[41]

"Hmm, that doesn't exactly seem like magma…" Magis Imperus briefly thought aloud.

Two chuckles entered into his ears as the figures before him stood from their position, fully turning towards him.

Even under the night sky, highlighted by pillars of flames, he was still quite a bit speechless when he finally saw the images of the two women before him in full.

On the left was an averaged height individual, in no way tell, but likewise in no way short. She wore a crimson red dress, lined with gold, that showed off her shoulders and lower legs from the knee length skirt. Her skin was a light glazing tone and her hair blackened with two red ribbons holding both sides to male short twin-tails. However, what truly made her unique was the eyes she held--a right eye of ruby red and a left eye of luscious gold.

"Oh?" Magis raised a brow and turned to the other.

A tall figure oozing with a certain 'appeal' that radiated from her entire being. She likewise also wore a red dress, although duller than the previous, that stopped before her knees and caught with her knee high blackened heels, which soles seemed golden, placed onto her long and slender legs--and topping it off were blackened leather gloves upon her hands, with her left arm in particular fully covered. Her skin tone was a tanned white, almost caramel, and her hair a reddish tinted white as it swayed behind her and keenly hid her right eye. Finally, the visible left eye was a lavender-like purple tint--that seemed to stare through him.

'Hmm…' He frowned lightly.

There was something quite odd to him that continued to make his brain race to find the answer, yet, he couldn't quite put his finger onto it.

"Hold on…" He narrowed his eyes.

He could see the two smirk towards him, even as he remained invisible, he seemed clear to their eyes.

"Wait...you two...aren't you the rumored Artifact Hunting duo nicknamed 'Blood Fang'? Two women in full red...always moving as one...perfect teamwork...none of the two being especially strong, both lower than the S rank, but when together...rumored to be able to take on even an SSS+ ranker."

"Elenor Springfield, the former Princess and deserter of the Royal Family and Shana Chelz, the former heiress to and deserter of the Chelz Dukedom." His eyes widened slightly, ever so slightly, from the small surprise he acquired.

"My my, Elenor, it seems we've become quite a legend~" Shana Chelz spoke, a finger placing upon her lip as her twin tails swung to gleam at her companion her heterochromia eyes blinked.

"Of course your great 'tales' are legendary." Magis calmly spoke with a slight roll of his eyes.

Great tales? This two held another name...and that was 'Black Cats'. Wherever they went, bad luck and trouble seemed to follow their every footstep. That was simply to say, crossing paths with them wasn't good luck in the least bit, no, it was a major bad luck.

Magis Imperis began looking for an opening to run off.

"Oh oh? Then you should do best not to stare too much or you may become blind." The latter, Elenor Springfield, held a sharp grin as her lavender eyes glinted.

"Huh…" Magis played with a dull red crystal within his right arm, hidden well by his coat pockets.

However…

A golden magic circle, an imprint of a clock upon it, appeared below his feet in a flash of white light.

'Dammit.' He couldn't help but curse.

His movements entirely restricted.

"Don't even think of escaping, this two one-sans here need your help~won't you help big sister out?" Shana chimed in.

Every 2.5 seconds the magic circle would disappear, yet, he merely found another coming into being to completely stop him--as if frozen in time.

His ruby eyes traced with coldness as he turned towards the two that currently looked like devils.

"What do you want from me?" Magis asked.

"You see, we need your help finding someone~" Shana spoke, taking steps towards the boy with her companion.

"As those two are almost always together, if Arthur is here so must his sister be. We need you to find Maria Springfield and drag her here or out of the dungeon." Elenor added, stopping before him.

Magis frowned at those words, being ordered around definitely didn't taste good. Yet, he was sure he would be stomped to the ground if he tried to go against these two beasts in human skin.

He raised a brow, slightly reminded of that girl that also held the ability to see through his artifact 'Hidder's Coat'.

"Why me?" He feigned a question.

"Oh? You're telling us that, within your collecting of magic spells acquired, you don't own even one that can be used to search for 'certain individuals'? Now now, you don't think us so naive, right, little boy~?" Shana patted his head gingerly.

'Dammit.'

"What if I simply escape after I leave here?" He tried a different route.

