"Only one can stand above all, as the other bows beneath all"
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The somber mood that filled the silent room was suddenly interrupted by violent tremors that shook the halls and rooms of the catacombs.
Small rocks trailed with grey dust spilled onto Jason's shoulders as he jumped to his feet and clutched the hilt of his katana.
"What the hell was that?!"
Kahal indifferently glanced around. The bones in his hips cracked as he stood up and walked toward the open space in the stone walls.
Suddenly, something about the catacombs was off. Ghostly grey fumes left the eyes of each skull which were engraved on the stone walls, and filled the halls with terror filled screams which made Jason bring his hands over his ears.
It was as though they had been agitated by whatever was causing the violent tremors. And as he lurked around one of the dark corners, Kahal caught the attention of a dark grey figure which was neither human nor demon.
This figure had saggy grey skin with black sticky liquid around its mouth and eyes which trailed down its thick skin.
Just then, Kahal had remembered something he had witnessed in Aaliyah's buried memories from earlier. When he scoured her mind, he saw a moment where Cain had mentioned that he had a brother and father who both were sent to Hell after he personally slaughtered them both.
'It's a dead soul'
In the months he spent in Hell before his sealing, Kahal remembered having a few run-ins with monsters referred to as dead souls.
Which were beings who failed one of the seven trials, and were completely assimilated.
With one glance, Kahal could tell that this being wasn't too difficult to deal with. The only problem lied in how long it would take to kill it before Aaliyah would succumb to the second circle's assimilation.
Not to mention, the catacombs were filled with countless souls of the dead which belonged to sorcerers of the old earth. With wills that belong to such ruthless savages, there was no way the dead souls would go down as quickly as Kahal would prefer.
"Hey kid. Soon, this place might be swarming with the corpses of those foreigners from the war… you need to go find that shrine somewhere in these tunnels, and destroy it."
Jason held himself back from asking Kahal about the foreigners he mentioned, after all it would be illogical to fight against a swarm of enemies you know nothing about… not to mention the insane difference in power the current generation of sorcerers had compared to their forefathers.
But as soon as Jason took a single step forward, all the violent tremors had came to a stop. An unsettling silence filled the halls of the catacombs, as Jason felt every hair on his body stand up.
Even his throat had suddenly felt dry as he clutched the handle on his katana. And in the next moment, the hall would be filled with inhumane screeching which came from hordes of savages with torn skin and tattered dark green robes, which were rushing in from all directions.
No doubt, these were the foreigners from the blood war that Kahal had just mentioned. Kahal cursed beneath his breath, as he willed cursed flowers imbued with his spirit energy to bloom in all directions.
Once the flowers blossomed over the scattered skulls that decorated the walls of the catacombs, more smoke began to fill the halls. And in that moment, more flowers sprouted from one side of Jason's battered body.
Suddenly, he felt a rush of adrenaline flow through his entire being. Something which made his body feel as light as fluid water. But with his heightened awareness came feeling the unbearable heat brought about by the crimson sun in Hell's daylight.
Earlier, his chaos energy had been completely drained by Hell's prison in order to break the seal of hell's heart. So sorcery in that moment became really difficult for Jason to use, so all he could rely on was his own combat skills.
Looking back to his training a few months ago in flame dancing taught to him by the southern tribe's youthful general Kaida masayoshi, Jason came to the conclusion that now was a good time to put training to use.
With the help of Kahal's cursed flowers, everything around him seemed to have slowed down. And with a deep breath, Jason slid his foot across the floor.
It took a few long seconds before a spark ignited from deep within his vessel.
His body temperature raised and expelled breaths of steam from his mouth and nose. Once the first foreigner shot his fist toward him, Jason slapped it to the side and drove his shoulder into the foreigner's chest. Knocking the foe back into his undead friends.
Jason took advantage of the brief second his opponent had bought him, and unsheathed his now flaming katana. With one swipe of his blade, the concentrated flames cleaved through the space between Jason and the horde of foreigners.
The circled horde could see the overwhelming heat of the flames draw closer toward them. But it didn't matter if they could see it, because before they could move to evade the fire, all of their corpses had been cleaved in half and flew up like dancing dolls.
"Go now!"
Hearing his grandfather's command, Jason clutched his side and stumbled through the hall in search of the shrine.
But just then, the corpses had released a trailing black ink which connected to the second halves of themselves, the roots of the black ink connected the two the severed corpses together, and in the blink of an eye each corpse rose one by one, and let out inhumane hungry growls as they trailed behind Jason.
While Kahal stood opposed to the dead soul which seemed as though it was staring into the eyes of the half dead husk of a monster who damned the entire world with his sin.
***
At the time of the chaos which ensued with Kahal and Jason, the rest of the group was faced with a similar sight.
They were inside a wide spaced room, cleaving and burning through the corpses of the foreigners which relentlessly attacked like wild beasts.
Two of the supreme generals Asami and Kojiro in particular had knowing looks on their usually indifferent faces as they ruthlessly cut down their enemy.
The same enemy they had once fought alongside, and against during the hundred year long blood war one thousand years ago. After all, the past always had a way of haunting the present.
The priest who with brute force, managed to pound his way through the horde seemed especially somber. As one of the foreigners managed to pin the priest's head into the ground, for some reason had tears streaming down his mauled skin.
Gritting his teeth, the priest's lips shook as his eyes felt as though they were on fire.
'My brethren. Please, forgive me… it seems that even for those devoted to our goddess, there's no paradise in death'
From every direction, Asami sent out flying blood slashes which cleaved clean through the undead corpses. Another group of crowded corpses were bound together by giant prayer beads while Kaida moved elegantly with the red flames dancing beneath her feet.
