Ren looked behind him and saw that some sort of smoke was coming out of the Death Reaper's carcass. It slowly took shape and as soon as the figure was recognizable, Ren was shocked to the point that he subconsciously unsheathed his sword.
'Wh...What...is...that?', Ren nervously thought to himself.
The smoke looked like the Death Reaper itself. The smoke accurately depicted the Death Reaper, as if the smoke was it's own soul. Because of that, Ren's shaking knees because of his wounds shook even more as he trembled before what he saw.
"That's...Impossible...", Ren mumbled.
Fear and confusion can be seen in Ren's expression. He was scared shitless. But his expression quickly changed into anger. Ren grinned his teeth as he took his fighting stance.
"Don't joke with me! I was stabbed from behind by that bastard Takeshi and now...I'm supposed to be haunted by a monster's soul? Screw this!", Ren shouted angrily.
Ren had a reason to be angry. The pain of being betrayed. It scarred him physically and mentally. And now, a monster's so called soul is facing him right now. Ren had already been through much discrimination and pain. So much that he couldn't take it anymore. That's because...In this world, Ren is treated as...A stranger. Unacceptable and weak. The thought of another kind of bad luck against him made him snap. He endured everything that he experienced. But a human has his limit's. And Ren was at his limit.
"Come now, monster! Let's end this, once and for all!"
Taunting the Death Reaper, it flew towards Ren. As it was approaching him, Ren immediately unleashed an attack.
"Seventh Sword...!"
As Ren was releasing his attack, the Death Reaper was already in very close range. Ren wasn't able to fully release his attack since there was no room to move and nothing to strike. So he quickly changed how he held his sword.
From his first attack where he lifted his sword above him with both hands, he turned his sword to his left side, positioning it in his waist. Then he went for a diagonal attack that came from below.
Ren was able to attack but it was only waste. No matter how you view it, a normal sword can't possibly kill a ghost. It will only cut through it, leaving at least a distortion in the astral form that we call ghost.
To this event, Ren was shocked that his sword just passed through the Death Reaper. He was desperate. It felt like he lost his hope in finally putting the Death Reaper to rest. He accepted it and slowly fell to the ground. Ren was chuckling all the way.
"Who am I kidding? Did I really expect to kill a ghost with a piece of scrap metal?", Ren said, cursing his own foolishness.
Those were Ren's last words before losing consciousness. Before he completely fell to the ground, the spirit of the Death Reaper started to scatter. It returned to being a smoke and disappeared as it passed through Ren's body. Then Ren fell to the ground, unconscious.
Meanwhile, the group outside the room where they were just in was not there anymore. They had already gone up to the main floor of the temple. The room where the Death Reaper was is located at the third underground floor. And because they left immediately after they got out, they didn't hear the battle between Ren and the Death Reaper.
The main floor had the same feel and design as the room they were in. Except that it was bigger and had an extension on both sides.However, probably due to it's age, it wasn't that lovely to look at. The walls had no color and had cracks all over. Some pillars were standing while others were not. Rays of light that came from the holes in the ceiling filled the different spots of the floor. This description fit the category of ruins.
At these ruins, the party were scattered. The wounded were being treated at the staircase parallel to the main entrance while the others either kept watch or was resting. Asaki was treating the wounded knights and heroes. Some knights were also helping by applying first aid to their fellow knights.
"Gracious light, grant me thy warmth and shower it to your wounded children, Holy Healing."
The knight that Asaki casted magic on had his wounds completely treated. There wasn't even a sign of a single scratch.
"Thank you, Asaki-sama!", said the knight, thanking Asaki.
"There's no need to thank me! I'm just doing the least I could do.", Asaki replied with an embarrassed tone.
Asaki then proceeded to the next knight and healed his wounds. The treatment had gone for a good 45 minutes. Asaki had finished treating everyone, including some heroes. As Asaki rised and looked around, she saw the lifeless Haru. She got worried and approached him.
"Haru-kun, are you okay?" Asaki asked seeking for a response but failed. This didn't stop her and started healing Haru who was leaning to a huge fallen pillar.
"Hey Haru-kun...Can you tell me what really happened in there?", Asaki asked.
During the time that the rest of the party got out, they didn't notice that Ren wasn't with them until a concerned knight took the liberty of counting the people. They were a total of 20 knights, including Drey and 11 heroes, a total of 31. The knight noticed that one was missing from the original 32. He quickly ran to where Drey was and reported his findings. The party overheard the knight and wondered who was missing. They all looked around and Kenchi noticed that Ren was gone.
"Ren...Where is Ren?", Kenchi asked in a slightly loud voice. This caught the attention of everyone and they frantically looked all over the hallway where they were.
"Ren isn't here! Hey, Shin! Check the stairs to your right!", Maebara yelled.
"Yeah!" Shin said as he checked the stairs. "He isn't here!", he shouted.
Some knights and heroes immediately stood up and started searching for the ends of the hallway but they were stopped by Drey.
"I'll tell you all later what happened. For now, we need to get back above", Drey said in a serious tone.
"But Captain, Ren is-", Amaki yelled before being interrupted.
"Later....I said. Right now we should prioritize treatment and safety.", Drey said while smashing the wall beside him lightly.
Amaki saw that Drey was a little frustrated so he didn't argue more. He then told everyone to get up and start walking.
Up until now, Asaki was left in the shadows on what happened. She tried to ask Haru again but got no response. Asaki really wanted to know what happened that she grabbed Haru's garment and started crying.
"Haru-kun...Why are you staying silent like that? Hey...Tell me what happened...", Asaki demanded as she hits Haru with her left hand.
Haru heard Asaki's crying and regained a little of his composure. He then grabbed Asaki's left hand and said...
"Stop, Asaki...Please...", Haru said to the crying girl in front of him.