"Oh? You can try and escape~" Shana merely shrugged.

"We'll just have to hunt you down and 'invite' you once again." And Elenor added.

They both placed a hand upon his shoulders and smiled.

Magis Impris eyes bulged as a shiver ran through his spine. Those smiles did not look good whatsoever, even if the two ladies could be considered beauties, he did not even so much as like those smiles.

"No no no, I have already received enough troubles already." He shook his head, gritting his teeth a bit.

"...I accept." He finally resigned to fate.

The smiles upon the two seemed to brighten a bit more.

"Good to have your service, now, accept this imprint as well." Elenor spoke, her right hand guiding towards his.,

"Imprint? What imprint? This wasn't part of the deal." He narrowed his eyes.

"Deal?" Shana laughed, "You are widely mistaken."

"A deal only works if both parties have an equal standing or something to offer to each other...this isn't a deal." Her eyes gleamed as she shook her head.

"You will accept it. Whether you like it or not."

***

Martha's right hand gleamed, the imprint of a lightly shining jade green mark appearing onto her palm. It looked as if a dragon's head which held two elongated horns, looking as if a glowing tattoo.

She frowned slightly, making an image of the individual she wished to contact.

"I noticed a new person added to the imprint of yours, what's going on?" She asked, cutting straight into the topic.

"We found Arthur on the second floor and are watching over him but Maria wasn't with him. Seeing as he didn't look the least bit sad, the two must have split up. So we sent someone who seems to know Arthur to find Maria, after all, if he knew Arthur, he must know her." Elenor's voice traveled over.

"Hmm, I see. Although, no worry is needed if he fails, I've already sent 'Throne's Guard', she will succeed." Martha nodded.

"..." Elenor was speechless for a moment.

Did this girl just say she had pulled out the hidden card of the kingdom's royal family? Wasn't that person supposed to have been hopping around the kingdom slicing away at anyone that dared have a single intention of taking the throne before they even held the chance to so much as carry out their plan?

Having been the princess once before she 'deserted', no one else could know the weight of such an action more than her. After all, 'Throne's Guard' was a title passed along to the Shadowed Assassin that protected each generation of the royal family.

"I hate you." She shook her head in the end, and sighed.

She didn't seem to care if the person she spoke towards was the Queen or even that she was the wife of her brother.

"I love you too Elenor~"

"Ugh, just tell my brother to be careful of you." Elenor sighed once more, clearly, she was all too used to this person's oddities.

"No can do~"

And with that, Martha cut the mental link between the two.

"Hmm." She pounded for a moment.

A new image formed into her head.

"Altia."

"Yes, your majesty?" A feminine voice came from the other side.

"How's the search progressing?" She asked.

"Eighty percent clearance of the first floor."

As that voice traveled over, Martha could keenly hear the roars of several beasts. Seeing as those roars were able to shake even her soul and travel through a mental contact, it wouldn't be much to say those beasts were at the very least of the 'area boss' level.

"Can you take care of those beasts for a moment? How many are even roaring at once?" Martha asked, she didn't much like that

"I encountered 3 area bosses, they're all chasing after me. I thought it best not to waste time on fighting them but since you dislike the noise, I will take care of it, hold on for a moment~" There was a bit of slyness within that voice.

The contact was cut.

Thirty seconds passed.

"Mission Complete." The voice rang back, not a single hint of exhaustion upon her voice nor a trace of having exerted much effort.

"Mhmm, I authorize the use of <Shadow Realm>." Martha nodded, cutting to the point.

"As you wish."

"Goodluck." Martha finished.

"I need no luck." She could imagine a smirk upon that girl's lips.

The connection faded.

She sighed.

'If only this mark didn't have 'that' effect, I would have ingrained it into those two as well.' Martha shook her head lightly.

She still wanted them to keep their will.

Even she didn't truly 'own' the mark. Her family line merely held the First Contractor form. After all, at any moment, Deft Nightangle could come to claim his end of that promise long ago.

She didn't dare create an image of him within her head, no, rather, she simply couldn't. He was a man of many faces after all. So much so that calling him a 'man' might be an understatement.

