Memories flashed in his mind like a nightmare as Ori witnessed the destruction of the altar. The dark energy and the senseless chaos distorted his mind, for he was reminded of the twelve years he fought against the fallen beings.
“This is going to blow up, pun intended,” said Maryam as she looked around. “There is only one weapon that can cause this destruction, and it should not be used now.”
“A weapon?” questioned Oriole with confusion. “Are you saying that a weapon and not the corrupted caused this?”
“A different kind of corruption,” she said while pulling his arm. “We need to leave because the guards will be arriving soon. Follow my steps into that groove over there.”
Her arm pointed toward a slight depression in the far walls, crumbling away. Oriole could see some lights inside the crack, and it must be the path she mentioned before. Maryam pulled him out toward the far end of the stairs and the crater’s edge.
“We need to reach the other end without being inflicted with this darkness,” said Maryam with a frown as she looked around. “There is no foothold, dammit.”
“I have a few methods up my sleeves,” said Oriole as he took out a few potions. His hands moved seamlessly without any hesitation before he poured one vial into the other.
“What are you creating?” frowned the runemaster as she turned to him. “Nothing will work against this energy. It is the embodiment of nothingness!”
“A dose of existence should nullify the nothingness,” said Oriole while taking out a golden case. “I am not a god, but humans should not be underestimated.”
“Is that… stardust?”
“Taken from one of the greatest constellations,” said Oriole as he stared at the ethereal substance inside his case. “It is a waste to use it, but this is the only way to repel the darkness.”
“How do you know all of this?” she frowned while staring at him. “You are almost like a Devils Hunter.”
“A Devils Hunter,” smiled Ori at the mention of the name he coined for their profession. It took twelve years and the help of a prophet to master their arts. “It is a cringe name, now that I think about it.”
“How dare you!” her nose flared up, but Oriole was done with the necklace he threw at her. “Is it for me?”
“It’s enough to ward the energy away for now,” said Oriole before making one for himself. But then, the two heard noises coming from the outside as the necklaces were done. “There is no time to test them. We need to jump.”
“Are you asking me to trust you with my life?” blinked Maryam at him. “I think we should find a way to fly over there.”
Oriole stared at her silently before picking up a vial and throwing it over the crater. Then, like a snake from the depths of hell, dark energy bolted out of the crater and turned the vial into nothingness.
“As much as it might harm you, there is no other method. I would have come up with one already.”
“You talk like my grandpa,” said Maryam while staring at the necklace. “He is a Devils Hunter too, and one of the good ones.”
Oriole was mixing the different ingredients with the stardust as he listened. When he heard that she was the grandchild of a Devils Hunter, Oriole suspected that he knew the man. The man might also know him if he received an epiphany.
“I am going there,” said Oriole as he wore the necklace, which gave a soft light that surrounded him. “I will jump first for you to believe in me. As for whether you want to follow, that depends on you.”
After saying so, Oriole placed his things inside the storage ring Arthur made him and jumped over the edge. The abyss below attacked him as expected, and it was welcoming the same way it did thirteen years ago.
‘What if this stardust does not work as it did in the other world?’ wondered Oriole as the tongues of darkness rushed out to attack him. ‘Would Arthur save me like before?’
The thought made him feel pathetic. Even after he resolved his heart to help his friend, he still relied on the cursed powers Arthur had. His thoughts were cut short by the attack of nothingness, which ate away the stardust instead of Oriole’s body.
His feet landed on the ground, and he was unharmed. Oriole looked around the wasteland with the realization that he had survived. But, when he turned to look at the runemaster, her head was peeking at him.
“I am alive,” shouted Oriole, but the nothingness devoured his voice. Maryam seemed to have understood his meaning, but she backed away from the edge. “Has she decided against it?” pondered the alchemist before her figure leaped out into the air.
Maryam fell farther away from him, and her necklace also repelled the darkness. As she landed on her feet, the runemaster looked around with fascination.
“You are a bona fide Devils Hunter, Oriole,” she muttered when he was close enough with nothing but stardust between them. “I made the right choice to associate with you.”
“Wait until you meet Alexie,” said Oriole as he nudged her along the way. “We can save the amazement until later. The Runic Guards are coming.”
Oriole could see them coming using the eye he planted at the ruins’ entrance. The dependence on artifacts and abilities made most awakeners overlook searching in places with no traces of the two. This allowed him to see everything without anyone knowing.
As he reached the groove, which had a giant hole that led downward, Oriole realized that Arthur was at the entrance. His frown deepened as he looked back and closed his eyes.
There were other people with Arthur, including the Runic Guards and Grandmaster Jumana. There was something about Arthur’s expression that told Oriole of his predicament. However, Oriole could not know what it was.
Since he was not in a battle anymore, Oriole decided to call him using the communication device. The stardust flickered as it was about to disappear, and it made the two of them jump through the hole to start rolling down.
Their stats allowed them to get out of it with nothing but dusted robes, and the stardust flickered out of light like a candle. However, the two of them were far from the harmful miasma now. Oriole took out his communication artifact and tried dialing Arthur.
His communication was intercepted. Oriole looked at the hole they came down from and saw the dark energy blocking it. The signal must have been intercepted similarly that his vial was destroyed.
“Who are you calling?”
“Alexie is here at the ruins with the Runic Guards and Jumana. I need to understand the reason he returned.”
“Captain Velos must have suspected him when the explosion happened because Alexie came from the direction of the ruins. I think Alexie is helping them to clear out the doubts and get out of Runera as soon as possible,” said Maryam with a pondering expression.
Oriole nodded at the plausible theory, but his heart could not forget the expression on Arthur’s face. It was the same expression he had when he emerged out of the great light to find Diana’s dying body.
“We must hurry to disable the space arrays,” said Oriole. “If we are too late, then Alexie might do something he is forced to do.”
Maryam looked confused but nodded nonetheless. Oriole looked at the dark cave around them and then at the giant hole below. Bright lights were coming out of the hole, and it was the same lights he had seen earlier.
“Welcome to the underground arrays of Runera,” said Maryam as she dusted herself. “There are countless runes that can obliterate us if we are not careful. Also, if we mess them up, space arrays might transport all of Runera somewhere else.”
“Are you sure that we can take such a risk?” frowned Oriole when he heard its complications. Maryam double-glanced his way before chuckling.
“You are hesitating after jumping into a sea of death?” she asked with a smile. “I am relieved that you are a good person, but this is a risk that was possible the moment we tried to disable the arrays.”
“There must be a safe method to disable them,” said Oriole. “A method that would not endanger the lives of millions.”
“There is one right behind you, but it would endanger one person’s life,” said Maryam as her thumb pointed at the darkness behind her. “We can use that energy to corrupt the arrays. It might cause troubles for Runera, but there will be no risk of teleportation.”
Oriole glanced back at the darkness, and he knew that she was not fooling him. The darkness was the greatest bane of runes, and its precision might be what they needed. However, transporting the darkness and using it means becoming a fallen being.
