"Pant. Pant. Pant. I finally made it."Grover arrives at the ark, carrying an unconscious Justin. He lays the archer on the bed and takes a moment to catch his breath."Now for the big finale."Vladimir is nowhere to be seen, despite Grover's arrival with Justin. Where could he possibly be?"Release Shadow Realm Prison!"The shadow swirling around Grover expands as the towering warrior emerges from it.Grover has once again utilized Snatch Steal, copying Krystal's artifact. He then activates the shadow technique Krystal used to transport Grover to the shadow realm when he was in critical condition.It was all to ensure he could bring both of them to safety while Krystal concluded the battle."Now, where did we stash old man Shambala's medicine?"Yuri kneels with his arms spread apart, awaiting his fate.Jacob tightens his grip on his sword's handle as he charges at the other swordsman.Yuri shut his eyes, enveloping the room in profound silence. When he reopened them, a blade was pois
"Oh my goodness! What is your intention? exclaimed Krystal, who arrived with Sasha just in time. He swiftly intervened and prevented the blade from piercing through the chest of the captured general.Without giving anyone a chance to react to his sudden arrival, Krystal delivered a powerful punch that sent Yuri flying across the room."What on earth do you believe you are engaging in?scolded Krystal sternly."What in the world do you think you're doing!?""Tsk, it's none of your business," scoffed Yuri, avoiding eye contact with Krystal. "This is the only way for justice to prevail."He got back up and wiped Krystal's blood splattered all over his face from when he stopped the sword with his bare hands."Justice? You think killing him is justice?" Krystal took a few steps forward until he was standing face-to-face with Yuri."Sasha, what are you doing here? Did you bring the enemy here?""Jacob, I know this may sound selfish, and I know how far you all went for me, and I'm very grate
"There are so many people here!""And they're all brave like us."The gang had made their way to the top of Mount Lily for their first crypt raid as a guild."Woah, I can see Lily Town all the way from here."The mountain top was also a famous tourist attraction on the western continent.Braves travel far and wide from different corners of the world so they can participate in the Aquarius crypt trial."There's the portal." Vladimir points in the direction of the crypt's portal."Come on, let's go!" Krystal dashes in the direction of the portal. He turns around and calls out to his clanmates to follow suit.Thud!"He crashed into a woman, and her glasses fell to the ground."My glasses! Hey, watch where you're going, punk!" She gets down and begins to pat the ground helplessly, trying to feel her glasses. Krystal picks up the glasses and hands them over to the woman with both hands as he bows apologetically. "My apologies; I wasn't looking where I was going." She snatches the glass
Along the route leading to the capital of Harijoh, a carriage was passing through."You truly plan on going against your own family, brother?""I lost my brother the day you let your hatred for artifacts turn into an obsession."Yuri was driving the carriage with his brother tied and seated behind him."I plan on conveying the truth to the king: that it was you who shared letters with the enemy and framed Sasha." He carefully maneuvers through the bumpy road."I will bring you to justice; that shall be my repentance."Just as he was about to finish, an arrow flew in their direction.'Tsk. Ambush!?'He avoided most of the arrows that aimed for them. Eventually, he couldn't dodge an exploding arrow that sent them crashing into a tree.Yuri burst into tears as his vision got blurry. He could see the silhouette of a woman standing in front of them, with a dozen archers behind her.He sneered at the sight of the woman untying his brother as they all looked down at him. "What do we do wi
Inside a shaggy tent in the middle of a forest, a bandaged Yuri was starting to regain consciousness. "Argh, where am I?" He sits up and holds his head, wincing in pain as he recalls the incident that transpired, which led to his current condition. Yuri clenched his trembling fists, releasing his aura in a fit of rage. He planned on having his brother return to Harijoh with him so he could face his crimes. "That mad man is loose out there, and it's all my fault." Yuri managed to eventually calm down a bit as his aura disappeared. "Caww!!" He hears the cawing of a bird outside the tent and decides to check it out. As he steps outside the tent, he sees a rainbow-colored bird flying towards him and spots an old man trailing not too far behind. "Huhuhu. It seems the youngin has finally awakened, Ada." "Woah!" Krystal and co. have completed their first trial in the Aquarius crypt and await the final test. They were currently walking in a vast hall that depicted numerous hierog
"Thank you for taking care of me, old man." Yuri bowed his head to Shambala in gratitude for saving his life and nurturing him back to health.The two stood in the middle of a junction that connects to three paths, with a sign sitting in the middle that depicts pictures of two arrows pointing in different directions with words in them."Huhuhu, take care of yourself; the path you choose to take will not be an easy one."Cawww! Ada cries as it lands on Yuri's shoulders, with Yuri petting the bird."Haha, I'm going to miss you too, Ada."Yuri waves at the duo as they take off on the path that reads "Black Seed," while he sets off towards the path leading to Harijoh."Ahh! This wine is divine," Justin comments as he chugs down his cup of wine.They all drank and enjoyed the wine that was served to them by Hydrax's attendant."I have traveled far and wide and have tasted different wines. But this tastes like heaven!" Vladimir declares as he receives another serving and chugs it down as we
