the vision of the Encounter or the Centralis Kingdom's Will. That was dangerous. Shaking up the Vermillion Church was something they would certainly want right now. The indirect helpers may very well become a scapegoat for the other forces.
Ending the message, Lia's head was out of the will that followed the connections of the Suns under their Lady.
“Hmph... I swear I will let myself loose in the 2nd round. You hear me?” Lia promised to herself, grunting and kicking the groaning bodies out of the way, before storming off from this place. She ran so fast, she blasted past the ghosts and trees alike.
Meanwhile, Ceila had a new goal. Murai was part of that, or right after that, depending on her decision. He was secondary right now because certain variables became a high enough priority to change the plans.
Before, she held a simple one. That was to find him first, pledge her allegiance as a Helper, and by return, she would be prone to the rules of the Encounter which would then surely change it as a whole. In that case, finding or forcing the situation around Razmund would be possible, but it would create other kinds of variables on both sides. This sort of plan would kill all birds with one stone, albeit if successful alone.
She would become the hunter for Murai's sake and deal a heavy blow to the other side of the Encounter. It was basically what was Razmund doing with his status in the Centralis Kingdom, but she would act on her interest. It wouldn't be a problem for Murai, she imagined.
However, that wasn't passable right now. Death Valley will add some mess because it was a place that can change any kind of rule.
Ceila held some doubts about it, feeling that things become way too complicated. Her Lady never encouraged or explained the situation to the full, stating how this Encounter will be the finest chance the church will ever have. That was her rule, and she shouldn't question her Lady at all costs.
It wasn't a small proclamation at all, so her view on the Encounters was quite adamant. It was for her Lady! For her desire! What she followed for the past 2 centuries.
The rules will change on both sides because gods deemed it so, as it wasn't up to the original sides to do everything by themselves. Just the strategies around Murai's side will create a whole lot of trouble since Levandis Temple can do that. Razmund will do something about it too, while the premise of the Encounter will remain the same. The only change that will occur will be strategies around the plans and what will come afterward.
Ceila was unsure of those possibilities. Even the Will of her Lady wasn't as clear for the past half a day. Her Lady was silent, giving Ceila no direction, and giving her a much tougher time than she wished for.
In the end, she decided to give Death Valley a visit but only after getting better plans since she never went there herself. As a 2nd Sun of the Vermillion Church, she knew the Death Valley held only one variable. The power of the Demonic God ~ Levandis. She wouldn't fare well to create a challenge for the gods for sure, which will complicate things a lot for Murai's forced side.
Ceila only heard a few things about what could happen in that sort of place and it piqued her curiosity. Albeit with minimal reaction. She was a priestess of the Vermillion church, and they didn't have much freedom. In fact, that temple wouldn't like a surface-level god's dog at all.
She was sure of one thing. If Murai will go to the Death Valley, then the Levandis Temple was the reason. Razmund will be sure to follow behind, using this as an opportunity to catch Murai in the limited spaces of the temple's gates. It was a better plan, or perhaps it was the best to catch him there, rather the vast Seventh Death Forest.
Razmund wasn't the kind of man to not get personal, so one way or another, he will appear sooner rather than later.
All of his schemes so far were just the common methods to work around the rules that Encounters provided. She also understood that his rule over the Encounter's possibilities was of a different magnitude than Murai's. There was an obvious answer to why it was the case.
Centralis Kingdom's direct help, Breach, or a certain sacrifice. A Tier A kingdom that held many Extremes under its belt was prone to be unyielding and also ruthless. That by itself wasn't that troublesome, since such forces shouldn't appear in such an Encounter.
For the current reality that was surrounding Murai's fate, Razmund was a big deal. He was high in his level and could endanger even Ceila if she wasn't careful. That was at least what she believed from the context of what her Lady provided. It spoke of the strange rules that she realized were hiding around this Encounter.
They were senseless, aiming at Murai as if it was heaven's punishment instead.
Ceila hesitated whether to follow the dozens of lights around the many stretching kilometers, which were moving toward Death Valley. Some were dim, others high in the power of Will, but some were without hesitation or full of it.
Grunting, she kicked the ground, upset. “Fine... I am not afraid to do this. Let's see it for myself first.” She also went towards the valley.
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At the entrance to the Temple of Lavandis, further into the darkness that was flowing to the unknown
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Murai was still walking in the unnatural darkness, that held not much light. Stepping with some hesitation on the smoothened marbled floor, he kept walking forward even though the wasn't sure where it will end. The Night Vision didn't help in this darkness at all. There was some form of formation, preventing the sights of the surroundings, or so Murai figured, or they were Laws instead.
There wasn't any source of light, but if his own night vision wasn't working, then what could? Something could.
