Transcendence - Part 1

"Sigh, while informative it still doesn't tell me how strong you are," Rin muttered as he retrieved Scarlet from his multi-K and placed it on his lap.

[Relax, Rin I am sure with time we will uncover this mystery, so just be patient and wait for the Main System to deem you worthy of an actual System.]

'It seems that the only thing I can do for now,' Rin thought as remembered the system prompt that appeared when he shook Scarlet's hand.

[A weapon created during the Ancient Era by ??? which has been sealed by a Wither Monk from Forgotten Mist.]

"Scarlet… Oh Scarlet, just what secrets hid within that raging inferno." Rin wondered as he traced his finger along Scarlet's blade in a trance before shouting, "Ouch!"

After he cut his finger causing blood to stain the scythe's blade yet before he could wipe it away the scythe suddenly absorbed it, unleashing a flash of light that nearly blinded him as a tiny purplish-black runic circle appeared on the handle of the scythe.

Which was not there earlier and only appeared after Rin accidentally cut himself like an idiot, leading to the emergence of a disk with thirty-three spinning glyphs. That was divided into three segments which each had eleven glyphs in each section known as Mythical, Celestial, and Divine.

However, only Mythical lit up as one of its glyphs turned from gray to red, while the others remained the same, a sign that Rin managed to break one of the nine seals upon Scarlet's body.

"Wow, what is this?!" Rin exclaimed as he tried to touch the spinning wheel yet whenever he did his hand would just go right through it as if it were but a mirage.

Until it just vanished and disappeared back into the scythe, which began to shrink shortly afterward until it transformed into a runic sleeve of a serpent and imprinted itself on Rin's left hand.

[Hmm… for a weapon created in the Ancient Era it should not just be of the Hell Tier? Yet, for it to be of a higher tier it would need to have gained a mark of Chaos and Destiny. Plus were not Wither Monk's all killed after the end of the Dark Era.]

"Is something the matter, Rose?" Rin asked, a bit shocked by what had just occurred.

[Sorry about that I got lost in my thoughts for a moment there… yet at least we now know that Scarlet is a Hell-ranked weapon at the bare minimum.]

"True… but I wonder when I'll be able to talk to its spirit again."

[In due time, Rin I assure you.]

***

Meanwhile, at an internet café in downtown Japan…

A young adult male with white hair and heterochromia eyes could be sitting by himself as he drank some black coffee and munched on a bagel. Whilst scrolling through Instagram as he waited for someone to arrive.

Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.

While a group of girls sitting a few tables away from him giggled like fangirls as they sneakily took photos of him. Before they had to stop following the arrival of a lady next to them who smiled menacingly as she threatened them.

"I know my friend over there might not care, however, if you dare…"

'Sigh, just what is Alex doing now?' Angel wondered as he looked up and saw Alex talking to the group of girls who were beyond scared for their lives as they immediately apologized for their insolence.

Before getting up and dashing toward the door never to glance at a handsome model again least Alex comes and scares the shit out of them.

"So, what was that about?" Angel asked as he turned off his phone and glanced at Alex.

"Who knows," Alex shrugged, "But how have you been, Angel?" She asked curiously as she heard he got a new mission, but this one required him to disguise himself as a student and sneak into Forbidden Blood.

"I've been doing alright, how about you?" Angel replied with a smile.

"I'd say the same, but damn is it always like this?" Alex asked irritated she had left her precious puppies home due to Japan's new regulations for foreigners.

"Nope, but with the recent withdrawal of all troops overseas and the Grand Minister returning from Unity, things are bound to get hectic and fast. Since no one managed to discover the person responsible for that phenomenon 10 years ago," Angel stated as he knew with time the situation was bound to get worse in the future.

"Angel, please tell me the president is still in a coma as I do not think the world is ready for World War V!" Alex exclaimed as she grabbed ahold of Angel.

"Last I checked he's still in a comatose state, Alex so there's no need to worry," Angel stated as Alex let go of him.

"That's good to hear… hopefully, he stays like that for the next decade or two," She muttered with a grin as she knew if that man awoke, it would be like WWIII all over again.

***

The next morning…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"RIN! We got somewhere to be in the next hour so get your ass up and come downstairs for breakfast! As we don't have all day, mister, also do remember to pack enough clothing and essentials as this trip might take a while," Adam shouted before heading downstairs to get a quick workout which consisted of a 10-mile run, one hundred pushups, sit-ups and squats while under a gravitational force ten times greater than Earth's.

"Yes, sir!" Rin shouted instinctively as he got up and made up his bed, meditated for 15 minutes then walked into the bathroom to freshen up and take a quick cold shower.

Which didn't take long as afterward he changed into a white tee, black shorts, and sneakers before quickly packing and heading downstairs for breakfast. Which consisted of zither blueberry pancakes, thunder pig sausages, and a side of scrambled Devil eggs today. 

Along with either a glass of fresh orange juice or some red rose tea, that only Cherry and Crystal drank as Rin was not really in the mood for tea.

***

An hour later…

"So, Dad where exactly are we heading, at a time like this?" Rin asked after thanking Cherry for the food and kissing his mom goodbye.

"You'll know once we reach there, Rin." His Dad replied as they passed the ancestral temple and walked deeper into the mountain range behind the Kurama Clan.

Until they stumbled upon the ruins of a fallen civilization as clusters of broken buildings, shrines, and craters littered the earth as far as the eye could see. Except for a small clearing, a couple meters away from them where a lonely building was still intact while everything else around it was in ruins. 

Highlighting that even the greatest of empires will one day fall, becoming another tale told by future historians generations later.

"So just what is this place?" Rin asked curiously as his eyes shined with a keen interest in the story of this once-prosperous region.

"Who knows, but do remember this Rin, 'it's never the cards you dealt, but always how you play the hand,' understand that and you should be able to navigate life without an issue," Adam stated as he glanced at his son before punching the ground.

BOOM!

Revealing a hidden passageway that spiraled downward leading them to a well-lit underground chamber, which had the interior space of a two-bedroom apartment but the height of the two-story house.

"So, Dad do you come here often?" Rin asked as the place did not seem like this was the first time someone had entered it since from what he could see it was mostly clean and did not have any cobwebs or dust.

"Rin, could you please just stay silent for a moment as I can't afford to fuck this up!" His father shouted as he messed around with a weird machine that was connected to this strange circular platform. 

That was ten feet tall and fifteen meters wide with countless strange marks embedded within it, that lit up like fireworks on the 4th of July after Adam succeeded in turning the machine on.

"I promise to tell you what this place is once we return, however, for now, stay silent and watch what happens," Adam shouted after pressing a red button on the weird machine.

"Sigh, okay..." Rin said as he suppressed his curiosity and watched with interest as the weird machine began producing a buzzing noise just as a blue blob of energy appeared in the center of the machine.

Before it grew to fit its hollow interior that projected, the scene of a city surrounded by a mountain range which was currently celebrating a joyous occasion as people could be seen drinking and dancing like fools on high on life.

While tamed beasts swam in the clouds as fireworks exploded in the sky one after another in an assortment of colors and shapes.

"Dad, come on at least tell me, what this strange device is?"

"Fine, it's called a Stargate, a once-famous spatial device that now only Asia, New England, America, and I believe Unity have in their possession. That can teleport an individual wherever they wanted to go in the world and current universe, as long as they had the coordinates of the place they wanted to go."

"Damn! So could it..." Rin was about to say before the Stargate suddenly expanded devouring both him and Adam like a treat in Pac-Man, who appeared silently next to Rin and allowed the device to do its job.