Something is Wrong

"George! What do I do? I can't get out!" Hester frantically banged against the barrier, but not even a ripple appeared. It seemed to be extremely solid despite being invisible. Not even Hester's sound waves could escape.

George stopped a foot away along with the three behind him.

"Do we have to go in and rescue him?" Abe asked, appearing very hesitant.

"*sigh* This became more complicated than I was hoping. Looks like we'll be off schedule for a little bit." George looked at the castle behind Hester and then at him.

"Well, not to worry. Luckily this anomaly happens to be on the weaker end of the danger five spectrum. Even without my help, he'll be fine so long as he finds the key. Since him being in here delays our time, I'll come in to assist him. I know the key's location so it won't take long."

"You're going in? What about us?" Emma looked at her own party members.

"You three can just wait outside. Considering I know where the key is, it'll only take twenty minutes at most." George began to walk forward.

"Will you be alright?" Bernice asked concerningly.

"There's nothing in there to threaten us. I disabled all the traps when I was there last time. With Hester by my side, the chances of anything bad happening are even lower. Don't worry." George expressed his absolute confidence.

"Good luck then." Said Abe, looking warily at the castle mansion.

George walked forward and phased through the invisible barrier.

The winds stopped and there was an eerie silence as if time had frozen here.

"You came in to rescue me?" Hester felt relieved seeing George come over.

George nodded and said, "I've been in here before so I know the key's location. With me being here, you won't have to worry about any dangers and we'll be out in twenty minutes at most."

"Thank goodness then." Hester let out a big sigh of relief as his pale face returned to normal.

He had been terrified they would leave him behind and he would be stuck in here forever. With George coming over and having prior experience, he could rely on him to leave.

George waved at the three before walking in the direction of the castle mansion. Hester closely followed behind, slightly scared of anything that may come out.

As they walked through the still prairie, the rustling was the only sounds they could hear. There was absolutely no other sound. It was incredibly unnerving.

The castle quickly grew large, with the front entrance coming into view.

Something was maintaining and keeping the place clean.

A clean cobblestone road comes into existence at the edge of the barrier, leading to the front entrance which consists of a large polished double door. The cobblestone road curves around a central fountain.

The central fountain has a statue of an unknown figure where the water supposedly comes out.

Along the cobblestone road lined many trimmed trees each separated by the same distance. Near the entrance, the trees turned into trimmed hedge bushes and many unique plants.

The two stepped onto the cobblestone road and approached the fountain.

"Something isn't right here. The fountain had no water the last time I was hear." As the two came close, the sound of water splashing out the top and into the pool of water below brought life to the eerie silence.

"Is that bad?" Hester felt concerned again.

"I don't know." He shook his head, "This only applies to anomalies with non-biological physical exteriors, but they are generally unchanging. Unless someone came here and put water inside or the anomaly did it, then I don't know."

George approached the edge of the fountain and peered into the water.

The water was a pristine clear without any impurities and it even reflected George's face.

Hester was about to walk over and peer into the fountain as well but George raised his hand behind him to stop.

A terrifying demonic aura was released from George's body and caused the surrounding air to tremble. Hester was nearly thrown back as he unconsciously raised his hands to block his face.

"Don't look into the water, it is dangerous." In a calm voice, George turned around with his glowing red iris'. His aura reached the heavens and seemed to impact against the barrier, causing it to gently ripple. The amount of [Aura] was enough to become visible as it moved around George.

The air crackled as black lighting moved around him like miniature snakes.

The common silver ring on his right index finger glowed a silver radiance.

"W-What's going on George?! W-What is that aura?!" Hester nearly crapped his pants. He felt like an ant in front of his [Aura]. It was like a demonic lord had descended from the heavens.

"Sorry, something tried to infiltrate my body so I had to use it." George's left eye glowed brighter as a glowing black object was forced out. It had a strange worm-like shape.

George's aura suddenly doubled in power and size as the ring glowed brighter.

The tactic seemed to not work as the strange worm was only pushed farther.

He frowned and unsheathed his dagger, slicing the weird creature in half. The worm-like creature dissipated into nothing.

After it disappeared, George's aura retreated into his body like a tide. The ring returned to normal as the pressure disappeared. HIs eyes returned to normal. It was like it had never happened.

"W-What the hell are you George?! What was that [Aura]?! Shouldn't that be a low-grade skill? Why is it so demonic?" Hester suddenly felt terrified of him.

"It's complicated, but think of it as residue demonic energy from when I was in Diabolus."

George backed away from the water with a serious expression while holding his dagger.

"Something is seriously wrong here. That worm-like thing has traces of laws."

--------------------------------------------------------------

"What are they doing in there?" Abe muttered to himself as he tried peering at the front entrance.

"I don't know. It looked like Hester was blown back for some reason, but everything looks fine." Emma had casted a zoom-in spell to see a closer look.

"I hope they'll be fine." Bernice was worried about the two, especially George the most.

They could not feel George's aura or see it because of the interference field. They had no idea what was going on inside.