Chapter 5:First Encounter

Reeling in disbelief, Borj took a step back.

He realized a few things:

One, he would probably survive due to the mysterious seal that was placed on him which saved him the other day when he went to the temple. However, he would lose the assistance of the illusory book and would lose the chance to become strong.

Two, he noticed that the red moon had disappeared, replaced by a silver light in the sky.

This...it's probably a concealed world, and so I cannot leave without first defeating the creature.

He had ideas, but he had to confirm his suspicions to formulate a plan.

Three, the mysterious bird-like creature was keeping its distance, staying on a tree in front of him, quite a distance away. He thought about that, but didn't jump into any conclusions, as it could mean that the creature was afraid of coming close to him, or the it was trying to bait him into making a move.

Right now, the only remaining trump cards Borj had were his thinking and the illusory book.

As he thought about all this, the illusory book opened.

Fool's Gambit it is. It is very brave of you. I want to see what you will come up with. As it is a ritual, I will not be providing help. Good luck, Omoru Otti.

Borj's countenance fell. He could only rely on his brain to get out of this.

He gripped his gun tightly, aiming at the bird-like creature.

All of a sudden, the memories of Calidi telling him of his imminent expulsion surfaced.

The thoughts of confusion and worry flooded his mind.

He felt fear and anger. Fear towards the creature, and anger at his inability to turn the tables.

This is weird. Why are my emotions so imbalanced right now? Is there something affecting them? Is that part of its powers, which will in turn, affect me? It knows it cannot kill me, so it's trying to make me overreact and shoot it, using that to distort reality and kill me?

That might be it, but I need to confirm it. I'm not so sure. I'm sure it'll be surprised after I call it out.

Borj threw this thought at the back of his mind, suppressing the urge to call the monster out.

All this time, the creature had been watching him. It watched the boy aim the gun at it.

Yes. Yes! Shoot me! Seal your fate!

The creature thought happily. This boy was weak after all.

....

Calidi woke up suddenly, feeling uneasy.

She got out of her tent and walked around, looking at the others' tents to see if they were asleep. So far everyone was in, sound asleep.

She looked into Borj's tent, half expecting him to have gone away. She had purposely told him about sending him away to see what he would do, expecting that he would leave, hurt and wounded psychologically.

She wasn't surprised to see that the tent was empty.

She thought of looking for him, but quickly got rid of that idea. She needed to stay to protect the rest.

As she walked back to her tent, she felt the ground shake softly. She decided not to sleep yet and watch for any accidents that might happen.

.....

Borj aimed, but he did not act on his intention to shoot. Noticing the creature was watching him without doing anything else, he lowered his gun.

Smiling, he waved his hand at the creature.

"I almost shot at you just now. That might be what you were waiting for, right?"

The creature tilted its head and looked at him. It was comical, as Borj was not directly looking at it. All the anger and fear he had had disappeared.

"You do realize that any choice you make will result in me killing you, right? I then would go to your friends and kill them. That young lady for example..."

Borj cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah. Trying to get a rise out of me. I noticed you weren't making any moves on killing me, putting me in despair. That's what you want, right?

"I know you can't kill me, since I'm under protection. I'm fairly certain you know that, and yet you still tried to come kill me. This means that you have means to make me kill myself, as any external attempts at killing me would result in failure.

"Suicide, on the other hand, is permitted. So, that's part of your power, right? By putting me in a precarious emotional state, you could make me shoot you, which would then result in me shooting myself.

"If the simple act of distorting the bullet's trajectory was enough, you would've killed me the first time. I'm guessing that you rely on my emotional state to control me. Now, what if I was fairly confident in killing you? What would you do?"

The bird-like creature screeched, saying in a lower voice than usual:

"You might've figured it out, but I still am powerful. I still have other ways to lay waste to you."

Borj laughed, bending in a fit of laughter. This statement had indirectly confirmed a thought he had.

Why had it only attacked when I was alone? If it truly was strong, wouldn't it have killed everyone in one go?