Glancing up, he saw the light.
It was Lisa, who was glowing all the same, following the power of sona which was her body's strength. She was the light of his life. At least at the moment, so he found it a bit hilarious and chuckled from time to time.
She floated forward, a meter or before Murai and a bit above so he would get to know where he will go. She was also doing it for herself to remind her of this place.
“Look how useful you are.” He joked to her Will.
“Do you think you have time to joke?” Lisa turned her head, appearing apprehensive for some reason.
“I... I tried. What is this place anyway? You seem familiar with it enough, so how about letting your mouth speak some sense? It's about time to do so for the... 4th time?”
Hearing his words, Lisa sighted, knowing herself that some things were overdue. She just wanted to be sure if something was different about this place. The last time she entered this place was much more than 50 years ago, and this place wasn't simple.
“I know I should talk. Much more, in fact. This temple and your Battleworld's messages are peculiar in their wording. This is a place similar to the dungeon, but not really. There are more... or fewer rules, in some strange sense. It is a unique case, as it is placed directly under a powerful Demonic God. It is worth being careful, you unique case.” She insisted by pointing at his beak, pointing at him as a trouble that may cause a disaster.
“As you heard, this is partly under the Battleworld, but not fully because demons go against the Battleworld itself. It is a ridiculous godly treasure, but when there is order, there is chaos. It isn't common to think of this temple as a hunting ground for the Blessed. By whom? Demons. It is an example, but it isn't always the case, of course. Levandis is a deity of devils and demons too. She is powerful... and you aren't listening...” Lisa complained, clear to the fact that Murai was looking away, following the light that spread from Lisa's body to the ground.
He was also stretching his Mana Detection and wondered about his Soul Read, as far as he could. The latter wasn't doing anything, but he felt something wrong with the mana. He was sensing the deepness that was voiceless, immaterial, and hidden like the void itself. Not much mana was around the air, the stone floor, but the aura of this place was quite ancient, giving him various thoughts.
It was an eerie and silent place, and this hallway was so large, it would fit buildings of few stories tall. Lisa found this place the same and unchanged. For the 3rd visit, that was. Although, this visit wasn't for her, as only one light lit on the pillar outside.
She knew it herself, but not like it mattered a lot.
This was Murai's opportunity while she was just his life companion.
“I am listening... Levasomething deity. I've got it.” Murai said, dismissing a few things she mentioned.
Lisa knew that Murai wasn't interested in some of her words, so she spoke briefly as if she was talking to a child with a poor attention span.
“There are 10 Gates to this Temple. They have many unique and reasonable variables, giving the Gates corresponding dangers and important touch. I will help you with a few but don't expect a lot. It is a flexible and unique place anyway, as choices and rewards come in various waves. This temple will give an Anatiade some special care for sure, and it will be unlike mine, I bet. Each Gate is a massive place, and a dungeon in itself no smaller than any sub-dungeons. As a whole, this Temple of Levandis is no smaller than the Origin Somalis Dungeons, for example. There are many rooms for following one's path, but talking about it is useless. I think... It's about time you will meet that one, so how about you follow me faster? Enough with this sightseeing... we are... Nevermind.” Lisa said looking down to the floor and occasional pillars that had all kinds of diagrams, runes, and writings of all sorts. Some of them had many symbols of revolving circles with the eye in the middle. Murai was glaring at them a lot, and because of them, he wasn't hearing everything she said.
A few more minutes of floating later, Lisa lit up a massive gate that had all kinds of old, long unusable runes. They assumed all kinds of engraved pictures, caricatures, and symbols, as well as pictures made of many styles. They seemed to be made by many kinds of techniques and this gate was full of them.
It was about 2 dozen meters wide, and so tall, Lisa wasn't able to light all the way to the end of the ceiling. Though, that wouldn't stop her, since she could fly up, but she didn't have a need, care, or time for that. This wasn't some adventure or archeological sightseeing, even though one of them did look around as if he was in a zoo.
Murai had some brief weak moments of wanting to research this place, but Lisa saw this place enough when she came here for the 1st time. There wasn't much to this place. It was so old that meanings lost any value.
Murai watched the gate, following the sides that were lit, and came to a realization that he understood the majority of the depiction. They were hiding all sorts of magical runes, languages, and symbols that held lawful properties, but they had a complicated, and old system of magic. They didn't work outwards, or inwards. The mana to them wouldn't come from the outside world, or from the living being that would have a mana core.
No.
This gate was a place to put a Divinity inside, meaning this was a Celestial Artefact, if not something beyond that. A Divine Artefact? A circuit to follow up on the above? Portal to the lost Divine Kingdom?
