- - - Ed Orves- - -
It's been two days, and aside from gaining some knowledge about my soul and obtaining some Blood-related magic, I haven't found any information. My worst fear came true; I did find the book, but what lay before me is impossible.
"Fate really is cruel…So, I need those creatures, heart, huh?" It was as if fate was mocking me; even after finding the book, I was on square one. To cure Raelith, I needed the heart of a nightmare lord. The entity beyond standing at the SSS rank stage. Before me was darkness, the depth of the abyss itself. After relentless trials and errors, I entered the consciousness of the world library. I gained the knowledge, but defeating Raelith was the only option left. I had considered this journey useless and futile if I hadn't obtained some abilities in my arsenal.
"In the end, fate is cruel," I muttered and opened my eyes, pulling away from that consciousness. By the time I was back to reality, Raiden had already left, but it was fine; he had already helped me enough, even though he didn't know me much.
Thud!
I came out of that world tree library and closed the door as it made a closing sound satisfactory to the ears. It had been a while since I had seen the earth. This land had drained me beyond anything. It was beyond my expectations. The amount of water and food I had brought was already finished, and without them, my survival here is impossible.
"Let's go home, shall we?" I said with a faint smile. I was about to bring out the teleportal from my bag, then I remembered I had to distance myself from the world tree library, or it won't work.
"It wasn't totally useless, I gained some knowledge and abilities, and knowledge is good," I said as I appeared before a plain, barren land. Yet the atmosphere around here never fails to amaze me with its abominable nature.
- - -
A crawling sound echoed.
It sounded like a distant echo, yet those creatures appeared right before him within a short amount of time. They were fast.
Fast, abomination. The same ones attacked Ed when he first landed on this cursed land. But this time, something was different.
Seeing those creatures coming, Ed simply smiled. It was strange that he was someone who had almost died facing these creatures; his smile wasn't the expression one might expect. But the answer was simple.
This time, Ed was stronger. Far stronger.
"Your cousin's sure made a mess out of me," Ed drew his sword.
"This time let me return the favor!!" Ed laughed, and out of nowhere, in mid-air, red-glowing flaming chains materialized.
"Blood art: Spirit of Shackles," Ed said
The chain hovered in the mid-air violently.
Without warning, the chains leaped, and it bound the first beast.
Khachakk!!!
Large thorns protruded from the flaming chains, and they pierced the beast and ended them.
"It's funny, how I struggled against the beast at this level," Ed let out a self-depicting mocking laugh.
"Blood Soul: heavenly severance," Ed leaped.
His sword glowed with blue and red spiritual and soul energy enveloping it until it resembled chaotic, condensed energy conflict within that sword.
Slash!
Heads fell on the ground, on the beast's shoulders.
Blue blood trickled from their neck. They fell
This time, Ed made sure to take revenge for his humiliation at their hands.
[Advanced Soul acquired X1000]
Ed was now used to the headache he had whenever souls entered and burned in his realm, granting him powers. But they only gave him physical strength; it didn't raise his rank. For that, he had to increase each of his stats.
Tsskk!!
Ed took out a cube-shaped, strange device and tossed it on the ground, and a blueish portal appeared.
"Hah, I can't stay here any longer,r" Ed said,d and he stepped inside the portal. It swallowed him whole, and on the other side,e he appeared.
Fshhkk!
The portal opened, and Ed stepped out.
Ed expected no one would be present. As to how one would know when he would appear, but that image shattered.
Because there was someone who hadn't expected to appear.
It was Raelith, his sole cursed friend, on the verge of becoming a nightmare lord. A vile entity, but this time Raelith appeared different than usual.
His golden eyes had turned obsidian black, his bright scarlet red hair now ashen black. But the most noticeable detail was his overall expression.
Cold.
Just like dry ice. His skin had traces of becoming ashen. It meant Ed didn't have much time left.
'It's almost there, just five more days,' Ed thought inwardly.
"Ah, E,d you're bac,k" Raelith said with an expression lacking emotion.
"How did you know I would be here now?" Ed took a step forward and locked eyes with Raelith and asked.
Raelith shook his head.
He paused and looked toward the sky and said.
"Nah, it's just a coincidence. The breeze here is nice whenever I need to calm down, I come here" Raelith answered.
The atmosphere was serene. The sky was blue with an orange hue. Unlike the dire situation looming in the overhead, the calmness was simply wrong. As if nature's laws had been changed or twisted somehow.
'I have a bad feeling,' Ed thought.
"Ed, something happened, right?" Raelith asked. Even in his cursed form, he was sharp enough to catch all that.
"What do you mean?" Ed feigned ignorance.
Ed did not meet Raelith's eye.
"E,d you see, I have a strange ability since birth,h" Raelith spoke and took a moment to organize his thoughts.
"I can feel when people lie. Right now you're lying, Ed Orves~" Raelith said as he smiled. Since the start of their conversation, it was he who first smiled.
"I apologize," Ed bowed and said.
"No need, it's something related to my condition, right?" Raelith narrowed his eyes and looked sideways at Ed, and spoke
"Raelith, you're going to turn into nightmare lord, unless we defeat you when that happens?" Ed stated the plain truth.
"Ah, a nightmare lord, huh…That's not bad compared to what I have experience,d" Raelith said and turned toward Ed to speak once more.
"Ed, I'm counting on you!" Raelith said.
"Of course!" Ed said with a determined look.