She merely hoped he would keep his end of the bargain, even if it was from two hundred years ago, and not so much as touch her family.

Though…

The issue of the demonic war still loomed.

'As long as my family stays safe, that is all that matters.' She reaffirmed the thought she had long decided upon.

'The whole world may be devoured, but my loved must remain.'

***

Surprised to say, Arthur did not immediately find himself incinerated and turned to absolute ash. His vision directly took in what appeared to be magma, yet, he wasn't burning up as he had expected.

Of course, it was still extremely hot and fiery to the point that he felt his insides bubbling to boil, and he would surely burst if something was not done soon enough. However, for now...he wasn't truly burning and he found it extremely odd.

'What is going on?' His body fell not of his own will initially as a force seemed to drag him deeper within the abyssal heat of lava.

He looked downwards and could still easily glean the rampaging figure of Ashe continuously pounding her fist into the skull of that beast as if tofu. Her roars continuously seething as she seemed to swallow and gulp 'lava' into her very being.

'I have to stop her and calm her down,' He thought.

The wings at his back, even amidst the 'pool' flapped.

Arthur soared downwards through the 'lava'. Yet, he only felt some mild resistant that, if he had to describe, reminded him of thickened air.

"Ugh," The deeper he went, the more he felt as if he would burn.

Thankfully, he could be somewhat assured his clothing would remain intact.

As a mage of flames, his clothing had always been fitted to be resistant to flames or they may burn down by his own spell. After all, although his magic would no longer harm him due to extensive training on his part and his soul becoming extremely attuned with the properties of his own mana flames, the same logic could not be transferred towards his clothing if they were mere clothing--yet, these were not, his clothes had been fashioned from the leathers and materials from Demonic Beasts that dwelled and played with fire on the daily.

He couldn't say the same for Ashe's clothing however...he could already see small sparks dwell into existence.

He managed to focus on the important task at hand, his hands moving to swim closer towards her as his wings flapped in a continuous rhythm of short bursts of force pushing him along from moment to moment.

Flying through this 'lava', he had to say, it seemed more as if just a thick layer of air if one was to disregard the heat.

"There…!" With a forceful grunt, he managed to latch his right hand upon her's, her dress already starting to slowly burn up.

He disregarded his skin that had begun to become scarred in heat and likewise disregarded the pain of his skin burning as if edible meat for a moment.

He wasn't much too surprised to see the right hand of the girl grasping an orb of intense red like heat that seemed to swirl with flames within.

He landed upon the body of the golem-like beast that had begun to crumble into mere rocks after losing that singular core and drove deeper below the lava.

He could feel a heavy pressure of the weight atop of them pressing down upon his very bones and muscles.

However, Arthur forcefully gritted his teeth and took his clothing off.

Grasping the core from her hand and pulling it into his spatial ring, as she struggled, he managed to pull his shirt over her body.

"Shh shh, calm down," His hand gently patted her head is a slow and calming stroke, his figure embracing her.

The beast within Ashe's seemed to rage quieter--her body still shaking to release her might but her roars and full quakes had ceased for the moment.

Arthur nodded and turned his eyes as they narrowed...

...he couldn't see the bottom of this sea of magma.

"Now, we will fully burn up at this rate…" He shook his head.

'Here goes nothing…' His mind quickly churned for a 'solution' to their immediate problem of being burned alive.

'First..cut off the waste of mana…' His flame wings burned their last.

'Next.'

His soul followed his will as his remaining mana began to flow out.

Mana held many different applications aside from just merely waving it around to cast a spell. No, as Maria had proven before, mana was much more than just an energy to be used to cast spells.

Arthur willed his mana to coat both he and Ashe's body, pushing his mana from his body as boastfully as he could, completely covering the two in a cocoon of glisteringly red light even amongst the raging lava sea.

'This is as much as I can do with my current understanding…'

A skill every mage should hold…

By coating their mana element around themselves, aside from using it to cast a shield that would be utterly useless against their own element, they could use it to mitigate damages from their element or more so reduce the effects of their own elemental affinity against themselves.

Which in this case, Arthur holding the element of fire was using it to at least lower the effectiveness of this 'lake'.

