23 Chapter 21: Aftermath

Sion was carrying badly injured Santiago on his shoulder. Massive blob of Murrloths remains and energy was following them.

" Ah, why can't we outrun it? Go faster! " Santiago yelled.

" Yeah well why dontcha' run for yourself! " Sion yelled back.

Santiago was silent for a moment; " If I wasn't this injured I would! AND I would be faster than you! "

" Tsk-! Bloody Royals.. " Sion was focusing on getting out of the massive cave that was cracking and slowly collapsing. The deformed body was putting too much pressure on the walls and expanding too rapidly.

[ CRACK ]

Massive ice spikes cracked in front of them and was falling quickly. Santiago increased the amount of energy in his aura and expended it. It caused the ice to vaporise when entering it; " Don't get your head full kid... I was just a bad match for that creature on top! I am still-... "

" Still what-? "

" Shushhhh-.. I.... no energy.... " he said and made a sound of old man fainting.

Sion has seen some weirder things in this cave, so he paid no attention to it.

The exit was visible ahead. But question was, will the monster be able to go outside? Sion was afraid of taking a risk that he might lead an SS Class monster to Greyre.

He reached the exit soon thanks to his speed, and as soon as he was close to exiting... he threw Santiago out of the cave with a great force. The injured man gasped.

Sion jumped outside the cave and mid air turned around. The monster that was now a deformed mass of devoured souls, energy and Murrloths own remains was closing in.

" Let this work-! " he raised his palm and pointed it at the entrance. He propelled his energy that crashed into the cave entrance and made it shake.. But nothing was collapsing as he wished for.

Monster was about to go outside.. Sion really failed.

*cough* *cough*

" You... damn kid... " Santiago was standing, shaking horribly.

He pulled out his red dagger.

' The Crimson Night '

SS Class item, received from Gaō the Ruthless. By 'feeding' it souls that it's owner posseses, it shall produce a stronger attack (more souls=more power)

Monster in the cave opened a massive 8 meter mouth and showed teeth as massive as Sion's torso. The only thing that could be felt in the air was.. death. But the source of it was Santiago.

Sion was looking at the injured man taking a stand in front of him. This guy was bleeding out for so long now, yet he is standing now, protecting Sion.

In that one moment it felt as if snow wasn't falling nor was any wind blowing. Loud roars of the monsters were silenced by this man's aura.

It truly felt as if time just... stopped.

" I call forth The Crimson Night. The power of thousand eyes and weakness of the dead, limit of the skies and boundaries of Hell. Engulf the heaven and Earth in your wrath. Extinguish the life of my enemy, thus I give you 30 thousand souls! "

He put his dagger to his side and prepared for a slash. While blood ran down his face he made a serious face; " Witness my power... and die! ". With a powerful slash forward, entirety of sky, air and ground turned crimson red.

The slash caused opposite effect than ' The Black Scream '... it turned everything silent.

Even as it crashed into the cave and sliced the monster clean in half, Sion felt bliss and awe looking at it.

Monster died as the attack split him in half, but the cave collapsed anyway. Santiago and Sion were just far enough not to get crushed by it.

There was a larger deformed hand that didn't get crushed by the cave being stuck outside, it was closed and holding something.

" Oh yeah-... that's it from me.. " Santiago first fell on his knees, than crashed aside.

" Santiago! " Sion ran up to him. The man looked unconscious. As Sion looked at him, he felt admiration and gratitude. He had something like that in his sleeve for so long, why didn't he use it already? There were so many events in the cave that played out differently than he expected.. events that could've happen sooner and easier.

If the monster inside knew that Sion couldn't cut off his head, why didn't he attack?

Why wasn't Santiago capable of hurting it despite possessing 2 SS Class items, did he even want to hurt him before?

He was too tired to think. Sion just spent 3 months training his energy, fought SS Class monster, got tricked with transformations, suffered countless injuries he had to heal and additionally he had to run as fast as he could while carrying Santiago.

His body wasn't damaged, but his mind definitely was.

Sion leaned forward above Santiago and whispered; " You dead? "

" ... "

" Hey Santiago are you dead? "

" yes.. and you will be too if you don't stop.. "

" Oh.. shit... sorry " Sion back off. He was feeling a relief that Santiago was okay. That meant they cleared the mission successfully. He layed on his back and closed his eyes, he needed to take a moment of rest; " You bastard lied about not having an awesome trump card " both man laughed. Afterwards, he fell asleep.

