7 Preparation For The Conquest 2/2

Two days have passed.

The Six Blades were now preparing early morning to disembark for the conquest.

Yin Sohaya was still asleep.

Yin sensed this feeling of dread and urgency.

A lurking, impending doom that is to come.

He opened his eyes but all he could see was the blackest of voids.

"W-where am I?"

[ Greetings Thanatos, we would like to give you the "Deathly Binding Chains" skill. ]

The system's feminine yet deadpan voice broke the silence.

"Binding C-Chains?"

[ Yes. It combines accumulated dust from earlier instances of decay. In short, every residue of decay will be used to create chains strong enough to hold your adversaries down. ]

"Hmm. That is pretty neat. It might come in handy when we're outside of the barrier."

A deafening roar echoed through the pitch-black place he was thrown in.

His eyes circled around, trying hard to see anything.

But all his gaze could see was the infinitely dark void.

He felt something at the bottom.

"What's happening?!"

[ Thanatos, all the souls of whom you execute can never rest, instead, you send them to a place of torment and suffering from beyond their graves. You know that better than anyone else. ]

"I'm not Thanatos! I don't even know who that is!"

[ You are Prince Thanatos. The personification of death. ]

His feet were now being pulled by a hundred decaying arms.

He recognized whose hands these were.

They were the hands of every monster he turned into ashes.

Even the farm animals who got caught up in the Decay Aura in the Farm incident were tugging at his feet.

Seemingly swallowed by paranoia, Yin shouted.

"Get off me!"

Before his whole body could be dragged in, he woke up for real this time.

[ Daily Quest : 300 pushups, 300 sit-ups, 300 curl-ups. ]

A scream full of pain and anguish was heard all across the Six Blade's house.

This prompted Suna, Gavin, and Luken to hastily draw their weapons.

"What's wrong, Yin?"

Luken asked with a worried expression.

"I just had this nightmare…"

He proceeded to tell everyone about the nightmare, minus the existence of the System.

Yin carefully skipped around the subject.

Being careful as not to reveal his system.

"This was not like any other nightmare you had as a child."

Suna said with a tremulous voice.

"N-no it isn't. This was different."

"Thanatos, huh?"

Gavin closed his eyes, seemingly imagining or thinking of something.

"That name does ring a bell."

The Commander glared at him with narrowed eyes while cocking his head.

"That's one of the Old Gods. Luken's predecessor, the ex-Commander of the Slayer Corps was looking up ancient scrolls about why the Gods were sending Angels and other monsters to decimate mankind, his face became pale when he stumbled across a particular scroll."

Everyone in the room had faces of dread, their breaths were irregular, they were now sweating nervously from the revelation that Gavin laid out.

"He only showed it to me for a few seconds. All I could make up was this."

'To the New Gods who have sat atop the thrones above. Hear me. For I will not hesitate to rot this world, if it means massacring you all.'

"Yin. Why do you have visions of Thanatos?"

Gavin confronted him.

"I told you everything already! Why are you guys doubting me?"

"We're not doubting you, boy."

Luken said in an assuring tone.

"We just want to know what we're dealing with."

Suna was on the verge of tears.

"Everyone calm down!"

She shouted.

Everyone took their time to absorb the information and calmed down for a bit.

"We have to get ready, or else the carriage will leave us."

Gavin voiced out in importance.

To which everyone got back to their preparations.

Suna, still teary-eyed, was now sharpening a sword.

Luken leaned against the wall outside on the patio with Gavin.

"What's happening, Gavin?"

"I'd like to know as well."

"Wasn't Adam digging through dusty books and texts trying to piece together why Thanatos felt enraged at the New Gods? He was not even sleeping, every single time I woke up during the night, he was at his study, he grew pale the more he was reading and skimming through them."

Gavin said in a tone he never once used. It was fear.

"Drop it. Don't assume that it's connected to that person and what he did."

Luken said with authority.

"Look, you have to use logic. We can't just ignore facts just because it reminds us of painful memories and tragedies. Don't carry the whole world on your shoulder, Luken."

"I'm not. What happened two years ago is still fresh on my mind. That was not just anyone else. That was my sister."

The Commander said as he gritted his teeth in anger.

"She was like a sister to me too, Luken. You know that better than anyone else! We tried, and we failed. Get over it! We can't be like this forever, not while we have Suna and Yin looking up to us. We're the Six Blades, right?"

Luken's teeth were now at ease.

With a deep sigh, Luken retorted.

"You're right, I'm sorry for lashing out at you, Gavin."

"Hey, we're in this together, alright? Besides, I'm already scouting a potential member."

Gavin said with a faint smile.

The door to the patio opened with force.

Yin and Suna were now ready with their bags packed.

The pair wore faces of courage, all traces of fear were now gone.

"Let's go!"

The Commander exclaims excitedly while stomping his foot.

"Oh, but before we go, here's something cool for you guys!"

Gavin watches as Luken hands out black coats with the Slayer logo.

But this one was unique.

Above the logo, there it was.

The insignia of the Six Blades.

Six hooded swordsmen stabbing an Archangel in a circular formation.

Yin and Suna's eyes lit up with joy as they proudly wore the cloaks.

"Okay, let's go!"

The group made their way to the town of Venhagen, where a carriage would be waiting for their arrival.