His mana didn't simply coat himself and Ashe, no, his mana also ran through their bodies, into their bones, under their skin, and above their skin to get the best effect he could wish for.

However, this was only the minimal basic degree of control as well as mastery. He had heard tales of some small few being able to directly meld their element into their cells and become fire resistant to the extremes.

However, sadly, this was not the case here…

The 'lava' around them still continued to wave about in intense heat and Arthur could still feel parts of skin sizzling and in an effort to burn through.

At that moment, Ashe's body squirmed about within his hold and he couldn't help but look downwards. The fur upon her body was receding exceedingly fast.

He found the girl's crimson eyes looking up at his ruby jewels, her eyes had cleared into a mystifying gaze.

"Sorry...I can't fully control that state of power just yet...my animal instincts had taken control of me for a moment…" Her voice drifted.

"That step is powered by my pent-up rage..." It lacked her usual strong tone that always seemed lace with.

As this was his first time hearing this tone of hers, Arthur was quite puzzled.

"The heck?" He tilted his head.

"My bloodlust, my rage, what I've kept in, fully breaks free." She spoke once more.

"No no, not that. I meant your tone, doesn't seem that much like you. I was expecting you to kick me first thing, you know?" He replied.

"Tell me…"

"Have you not realized something yet?" He sighed, scratching his cheek lightly.

"Hmm?" Ashe's thought's cleared as she took a moment to realize the situation.

She looked around the area, then onto herself.

"..."

"..."

She was now only wearing a large shirt.

"Arthur…"

Her crimson eyes grew cold.

"Woah Woah, don't kick me just yet...at least kick me after we have survived this...okay?" Arthur quickly spurted out as he tried his best to smile.

Ashe frowned, two opposing thoughts tugging within her mind.

[The boy isn't wrong.]

'Shut up!' She gritted her teeth.

"Then do you mind releasing me from your grasp?" She finally uttered, although a question, it sounded more an order.

However, the prince shook his head.

"I can't release you, what if we drift off from each other? If I have to stretch my mana longer, the effectiveness of this 'protection' will simply be null."

"…"

"..."

Silence reigned for a moment before the two turned to look forward as if coming to a conscious.

'This is too embarrassing…' There was a light layer of a blush upon her cold features, highly faint.

[What? You're actually embarrassed!?!] Ain was alarmed. If one could see his expression, it would certainly be one of shock. Since when was this girl ever embarrassed!?!

'I'll pummel you if you don't shut up!!'

[...]

"My insides are burning up…" Arthur finally spoke out.

They had both continued to swallow this strange 'lava' as they continued to speak.

Ashe also took that moment to realize the changes developing within her.

'Ain, what's happening?' She asked, puzzled.

[While you were ragging on you swallowed the 'lava' around you. However, this may be seen as a good thing of sorts. That lava is actually nothing more than extremely condensed flame attributed mana, so condensed that it is almost concrete on its own...based on the smell, it seems some sort of being is giving off...Anyway, although it may continue to burn you alive, if you can hold through, your physical properties should increase somewhat.]

Ashe frowned,

She could feel her body beginning to paige in pain. Her very bones, muscles, and organs seemed to heat up as if being bathed anew.

This, however, she could handle.

Yet, when she turned towards Arthur…

"Are you alright?" She couldn't help but ask.

His figure had begun to quake, shake, and quiver with every passing moment. Sweat continuously rolled from his forehead as he gritted his teeth together.

'Heck no! Not only am I controlling my mana as finitely as possible but I have to also resist this paings of burning sensations through my entire body!?! F*ck! I'm not f*cking alright!!' Arthur mentally cursed all nine layers of heaven.

"Yeah...I'm alright." However, his actual words were quite different.

Ashe frowned, "No, you're not alright."

Arthur rolled his eyes, something taking great effort, and spoke with much more decisiveness.

"I'm fine. Nothing to it, I can handle this much."

Ashe began in a bid to doubt his words but was forced to close her mouth as something else drew their attention.

Appearing before them was a blazing red gate of flames, rectangular in nature, and the spewer of the current 'lava' that rushed this lands.

At that moment,

A suction force seemed to ring as the two found themselves being traversed towards it by force.

