Chapter 18: Sanctuary

~Tatsumi POV~

As the twins have shown me to the path of the mansion towards the dining room, I had to admit that everything was really pretty here.

Seeing the mansion was certainly a good experience to have since I never experienced having been invited into a big home before.

But I digress since when the twin's finally lead me to Emilia is eating but I see the cat Puck playing with Beatrice the spirit.

On the outside, Beatrice seemed like a lovely young girl around the age of eleven or twelve as her face was so sweet that Subaru believed no heart wouldn't melt at the sight of a genuine smile on the little spirit's adorable face.

Her large sky-blue eyes had pink butterfly patterns as their irises that may have denoted her relation to the Witch of Greed.

Beatrice's pale cream-colored hair was worn long and tied into frilly vertical drill-shaped twin tails that acted like springs when pulled on.

Most of the time, the Great Spirit of the Forbidden Library wore a pink frilly ornate dress with white trimmings and an exposed front that left her legs visible.

Her legs were completely covered by pink and purple vertically striped tights as she has a petite crown that was sported on the right side of Beatrice's large head and she wore pink shoes with butterfly straps on her feet.

Beatrice had a large pink ribbon adorned upon the left side of her waist and a pair of similar ribbons tied at the top of her twin tails.

As I enter the dining room everyone was enjoying their meals as Emilia looks towards me with a smile on her face as she says to me, "Oh! Tatsumi good morning I hope you are doing well today."

Smiling at her I took a seat that was my food was at as I reply to Emilia with a happy smile as Beatrice is playing with Puck, "Great honestly I had a time talking to Rem and Ram they are both professional maids the best I have seen and probably the only maids I have ever seen."

Ram made a twitching sound of her lip seeing my jab from earlier still fresh from the morning.

Best moment of my life.

Next Rem started to speak professionally for my earlier comment, "Thank you very much guest for your humble words of gratitude."

Glancing over to Rem I gave her a big smile as I told the both of them, "No need clearly you take your duties seriously from what I have seen and your work is really inspiring."

While I was buttering up the twins I took a glance at Beatrice and tilted my head a bit seeing her?

Beatrice notice my staring at her I felt like some of my mana was being drained from around me as I countered it by simply draining the mana that was taken from me in the air surrounding me into me.

That seems to get her attention as I raised my eyebrow at her as I ask the obvious, "Say you're the one named Beatrice correct? You aren't exactly a human, aren't you?"

Beatrice just simply plays with Puck as she responds to me in an arrogant tone, "Hmph! I see that you aren't blind but surely that your no ordinary human I suppose."

Nodding my head to her I have no reason to lie at least about my race considering who I am currently.

As we continued eating I look over to Emilia and asked the question, "Say Emilia I know this seems a bit rude but can I ask when this Rosswaal person is coming because I don't want to surprise him if a stranger was here training magic was here he might assume that I was an invader."

However, that question was responded by Ram as she says to me in a blank voice, "Master Rosswaal-sama would arrive tomorrow at night and since Emilia has agreed to help you train in magic and language of our Kingdom I'm afraid you must wait till the master has arrived before we can begin."

Nodding my head towards Ram I understand that really since this is Rosswaal home after all better to not interfere with this as much until tomorrow.

With that in my mind I decided to ask the next question then, "Alright then if that is the case is it ok for me to leave a bit outside the mansion I'm quite curious where exactly am I?"

Emilia then asks me with her head tilted at my question, "Hmm…? Are you positive that would be wise sir Tatsumi, would you rather look around the mansion a bit I can guide you around if you like?"

Shaking my head to her I reply with my reason to her with a smile on my face as I explain to Emilia, "As much as I would like to honestly Emilia I afraid I'm going to decline it's just that I'm very excited to explore around the place but I bet the maids would be mad if I make a mess of the place and I personally don't want them to get in trouble if I break something when Rosswaal is not around so I thought I should explore the outside of the mansion if you two don't mind?"

Rem was the next to respond to me in a monotone voice of her opinion, "There would be no problem at all Tatsumi."

Ram was next to say her expression in a happy voice to match, "Yes it would be very troublesome if that were to happen so that is no problem at all Tatsumi, I hope much of your exploring."

Well looks like Ram is happy to see me leave this place well ok then.

