Ch 59:- To the Pure (Part-II)

As they ascended the rugged hill, their eyes were fixed on the horizon, eagerly anticipating the breathtaking view that awaited them. Step by step, they climbed higher, their hearts beating with the rhythm of the earth beneath their feet. And then, at last, they reached the summit.

From that lofty vantage point, the world unfurled before them like a grand tapestry woven by the hands of the divine. The river, a ribbon of silver, wound its way through the valley below, its gentle current caressing the verdant banks on either side. The shelter, a distant speck on the opposite shore, looked like a haven of peace and serenity, nestled among the trees.

With a sense of wonder and awe, they gazed upon the beauty of the world around them. The sunlight danced upon the water, casting sparkling jewels in its wake. The trees swayed in the breeze, their leaves whispering secrets to the sky. The hills, like ancient giants, stood tall and proud, their peaks piercing the heavens.

In that moment, they felt like actors in a grand stage play, with the world as their audience. They breathed in the sweet scent of the earth and felt the wind caress their skin. They listened to the music of the world, the rustling of leaves and the babbling of the river. And in that symphony of sound and sight, they found their souls uplifted, their spirits soaring like eagles.

For a time, they stood in silence, drinking in the beauty of the world around them. But the silence of the beauty was broken when the young man who was with them said, "Quit gazing like you have never seen such a thing and help me with this." Erin wanted to complain that she hadn't seen anything like this before but couldn't, as she still needed to make a good first impression if she was going to stay with them for a while. As she moved her eyes from the scenery and looked at what the man was doing to help him, she saw that he was digging the earth with his bare hands. Although he was tearing pieces of the ground away, he made it look like he was just shifting piles of sand away. Erin looked at the floor where the man was digging and then looked at his hands, which were covered with dirt. At least he was wearing a pair of gloves, but she only managed to bring her sword, which always stayed around her waist. Unwillingly, she took a step forward to help him. When she heard Rayne say something to her, she looked at the scabbard of her sword with some sympathy, not wanting to dirty it before using it to actually dig at that moment. She started to dig with it.

Erin's heart leapt with a sudden buzzing sound that filled the air. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes darting to the source of the noise. High above them, a massive dragonfly-like creature hovered, its wings beating with furious energy. The creature was unlike anything Erin had ever seen before. Its body was massive, covered in intricate patterns of red streaks, and its movements were swift and graceful.

As Erin watched, transfixed, the creature abruptly swooped down towards a smaller dragonfly, its green-streaked wings beating frantically in an attempt to evade its pursuer. But it was no use. With a sudden burst of speed, the massive creature closed in on its prey, biting off its head in a swift, brutal motion. The sound of crunching bones and tearing flesh filled the air as the creature began to feast on its meal, settling onto the rugged hilltop with an almost lazy ease.

Suddenly, Erin heard a silent warning from Rayne saying, "It is looking at us. Be ready." She immediately got into a stance, but then, with a burst of incredible speed, the creature charged towards them. She almost instinctively went to cast an ice spike from below, hoping to hit the beast. However, to her dismay, she realized that she no longer had her powers, and time was running out. The creature was mere inches away with no time for her to act.

But then, she felt a hand on top of hers, and it moved with such fluidity and speed that it hit the beast right on its head, piercing its compound eyes. However, that didn't end it. The creature went for a rabid bite, but Erin immediately ducked down and kneed the beast's chin, which had no effect. She then withdrew her sword and jumped back.

At that moment, the young man had jumped up and went to pierce the creature's head. Luckily, he was able to do it probably due to him dealing with such beasts and having prior knowledge about them. He then pushed the sword down like a pin right on top of its head. Its wings stopped in an instant, and the beast was dead. The young man dug his hand into the place where he pierced it and took out a clear-looking crystal before pocketing it.

Erin looked on in awe as she wondered how a person without abilities could be so strong, but her bubble was burst when Rayne spoke, "Don't start fanboying over him while I'm here, and don't forget I just saved you a few minutes ago."

She could only grumble at that, but still, she was grateful, and she mouthed a thank you with a small smile. After that, the man went and removed the rest of the dirt, finally pulling out a large circular metallic device. Erin knew right away what it was; it was a teleporter, something often used by travelers and different factions.