They could do nothing more than watch as their bodies were sucked within.

***

[Elsewhere, at the same time.]

'Dammit...another fast one…' The boy mentally cursed, his grayish-purple eyes working and projecting that slightest difference in the body motion of his enemy into his mind.

His teeth gritted.

His heart raced.

He spun his blackened blades into place, forcefully gripping them between his bleeding hands, and slashing upwards in a cross.

The Azure Metal Knight stood imposing as its meter and a half long azure blade flew down in a single blinding arch.

A sharp ring of iron boomed as a light spark of a collision flew.

His blades were forcefully stopped as his figure quivered.

The metallic face of his opponent looking down upon him, its azure eyes amidst the full silver helmet of its armor seeming to blaze in a sneer. Its blue cape flapping behind its fully metallic figure that gleamed as if a human piloted its control from the insides...However, this thing was anything but human, it was literally a walking weapon swinging armored figure with a will of its own.

He had been fighting this thing for a minute now already. His figure bled, his clothes torn and ripped by the slashes he had managed to narrowly dodge. His right cheek holding with it a scar of blood.

Rain released the strength of his grip and jumped back.

Bang

The fine cobblestone ground exploded in force as the azure blade ripped through and lunged into depth.

Rain's heart collapsed upon itself in fright at the thoughts of his narrow dodge.

Exhaustion overwhelmed him but he forced himself to stare forwards.

It seemed to breathe as a wallow of blue flames fanned from its 'mouth' like imprint upon the helmet. Its hands quaked, gripping tightly upon the silver handle of the Azure Blade and forcefully tearing it from the earth.

Its full figure rose from its earlier stance, an entirety of a presence overshadowing him. Rain felt small and insignificant looking upon that summoned being.

'At this rate, I'll lose simply due to having no stamina left…' He shook his head, fighting back the wellow of failure he could perceive.

'It's now or never.'

After all, the Azure Knight was a being of unlimited stamina. He could not win by drawing the battle to one of attrition.

He grasped his swords tighter, his figure bending lengthy forwards.

His speed broke forth.

The rush of the air taking him.

His body abruptly fell.

A bellowing bladed wind passed overhead.

Rain lunged forwards, closing in the distance of the space.

There was a low clank as the beast turned its right arm, slashing down within a drifting moment.

Bang

He saw this too.

Jumping away from range in time, the boy jumped onto the thin blade of his opponent, his will in control of his weight.

His eyes sharpened.

He leaped.

His blades rang.

"What!?!" His voice drifted.

His attack passed through thin air.

The figure merely bent its back, accurately dodging his blow, and its leg spanning out into a kick with its flip.

BAnG

The metallic blow of the Azure Knight landed squarely upon his abdomen.

"!" Blood spilled from his lips as the boy flew back as if a doll.

His body thundered against the cobblestoned floor, sliding lightly before coming into a mess.

For a moment, his entire body shuddered briefly.

His figure aching with pain, yet, he still tightly held onto his blades.

"I will only come back for you and allow you to adventure the world once you prove yourself able to at the very least fight squarely against the truly strong. Let's see, S rank should be enough, simply defeat an S ranker. I will leave you in the care of my friend."

His teeth gritted, his eyes turning into glares.

He forced himself, his arms pushing him up.

Shakingly, he looked forward.

However...

"Ugh," He released a grunt as he fell onto his knees, his weapons leaving his hands and clinking against the floor of the 'arena'.

His entire upper layer of clothing was now nothing more than shreds, his pants filled with tears of pushing past his limits. His body filled with scars as well as the leakage of blood and sweat rolled into one. His breathing rasped and rushed, his chest heaving with every breath of air that entered into his tired lungs. Sweat covered his being, making him look as if a sticky mess.

"Disappointing," A sigh rang.

He managed to hold his head forward as his grayish-purple eyes stared at the man that had appeared before him.

He was a lanky man, tall, but fully lanky. He lacked any thorough showing of muscles, as if having never held a weapon in his life. Upon his body was a short shirt of white and pants of brown. Although looking much like any regular beggar one would find, the aura that the man emitted was quite different.