In a hidden base just outside of Harijoh... "Those accursed Artifact users, Krystal, Sasha... I will make them all pay for the humiliation I went through." He slammed his fist on a desk shattering it in the process. "Commander, please calm down, if you leak your aura, the Region's sensory team might lock on to us." He took three deep breaths and walked towards the screen depicting surveillance video of their surroundings. He smirked as he noticed Yuri making his way into the Region. "Guess the little traitor managed to survive. Doesn't matter anymore with what I have in store." His phoned beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket answering the call in the process. A faint muttering voice could be heard over the phone. "Everything is ready for your arrival. You shall have what you are looking for and I shall become King." The base at that time was filled with the maniacal laughter of the former general. Inside the throne room of the Capital of Harijoh, Yuri had just arrived a
Inside the Aquarius zodiac crypt, Krystal and Hydrax have begun their battle.With a sharp thrust, Krystal swings his blade forward, only for Hydrax to sidestep him and strike his neck from behind.Hydrax jumped back a few meters to create space between them."To make it a little fair, I won't be using my abilities."Krystal clicked his tongue and charged at Hydrax once again.The crew all watched as Hydrax countered and dodged all of Krystal's attacks with zero effort.Overhead kick, countered with a sidestepped punch to the face.Leg sweep, dodged with a jump, and retaliated with a kick of his own."Damn, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the demon spawn is outmatched.""And his time is almost over; Sir Krystal hasn't gotten a single hit!""He has less than two minutes to land three hits, or it's over.""He'll win."Vladimir said this with his arms folded, concentrating deeply as the battle progressed."Ack! It doesn't look like it, Vlad. This is not a "believe in our captain" ty
Grover sat meditating in the house of shadows. One of the most unlikeliest places that he thought he would be at this time. Not quite surprisingly, it had been a year since their adventures with the members of the guild and the Ore organization. He smiled gently because, at least, that was something to smile about now—because those were terrible days. Days in which they lived for months on the brink of the end of all humanity, only one step away from one wrong move. Beside him, Shambala was levitating. It seemed as though both of them were communicating through telepathic means without even saying any words. Not too far away from them, Vladimir and Krystal had just finished dueling that morning, and while Vladimir had stopped to clean the perspiration from his face, Krystal, who had won the match, was feeling a bit more excited and was walking away with a smile on his face.On Krystal’s side, it seems like after everything, their lives went back to normal. But, of course, he knows th
Krystal, in getting out of his stance, quickly lunged at the man, whom he quickly identified as a member of the organization. He remembered the horrible things this particular individual had done to him in the past few hours and was not only going to pay back, but was also going to take the opportunity to punish him for his offenses against mankind.The man quickly realized that he was in a dire situation with three of them facing him, but being a typical member of the organization, it did not even occur to him that there was any other way out of this. He was possessed by the kind of pride that could not ask for mercy. He braced himself for battle and began to fight ceaselessly, even as they attacked him mercilessly on every side.Several times in the short period, they would look at each other’s faces and, without saying a word, deploy the strategy on how to teach this fellow lesson. All he knew was that he bore the brunt of this skill technique, but he did not know how they arrived,
As Grover and Vladimir fought with the guard, Krystal simply looked on without saying anything. Grover realized that, at that point, he was unstable and also very vulnerable. It could easily be tilted in any direction if he stayed in that trance, so even as he fought, he thought of the scheme to get them out of this situation.“Krystal! Krystal, we’re here.” He yelled, but there was no response.Seeing this, they immediately continued to fight with the man once again while they kept trying to use physics on Krystal so he would awaken.Krystal remained where he was standing and didn’t quite pay attention to them, but the man they were fighting with did not like the idea that they were trying to wake Krystal up. The man was annoyed with the way things were going. It was his fault, but there was nothing he was going to be able to do about it. He had caused it. In that moment, he thought of a number of things. The first of which was the reason why he did not call for backup as soon as he
