Tai and Hal wore their tailcoats and had made it out of the mansion as they finally returned to the patch of grass where Hal met the lord of stars.
Nobody else knew about this entrance except the two of them, but there were more concerning matters.
This was not just grass but a being developing a domain; the creature that the lord of stars had saved him from earlier was a creature currently evolving into a dominant beast.
A breeze blew over the field as if warning them to stay away, but the two of them had come here knowing the risks and so would not be deterred by such meagre threats from the world. They had faced such a threat before and, as a result, lost one of their own to slumber.
But today, this would be a test to see if they would be ready to stand with her once she awoke again.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to wear these into the caverns?"
Tai turned to Hal and gave him a thumbs-up.
"Don't worry, these tailcoats are designed for butlers protecting the duke, so trust me when I say they are sturdy"
Hal had no choice but to trust his friend on this one, and so the two of them stepped into the tall grass as a weird feeling overtook Hal. Tai stood on edge as a breeze blew across the field, causing the grass to sway, but to Hal's surprise, there was no wind.
Tai flicked his hand and summoned his sword as he turned around and sliced a strange grass-like figure in half, causing it to let out an ear-piercing scream before fading into the blades of grass.
Hal activated his ability and flicked his wrist twice, releasing both his daggers, the Slaughter's gain in his left and the King's edge in his right.
The Owl's eyes revealed to him what was going on as he saw several spectres rising above the grass; they looked like green humanoid creatures holding pink flower buds in their hands.
They were less clear than the ones he saw with the owl and seemed to be incomplete.
"So it's already at this point of its evolution, and just like the dragon at the lake, it has spectres, though they are incomplete"
There was no time to think about it more, as the grass below them stirred and grew to form physical bodies for the spectres.
Hal gritted his teeth and charged forward. If these were the spectres, then where was their master? He cut through one with King's edge and dashed forward to meet more.
He cleaved through them, but the spectres only grew new bodies that they used to attack them again.
He turned his gaze to Tai, and his eyes widened. Tai's strikes cleaved any spectre they met, but for him, each spectre that met his blade faded away and couldn't regenerate
Hal looked closer and realised Tai's sword was spewing soul flame. Tai had found a way to cover his entire blade with soul flame, and he used to strike at the spectres.
His hits were precise, only aiming for the chest of the spectres where a bright flame burnt, acting like a heart would to a human.
Most monsters had this, and it was the location of their soul and the prime target to end their lives.
Hal let out a sigh as he let his soul flame pour into his weapons until it spewed out onto their blades, and then he charged forward.
The Slaughter's gain extracted a little soul flame from his target. This was because of its ability.
[The Slaughtering glutton: This blade will absorb a fraction of the soul flame for whichever being it slays, and if conditions are met, take a fragment of their soul]
And with the King's edge in his other hand, Hal was not going to slow down for anything, or at least that was what he thought.
Blades of grass lashed out at them and grabbed them by their hands and neck, pulling them down.
The entire situation brought a dark memory to Hal's mind, the day he was tied up in the same manner, and his identity was lost.
A Spectre rose from the grass and turned its hand to a blade that it rose to cleave off Hal's head.
Hal moved the King's edge in his hand and made it face upward, and made it overflow with soul flame until the threshold was reached. He activated King's Talent.
[King's Talent: Once enough soul flame is absorbed by the blade, the king may then activate his talent and slay all who stand against his rule]
Hal felt a warm sensation, and then a silver slash escaped his blade, cutting the spectre and some of the blades of grass holding him in half. The slash kept travelling until all the soul flame fuelling it ran dry.
Hal ripped the other blades as he felt his whole body rejuvenate. He turned his eyes to the blade, and the whispers spoke to him.
[The king has awakened his talent; he is now the king whose blade knows no distance, whose body is atoned as his blade]
The spectres turned to him as if considering him a bigger target, and then they began to converge and transform into a complete spectre.
It was clear to Hal's eyes, and the flower it held had now bloomed; it also grew human-like facial features, but kept its eyes closed, and not only the grass but all the fauna listened to it.
The spectre pointed its flower at him and let out a sweet pollen that scattered across the field before different plants erupted from the ground.
