Chapter 68: A Vengeful Spirit
[Slight Violence]
....
Ivery looked down at it and her eyes displayed nothing but confusion.
"What's wrong now?" Luther noticed the confused look Ivery had
"The map....changed...?" Ivery said
"What!?" Danya and Yannel exclaimed
"It changed?" Luther leaned over Ivery's shoulder and took a look
Ivery lightly blushed and nodded.
"All of the areas we were heading to, aren't on this map anymore....the only thing that's the same on here is our destination, Ridgefall." Ivery said
"But how did it change and why is it that only Ridgefall is still on the map?" Yannel asked
"..." They all went silent
"Maybe the map is supposed to do this..." Ivery said
"What do you mean?" Danya asked
"The journey to Ridgefall isn't supposed to be easy, since it is a place that thousands of adventurers seek, I don't think us running into that wall was an accident." Ivery said
"Well, only you ran into it." Luther said with a smirk and wrapped his arms around her waist
"That's beside the point." Ivery sighed
"There's something magical going on with this map....like it only reveals the true path to reach Ridgefall once you go through that....portal..?" Ivery began thinking out loud
"Portal..?" Danya looked confused
"That thing wasn't blocking us, it was actually a portal to get here..." Ivery concluded
"That makes sense..." Yannel raised his eyebrows
"So...where does the map say to go from here?" Luther asked
"Straight...." Ivery looked at the map
"Before we go....I've been wondering, where is that dragon of yours?" Yannel asked
"Dragon..." Ivery's eyes widened
"Eness..." Ivery covered her mouth
"When did you all last see her?" Ivery asked
"In the carriage." They all responded
Luther released Ivery from his arms.
"The carriage..." Ivery snapped her fingers
The carriage materialized out of thin air, Ivery quickly opened the door.
"Master! How could you forget me!?" Eness flew straight for Ivery
Eness latched onto Ivery's face.
"..." Ivery touched Eness who was on her face
Ivery tried to pry Eness off but to no avail, Eness strongly stayed where she was.
"𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚙..." Ivery sounded muffled
Luther turned Ivery around to face him and grabbed Eness. He tugged on Eness and with another hard pull he successfully pulled her off of Ivery. Ivery took a deep breath of air, she felt like she was going to suffocate.
"I'm sorry Eness." Ivery inhaled deeply
"At least...you didn't completely forget about me." Eness said
"Yeah.." Ivery nervously looked away
"Where..?" Eness looked around at her new surroundings
Luther dropped Eness.
* 𝐓𝐇𝐔𝐃 *
"Ouch!" Eness angrily looked up
Luther shrugged.
"Let's carry on..." Ivery snapped her fingers and the carriage dissipated away, with only floating golden magical particles left behind
"I'm so over walking..." Danya sighed and followed Ivery
"So am I..." Yannel agreed
"Was it just me or did you hear Ivery shout, 'Luther' earlier...?" Yannel whispered to Danya
"You heard that too?" Danya nodded
"Strange...." Yannel said
"Could they actually be....?" Danya's eyes widened
"No...that's not possible....is it?" Danya said to herself
....
"This place is oddly peaceful." Danya looked around and only saw more cherry blossom trees
"It's also oddly vacant of any signs of life, no humans, monsters or animals to be seen anywhere....I wonder why that is..." Ivery said, with a suspicious feeling arising within her
..
As they were walking, suddenly Luther's reflexes were triggered, he grabbed Ivery and pulled her close to him.
Suddenly a long red sword dropped down and pierced into the ground where Ivery was standing before Luther had pulled her.
"What the hell?" Ivery looked at the glowing red sword
"A sword...?" Danya reached her hand out
"Don't touch it!" Ivery raised her voice
"?" Danya pulled the sword out of the ground
"Why?" Danya asked
"Because-" Ivery stopped talking and her eyes looked shockingly at Danya
"..." Danya's green irises turned red
Ivery quickly acted and snatched the sword out of Danya's hand. Danya's eyes reverted back to their green color and she looked at Ivery with a confused look.