After pressing a few buttons on the side, the portal opened up.

"Well, are you ready to meet your new home?" the man asked.

Before she wasn't so keen, but after seeing the young man's actions, and having the reassurance that Rayne was with her, she felt much safer. Other than that, she was more intrigued with how the Pure trained to reach such a level. She stepped forward willingly.

But before they entered the portal, the man stopped her. "Take off the watch," he said.

"This, if you're worried about the school tracking me, they won't be able to, your member disabled it." Erin tried to explain. The man forcefully grabbed her wrist and snapped the watch off, then threw it onto the ground. "You're about to head into the Pure's base. We can't and won't take any chances."

At that Rayne could only growl but before he entered with them he picpoketed the crystal as well as chipped his sword beyond repair without him noticing.

After that, the man pulled Erin into the portal, and they disappeared out of sight. Rayne also entered the portal with them and disappeared, but he was already invisible, and invisible people can't disappear out of sight, what am I even saying?

After a few minutes, the teleportation had finished, and they found themselves on the other side. As Erin began to open her eyes, she was surrounded by blinding white light. As she looked around, she realized that they were in a white room. Concerned about Rayne's voice, she tried to whisper but felt a hand on her shoulder. She breathed a sigh of relief as she recognized the familiar touch. However, now that they were in the white room, she could faintly see distortions in the space as Rayne moved around.

Not wanting to get exposed and sensing a strong presence behind the white walls, Rayne sat down on the floor and made some hand signs to retract all his excess aura that was lingering around him inside his body. Although he was confident that they wouldn't be able to detect him, he felt it was always good to be cautious.

"Welcome, I hope James wasn't too rough on you," a female voice said through a speaker. Although the sound from the speakers sounded strange, it was as if it was coming from all directions, just like with Rayne's technique. However, Erin could distinguish that the sound had an electronic tint to it. At that moment, she received a transmission from Rayne saying, "This actually looks like a white room torture."

"What room?" Erin thought. "It doesn't sound right if it has torture in its name."

Erin's eyes darted around the room for an answer, but she couldn't find any. Finally, her eyes landed on James, who seemed to be walking towards one of the white walls. As soon as she stepped forward to follow him, James swivelled around and drew his sword, pointing it at her neck. The tip of the giant blade was only centimeters away from her throat.

"I'm afraid you will need to stay in the room for now," the speaker said. "Although one of our agents recommended you, there is still a chance that you might be a spy, you see. So we need to be absolutely positive before proceeding any further. After all, once you step outside of this room, Pure will be on the other side. I hope you understand."

Erin could sense that although her voice sounded soft and sweet, there was a threat behind it, and James pointing his sword only made it more apparent. Taking a step back, Erin proceeded to sit on the floor.

"I understand... whatever you need from me," she replied.

"Excellent, just stay in here for now, and someone will be here in a moment," said the female voice through the speaker.

In front of one of the white walls, James was standing there patiently. It seemed to automatically draw to the side and opened, and he left the room while Erin was left by herself, or so they thought.

Erin wondered, "If this is a torture room like Rayne suggested, then why did they keep me here? Is there any special reason, and why wouldn't they trust their agent who seemed to have such trust for them? This is confusing." As Erin kept on thinking, she once again heard Rayne speak. "What are you thinking so intently about? Share with me also," Erin heard Rayne and looked in his direction as if indicating if he was crazy or not. At that moment, Rayne spoke again, "Oh, I understand. Let me guess, then you are thinking why they do not trust one of their comrades, right?" Erin didn't say much, but it was apparent that she wanted to know only this. "I also don't know, but in the meantime, while I am here, maybe I can uncover some of their secrets."

A few minutes later, in complete silence, "This is frustrating," Rayne said. It had only been 20 minutes, but he could see that the room was slowly starting to have its effect on her.

"I can't tell her to meditate; it will only worsen the condition," Rayne thought. "Do you have any idea?"

[No!]

At that moment, Rayne thought of something and said, "Hey, can't you stream anime?"