Everyone in the town went pale after seeing both Suna and Yin wearing Six Blade cloaks.

Yin still wore the Execution Gloves he got from the System.

Whispers were flying around left and right.

"Isn't that the kid who killed every living thing in his farm?"

"Shh, I heard he killed an Angel."

"An Angel? Don't be an idiot! There's no way those things could get past our barriers."

"Look at his hands, why's he covering them?"

"Probably to clean off that poor boy Jon's blood which was on his hands."

Gossips and rumors like these ran rampant every single time they saw their cloaks.

People were aware the Six Blades had the "Anima-less" Slayer and the kid from the 'Farm' incident.

Suna learned to zone off and to seemingly "mute" noises from useless townsfolk. She developed this because they often talked behind her back about the fact that she's a Slayer without Anima cells or powers to show.

Yin, on the other hand, was not so lucky to possess such a skill.

He was shaking.

Was he scared?

Was he angry?

It was a mix of both.

Luken placed his hands on Yin and Suna's shoulders.

"They're afraid of what they don't know. You guys are plenty strong, after all!"

"I know that, Commander."

Suna smirked at Luken.

"Y-yeah. I knew that too."

Yin responds in the most insecure way possible.

"Nah you didn't, look at your face! Hahaha-"

Before Luken could finish laughing at Yin, Gavin bonked him on the back of his head.

"Ow! What's the big idea?"

"Shush, Luken."

"Don't worry Yin. Just understand that these people have not witnessed the bloodshed that Slayers go through every single mission. They couldn't possibly understand. These are common folk, let's just get on with our business."

Gavin always knew what to say to make others feel at ease.

They had another five hours to kill before the carriage came.

The four of them decided to checked in at an inn.

Yin and Suna were like little kids waiting for their mother to finish talking to someone.

They waited for Gavin to finish the check-in arrangements.

While they pranced around impatiently, a rugged Slayer loudly tapped the counter.

He was a bald, large, beefy man built like an ox. He had a red, lengthy spade beard.

The fact that his arm was tattooed with the word "Slayer" was obvious enough to know that he was one.

While Gavin was still chatting with the cashier about check-ins, overall cleanliness of rooms, and other factors, the bearded man approached him.

"Oi, what's taking ye so long? I want a drink right now!"

Gavin just ignored the man behind him.

The bearded Slayer said as he puts his hand on the back of Gavin's neck.

"Don't touch me."

Gavin asks with a grim yet confronting expression.

Before Gavin could pull out his Grimoire, Luken stepped in.

He held the man's arm by the wrist with ginormous amounts of force.

"Get your filthy hands off him."

"Oh yeah? Or what, you pathetic, weak excuse of a man?"

Luken then slammed the bearded man on the floor.

In a split second, the man was on the ground, Luken still grabbing his left hand with his own.

But the Commander now had his other hand at his throat.

With a blank stare of disgust, he gripped his throat even harder.

The bearded Slayer was now coughing and gasping for air.

"L-let go of me!"

"Enough, Luken."

Gavin motioned him to stop choking the man.

To which Luken did.

The Slayer's backups were quickly approaching, but they were stopped by Yin and Suna.

"I dare you to take a step. Just try it."

She took a fighting stance and was on guard.

Yin readied his gauntlets in anticipation for a fight as well.

Both their faces had the semblance of a violent feral animal guarding their domain.

"You alright?"

Luken asked Gavin.

To which the latter nodded.

His gaze was then focused back on the bearded man.

"If you try to brute-force your way through everything, make sure you're the strongest person in the room."

With an icy cold tone, the man could do nothing but look down in shame.

The Commander then took out something from his pocket.

It was a badge.

Engraved in a gold, shining badge were the words:

'Commander of The Slayer Corps'

'Luken Reeves'

"Know your place, trash."

The bearded man was now kneeling and begging for forgiveness.

His friends' knees were shaking in fear.

"T-that's Luken Reeves and Gavin Khalil from the Six Blades."

"W-what? No way?!"

To which Gavin scratched the back of his head and smiled.

He apologized to everyone in the inn who were startled and disturbed by what just happened.

The cashier then shakily handed the keys to him.

The four of them made their way upstairs, to where the rooms were.

Luken breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew! I swear these people just prey on weaklings. But little did they know, I'm the stronge-"

"Yes, yes. We know, Commander."

Suna ruined Luken's speech.

This made Gavin and Yin laugh.

An hour later, Yin took a nap.

Gavin was reading a book on how to properly care for your pet frogs.

He wasn't particularly fond of it; he just ran out of books to read.

Suna was doing pushups and stretching.

Luken was having a smoke by the window.

"Suna. Look after Yin, alright?"

She nodded.

"His Anima cells, they're still unstable. But his Anima levels are now equal to that of a B rank Slayer."

He added.

"Although I have never seen anything like this. But in terms of raw strength and damage output, you're still stronger than him. So please, look out after him."

"Don't worry Commander, I won't let you guys down."

"Also, didn't you go a little to far with that guy downstairs?"

She asked reluctantly.

"Oh trust me, I only felt bad for whoever was going to clean up after Gavin was done with him. So I had to step in and do as little damage as possible!"

He says proudly.

As he almost crushed another Slayer's windpipes five minutes earlier.

The remaining hours have passed.

The carriage was transporting them to the Outer Gates was now here.