The sudden appearance of a little girl and three maids caused the Demon Hunter to pause. His eyes scanned from one girl to another, finally landing on the large white wolf behind the four.
His expression didn't change, but he looked slightly more serious.
'...'
The awkward silence was interrupted by the violent coughing behind the Demon Hunter.
He turned around to look at his Tracker.
The tracker's face was pale, his eyes were red, and his nose gushed blood. The Tracker remembered, he remembered this sent! This was the strange scent he had smelled a few days ago!
Back then, it was still very far away.
Because of the underground environment, he was unable to use his blessing.
That allowed Petra to quietly close the distance.
Now that he was standing face to face with the source of his discomfort…
"M-m-monster! Master! The little one, the little one!"
The Demon Hunter stepped back.
The young man held his nose, clearly in great discomfort.
He gritted his teeth so hard that it looked like they would break.
He was a special human, one that had been modified by the Church of Light to detect the scent of 'evil'. This included many things, such as Demons, the Abyss, Dark Races, the Darkness Element, the Taboo Bloodlines, and especially a Witch. He traded his eyes for an advanced sense of smell, making him the perfect hunting dog.
To him, the smell of this green haired girl was almost indescribable.
It was like all the worst things in the world combined together.
He spoke through gritted teeth, trying not to fall from the overstimulation. "I don't know what she is, but I'm sure at least a part of her is taboo. She also has the darkness element, and the smell of a witch!"
The Hunter listened, his eyes darkening.
He placed his hand on the white sword at his waist. This 'holy sword' was decorated with sanctified script and engraved with holy words. Combined with its divine light, It was the mortal enemy of anything 'evil'.
He looked at the innocent little green haired girl with extreme vigilance.
"What of the other parts?"
The Tracker struggled to stand, his mind quickly becoming dizzy. He forced the words from his teeth with great difficulty. "It smells of Chaos!"
That was all the Demon Hunter needed to know.
His golden eyes suddenly lit up with a divine light. This marked the true start of a demon hunt, this was the true attack of a Demon Hunter, and this was an ability with a great cost to his lifespan.
'The Eyes of Light' were a divine ability bestowed upon certain members of the Church of Light by the Sun God himself. Through a small fragment of divinity given to each Demon Hunter, they could momentarily use this ability to draw out all darkness.
Petra felt an unseen power surrounding her soul, slowly drawing out the hidden 'evil' within her body.
This was the way of a Demon Hunter. They would forcefully summon a target's power to cause their bodies to rebel. Most dark type individuals had very volatile abilities, so they would be forced to fight while their bodies were mutating, and their abilities were chaotic. They would feel themselves being split apart from inside, forced to endure unimaginable pain. This would cripple most people, especially the inexperienced.
Unfortunately, Petra was unfathomable.
The Hunter could never have imagined what he would awaken.
Hong!!
Something shook.
There was a famous saying…
'When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back.'
As the Hunter's power penetrated deeper and deeper into Petra's soul, it suddenly hit a wall.
The power granted to Demon Hunters was provided by the Sun God. For it to pause, that would mean that something rivalling the Sun God's power had to confront it.
The Demon Hunters' eyes widened.
His unique vision could 'see' something that shouldn't exist. A terrifying black shadow slowly rose from behind the young girl. This was unlike the fight with Owen, where the King's Hand was just a slumbering yawn. With the encroaching divinity of the Sun God, the King's Hand finally turned its head.
This, of course, was completely unseen by Petra.
The Demon Hunter had seen the 'Abyss', he had seen 'Chaos', and he knew what kind of evils existed beyond the World Barrier. He truly believed that his job was to protect the world from these unknowns.
In the face of this black shadow, everything he had seen was like a grain of sand.
The black shadow slowly turned.
It faced the golden light of the sun.
And, it swallowed it...
The Sun God's divinity disappeared in a blink. The dark shadow disappeared in a blink. The Hunter, ready for battle, disappeared in a blink. In that instant, everything disappeared the moment the Demon Hunter opened his eyes.
The Tracker was left alone, standing by himself. His confused nose only had an instant to smell 'something' before he understood.
A moment later, the Tracker's brain registered the smell. Then he died…
Petra: "…"
Wind: "…"
Rose: "…"
Nebula: "…"
The Calamity Wolf: "…"
Bell and the Tracker just stood there stiffly.
Nobody understood what had happened.
From Petra's perspective, one of the men glared at her, she felt uncomfortable, then he disappeared like a ghost. A second after that, the second man just randomly collapsed, then died.
'Uh uh uh?'
Petra was frozen in place. Her little mind was completely unable to process what had happened.
It was the most random thing ever!
After a moment of silence, Bell fell to the ground too, unconscious. Her injuries had caught up to her, and she lay on the ground, making the confusing situation even more confusing.
Rose was the first to speak. "Uh, what happened?"