I doubt this is a strong being. It might seem terrifying at first glance, but it's really not that strong, strong enough to kill everyone by itself easily. At least, not right now. If it can beat everyone, then it needs time. This might not even be the main body. It should be inside the temple, unconscious. Otherwise, if it was conscious, it would come itself, or send stronger avatars. This must be the strained , filtered will that it has, and it is being threatened by me, because of the seal. Or the book.

It might not be the book; I'm not really sure.

Borj suddenly frowned. He slapped his cheeks, exhaling slowly. Why did he think the creature wasn't strong? He couldn't beat it through conventional means since he wasn't even a Sorcerer!

He realized that the thoughts might have been influenced by the creature's powers.

Overconfidence was a sin, after all.

The bird-like creature screamed, shattering many of the birds that were perched on various trees. It then grew significantly in size.

Watching this, Borj suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He aimed at one of the eyes on the tree, then pulled the trigger. The eye exploded, thick blood flowing from the wounded eye- at least, what was left of it.

For the briefest of moments, the crimson moon returned, and Borj did not waste the opportunity. He bolted towards the temple, a plan forming in his mind.

The creature spread its wings in exasperation. It had created a 'painting' to seal the boy and create a concealed world, and in a length of time that could not be called long, the boy had broken through it.

Its biggest trump card had been foiled, that being the altering of emotions, it could not believe that the boy could break through the limitations.

To it, this boy truly was dangerous, despite not being a Sorcerer.

Borj felt relief flood his brain. He had a suspicion that the eyes had something to do with the concealed place, but he had not expected it to have such serious disfunctionality.

If there had been no reaction to him shooting the eye, he would have been devastated.

As he did not know the power level of the creature, he did not wish to bring calamity to the jungle encampment. The smaller siblings would be injured, and he did not want that.

He ran towards the bloody temple,his heart beating madly inside him.

At the very least, it's only me who'll be hurt. I know the seal will come in effect at the crucial moment, so I don't have to worry too much.

I do feel tired, though.

As he ran, he noticed the towering monster above him, and he blindly shot at it, trying to regulate his emotions.

The bullets missed as the monster dodged, but this gave Borj a little more time and distance between them.

The bloody birds constantly picked at him, tearing his flesh in small places, but Borj could not stop.

He had to reach the temple if he wanted to have a chance in beating the monster.

"You really think you have a chance at beating me by creating chaos? You're dead wrong, child. I will devour you completely!"

The birds increased in intensity, almost drowning Borj. He shot wildly around him, causing several birds to fall down, never to get back up again. This gave him a brief respite.

He had decided as soon as he got out of the concealed world that he would risk his life to try destroy the monster.

He wanted to know about his history and past from the book, but he considered not trusting it, as it could have ulterior motives, or could be lying. That was an issue he was willing to deal with after he survived.

If he survived.

Additionally, he thought about the family that had given him shelter for the past several days. He was grateful for them, and so he decided to try save them himself and mitigate damage towards them.

Of course if there was any other way, he would gladly take it.

However, for now, he was too weak.

As the jungle cleared up, he saw the temple, the feeling in his chest tightening.

It was a sinking behemoth that stank of blood, looking imposing and crimson in the red moonlight.

He felt the attractive force pulling him towards it, but this time he did not resist.

Somewhere in his mind, an illusory book outlined itself, opening.

You have walked into the dragon's lair, running straight into death. Your plan is to sow chaos and instability, but will you be able to survive the ordeal?

Omoru Otti, you are one reckless being.

This is the Blood Temple of Hate, and it is the manifestation of the Emissary of Rot's dreams and emotions. As you aptly noticed, this monster makes use of emotions as a core tenet of its strength and power.

Any display of hate would imply your loss.

Let's see how you play this, BlessChild.

Borj reached the edge and leaped in, falling sharply towards the middle of the temple. The birds had long merged with the temple, waiting for him inside in the form of disgusting monsters.

The bird-like monster with six pairs of eyes reached there, closely watching the boy.

To it, this was an easier plan than killing the boy in the open, as the temple was its home ground.

It wanted to lure him here but couldn't, and so opted to go meet the boy and kill him.

Instead, the boy had chosen to bring himself to it.

He sure was perceptive, but he would die all the same.

The fight had just begun.