Grover lay on his side, thinking about how he had probably broken a few ribs and how tired he felt. This fight had gone on seemingly forever. He knew they could not give up. But he had to admit that he was getting tired. He looked to Vladimir, who was unmoving with his face in the dust, and did not like the silence, which was only interrupted by the heavy breathing of the guard. If there was any consolation in this situation, it was the fact that the heavy breathing was an indication that the guard himself found them a worthy challenge and was also tired.Just as they finished fighting, as they lay in the dust, they heard a mighty sound as the wall behind them cracked. Grover mustered all his energy in time to see what had made that sound, and he noticed Vladimir also tried to do that, regardless of how tired he was. Not knowing what was beyond the wall, he did not like it that the man behind it had been fighting. He was excited about whoever was coming behind it and looked at it with
Grover and Vladimir had been fighting the security person they had seen by the gate to the cave, and it looked like he was getting the better of them. In fact, he had begun gloating, teasing, and making fun of them about how weak they were despite being two and coming against him as a single person.Just as he thought that he had defeated the two, a loud yell came from deep inside the structure. When Grover heard it, it took a minute to sink in, and he then became excited because he would know this voice. Anyway, this was Krystal’s voice. Krystal was yelling that he was not going to agree to be used.“ Arggg!!! Leave me alone! I will win! I have already won! I will always win.“ He kept shouting these over and over again, warding off whatever entity it was that he was fighting, saying that he wouldn’t give up and he'd keep fighting. The more they listened to the exchange, the more they realized that he wasn’t fighting with someone outside of himself but with something on his inside. It
Grover and Vladimir have been deployed by Shambala to go find Krystal and his father, rescue them, and bring them to safety while he and the rest of the guild had a face-off with the members of the organization at the gate. Aside from the unfortunate fellow who had seen them attempting to escape and had paid for it dealing with his life, no other person had seen or been accosted so far because of the chaos they had left at the gate. Grover did not think that they would intentionally make such a stupid decision as to drain the entire facility of its fighting force to only one location to fight an enemy.He thought that the decision to concentrate their entire fighting force in one location was born out of the mindset that they had never been attacked here and, with the exception of the members of the guild, might never have even been discovered at this location. Grover also thought of how it was such a good feeling. Nobody was lunging at him to take his life or were trying to fight wit
As soon as Grover noticed that the portal and the gates had started shutting them in, he quickly shouted, “Fight for the freedom of the five continents, oh ye men! This is a fight for the earth!”This charge, as innocuous as it sounded, was just the right encouragement that his comrades needed as they warded off their enemies with physical strength and artifact strength. They fought as though recharged by an invisible force.While he was fighting, Shambala found a way to distance his mind from the fight and then his thoughts. And as he did so, he realized something. That one, when the bell was rung earlier, had a code to it. One strike alone would have been a major indication that the barrier had been reached. Two strikes would have been a call for reinforcement, being that the intruders would be too strong. Three strikes were a summons for every possible fighting person in the structure to come out and join the reinforcement. And if that was the situation, it means that every single
Open, open, mother of horror, and let the children come in. Kin or foe, you shall decide. For to kin your cleave and on foe you will feast. These words reverberated in Grover’s mind as he heard the crack of the opening of the Gates of Doom, and indeed, as they opened, he understood why they were known as the gates of hell. The others have been clearly amazed that the poem he heard in the atmosphere turned out to be the key, and as Shambala said the words, the gate opened. However, before they could jubilate, some figures flew out of the building, looking at them angrily; they did not look like they were pleased to see them.Obviously, since no one knew the location of the gates of doom, it was understandable that they had not had guests in a long time. Not like a place called the Gates of Doom would have many visitors at any rate. In Vladimir’s mind, as he looked at these figures, he quickly realized that this was where the battle was to begin. He only hoped that their fate did not e
Following the suggestion by one of them, they fired at the barrier until a building started to reveal itself in bits as they hit it. And as they persisted, the whole building was shown to be a gate. At some point, no matter how hard they hit, the building wouldn’t budge but continued to reflect their energy against them. It’s only made him get tired faster.Shambala had come to the front of the company and was able, after some time, to interpret the inscription on the door. He voiced out the words in the old tongue and then translated them into their language as “the gates of doom." As if the literal meaning of the words was not terrifying enough, the horror on his face as he said those words made a chill run down the spines of his men. Some of them, who had invariably been to close the door, moved further away from it.Of course, they knew that they had no choice but to go in knowing that Krystal was in there, and they would not leave without him. Seeing these things only made them he