[No]

Hearing this, Rayne was a little saddened but didn't give up. Instead, he went on to tell her a story that felt more like a mantra to Erin. He spoke in words that were not audible to normal humans because it would have been too loud if he had tried to vibrate his throat to create speech. Instead, he manipulated his blood aura to create it by vibrating her ear drums it would be as if she was wearing earphones. The more Erin heard it, the more she fell into a trance until eventually, the words started to become clear, and a mental image started to form in her mind. She closed her eyes to be fully engrossed in the story.

The mental image showed a beautiful woman with white hair and piercing blue eyes. Her dress had a plunging neckline that showed off the woman's ample cleavage, and it was slit up the thigh, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of her smooth, milky skin. As the woman moved, the dress swirled and flowed around her, drawing attention to every inch of her flawless form. Erin felt a flush of heat rise in her cheeks as she realized how captivating the woman's attire was and how it added to her already breathtaking beauty. It was as if the dress was a work of art crafted specifically to accentuate every curve and angle of the woman's body. The woman then drew a sword and started to perform a sword art. Erin watched in amazement as the woman moved with a grace and fluidity that seemed almost otherworldly. She twirled and spun her sword with effortless precision, her dress swirling around her in a mesmerizing display of beauty and skill. As she continued her sword dance and spin, Erin couldn't help but feel a strange sense of serenity as she watched her.

Erin's heart raced as she watched the woman move. It was as if she was witnessing a goddess in motion, a creature of myth and legend come to life before her very eyes. She felt excitement and admiration, the same kind she felt for the woman who saved her all those years ago. Suddenly, everything went black, and Erin was kicked out of the dream. She abruptly opened her eyes but got knocked out as she tried to stand up. Her brain was unable to keep up with the pressure and energy consumption. Rayne finished reading and said, "Syllabi one completed the way of water (reading in foreign language)."

~Few minutes earlier~

From outside the room two people were watching Erin, through what looked like a double-sided glass window that digitally projected a white wall appearance on the outside to match the room. Erin could not see them, but they could see her clearly. James, the person who had escorted Erin to this room, was one of them. The other was a slightly older woman, who looked to be in her late thirties. She had a short brown haircut and kept her hands behind her back while carefully observing Erin.

"How long do you think she'll last in there?" James asked.

The older woman looked at Erin carefully. Right now, Erin was still sitting on the floor with her eyes closed, giving off a relaxed look. However, if someone were to observe her face closely, they would notice her eyes twitching as if she were trying to concentrate on something.

"The longest someone has ever lasted in the anechoic chamber was one hour. She has done well to last half an hour already. She seems to be a strong-willed person," the woman replied.

The anechoic chamber was a soundproof room that went into negative decibels, disorienting one's senses if they stayed inside long enough. The sound of one's heartbeat becomes clearer, and the feeling of blood rushing around one's body is heard. Eventually, one fails to distinguish between reality and their own senses. Every new member of Pure had to go through this trial, which tested their mental power and state. It gave the organization an idea of their potential in the future. Specific task like infiltration often requires a strong mind.

As the two continued to observe Erin as the timer above them kept going. Fifty-six minutes had passed since Erin had entered the room, and her breathing slowed down. Suddenly, Erin opened her eyes, which had a bluish hue, and tried to stand up. But she stumbled and fell down, losing consciousness.

"Fifty-nine minutes," the old woman said, smiling. "Looks like we have a new prodigy in our hands. If only she had held on a little longer, she might have broken the record."

James rushed into the room, feeling the biting cold and seeing vapors coming out of his mouth. The room temperature had dropped to an incredible 5 degrees Celsius, but then it quickly returned to normal. Suspicious, James asked the technical team to turn on the infrared camera and check if anyone else was there. They found no one.

At that moment, the old woman entered and asked, "What happened? Did you see someone here?" She activated her Qi sense but could not detect anyone else besides Erin. She sighed in relief and eyed Erin suspiciously, saying, "Take her to the next area. We'll know if she really lost her ability or not."

James picked up Erin, and they left the room with the old woman. Meanwhile, in another area, specifically a washroom, Rayne's invisible form was panting, his face contoured as if he were suffering from extreme pain. He slowly started to relax as the area around him became bitterly cold. He then vomited a mouthful of blood, staining his invisible form. He looked at the mirror and said, "I guess I finally found a descendant for you, Lady Katherine."

