Chapter 23: Ciel and Preparations

Ciel walked over the roads of the black market. He approached a seemingly ordinary building, at a glance that is. But the information he got as he was finding the place he was looking for, was here.

This is the place where many information converge and release, The Seers.

Probably a cryptic way and grand way to avert their status as information brokers, Ciel snorted as he thought of the title. He fixed his mask as he knocked at the door.

"Hello?" Ciel knocked and greeted.

"Who goes there?" A husky voice came out at the other side of the door, it felt creepy.

"A random man, looking for the visions of future." Ciel pronounced carefully under the mask. This was their sign of some sorts.

"What kind of vision do you seek?" The husky voice asked in response.

"Vision of beyond mortal plains, lie that dimensions of different lives." Ciel said carefully. A requirement for their services was to be cryptic. He didn't know why, and he felt that they wanted to be mysterious.

"Do you have the price for your askance?" The husky voice asked once again.

"A price is but not a problem, only if your vision satisfies my needs." Ciel replied immediately upon asked. The funds he was going to use were from the agency. He wouldn't spend his money for a huge reason.

The husky voice did not reply any longer, after a minute or so, it came back: "Come in."

Ciel prepared himself as fixed his mask, he twisted the doorknob and opened the door for the room to see. Before he could even focus however, his arm got dragged in.

"Some might peek." A husky voice resounded below Ciel.

"And why does that matter?" Ciel asked in curiousity. The husky man was a small person, only at the height of his waist. He was like a dwarf, not like he actually had seen one in real life.

"Don't ask, now go to the teller." The small man said in a husky voice as he took a step aside, the cloak he was wearing covering his whole body.

"Fine." Ciel surrendered with a sigh. He looked at the area. Surpsingly it was a large area, at the middle was an orb. He had no clue what the orb does, but it feels mystical for a reason.

At the walls were several doors of different titles, attributing to the different information provided by the organization. He looked at each sign and found the one he needed.

Daemon Dimension, or Demon Dimension, whatever is it called, he didnt care, Ciel thought as he moved forward to the door. He looked at the back before opening the door.

He was shocked. There were other cloaked figures standing besides the room, even he, who is trained and practiced at such scenarios completely failed to notice them.

That was enough for Ciel to ascertain their danger level to much higher degrees. While he was no special among other agents, he was trained more gruefully and cruelly and survived.

Without a further a do, he twisted the door knob once more and the area was on his eyes to see. It was a road, long cramp road, at some distance you can see a stall.

A small stall, with two cloak figures on it. One was at the seat, the other was standing.

They must be the ones, Ciel thought as moved forward. The path was dark and cramp, the only light was the stall beyond.

Ciel frowned, why did they have to make this so tiring? It made no sense at all.

After a minute of walking or so, he finally arrived at the front of the stall. He was going to be honest, this organization felt more like a cultist group than a typical information breaker org.

The former was more dangerous and volatile than the latter, they were assessed as things that should be taken down on notice.

But if he thought about it straight, this organization was practically famous. If his agency had never heard of it, then they were dumb as hell. And Ciel was sure he didn't take a job from dumb people.

So the only conclusion he reached was, this was mysterious for another reason all together, and it's not a cultist group. Ciel thought as he took a seat, facing the cloaked figure.

Both were at silence, waiting for each other to speak about their needs.

"Information." Ciel immediately said, the silence was unnerving and horrible.

"About what vision?" The cloak figure answered cryptically.

"About the Massacre Rumor." Ciel replied upon asked.

The cloaked figure simply nodded and took out a small orb. The orb was plain. The cloaked figure stretched both hands as it held onto the orb, chanting an unknown mantra.

The orb changed, for was it a future vision, past or present? Unknown, but it showed a scene. A horrible scene.

"The rise of madness, the one you are searching for is the start of apoca—" The cloaked figure hurriedly answered, as panic was intergrained in his voice, however he paused as he coughed blood.

Cough! Cough!

"What is it?!" Ciel stood up, as he slammed his hands on the table. He heard that right, apocalypse? What was that?

"I cannot say further, just know that you have a high chance of death upon traversing the thin line of madness." The cloaked figure spoke in a cryptic way as it gestured to the other cloaked person to come.

"Chance of death, how?" Ciel asked as he calmed himself. This was disturbing. Madness that? madness this, what does it have to do with the massacre rumor? Perhaps the humans that gone and killed others were mad?

"I do not know, but know this," The cloaked figure spoke as it held the orb, showing it to Ciel, "The thing you search is connected to madness, and you should die if the foreigner decides your life is not worth."

"...I don't understand." Ciel answered in response. Frankly, he didn't understand. He was also taking these things with a grain of salt. Death, yes, oh death. It was everywhere, and why should he believe a remark from a person he never met?

"You will eventually," The cloaked figure muttered, it's hands trembling from what it saw on the orb, "Eventually."

The atmosphere turned into silence, an unnerving silence. The stall's light source flickered, as Ciel wondered about the future. The cloacked figure trembled before the orb.

—

Rio opened his eyes as he woke up. Weekends had come again, it was now time for his second plan. That was to train and practice in the demon dimension.

He needed a lot for this trip frankly. A temporary weapon, and skills to use. He hadn't need to worry about skills, over the past week, as he saw the insane skill showcase of both Arcuied and Eugene he impatiently synchronized skills to use.

The skills were prepared, and the weapon he brought was a steel wand. The one he brought on his last trip.

He breathed deeply, the place he was going to go to was the Demon Dimension.

A place overruled by the tyranny of demons, and constant war between humans and demons. The demon's actual territory base is quite far and a distant place away.

The Demon Dimensions are just worlds that were conquered and thrown as pile of rotting lands by the demons. It was world used as a war between demons and other races.

There were many Demon Dimensions, and the first appearance of one was where King Arthur was held as a King. In the present there are a total of plenty of more Demon Dimensions remained unconquered.

The inside of the dimension was filled with erratic danger of all kinds, whether human greed or demon malice. Both were prominent at the dimension. The only incentive people were after at going inside the dimensions was the benefits it bring.

It had legacy of all kinds, it had treasures of past civilizations, It had skills of unknown origins, It had mystical places. It was a bee hive of opportunities. Everyone seeked for that.

That aside, what does happens if you do conquer a Demon Dimension? You will be offered a reward by Conscious Will of The World itself.

Whether it was skill, or weapon, anything from your choosing that was possible. It was like a grand wish by god. But the granter was less of a god, and more of but a consciousness.

As for the Conscious Will of The World? The idea of it was barely explained in the novel, the only thing that Rio knew from it was it was like the mind of a world.

Putting all that aside, it was time. The demon dimension, he was finally actively entering the throes of death itself. Rio thought as he chuckled.

He stood up and prepared. For better or for worse, he knew one thing that was certain. This trip was going to change him. A change of revelation or power.