Wind scratched her head. "No idea."
Petra pointed to Bell. "Should we save her? This big sister is wearing the robes of the Sky Tower..."
Nebula pointed at the fluffy ears on the side of her head. "She's mutating like a beast. The Sky Tower is extremely xenophobic. If she were from the sky tower, then she probably isn't anymore." Nebula added.
Wind pursed her lips. "Look at how she's regenerating. It doesn't seem like her injuries will kill her."
Petra nodded. She felt like this girl was really interesting.
For some reason, the residual hunger that remained after using the King's Hand against Owen stirred.
Her little eyes couldn't see anything, but the mental energy that she passively surrounded herself with had felt an unusual field, one that seemed to represent a dream. What interested her wasn't the dream, but the cold 'thing' that was hidden deep within it.
In the end, the girls decided to help Bell.
After treating her wounds, the girls left her at the entrance of the experimental garden, leaving the Calamity Wolf and Rose to guard the unconscious mage. While leaving, Petra suddenly looked back, feeling like there was something different about the blond haired girl.
She showed no emotions, but her little eyes sparkled quietly.
Not far into the garden was a forest, and not far into the forest was a second unconscious girl.
Petra was suddenly starting to worry that this place was cursed or something.
Pale skin, white hair and silver eyes. It seemed like that black-clothed man liked to use throwing daggers, because both girls were impaled by them dozens of times. Bell was like a porcupine, but this new girl was only stabbed six times. Unfortunately, this girl didn't have the inhuman regeneration that Bell had, so she had fallen very quickly.
Petra touched one of the black daggers and realised that they were radiating an unusual heat. To her touch, it was like a scolding metal, yet it released no heat.
Since they were saving Bell, they decided to save this girl as well.
For some reason, Wind seemed to be very eager to help.
Petra was feeling very generous today.
Well, kinda…
Petra even had the idea of adding them to her collection. Since 'fate' wanted to play, she could just collect her prizes in advance.
Petra treated the new girl and left her with Bell.
After that, Petra, Wind and Nebu began to explore the experimental garden. This underground garden was a massive stone dome filled with an overgrown forest and a vast vitality. Petra suspected that it would take a full day to travel from one side to another, just fighting back the tangled mess of trees and vines. Looking around, this place that should have been filled with life, actually gave off an eerie and uncomfortable aura. It was like when you could tell that something was wrong, but you couldn't figure out what.
The ceiling was covered with the same massive runes used on the gate. These Celestial Scripts depicted the four seasons and the changing cycle of the moon.
With Petra's new knowledge, she could determine that these runes were some kind of highly advanced environmental control system, the kind with a fake sky, day and night, the four seasons, temperature control, a sea of stars, and natural weather.
Although she could guess what it was, creating something like this was far beyond the current little her.
This forest should have originally been filled with life, but after countless years, something clearly went wrong. What should have been a balanced and thriving ecosystem was now a chaotic mix of random species. There were cracks in the dome, disturbing its internal cycle, and the runes seemed to have long since failed.
The girls spend two hours exploring the forest without finding anything.
Quickly, Petra got frustrated.
After regrouping at the main entrance, they decided to stop for lunch.
* * *
Darkness.
Bell had a dream.
In her dream, she was a low level tower mage. She spent her days studying and training her magic.
One day, she was given a mission.
Bell and three other friends from the tower traveled to the north.
As they reached their destination, a sudden accident occurred.
Bell was separated from her team, left to move around the forest alone.
One day, while wandering, Bell was attacked by a man in black.
Despite running, this black clothed man seemed to be able to find her no matter how far she ran.
After a grueling game of cat and mouse, the man finally caught her.
She was taken to an unknown place, and locked in a dark room.
Bell suffered endless torture, unaware of what the man wanted.
One day, while the man was out, she was approached by a monster.
This monster had no form, existing only as an indefinable shadow.
It approached, offering her a trade.
It would grant her power, but she would have to fulfill one of its requests.
Bell's mind was at its limit.
She could no longer think straight.
Just before she agreed, suddenly...
"Ay-ya-ya, what's this little cloud doing here? I knew I felt something strange!"
Bell and the shadow suddenly heard a voice. The shadow turned, finding a green haired girl standing to his right, silently breaking into his dream realm.
"Big sister, why don't you come with me instead? I can offer you a lot more than this ugly guy!" Petra's voice was crisp and childish, cutting through the oppressive atmosphere.
The shadow narrowed his eyes. "Little brat, do you know what you're doing?"
Petra looked at him and frowned. "Who are you? Do I even know you?"
The black shadow chuckled. Its 'voice' was closer to the diluted echo of clattering bones. Instead of sound, it was better to say that it vibrated with a resonance that resembled a language.
"Heh he he he he. Little girl, do you think you can stop something I want to do?"