After cleaning up and exiting the washroom, he didn't immediately return to Erin's side. Instead, he explored the whole place, observing individuals and how they were trained, as well as watching some members practice something known as Qi, which he was all too familiar with. When he watched them, he maintained distance so as not to get detected. He didn't realize it, but by the time he completed exploring the whole place, it was already evening and would soon be nighttime. The place was huge, and he realized that the whole thing was one massive ship, or to be more precise, a submarine. Not a normal submarine, but an abnormal one found only in sci-fi movies, novels, and video games. He was standing in front of their server grid and moved to one of the servers before opening it and attaching an external hard drive. He then placed his hand on it and asked his system to hack into the thing, copying all the valuable information. After 40 minutes of waiting, the transfer was finally done, and he exited from where he came and backtracked his way until he reached a room. It was a dorm room of sorts, and he touched the electronic door, which immediately opened. He entered the room and closed the door shut immediately. There, he saw Erin sitting on the bed in plain white pajamas. He then averted his eyes from her, searched the whole room for any cameras, but luckily, there were none. As he turned his attention back to her, he noticed that the room was quite small; there was only a bed along with a closet and a desk. At that moment, she spoke: "I am looking at you, dummy. I can see you, although you are a little blurry."

"Oh, sorry, I guess?" Rayne said as he canceled his invisibility, fully knowing that its duration was coming to an end.

There was an awkward silence, and Rayne went in and sat beside Erin. He asked, "So what happened when I was not there?"

"Nothing of great interest happened," Erin said as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Come on, tell me," Rayne said.

"Fine," Erin said with a smile as she went on and told him what happened after he left her.

After a while, she finished, and this time, she said, "What about you? What were you doing?"

"Well, I was just snooping around, peeking at files, copying all of their valuable info. Do you know that they have a policy that as long as you are a numbered pure agent, you could go outside? And can you realize that this whole place is actually a submarine?" Rayne said in one breath.

"Really? This is a submarine?" Erin said.

"Did you not hear about the part where you can leave this place as long as you are numbered?" Rayne said.

"So you think they wouldn't be coming to save me," Erin said as tears started to stream down her eyes.

"No, that is not what I meant. I was just trying to say that they are stuck with their own problems, and it may take more time for them to actually appear," Rayne said as he hugged her.

"What about you? Would you be leaving too?" Erin asked.

"Uhh... I will come to visit you often," Rayne said.

"You... nothing," Erin said but didn't complete it instead sighed. "I guess I am holding you back. You can go."

Rayne stood up but then turned around to ask her something, and then he suddenly felt something soft against his lips. His eyes widened in realization about what happened. Erin separated and said while blushing, "That is your reward for all that you have done for me today."

He touched his lips with his hand, still not coming to terms with what had just happened.

"Ah...uhhh... I will be using the bathroom to set up the station for teleportation. Is there any problem?" Rayne said, flustered and trying to avert what had just happened.

Erin looked confused, but then shook her head, telling him to continue. Rayne went to the door, opened it, and placed it on the other side of the door vertically. He then looked at Erin one last time before saying goodbye to her and activating the scroll, disappearing in motes of light as he appeared in his room.

Meanwhile, Erin covered her face and started muttering, "Oh god, why did I even do that? How can I do something like that? What if he thinks of me as a shameless woman? Oh no, but he started it. It was him who harassed me first, so it's fair." But she didn't notice that Rayne was standing just behind her.

"*Cough*..." Erin turned her head and saw that Rayne was still standing there.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but I only came to ask if you saw any weird dreams while I was telling you the story or anything," Rayne asked.

"Actually, yes. I guess I actually saw this woman who was wearing..." As Erin spoke, her words turned into unrecognizable muttering, and her face turned red.

"Hmm, I guess I'll tell you about it at a later date," Rayne said.

"Hey, don't go. How about you stay for a while before returning?" Erin said, stopping Rayne.

Rayne walked to the bed and sat, with Erin soon leaning on his shoulder as they sat in silence. Enjoying the moment of silence mainly Erin while Rayne was going through some books on his system hologram screen and soon enough both of them doze off falling asleep.