"...." Ivery's red eyes glowed a brighter red
"Ivery!" Luther sensed something was wrong
The sword glowed brighter and red thin moving strings wrapped around her right hand, securing the sword in her hand. Her glowing red eyes looked at Luther with an intense murderous vibe.
"Master...?" Eness looked worriedly at Ivery who was acting strange
Suddenly from her feet, the green grass around her began to wilt and turn black. The wilting grass spread fast and even reached all of the cherry blossoms. The cherry blossoms immediately turned blood red and dripped with a thick red liquid.
The blue sky above them soon turned an orange-red hue.
"What's happening?!" Yannel shouted
"I don't know..!" Danya backed up
Ivery's body turned into a red flash and before she could realize what just happened, Danya saw Ivery standing right in front of her, her glowing red eyes looking menacingly at her.
"Ivery!? What's wrong with you?" Danya's legs started to shake and she fell on the ground once her legs gave out
"Dιҽ.." Ivery raised the sword
Just as Ivery swung the sword down, she was suddenly blocked by a long black sword. Her eyes looked over and she narrowed her eyes at Luther who blocked her attack.
"Let her go, whatever you are." Luther narrowed his eyes back at her and pushed her back with his sword
Ivery stumbled back.
"Wԋყ ʂƚσρ ɱҽ? Wԋҽɳ ɯҽ'ɾҽ ƚԋҽ ʂαɱҽ...?" Ivery's voice sounded deep and she smiled at Luther
"What?" Luther raised an eyebrow
"I ʂҽɳʂҽ α ʂιɳιʂƚҽɾ αυɾα ƈσɱιɳɠ ϝɾσɱ ყσυ....ყσυ αɳԃ I αɾҽɳ'ƚ ʂσ ԃιϝϝҽɾҽɳƚ...." Ivery said
"Maybe we're not different, but you're currently in my fiance, so that's where you become my enemy." Luther's sword shifted forms and took the form of his scythe
"I ʂυρρσʂҽ I ԋαʋҽ ƚσ ƙιʅʅ ყσυ ƚσσ ƚԋҽɳ..." Ivery sighed
"If you can, by all means, do so." Luther grinned
"Vҽɾყ ɯҽʅʅ." Ivery swung the sword at him
Luther turned his scythe around and hit her in the abdomen with the bottom of its rod.
Ivery flew back from the impact.
"Damn it...too much force." Luther hit his forehead, he felt like a piece of his heart was torn off with that very blow he caused to Ivery's body
He bit his bottom lip in frustration that he had to fight with a mysterious being, controlling the woman he loves the most.
"Lutris! Don't kill her!" Yannel shouted
"Why the hell would I do that?!" Luther shouted back
"S-She's technically your enemy!" Yannel yelled
"My enemy is whatever's controlling her...what's stopping me from completely obliterating it, is because it's attached to her!" Luther felt irritated at the fact that Yannel thought he was capable of killing Ivery
"Oh..." Yannel sighed with relief
"The sword!" Yannel yelled
Ivery's body rose up from the ground and she appeared to be unphased by Luther's attack.
"That's just...creepy..." Danya said as she covered her eyes
"Lutris! You have to try to break the sword!" Yannel shouted
"Hm..." Luther nodded and waited for Ivery to make the first move
Ivery ran towards him in a flash and her sword clashed with his scythe.
"Whatever you are....you're awfully weak, considering that you're in a strong body." Luther smirked
Ivery narrowed her eyes and her red eyes gleamed with stronger killing intent.
"Sƚσρ ԋσʅԃιɳɠ Ⴆαƈƙ!" Ivery angrily shouted
"I refuse to attack her body anymore...." Luther swung his scythe at her
"Lσʋҽ ɱαƙҽʂ ҽʋҽɳ ƚԋҽ ʂƚɾσɳɠҽʂƚ ρҽσρʅҽ ɯҽαƙ..." Ivery said with an evil grin
"I'm certainly weak when it comes to her..." Luther said with a chuckle
She instantly blocked his attack with her sword.
