76 Claw

The moment that Teacher Elton stopped talking the castle doors opened. The Rain king walked out with a middle-aged man next to him. He looked demonically handsome with a streak of beastly origin. It was common for Dread rulers to have beast-like qualities given the area they were in.

"I thank everyone for coming, but we have more important matters to attend to. Due to the cyclical cycle of the ruins, transmission gate opens today." The Rain king stressed

"It seems to be collapsing for some strange reason. The ruins themselves are fine, but the gate won't last too long. So we must enter as soon as possible." The person next to the Rain king said.

A few of the figures in the crowd bowed in response to the person.

"We understand your majesty." The figures said I noticed their immense auras. They were the experts dispatched by the Dread kingdom with us on the ruin excavation.

"Depart today, all the mages have been outfitted with the magic vessels. They can open the transmission gate, and break the restrictions this time." The Dread King said in an almost melancholic tone, but he hid such emotions from the crowd.

He and the Rain king went back into the castle, talking to each other as though they were the closest of friends. I looked back at Teacher Elton, then I saw the headmaster, and even Grandmaster Isaiah come over.

"You progressed to the peak of level 19, well done Lucas." Grandmaster Isaiah noted in a happy tone, this level of improvement was even faster than before.

"I got lucky, and was able to ascend to the peak quickly," I said brushing off the comment, even I felt like I improved too fast. I didn't even have time to stabilize my sword art foundations.

I need to battle if I wanted to fuse my insights into combat power, and affinity if I want to reach The true Sword Heart stage. The headmaster didn't say anything to me, he just nodded when I looked at him.

He focused on organizing everyone from the Rain group, I saw Brian and Dante; Brian nodded at me as well. I saw the Fist sovereign, Hawkeye, even the flame princess' help. The sword king wasn't in attendance only his dukes and duchesses were here.

It seemed that the truly supreme figures weren't included on the expedition. I of course only felt happy, that would make me the strongest among the younger generation. I made sure to check for Gavyn but he wasn't in attendance. I would make sure to 'thank' him when I have the chance.

"Lucas, we originally planned for you to take a mission to get to know some of the younger generations. But as time runs out, we will have to do that some other time. For now, just follow us, we will be going to the ruins soon." Teacher Elton said as he talked to his grandfather.

Teacher Elton aura was increasing every day at a high level. He was only 2 months away from entering the ranks of Grand Knights. He wouldn't be your average ascended grand knight, he had potential to reach the peak.

"El-boy have you perfected your Divine Punishment Code?" Grandmaster Isaiah said in a heavy tone.

Teacher Elton released his formless intent, it had already entered into the sword heart realm. The intent was heavy and cut apart the air just with its presence. It an element of judgment to it as if it stood above all things administering justice

"Good, we'll just have to leave it to the accumulation of time then." Grandmaster Isaiah still said in a heavy tone.

"Is it that bad?" Teacher Elton intoned.

"My senses are telling me of a catastrophe that is incoming. The scope is beyond what I can divine, and I had Aringer prophesize a bit of the future." Grandmaster Isaiah said in a graver tone.

"What did he see?" Teacher Elton said in the same grim tone of voice.

"The school was burning, and the kingdom was under attack....." Grandmaster Isaiah said in a quiet tone to both me and Elton

"From who?" I asked confused.

Isaiah looked at me, examining me for any suspicious behavior before he spoke. It seemed he was more willing to include me in these discussions considering how much he already invested in me.

"I don't know, we couldn't divine it because the existence involved was too powerful," Isaiah said mysteriously.

"That's why we need to have all the firepower we can get. I suspect Kirin is involved, we will need to get good gains from the ruin. We also need El-boy to become a grand knight." Isaiah said as he looked at Teacher Elton's calm face.

"Alright take your disciples, it is time to go." A lead expert said to the crowd.

Teacher Elton grabbed me, and the crowd quickly dispersed. The world became fleeting as Teacher Elton sped off at a speed many times the speed of sound.

I didn't even understand how fast he was because I couldn't even understand my surroundings. He wasn't even a grand knight, yet he was so much stronger than me. I felt further desire to become stronger as soon as possible.

A half hour passed and we approached a dark land, it was sandy but the sand was a deep black. Beyond the black sand, was a grey colored sea, if one looked further they could see a blue sea. There was a divide between the colors of the sea, and around the area were a various fey beast.

A few I recognized, I saw a griffin flying in the sky. Around the area, I recognized a few of the trees to be corrupted ents. I even saw a shadow panther known for its terrifying abilities in the dark. The fey beasts were numerous, but the experts around us killed them quite easily. When we came to the center of the black desert, we stopped and everyone grouped back together.

"We'll be starting the ritual, to open the transmission gate." A black-clothed expert said as he walked up to a certain point and a restriction with a single hand seal.

"Aringer, don't you think we are a little early," Dante said as he looked around suspiciously

"Dante, calm yourself; your previous trauma shouldn't get in the way of this mission." Aringer coldly replied as he continued sending out hand seals.

Dante held himself back, and just listened to his teasing without anger. I looked on in confusion, what made him of all people back down? I looked at the restrictions, it was similar to the one they formed using themselves to open the ancestral treasury. But what really interested me was that the design was similar to the morning star.

It was said in an astronomer's canon I had read that the morning star was the gate to the gods. To breakthrough heaven's path, one must confront the morning star! On the star was supposed to be nature's most sublime dimensional restriction.

I had observed the morning star using a telescope I fashioned myself. But I could only get a rough design due to my poor design and vision. But as of late I got skilled enough to see the design without the need for much aid.

But I lacked the power to open my own dimensional gates, but I felt inspired seeing Aringer's design on the ground. When he finished using the design, he stood up and had a few robed mages come up. They removed a rune filled with a strange magical power.

The each threw the sigil onto the restrictions, the runes didn't react as though they weren't involved with the restriction. Then they started a strange chant, it was similar to the previous chant but it had a different flavor. I reasoned it to be the fact that I was transmitted outside of the planes requiring different words.

But since this was a pocket dimension right here, in this world it would be easier and different to open. After a moment of chanting space split apart with a creaking sound. A dark void was presented to all of us, Teacher Elton pushed me back a bit standing in front of me. Then a gigantic claw of a dark beast flew out of the void.

It swiped at the mages, and a few in the crowd with its sharp claws at a stunning speed. I didn't even see anything other than the initial claw getting out of the void. The runes activated at a great speed, creating a little barrier that isolated the claw.

It started to slow down, and it even went as far as fading away. The mages around it bombard it with various attacks. The 4 elements cut apart the claw making it disappear entirely. Dante looked at the claw almost shaken, even I couldn't help but be surprised.

'Was that a restriction, thank god they figured out the magic vessels or else.....' We would have utterly been decimated with just a swipe of the claw.

The scary part was what I could understand about that claw, it was just a magical projection from something in that void. Not even the real thing, otherwise it would never be that easy. I couldn't help but feel a little fearful about entering the ruin, then I heard a voice in my mind.

"Oh, my beloved child. Come to me so that I may see your beautiful face." An intoxicating voice said to me telepathically