His facial structure extremely simplistic, average at best, he was not 'handsome' or 'good looking' in any way shape or form--he was simply 'normal'. He held dark brown hazel eyes, and brown hair with the tiniest of a sliver of silver hair tracing through the middle and frontal region, coupled with his tanned skin tone, he looked thoroughly 'unique' in his own special way. His expression that seemed to one continuously looking for an interest.

Edward Albert, the man in control of the famed 'Demonic Beast Ring'. An old friend of his father and the one now tasked to push him further than he had ever been pushed.

Even amongst adventurers, there existed distinctive groups--which some liked to refer to as 'Classes'. The most basic of classes could be simplified towards Magic Type, Physical Type, Speed Type, Deception Type, and Sensory Type. A total of five basic classes...

However, even amongst those, there were many layers upon layers and some even existing outside of those and termed as 'Unique Type'; the sixth and last type.

Edward Albert was a termed summoner, the number one summoner. And one of the two people his father had once adventured the world alongside. The member holding the title of 'Knight Summoner'.

His hands were both held within the pockets of his pants, his back bending slightly.

"Do you want to hear something interesting?" He smirked, taking slight pity upon the boy.

"Huh?"

"There's news going around that your two friends escaped from the royal castle, disregarding their mother the queen, and directly hopping into ASTO's Dungeon. Along with that, there's the rumor of the queen using the famed 'LONG's Mark' that has been passed down through the Dawson family line to hunt them down and drag them back."

Rain was in disbelief for a moment…

...his face scrunched…

Before he finally broke out into laughter.

His eyes staring upon the sky as his mouth widened into a laughter, tears staining his eyes slightly.

He grinned, blood still dripping from his body.

His hands moved.

Grasping the tiring blackened blades once more, a shell of their past.

"Yeah...I expect nothing less from those two." He nodded, a hinting grin plastered.

His eyes focused onto the man before him.

Those mystifying pair holding a glint.

"I'll just have to work hard not to fall behind when they return…"

"Oh?" Edward took a slight surprise.

"Mhmm, it will remain at the S ranked difficulty then, until you reach the level needed to kill it without all that wastage of energy…"

"But tell me first, what is your goal?" He asked, stroking his chin as if having taken interest on the boy.

"Goal?" Rain raised a brow.

"Yes, why are you doing all this, why are you reaping to become stronger?" Edward narrowed his eyes, questioning once more.

"I want to adventure the world." Rain stated.

"Why?"

"Hmm?" The boy didn't quite understand.

Edward walked forwards, standing directly upon Rain's weapons and preventing him from taking a 'step forwards' until he answered his question.

The boy frowned.

"No one goes out of their way to adventure the world for nothing. Even when I and Eve joined him later on, your father held a loud goal just the same as both of us." The man merely spoke directly, as if unaware of the boy's emotions, looking down upon him.

"I wanted to see how far I could take my abilities, how far I could stretch its limits and evolve it to my will. After all, I had never met another with as unique a skill I possessed. Now you know my reason for following your father to tour the lands."

"So I ask you, again. Tell me, why do you specifically wish to adventure the world?" He asked once more, this time, his voice leaving no room for doubt.

Why did he want to adventure the world? If Rain had to break it down to the simplest form it would be to truly escape the hold of his household, simply to leave the city and not be tied down by the whims of his father and mother.

However, it was truly much deeper than that.

"I want to prove myself...I want to prove myself worthy of the Clover name, I want to raise my swordsmanship to the highest level imaginable…no holds, no chains, no thought…"

"I want to defeat my father with pure swordsmanship." He smiled, a grinning smile, brighter than the state of his current figure.

The only person he had ever looked up to, to the point of borderline idolization, was not his father. No, it was his father's swordsmanship that could break the sky and quake all souls which stood to look upon it.

He wanted that as well.

"I see," Edward smiled, taking pity upon the boy.

There was a reason Lambert Clover was known as 'Emperor's Blade' after all. Within the century, he had been the most gifted being towards swordsmanship.

Nodding, he stepped off the blackened blades of the boy and allowed him to shakingly stand, watching quite interestingly even as the boy quivered in his steps and stands.

"Again." Rain spoke, now grasping his blackened blades once more.