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
Black Seed was a secluded area not belonging to any region. It was like a black market for bravery of all kinds.Artifacts, information, maps, and hidden crypts were all traded here.But today, Black Seed was going to serve as a meeting venue...Shambala walked into a dark and shaggy building; the inside looked much like a cafe, and there were six other figures in the cafe."Well, well, well, if it isn't the pacifist geezer himself." A man wearing a black hat and a blazer mocked the appearance of Shambala."Huhuhu." Shambala caresses his beard. "It's good to see you again, Dark Sage.""Shuntaaaaaaaal." A teenage girl ran up to the old man and hugged him; her eyes shone brightly as she increased her grip around the old saint."Ahh, be careful, Lela; I'm not as sturdy as I used to be."He chuckles as she lets go of the grip, and they all make their way to a round table with seven chairs.A man dressed as a waiter came over from the bartender's bar and served them each a cup of tea and s
Yusaku Ona was in deep conversation with someone from the Capital over the phone. His voice was calm and collected as he spoke, giving no indication of the sinister plot that was unfolding. "The pieces are set and everything is going as planned,"he said with a sly grin. "Ona, the king suspects nothing." As he hung up the phone, Ona's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. He knew that his plan to overthrow the king was coming to fruition. The man in front of him, dressed in a black and red mask and a long coat, nodded approvingly. "Good,"he said in a low voice. "That man's arrogance shall be his downfall." Ona felt a rush of excitement as he thought about what lay ahead. He had spent months carefully orchestrating this scheme, gathering allies and resources along the way. And now, finally, all of his hard work was paying off. But even as he reveled in his success, Ona knew that there were still challenges ahead. The king may not suspect anything now, but that could change at any mome
A week later, the crew was getting ready to set out for their next destination. Brrrrrr... Brrrr... Brrrr Vladimir's phone rang, and he picked it up after setting it to speaker mode. The voice was cracking, and everyone could barely hear the transmission. They, however, heard the last part clearly before the call cut off. What they heard sent a chill down their spines. It took a greater toll on Vladimir as his aura spiked a little and he clenched his fists. The seriousness of the matter was visible on his face as it reflected the despair within the contents of the transmission. "Yusaku Ona has taken over Ernia." The Shadow Guild is about to fight a war that will decide the fates of not one, but two nations. "Finally home..." Yuri walked into a beautiful place, only for him to be sent crashing down by the force of three children tackling him. "Big bro Rahan!" "You're back You're back, you're back!" "We missed you!" "Tell us some stories of your adventures." This was the o
"Lady Irene!" Justin couldn't believe what he'd just heard. The woman whom he's sworn to serve, the woman who saved him from a life of treachery, was slaughtered. At first, he wanted to deny the revelation made by the guards and rush over to Regrah at this instant. But seeing the dead bodies of Cain, Vidal, and Ruth helped him come to terms with reality. He plops to the ground and slams his hands hard on the floor. "She's gone; she's really gone... Yusaku Ona has won." He continuously slams his hands, and tears gushed down from his eyes, his hands bruised and bloodied, but all he could really think about was Irene... Regrah District, twelve years ago... The beautiful and wealthy city, filled with life and joy, was once a disheveled and eerie place for criminals of different types and was then deemed a lawless land. The luster of the full moon shone upon a large man riding a carriage filled with children. These children came from a different land with similar conditions to thi
The radiant moon illuminated the lawless town of Regrah as the wealthy and nobles gathered to welcome their new district commander. They hoped that with the arrival of this person, the town would be saved. Though it was the size of a city, the subtraction of lawless areas within the district left only a smaller residential area populated by the law-abiding and wealthy, resembling more of a town. It wasn't until five years after the current situation that the town steadily grew to the size of a full city or district. The carriage carrying the district commander stopped at the city square, where the banquet was being held. One of the knights accompanying the carriage opened the door for the new district commander. "Huh?" "A girl? Is this some kind of joke?" The once joyful cheers of the citizens were replaced with tantrums and bickering upon the arrival of a girl not more than sixteen years of age. "Does the kingdom take us for fools to send a little girl to save this town?" The
Vladimir held the bodies of his fallen subordinates as the memories of their time together flashed through his aching heart. Eight years ago, the trio were merely kids of servants who served at the commander's castle. They were the only children in the castle, as they were allowed to live there with their parents due to a rule that permits the maids and servants of the castle to live within the servant section with their families for as long as they work there. The district commander then was a ruthless and wicked tyrant who bullied the servants and everyone else in the district. He collected taxes even though all district commanders receive a hefty grant from the king every month. One day... "Who dares steal from Fuu the great!?" The castle was caught in an uproar as someone had stolen a ring in the possession of the commander. He ordered all the servants to be brought to him. "One of you peasants has taken something valuable from me. I'm sure the rest of you are all innocent
"My people..."The location was situated in the heart of Hondah, just outside the penitentiary.Following the assault on Hondah Prison, the crew proceeded to interrogate their fallen comrades.Now gathered around Vladimir, the citizens of Hondah listened intently as he addressed them."First and foremost, allow me to extend my sincerest apologies for not being present during your time of need."Vladimir momentarily fell silent before continuing, taking a moment to survey the faces surrounding him.Several appeared emaciated compared to when he had last seen them; many bore bandages that concealed wounds inflicted by Yusaku Ona's invasion.A sense of profound despair was etched upon all their countenances—an entirely understandable reaction given recent events."We have all lost cherished individuals who once formed part of our everyday lives... I make you this promise: Nay! I swear upon my very name!"He struck his chest with forceful conviction."Vladimir Vex swears on his life that
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