Many brief thoughts swirled in his brain, but most of it wasn't as clear. This wasn't of any use to him at the moment.
“Interesting door,” Murai muttered, eying the rules around them.
“What?” Lisa turned to him after being lost at the sight of the unknown gate for who knew how long.
“Nothing. What about the 1st Gate?” Murai changed the topic.
“It will wait. Someone will be a Guide for you since the Temple isn't always the same, and it is a huge place of many interests. Not only Levandis is alone, but she is the Overlord. This place has its unique system of influence, under her Hell Haven. It is here giving the challengers their own stake, in a sense. Just so you know, this is more of a finite, and individual opportunity. I won't fare well in helping you at all.”
“Not like you would, if you could,” Murai added.
“Ehm? Yeah. I guess you are right.” Lisa chuckled and moved closer to the gate, and gestured for him to do the same.
He wanted to look at the gate a bit more in-depth since it delivered some interesting subjects, so he took some glances at the closest things. He could visit this place someday in the future so he wasn't too worried about not looking at it less than he preferred.
Upon getting a step away from the gate, a line was starting to emerge from the bottom, lighting up a thin line. The gate was opening outwards, causing the thunderous noise to spread through the darkness, and pushing the wind through. Ground shook too, and a massive gate of thousands of tons was opening to the single, small duck.
Behind the gate, the line itself indicated light and no longer darkness. Murai briefly closed his eyes, unfamiliar with such bright light. When he opened them again, the gate was open just wide enough for him to walk through so he walked ahead. Lisa also followed, and they both reached the other side.
There was a lit room, with 4 torches at each corner. It wasn't as humongous of a room by the previous standards of that hall or the gate itself. It was about a dozen meter wide square room, with an unknown height of the ceiling that stretched quite far upwards. Considering this room was for the gate, it was quite small.
There weren't any drawings or runes any longer. Instead, there was a skull.
A huge skull of a demonic race was at the very front of the wall.
All corners and other walls were full of white, and black bones, filling the space in nasty aura and elements. A singular skull of a former gigantic demon was the main insanity.
“What is this? Is this something to do with pirates? Hilarious.” Murai joked to himself this time around, yet forgot that Lisa could also hear him one way or another.
To his momentary wonder, he didn't notice one particular, and different kind of skull that was right before the huge one. It was hard to notice it, because it had similar features, but was much smaller, similar to the human's skull in size.
This one was floating and wasn't etched to the wall, and was pretty much living? Soul Flames of dark flames lingered in its eyesockets, creating the immersion that the skull was a devil instead. It was no wonder since it also had a pair of horns, but it was no devil, probably. Demons and beasts can have horns as well, so Murai wasn't thinking much of it.
“Greetings. Challenger number 5409. It is a nice meeting of...” the skull talked, clutching its jaw as if it wasn't a skull at all. Voice spread through it, talking out loud.
It was yet another undead once again, but the one with natural vividness and clarity, indicating it was either artificial or a former powerhouse. Its soul was also quite powerful, clever, and not foggy.
It watched forward, looking at Murai's flabbergasted face and open beak. He had never seen such a thing as a floating skull of this sort of vision. That, in itself, quite surprised him, since he considered himself to be quite knowledgeable.
“H-hello?” Murai quacked, unsure if it would understand him like that. That would make him the 2nd being, which was strange, considering it happened not once, but twice. The Alp was the first.
“An Anatidae? Fair enough. Its Lorry's first, so how about this?” the skull talked in a manly yet shrill and high-pitched voice and turned to Lisa. “I presume this one is Lisa if Lorry isn't mistaken? A familiar face, Lorry belive... Was she a bitch, which didn't talk much, or said at least something to this duck?” he said, speaking completely without regard for common sense or attitude.
“Hello, Lorry,” Lisa uttered in an absolutely abysmal voice, frowning and almost crying by her luck. How unlucky was it to get this one again? Remembering what kind of being was before her, she instantly regretted her choices.
“It IS Lisa! Greetings, bitch. Isn't it funny?” Lorry laughed.
“What?” she grunted.
“You. Hahahahah.” Lorry burst into hilarious laughter, cluttering his jaw fast and having quite a good time as Thar did.
Murai looked at the skull, which was bigger than himself, but not by much.
He was speechless, glaring at Lisa in a new light. “Was every undead of some Will struck by lighting or what? What have you done to them, Lisa?”
His quacks led to her silent curse for her own fate. “This... isn't important. Nothing is. I did tell him some things, Lorry. But the temple is unlike something he knows about, so run him through the stuff, like usual. You are required to do it anyway, so why should I bother doing it myself?” Lisa stated, unbothered by a laughing skull, that kept looking at Lisa as if he saw the funniest joke in the world.