A tree trunk erupted from below Hal's feet as he was taken up by the quickly growing tree. His eyes caught sight of Tai, who was running towards a huge pink flower bud in the centre of the field.
But behind him, multiple plants rushed to him like a swarm
"I have to keep them from interfering"
Hal jumped from the growing tree trunk as he felt the rejuvenating rush from activating the ability. He bounced off leaves and cut all the sharp branches that raced to skew him as he made his way down to the spectre that was at the centre, looking at him with those closed eyes.
It moved its flowers, and the fauna followed, growing large thorns that would stab right through Hal, but there was no stopping him now.
He closed his eyes and listened to the whispers of his ability, and he let it guide him, all his senses heightened, and when he opened them again, he saw different illusions of himself.
They appeared as astral projections showing him all the possible moves he could take; it was parallel thought at its fullest capacity.
A smile lined his lips as he chose the path he would take and used the King's blade to sever several tree branches that fell down in a mixture of chaos.
He hid among the falling fauna as the spectre looked around for him, only for him to appear behind it, his eyes glowing dimly.
A huge brunch grew to skew him, but his ability had already shown him this outcome as he side-stepped and came face to face with the spectre, causing it to open its eyes as he stabbed in through the chest using the Slaughter's gain with his eyes glowing dimly.
The creature screamed, causing all the grass in the area to fall back away from them. It turned and looked at Tai, who was getting closer to the giant flower bud, and shook its pink flower, releasing pink flower petals that flew towards Tai.
The flower petals touched the ground, and a myriad of thorns and sharp branches raced towards Hal at high speed.
Hal tried to pull out the Slaughter's gain but found vines growing onto his hand at a rapid rate.
"You will not hold me hostage"
Hal twisted his hand and slashed through the spectre before bolting towards Tai. The branches and thorns rushed towards the swordsman, but he did not turn to look back.
Did he trust him to prevent the branches wee if so, he was not going to let him down, he sped up and bolted towards the rushing thorns and branches.
But then he saw petals fly past him, and with a quick reaction, jumped up to avoid thorns that sprouted from the ground.
New petals came up to his face and morphed into seeds that grew at once to form thorn bushes that trapped Hal inside, but he wasn't done yet. He burst out of the thorn bushes with several scratches on his face.
Vines erupted from the ground and grabbed him, wrapping around his entire body until only his eye was left.
No part of him was allowed to move as Hal saw the branches finally catch up to his friend. He gritted his teeth and began to pump soul flame into the King's edge, and once again activated the King's talent.
He poured even more soul flame into the dagger as he restricted the slash from escaping just yet. He pumped more and more, waiting for it to finally go beyond the threshold.
He felt his body erupt with vigour as all pain disappeared from his body, and he finally ripped his leg through the vines and took a step forward.
The glow in his blue eyes intensified as he ripped through the vines and swung his sword in Tai's direction, as a giant silver slash erupted from his sword, burning brightly with blue soul flame.
The slash ripped through the entire field, leaving behind a trench surrounded by burning grass that trembled as a low roar rippled through the entire field.
The slash itself raced forward and right before the thorns and branches could stab Tai, cut through them and set them ablaze as Tai swung forward with his blade and destroyed the flower bud.
A shaky voice entered Hal's eyes from behind, causing him to turn back, and though the grass host for the Spectre was gone, it was still there as it slowly faded away with one word.
"Mom"
Hal let out a sigh as he sat down panting. The previous attack had drained most of his soul flame, and a shadow covered him, forcing him to look up, where he saw Tai offering him a hand.
He took it and was helped onto his feet, after which Tai offered him a fist bump.
"Great way to wield a weapon, you have definitely grown stronger"
Hal stretched out his hand and fist bumped Tai with a smile twisting his lips
"I haven't even started using the elegant fighting style I learnt from the duke, just watch me and I'll show how strong I've become"
Tai smiled
"Can't wait, you have done great in here, so let's see how well you do in there"
The two boys turned and saw the glowing entrance to the Juzo Glowing Cavern, and with this, Hal knew the raid had finally begun