With that we all finished our meals as Emilia left for her usual spirit training or contracts, Beatrice left with Puck in her arms in joy, and the twins went off to clean the place and do their choirs of the mansion.

As for me?

I'm going to the Sanctuary.

If I'm going to fight the other Sin Archbishops who else would be best to defeat them than a Witch help.

But first, as I was now outside of gates, I can see that the maids are staring at me with blank looks in their eyes.

What I plan to do I will no doubt get Rem on her bad side no matter what happens.

But I will do how I see fit to complete my goals.

With that, I traveled far enough distance away from the mansion as I quickly used my [Dark Speed] to get out of there.

I'm in no rush to learn magic from this world just yet first I have to set up some plans before meeting Echidna.

With that, I traveled a short distance all the way to the forest area of the village with the Demon Beast of Wolgrams nearby.

As I was in enough a safe distance away from the village and anyone from seeing I open up my [Dark Space] to reveal Elsa fully healed with some of my clothing fitting her as she also has some bag with food since I did save a lot of in my inventory.

Truly anything left in there is stuck in place as they were left unless I used my gravity of darkness to control it.

As Elsa has left the portal she says to me in a blank voice, "Master I thank you for your cooperation in saving me as well as feeding me truly a wonderful master!"

I still feel somewhat uncomfortable about all of this but I guess this is the best help I can get out of this.

Nodding to Elsa I told her my next set of orders to follow with a stern expression, "Alright Elsa the next step is to stop your sister from attacking the village and convince her through any means and say the 'Witch Hunter' has come to deal with 'Mother' for good."

Elsa bows to me as she says to me with a smile on her face, "Very well my master your wish is my command."

With that, she is gone from sight truly that woman is downright terrifying when she wants to.

But that doesn't matter anymore since I have her under control for the moment.

The sooner I deal with the Sin Archbishops, Great Three Demon Beasts, and another member the sooner I can leave in peace.

Although since Subaru isn't here to get Beatrice as his contract spirit…

It would be a real shame if she was left alone and even in the story, she was a suicidal person only wanting death to return to her mother…

…

Well, it looks like it's decided.

I will get Beatrice to be my contract spirit!

I won't leave her alone of her fate it's just too sad honestly plus she can be another help to our group whenever I go on missions, I would have another person with me ready to help out in the future.

So basically, I get two members to join for the price of one for this mission since I can hide Beatrice in my [Dark Space] to travel back with me to my own world.

But she won't come willingly unless I can convince her I'm the "They" in her gospel has been waiting for the only way to confirm this is that I have Echidna with me to support her to change Beatrice's mind.

Luckily, I have a solution for this dilemma I'm in.

If I remember correctly in the IF GREED story Echidna was able to listen in to Subaru with a black crystal pendent matching his heartbeat to Echidna, I think to be able to meet again in her Tea Party to talk.

Also, a good thing would be if I get Echidna to join me in hunting down the Sin Archbishops and beast from 400 years of knowledge, she doesn't have she will join just for a chance to see something interesting to happen.

Another thing I would still have the option to have her accompany me around my journeys even if she isn't a member it's good to have someone that is vastly smart on my side to decode the rules of different worlds.

With that done with it was time to test a theory if my [Yami Yami no Mi] can not only nullify any attacks but also magic time to see.

In that part of my mind it was time to test out my ability on the barrier.

As I had the idea to test it out, I began to quickly explore the land of Rosswaal in the process searching everything around the area through land and air at high speeds using my [Dark Speed] to see where I'm going.

Damn this place Rosswaal owns is surely a large amount of land he gotten…

Just as I was looking in the sky, I managed to find the place I was looking for from above the ground in the sky, "Bingo… finally found you Sanctuary."

The Sanctuary is a poor village located within Roswaal's territory which has been taken care of by the various Mathers over the years.

The village itself is a group of buildings located in a clearing within the forest and only halves live there it's surrounded by a short fence with an old stone gate at the entrance.

As I smile at this, I coated myself in my darkness as I try to absorb any surroundings of mana in the area, I managed to see my black mist absorb some kind of dome in the entrance.

Seeing this I took a chance as I dropped down while I fully equipped my armor on just as a safety precaution.

Never know what might happen best be safe after all it was created by the Witch of Greed to keep out someone.

