Chapter 50
"The moon child’s most divine creation."
He mumbled those words, staring intently at the intricate runes that lay before him. His pupils narrowed as he stared at the words longer.
"Moon..."
"Moon..."
Then his eyes widened, gleaming as they lightened up, and under his breath, he mumbled.
"Tsu... Tsu-Tsuki... Tsukiakari... She’s the only person I know nad after the moon who has ever had a close affiliation with the ability of Divine light."
He yawned and stretched his legs forward, falling onto his back on the bed. A silent, satisfied groan escaped his lips as he closed his eyes and then opened them to look at the runes once again. He could still see the runes with his eyes closed but preferred looking at them with his eyes open.
’If Tsukiakari did indeed create the Divine Light ability, then she most likely created the Divine Shadow ability as well. Strange how there isn’t any docuntation of how sorcery even ca to be in the first place; the art is treated like sothing that has existed since the beginning of ti.’
He heaved a sigh and closed his eyes once again, taking a deep breath. The wafting scent of incense instantly filled his nostrils, and before he could realize it, he dozed off, drowned in the embrace of sleep.
********
With a yawn, he woke up, a disdainful look on his face. He stared at the steadily ringing device he had on his wrist, its alarm echoing inside the room, and slapped it as hard as he could, cursing furiously under his breath.
’Damned alarm.’
He perford a short stretch, got down from the bed, and walked to his closet. After rummaging through it for a few seconds, he got hold of his bathrobe and took it out. With the robe in his hands, he turned around and casually walked to the window of his room.
He glanced through the window of his room—which overlooked the castle’s courtyard—up at the sky. The dawn was upon them, the horizon a gorgeous coral hue as the sun slowly peaked.
Once again, he yawned and then inhaled deeply, peering his face through the window. He gazed at the vibrant flowers in the garden—the lush greenery—and then at the obsidian statue that stood in its middle.
Along with the vibrant hue of the horizon, the garden, once magnificent, was now a picturesque vista that brought nothing but his admiration. He stared at it for a while longer and then gently retreated, changed into his bathrobe, and headed for the castle’s bathhouse.
It was a new day, and the aspiring sorcerers would have to get ready for the next test of their first demon hunt, and that included him.
After a while, he returned to his room, the thought of his Divine Light ability still lingering in his mind. He hadn’t had ti to completely check it and planned on doing so after he was done getting dressed.
He exited his room and walked through the familiar corridors. Making a few turns, he ascended a few stairs and soon arrived at the familiar stone steps Gekka had led him and Yuki through a day earlier. Walking up the steps, he finally arrived at his destination: the castle keep.
He t a few of the other children along the way, and more when he entered the castle’s keep. They were standing all over the place; so were talking to each other, while others stood by themselves.
He found a space by the edge of the keep and attached himself there, hoping to avoid being forced into a discussion with any of them. He could still rember how exhausting his conversation with the other heir had been for him; his face turned somber each ti he thought about it.
Isolating himself from the rest of the crowd, he continued to watch while checking on his system. There were still a few things he had to go through.
Rank: Awakened]
Dark Essence: 59/10000]
He received ten essence for creatures of the sa rank as him, and getting the last hit on the demon a day ago brought up his progress by the sa number. With a sigh, he dismissed the system and continued to subtly glance around the keep.
Soon, as he continued to observe the group of children gathered in the castle’s keep, many more of them ca rushing in, and then ca the mont they had all been waiting for.
Adept Hakuro finally arrived, moving forward toward the raised platform at the end of the keep with grace truly worthy of a noble. He ascended the platform and gazed down at the children with a stern expression.
After that, he cleared his throat and spoke; his voice was imposing and serious.
"It is an honor to have you aspiring exorcists here once more. I am Adept Sorcerer and Exorcist Hakuro Hiraboma, and I’ll be supervising the second test of your first demon hunt... Now for your second test..."
The sorcerer paused abruptly, causing gumi to tense up, watching keenly as he raised his hand and opened his palm wide to the children watching him.
And then...
... Suddenly he felt a strange feeling grasp him, like a part of him had suddenly vanished. His eyes widened, and instinctively he stretched out his hand and opened his palm, waiting for his weapon to be summoned, but nothing happened.
’What the...’
He shifted his gaze and glanced around the keep only to see the other children staring at their empty palms in a daze, all as perplexed as he was. Whatever his dilemma was, they were sharing the sa fate.
Giving him little ti to think, Hakuro’s voice resounded once more.
"For every warrior, the body is the paramount instrunt of war, and whatever armants you wield are but an extension of that weapon. For your second test, you shall battle without the aid of your soul relics, and they shall remain unbound to you until the conclusion of the test. You will all be transported to the sa area, albeit to disparate locations, and your duty is unambiguous: locate your fellow Exorcists and render assistance in the exorcism of the vile abyssal creatures that have profaned the land."
He paused briefly, raising his hand once more.
"And finally... though you may team up to cleanse the land of demons, you must know that the only to pass this test is to rid it of them entirely—otherwise the test shall not end..."
gumi gulped. He didn’t like the sound of the sorcerer’s words one bit.
An ethereal white light shone beneath their feet, spanning across the entirety of the castle’s keep, the children doing well to maintain their composure. It was only a split second before they vanished, but just before that, Hakuro’s last words lingered in their minds.
"May the gods be with you."
********
gumi slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few tis as he tried to adjust to the light, but no matter how hard he tried, so sort of pressure continued to push against his eyes.
He gasped, a gush of wind instantly soaring into his lungs, choking him. He coughed violently, desperately swinging his arms about in an attempt to regain his balance, but it only got worse.
He flipped upside down, more wind forcefully rushing past his windpipe, almost choking him. And then, after a few seconds, a loud thud resounded as his head slamd hard against the Earth’s surface.
Luckily for him, his fall, though it would have never been able to kill him, wasn’t devastating. He slowly got up and swayed a little, peering his eyes open... rather gently.
He could feel the violent rays of the sun, and to the side was the gentle *swoosh* of crashing ocean waves in the distance. The sand at his first and the lodic chirp of birds flying by... he knew just where it was he had landed.
His eyes finally pried open, and he let out a sigh.
’Man, the beach of all places?’
He gazed around him, at the pristine white sand on which he stood and at the ocean as waves violently kissed the edge of the beach. Before him was a vast expanse of water, and behind him was nothing but a vast expanse of pristine white sand.
But sothing was off...
He sniffed the air.
... And he could sll it.
’Blood?’
Reviews
All reviews (0)