[ SOMETIME LATER ]

He opened his eyes, night was falling. This was their 2nd night on the mountain, by tomorrow morning they would be home.

Sion stood up and stretched. Santiago was still laying down, he was asleep. Sion was walking around, looking at collapsed cave. As he approached it, he noticed the hand that was poking out, it was holding something.

Sion opened the hand and gasped; " Woah-! ".

As hand opened, faint light shined. It was a red ring with weird symbol on it. Sion felt that it radiated strong energy.

" It's a monster drop. You get those from killing strong monsters. Weaker ones can drop them as well, but much rarer. " Santiago was awake.

" Oh.. I didn't mean to-.. "

" Take it.. it's yours "

Sion looked at the ring; " But you finished it.. "

" To tell you the truth.. I could've finished the monster months ago.. it's just that, I'm selfish you see. ", Sion wasn't getting what he was talking about.

" Before I killed the monster, I had 55 thousand souls that I've amassed in 4 years, I've just spent 30 thousand to save us.. I've been saving them for my brother. I planned... to either slash him with 100 thousand souls.. or make a contract with <The Devil>.. "

" That's dumb.. " Sion said

" Huh-? " Santiago raised an eyebrow.

" I have a contract with Him myself... and every time I activate that ability.. I sense such a ominous energy it feels like I will just die again. Making contracts with It.. isn't save. "

Santiago knew that Sion was right as well. The Devil was too much of a mystery to the world, especially since no one has especially strong memory about him.

" Rune told me that Hell has trillions of souls in it.. no wonder.. each and every time a being, wether it's human, animal or monster dies, He gains a soul. He's no different than rich bastards that lead nations, he cares only about possessing tons of souls. "

They didn't talk no more. They both knew that talking about Him was pointless. It was such a mystery to the world that any theory is equally acceptable.

" But what does this item do? It should be powerful! " Sion yelled.

Santiago approached the road slowly; " Who knows. Better ask Lori that, he's the brain in our group. ". He started going down the mountain, Sion followed behind.

Santiago's wounds weren't healed completely, but they started closing themselves; " Monsters heal much faster than humans. And Hunters heal better than regular humans. I should be healed at any moment. "

Sion looked at him, Santiago's robe was bloody and filled with holes. It appears he got stabbed through many more spikes than it first appeared. He wasn't really walking normally, but he seemed rather okay.

" This mission... it was lot easier than I expected. " Sion had almost no wounds at all since he used <Devil's Contract> several times. Santiago looked at him with raised eyebrows; " Excuse me? "

Sion scratched his head; " Yeah I mean.. you got hurt badly and all.. but overall.. it wasn't that difficult. He said he was an SS Class monster right? How did he even kill so many Hunters? "

Santiago sighed; " He is a Master of Shapeshifters.. He would probably take form of someone they loved to distract them for a split second. Not to mention we were most likely the first 2 man team he faced since Hunters usually don't form groups. Take for example your fight with him... In no way are you close to him. His speed, power and energy outclass you. Only reason you won is that your abilities are perfect for defeating him. How did you do it though? "

Sion made a proud expression; " I realized that I can absorb my own energy faster than other foreign energy. That's why I mixed two of our energies and absorbed it, it acted like my own and pulled his energy along with mine. He was massively weakened, and I got stronger! I had to train a lot though.. "

" That's a... strangely good plan. What do you mean train a lot?? "

" Hehe-... I can train my abilities whenever I want in my mind! " he laughed like a maniac.

" I don't really get it.. but so be it. You've trained you say? But are you able to match me, I think not! " Royal blood of Santiago was speaking.

" What? You wanna' fight u asshole? "

" Respect your superiors kid. And I'm not in a position to fight... "

They were approaching the area that had strong wind and snow, but it was no longer like that. Entire mountain was clear of winds and blizzards. Air was no longer freezing cold.

Sion and Santiago were slowly descending the mountain, they talked about random things just to pass the time. A roar interrupted their conversation. They were surrounded by Jumpers once again.