"Wrong, yet right move." Luther smiled
Just as she was about to retaliate, she looked at her sword and her eyes stretched wide.
The red-glowing sword was sliced clean off, the glow that emitted from the sword died out and the red strings wrapped around Ivery's hand snapped off.
Ivery's eyes ceased to glow and the sword dropped from her hand. Ivery fell to her knees, and she groaned.
"Ivery! Are you okay?" Luther kneeled down to her aid
"My...stomach..." Ivery fell on her back and whined
"I'm sorry..." Luther frowned as he held his hand over her stomach
His palm glowed green. The pain Ivery felt completely subsided and she slowly sat up with the strangest feeling.
"This armor isn't that good after all..." Luther sighed
"No...it's because you're too strong.." Ivery weakly chuckled
"What happened?" She asked
"You were basically possessed by a sword." Yannel walked over to them and answered her question
"R..Really? Did I hurt anybody?" Ivery asked
"No...thanks to Lutris." Yannel shook his head
"Sorry..." Ivery looked down and apologized
"You have nothing to be sorry for....it wasn't you.." Luther kissed her forehead
"I know...but-" Ivery noticed the broken sword beside her started to glow again
"Uh...look.." Ivery pointed at the sword
Luther turned his head and saw the glowing sword. He picked it up and threw it quickly.
A red glowing humanly figure emerged from the sword. The glow around the figure dissipated and a nude woman with long glowing red hair that conveniently covered her breasts stood in front of them, and her scarlet red eyes looked at them with nothing but malice.
"I'ɱ ϝɾҽҽ." The red-haired woman smile
Ivery looked at the woman with confusion, Yannel looked away and blushed, Danya still had her eyes covered and Luther sighed.
She quickly ran towards Luther.
"Enough of this." Luther threw his scythe at her
"Ah..." The scythe stabbed into her chest, and suddenly her whole body glowed and was suddenly sucked into the scythe
...
"Weird...I've never seen that happen before..." Luther raised an eyebrow
"Maybe it's because she's actually a spirit." Ivery said
"Oh..." Luther thought that made a lot of sense
"A vengeful spirit..." Yannel said
"Clearly it was," Luther said to Yannel
"My weapon absorbs the soul of anybody it enters, even with a scratch, the soul can be claimed....but since she was purely a soul of what was a person...my weapon just simply absorbed her..." Luther thought out loud and laughed to himself
"But why was she inside of the sword...? Yannel asked
"Maybe it was a punishment..." Ivery said
"From now on, no one touch anything." Luther said
"And tell that girl too." Luther pointed at Danya
"Danya!" Ivery shouted
"Is it over...?!" Danya moved her hands away from her eyes
Ivery nodded.
Danya stood up, she walked over to the three of them and she smiled once she saw that Ivery was acting normal again.
"From now on....don't touch anything." Ivery told her
"Got it." Danya nodded
"Don't touch....anything." Ivery repeated
"I won't." Danya said
"Even if it looks safe." Ivery said
"I got it, I got it." Danya sighed
"Alright..." Ivery stood up and looked around for the map
"Wheres the map...?" Ivery asked
"You lost it again?!" Yannel exclaimed
"I'm so sorry that I forgot to hold onto it when I was 'possessed' by a sword ghost." Ivery sarcastically remarked
Yannel crossed his arms.
"Here it is master!" Eness had the map in her mouth
"Thank you Eness." Ivery took the map out of Eness's mouth
"So where do we go now....this place went from beautiful to scary..." Danya shivered at the sight of the red cherry blossom trees that still dripped with a thick red liquid
"I think what we saw when we came here, was just a realistic illusion made by that spirit." Ivery said
"So...this is what this place actually looks like?" Yannel asked
"I'm pretty sure, since it's still the same, even after the spirit is gone." Ivery said
"We have to go that way." Ivery pointed west
"Okay...let's hurry then..." Danya nodded
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