Next I saw my surroundings as the magic from the barrier was trying to how should I say this exactly… interacting with me would be my words for this but as the same time rejecting my armor and absorbing in my darkness.

Remembering my knowledge about this barrier was created by Echidna that prevents halves from going through it.

Any halves that come close to it start to lose consciousness and feel as if their existence is being disturbed even if someone takes an unconscious half that has crossed the barrier, they will never awake outside the barrier as their spirit is trapped within it.

The barrier checks the blood of those that go near it and only affects those it clearly determines as half-bloods it also causes those who are not permitted to enter the Sanctuary to get lost.

But in my case, its already working trying to stop me it's just not meant to handle something from this world.

Incursio armor managed to stop literal viruses from entering the host body when they wear the armor and stops the likes of Dr. Stylish poisons as an example a virus is a very small as the size around nucleic acids and proteins or even smaller as possible.

Also taking into the equation that the mana that the barrier Echidna created was using mana to create it I can basically absorb it into my body if I wanted but nope I don't want the whole barrier I just made a hole large enough for me to slip through.

As I was getting down, I already made sure to absorb my 'scent' using my darkness mist don't want Garfiel Tinsel to figure me out that I'm here I even used my Incursio trump card invisibility to hide myself to be sure.

With that I quickly blended into the dark shades that the forest had during the day as I maneuver around the whole place till I finally found the place I was looking for…

The graveyard and tomb of the Witch of Greed Echidna…

Approaching my way towards the tomb during the day I sense that something was off like I don't know what I felt like a sudden urge of what madness for a second but soon subsided as it came?

Hmm…

Oh!

Now I remember during the day is when the tomb, miasma bars entry to anyone except those qualified to take her trials or for anyone who doesn't have a [Witch Factor] can participate for the job.

It looks like my darkness is even capable of absorbing the [Miasma] in the surrounding areas of the tomb.

I guess this is perfect then for me since Garfiel won't notice to look inside the tomb if an intruder was here.

Although I should be more careful around this [Miasma] stuff since the [Miasma] is normally harmless when it is in small doses, however in high density it will start having negative effects on all things; living beings with gates will be driven into madness, food will be polluted and go on to corrupt those who eat it and even Demon Beasts are attracted to those who give it off and will deliberately attack them.

But maybe I can use it somehow?

Like make my darkness gain the negative effects of the [Miasma] in my attacks?

Sigh…

The only way for me to meet with her is going to be me dropping my darkness absorbing the [Miasma] in the air for the Dark Spell to activate this is going to be a pain…

Shaking my head, I deactivated my Devil Fruit ability to absorb the [Miasma] as I was suddenly hit by something.

With that I entered inside the tomb with Incursio on as I go inside deeper to the tombs without my absorption but soon, I started to feel as if I was going to sleep…

~Third POV~

As Tatsumi was caught off from the sudden sleepiness from the tomb…

The [Miasma] in the air started to harm Tatsumi the only way it knew how but suddenly was stopped as the armor began to move stiffly changing itself to the new environment it was in…

Surely enough in the next few seconds the [Miasma] that was previously trying to harm anyone with a [Gate] simply stopped as the armor in question began to emit the same stench from the surroundings.

Adapting to the changes in order to ensure its and the host survival…

A woman with barely-exposed skin was porcelain-like and pure white, so white that it seemed any semblance of color had been completely bleached from her existence her black eyes shone with intellect and were the only part of the woman that looked alive and her long straight hair reached down to her back and was as white as her skin. and a black butterfly hairpin.

The only parts of her body that were visible was her head, neck, and hands, as the rest of her figure was wrapped in clothing most of the time and the contrast between her black clothing and the whiteness of her skin helped express her striking beauty.

This woman in her 19-year-old spirit body 400 years ago was the Witch of Greed Echidna.

The [Witch Factor] of Greed was approved by the tomb holder Echidna as she recognizes the [Witch Factor] being used.

So, by using her [Dark Spell] on Tatsumi and viewing the change happening from the armor and the boy itself from her viewpoint.

The Witch of Greed merely smiled at the scene waiting for the person she sent the invite to Tatsumi to come over to her domain [Castle of Dreams] as she says in a curious tone, "This is certainly an interesting development… interesting… interesting…"

The Witch of Greed smiled at this wondering what Tatsumi wanted and smiled readily for his 'Tea Party'…