" Let me deal with them " Sion said and took off his gloves; " I need to refill the souls I lost. "

Santiago unsheathed his ' Black Scream ' he grinned; " You need to refill your souls? I've just lost 30 thousand of them! ". Both man prepared to fight.

[ ZAP ]

Both of them disappeared as Jumpers started falling down. Loud scream echoed the mountain while Santiago slashed and stabbed. Sion was moving among them, touching them and stealing souls.

As last Jumper fell down they met in the middle of their corpses.

" Heh... I bet I collected more Souls than you did! " Sion laughed.

" Oh? Well do tell me then, how many you have? "

Sion smiled proudly; "I've just collected 270 souls!! "

Santiago lowered his head; " Dammit! ". Sion started walking down the road raising his legs highly, he acting all tough since he won.

" That's a lot of souls... But I kinda got a hundred more than you did. " Santiago passed next to him, walking the same way he did while Sion was standing still, surprised.

~You're telling me this guy is injured and he got more than I did?!

[ Runes voice: Don't get pissed Sion. You're well aware of power he holds hahaha. This man is a expert Hunter, like he said, he's been concealing his true power since he is saving it for his brother. He's countlessly times stronger than you. ]

~Ah well thanks, that's reassuring!!

Night fell as two of them lit a fire again, and sat down. They talked and laughed, relaxing from the battle they had.

...

[ SOMEWHERE, FAR AWAY ]

...

Sound of footsteps echoed the cold and humid hallway. Occasionally there was a puddle on the floor and this person didn't bother to go around it. Hallway was dark, it wasn't clearly visible who that was.

As this person walked forward, there was an area lit with torches. The area was now visible. The man was walking through a hallway filled with cages and prison rooms, they were all filled with people. They were all being silent and most of them were sitting in the corner of their prisons or cages. As the man walked next to them, they would cover their heads or lay on the floor crying. Their faces showed no signs of humanity, just fear.

At the end of the hallway, someone was standing, waiting for the walking person. Once two man met, they showed no signs of friendship.. no handshakes, fist bumps of high fives. As two of them looked at each other, the man that was waiting finally started speaking; " Your shipment arrived "

As one torch flashed, the walking man was revealed. He was wearing a golden armour and golden mask that covered his face. Mask had a weirdly ominous smile but still looked serious we enough to cause goosebumps when looking at it. Behind the walking man, there was a long red cape with golden inscriptions on it. Man had a golden blonde hair. His hands were armed with golden gloves while golden boots were on his feet. This man was wearing entire golden armour.

" That would be... 300 thousand gold coins. Your shipment included, let's see-... " he pulled out a piece of paper with some writing on it; " 20 Xioerttem children, 12 Xioerttem adults, deceased body of a 2nd Class and a corpse of a Royal. " man finished reading.

The man in golden armour was silent, he just stared at him. The man at the end of the hallway didn't seem to bother at all, he also didn't fear him, they obviously knew each other from before.

" Still not talking much huh? That's fine, but tell me, that guy you hired to keep watch over harbor you owned.. uhmm.. Oong right? " he seemed as if he waited for answer, but forgot this man isn't much of a talker.

" You really publicly executed him for failing to protect Ravensborrow huh? Damn I wish I've seen that.. but what about the kid that did all of that, that brat citizens called Sion. He is a mere Xioerttem but really ruined your reputation my man! " .

The golden man looked aside, he stared at a cage with some man inside, a paper was stuck on it; " Xioerttem #583 "..

He raised his hand toward the cage. The man covered and wept; " No, no! "

As man closed his hand, the cage crushed. Wall and floor were painted in red from man's blood.

" You-... ought-... not to worry-.... about him... " man said while breathing heavily in between the words; " Just bring me-... more batteries-.. ".

From the man's blood and crushed remains, energy started exiting upwards, it all entered into golden man's body, he absorbed all the energy.

The man that delivered the shipment was standing in shadows, he turned around and started exiting. But he was stopped.

" I-... have ordered-... 30 children-... you brought me-... just 20-... " despite the mask, man seemed angry.

" Now now.. I would never trick you. The rest are being collected, they'll arrive tomorrow. "

The masked man turned around, now both of them were facing each others with their back; " You-... better not fool me-..... Raphael. "