Petra frowned.
"What does that have to do with me?"
"This girl is mine, you must not interfere!"
Petras' eyes widened.
"Fate led me here and you want to take away my loot? Crazy Bones!" Petra glared with a ferociously childish gaze. "Also, isn't it you who's in trouble? I can feel that thing in here, it really wants to eat you... I've been so hungry."
The demon scoffed. "What can you possibly do to--"
"I'll go with you…"
Bell's weak voice suddenly called out to Petra.
Petra and the shadow suddenly looked over, one amused, the other enraged.
Petra grinned, but the shadow snorted.
The shadows form expanded like billowing black smoke and enveloped everything. The 'dream' began to corrode, causing Bells' already weak mind to continue to scatter.
Petra shook her head.
Her mental strength exploded like an expanding green star, almost making the demon feel like the sky was falling.
Its piercing red eyes didn't even have a chance to widen before it was snuffed out.
Petra's mental energy connected to the dream and created something like a bridge, forcefully pulling this black shadow out of Bell's sea of consciousness and into her own. As for what the intruding black shadow would do in Petra's sea of consciousness… Well, you had to ask the King's Hand.
* * *
In a dark space, a sleeping shadow suddenly let out a heart wrenching scream.
The scream tore through the void and shattered the surrounding space like it was a pane of glass.
"Who! Who was it! How dare they! How dare theeeeeeeeey!"
The black shadow condensed its body. Its form was a chaotic amalgamation of scales and tentacles that intertwined around a black skeleton. It had four hands, two of which were much smaller and curled up against its chest. Thousands of red streamers hung from its back, like flesh hooks embedded in bone, and six skeletal wings protruded from its hips.
Two piercing red eyes illuminated the void.
"My vessel was destroyed! I can't even find it! This shouldn't be! What happened!"
"Rigell! Come here!"
Behind the black skeleton, another black shadow appeared in the void.
The black skeleton stared at him, its piercing red eyes swirling with rage.
"Mmm, your vessel was destroyed? Ah, it should be the same person."
"Explain!!"
Rigell shook its head. "Yuthvell lost their vessel too. It happened in the northern forest, right?"
The black skeleton nodded, gritting his teeth. "You said that there wouldn't be a problem!"
Rigell sighed. "Nurune, calm down. There's something wrong with the northern region. It's only been a year, but since a year ago, all divination around the northern forest has become less and less accurate."
Nurune roared. "Explain! How is this fair! How can you not be mad! Those guys have clearly broken the agreement!"
"It has nothing to do with the Gods. There's something else in this world." Rigell explained. "It should be that woman's daughter."
"Who!? What woman!"
Rigell sighed. "The Witch of Calamity. We took too long."
"What?" Nurune paused. "You mean that she actually had a daughter? She actually betrayed it?"
"No. They succeeded. She is the 'Child of the End'."
Nurune's glowing red skeletal eyes brightened, the human equivalent of widening his eyes. "How is that possible!? They can't do that!"
Rigell's shadow shook. "Regardless. I think we should avoid the northern region."
Nurune's jaw clattered. "Then... should we destroy the northern forest?"
Rigell's shadow condensed a massive eye and glared at him. "If it's really her, then it's too late. With normal Witches, if I knew they would be a problem, then I would just kill them before they could grow up. The problem is, none of us thought that those two could even conceive a child. It should be impossible, even for them. I can't even imagine what they had to do to succeed." Rigell's shadow fluctuated violently. "For one like her, it's too late after she takes her first breath. The background she has is unimaginable for us. If it wasn't for those people always living in seclusion and not interacting with the material world, then I would suggest we pull out early."
Nurune's jaw tightened. "Is it that bad?"
Rigell's shadow nodded. "We can't win. Let's just avoid her and hope that she doesn't cause trouble. There shouldn't be a problem, and… It might not be a bad thing."
Nurune was silent.
* * *
Petra took her hand off Bell's head.
She had felt it when she first met her. There was some kind of 'seed' planted in Bell's mind.
To Petra, it was like an extremely cold aura that she could detect with her mental power.
Petra had no idea what it was or what it did, but she instinctively felt like it was naughty. The seed was planted a long time ago, but this didn't really matter to Petra.
She originally planned to take a look at it after she explored the experimental garden, but when she returned to eat, she discovered that the 'seed' seemed to have awakened.
Petra wasn't very skilled in magic, but when it came to the mind and mental power, she had a terrifying talent. She used her mental power to investigate the seed, only to discover that it was eroding her mind and tainting her soul.
Petra entered the girl's sea of Consciousness and saw what a dream looked like for the first time while standing outside of it.
She jumped in and destroyed the seed.
After a moment of thought, she also destroyed that random rune engraved in Bell's Sea of Consciousness, the one used to track her.
Now she was just waiting for Bell to wake up.