But despite their efforts, more undead corpses relentlessly assaulted the group. Hinari on one hand was doing pretty well, despite only wielding her usual long staff.
Like a spider, she bounced off the stone walls and spun her staff with her body as if it were a mere extension of her limbs.
And she knew, that the battle against the undead army of foreigners would not meet its end until Selene and Sidra finished off the dead soul on their end.
***
Selene and Sidra stalked the dark halls of the catacombs, cautiously searching for the dead soul which most likely resided in a nearby shrine of skulls.
Sidra was supporting Selene whose pale face began to grow darker, despite being sheltered from the rising red sun thanks to the underground walls of the catacombs.
Selene had a thought that maybe in a way, those who were chosen by the seven hell lords as active participants of the trials governed by the seven circles maybe had their souls linked to the heart of Hell.
"We need to go find Jason. That priest said that there should be two shrines… three of us would be more efficient than only two against a dead soul."
Sidra scowled.
"I understand that, don't get me wrong, but the two of you are pounding on death's door. Not to mention, you and Malum's vessel were stripped of your sorcery so if anything it'd be more of a hassle on me to kill the bastard."
To kill all personal feelings on the front lines. That was the first thing the lieutenant of the black lotus division was taught to do before all else, yet killing all personal feelings and not having any were two different things.
From a tactical standpoint, Sidra could understand why Selene thought it better for them to meet up with Jason so the three could have a much simpler time destroying the two shrines and exorcising the dead souls…
But as the older sibling to her own younger brother, she could also understand the main reason for Selene wanting to go back with her brother. In the moment of silence that filled the tense halls, Sidra began wondering to herself how affected she'd be if the younger brother she swore to protect died in front of her.
Even after staining her hands with the blood of her father, watching helplessly as her mother died doing the same thing she herself was currently doing, there was just something that sparked a different dreadful feeling in her chest whenever she imagined her young sibling dead.
Which is why even though she attempted to push aside her personal feelings, she couldn't this one time.
On the night she was coerced by General Asami to join the northern tribe's black lotus division, she was first Informed of why Asami had formed the special unit. With the sole purpose of slaughtering Malum's vessel.
At the time, Sidra was so desperate for guaranteed safety for her younger brother that she'd convinced herself that she'd even throw away her own morality to get what she wanted.
But now, she was realizing that doing so was not as easy as it seemed now that she was looking at another woman who would do anything to protect her younger sibling.
At some point, Selene stopped walking and said:
"I once asked Jason, if he had the power to change his fate and give it to someone else, would he do it… and he said, he wouldn't. He was fifteen at the time, and not a lot of people have such a resolve even those who are older than him."
Sidra's violet eyes narrowed. She could tell that Selene had directed her last words toward her, and to be honest she wasn't entirely wrong in saying such.
Sidra moved her lips but remained silent in the end. Realizing that she had no place to criticize Selene for wanting the same thing she herself wanted… as two older siblings protecting their younger brother.
"You're right, I guess… but not everybody will see that kid the same way you do."
A moment of silent understanding passed between the two. Of course, Selene was not the same naive kid she once was before.
During her younger years, one of the first things she was groomed into believing was that connections are nothing more than binds that limit one's ability to realize their true potential.
That watching one of your loved ones die would bring a great sense of despair and pain too heavy for even the strongest to bear alone. And she wasn't wrong either.
But that was all the more reason for Selene to purge through the bleak darkness of the world built by the wrongdoings of her predecessors.
"I'm not gonna argue with you on whether or not my brother deserves to live. But I just want you to know, that if it's your desire to let your general strip you of your free will, then I won't have any sympathy for you. And the moment we get out of here, I'll kill you and your boss."
The two stood up and continued to stalk the halls of the the catacombs. Sidra's eyes narrowed as she unconsciously replayed selene's words in her mind.
Then suddenly, she recalled the time two years ago when she carried her battered younger brother on her back as they approached the entrance to the northern tribe.
She had dropped him and collapsed face first into the concrete ground. Her breaths came out unevenly, while she felt as though her lungs were going to collapse at any moment.
That was when General Asami Alongside the first two members of her black lotus division, raiser and miller stood on each side of her.
Soon after, she had sworn absolute obedience to General Asami and in turn, her younger brother would be protected and safe within the boarders of the tribe.
And now in this moment, she had began to realize that she was almost no different than Selene. Almost, because unlike her Selene had never found herself kneeling before anyone just to ensure her loved ones would remain safe.
A part of her might have even admired that fact about Selene.
With a sigh, and a softer tone in her voice, Sidra pulled Selene to the side before they entered the room which the eternal shrine resided.
"You're right about us being alike. But I don't agree with you trying to patronize me because we have the same goals yet differing situations…"
Sidra took a moment, as she noticed a shrine with dark grey skulls surrounding it. With fountains of mist flowing from the void eyes and nostrils of the skulls.
"But if you really wish to kill me in order to protect your brother, I won't try and change your mind… and I won't even say you're wrong in doing so. But I want you to ask yourself, how can your brother ever find peace if he keeps living on as Malum's vessel, while the world hunts him down for it?"
As those words left her mouth, Sidra had remembered back to the moment she witnessed her formerly timid friend lose the light from her eyes once she took the life of someone she grew to love as her own father.
She herself also desperately wanted to save raiser's life, but her thoughts of him maybe finding paradise in death forced her to question wether or not saving someone from the threat of death would be the right or wrong thing to do.
"That's all I wanted to say."
Selene pondered to herself for a moment. But quickly washed away any doubts as the two entered the room.
It was time to kill the dead soul.
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Continued in chapter 112: Shrine Of Death's Eternal Paradise
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