Somewhere underground the village of Dol, Rin was rushing in the corridor heading towards two people who were standing guard on a massive blue gate while armed with swords and daggers.
Her body was covered in dark blue fog, which looked similar to the one from the portal she opened in Mel.
The two guards who were standing on the blue gate saw that she was in a hurry, and then they looked at each other and shook their heads once, agreeing to ask her a question.
She reached the gate and said to the two guards, "Open the gates quickly, I need to get through."
The dark blue fog had completely vanished from her, and she smelled like a delicate flower about to bloom.
But one of the guards looked at her with a disgusted look on his face and said. "No one is allowed to go through the gate. Not even you, Kitagawa."
It were as if something had completely come over him and changed his thought process.
The other guard's jaw slightly dropped, surprised by his friend's manners, and he thought to himself, What the? What's this guy's deal? Does he even know who he's talking to? Damn, what happened to that question we were about to ask?
She looked at the two guards with an innocent expression as she smiled, and with a cool, calm, low voice, she continued. "Open the gates, I need to get through before I'm late."
But the first guard said to her again, "Huh... Didn't I just tell you that no one is allowed to pass here, not even you. so back off."
"Or you're just too dense to understand?" He added.
The other guard looked at his friend and Rin, unsure of what to do. Yep, we are screwed, and I better just forget about that promotion we were about to ask her.
She looked at the guards again and said to them with a soft smile, "Please open the gates, I need to pass through quickly."
The first guard took out his dagger and said to her with a grin. "Not happening." While the other guard stepped closer to the doors and tried to open them for Rin so that she could pass before things got ugly.
The first guard didn't even notice that his friend was trying to open the gates behind him by pushing one of them by himself. Rin quietly observed him as he did so, but pretended like she hadn't noticed.
Augh, the guard uttered, brow furrowing. what's she looking at? He swiveled, following Rin's gaze only to find his friend pushing one of the gates.
"Hmmm," The other guard pushed and pushed the gate, but it did not even bulge or made any kind of opening sound.
"You idiot, what do you think you're doing?!" The first guard said aggressively. But the other guard didn't respond because he was too busy trying to open the gate.
Rin continued smiling and uttered, "Huh, at least one of you is useful. I wondered why he didn't make any fuss with all those thoughts of his."
The first guard paused before saying aggressively, pivoting to face Rin, "What did you say, bitch?"
"Nothing you good for nothing," Rin said with a grave expression while still carrying her smile. "you may die now." She added in a low voice that carried both the weight of command and supremacy.
A second later, without warning, the first guard's limbs started falling off his body, starting with his hands, head, and everything in between.
His blood splashed and oozed all over the floor like an uncontrollable rainwater falling into a drain.
Rin sighed, moving closer to the other guard and said, "Sorry about that." The guard stopped pushing the gate and glanced at her as he trembled in fear of dying like his friend."
She quickly noticed that the guard was terrified of her, but she softly muttered. "I know that you're scared." Then continued, "Don't be, I won't end you like your friend there." At least not yet. Cause she wanted to see if he was capable of replying to her questions.
"What name do you go by?"
The guard replied, eyes doting between the pile of fresh on the floor and Rin, while trying to avoid eye contact, "...M-my name is Gilbert... But people call me Zest."
"Gilbert, huh?" She uttered. "What an interesting name." She added, her tone low and soft.
A second later of silence. "How would you like to be one of my personal guards?" Gilbert was taken aback by the offer that he instinctively glanced directly at her with a surprised expression. "Consider it as your promotion."
"Your personal guard?" Gilbert's eyes slowly grew larger than before, and all his trembling vanished in an instant, except for his terror, because it was written all over his face, and there was no hiding it.
That would be nice, but I can't accept something I don't deserve. He thought to himself, but then before he could continue. "Besides, what made her choose me over Alex." Rin said in the same tone he was thinking.
"I told you, just consider it as your promotion. And this is what you wanted to ask me about, isn't it. So, consider yourself lucky."
Gilbert's eyes grew even wider. Not from shock or anything terrifying, but surprise. Then he remembered that Rin was a telepath who could read any living creature's mind no matter the size, and looking at himself, he thought to be no more than a creature who relied on someone else to survive.
"What do you say?" She asked bluntly.
Gilbert's eyes locked onto Rin's, a mix of surprise, fear, and caution on his face. "I don't know what to say." Said softly, shifting his gaze from her. "It would be a great honor, but-" Rin's smile grew, her eyes glinting with amusement. "But you're not sure if you're worthy?"
"Come with me and I'll teach you everything you want to know."
Gilbert hesitated, then he nodded slowly, a yes, because he so no point in dealing with her any longer. Rin's smile softened, and then she called out, "Secchion." And from the shadows, a girl wearing a reveling maid's uniform appeared. A dead look on her face.
She is one of Rin's maids who has a name. And where she came from, there are a thousand more people who looked exactly like her. In other words, duplicates, all formed from Rin herself, though there was no resemblance between them.
"Take care of this mess," Rin said, looking at Secchion as she maintained her soft slime.
Secchion replied "Yes, ma'am."
Rin shifted her gaze, looking at Gilbert who was standing close to a corner. "Okay Gilbert, let's be on our way,"
She stepped closer to the massive gates, and without even trying, she pushed pushed them. With a thud, the huge doors slowly shifted inward of the room to the other side.
On the other side of the gate, three people dressed in fantasy outfits were waiting for Rin and one other person to arrive and proceed with their business.
One of them was sitting on top of some human corpses while playing a game of catch by himself and using the corpses' heads as balls to fling around and across the room.
While for the other two, one was sitting down on a wooden chair across the room while reading his favorite book, The Distraction Of Gods (How God Fell From The Heavens). And the other was sitting on top of the table with a grin, his eyes sealed shut.
A moment later, Rin and Zest entered the room. The others all stood up as if a final boss had arrived to a meeting. Two of them went to greet her as she entered.
The one who was sitting on top of the table asked her, "Why did you use the gate to get here instead of teleporting?" He paused then added while looking at Zest, "And who the hell is this?"
Rin sighed. "I had to take a quick detour, and it was just the perfect exercise for my body. And oh, before I forget. This is Zest, and starting from today, he's my new personal guard. And Zest, this is Flio, and one sitting on the wooden chair is Murcus, and this airhead's Tamaki."
"Hmmm, I can't sense any Ana in him. And his affinity feels pretty weak." Tamaki said eyeing Zest.
Flio followed with his eyes still closed. "You're right, but I think I know why she chose him,"
"Whatever her reason is for picking this piece of shit, I'm going to slice him up good," Tamaki said, his voice low, a grin on his expression as his arms slowly transformed into swords.
"You know I can hear you, right?" Rin asked as Zest started sweating. Hard.
"So, what if you can hear me. It's not like you can do anything." Tamaki replied, his words filled with muckily, a grin still on his expression.
"If you try to lay one finger on him, say your prayers," Rin said, he tone serious, still maintaining her smile.
Tamaki curiously looked at Rin. Confused with what Rin saw in the wimp in front, and trying to taste the an testable, he raised his sword and set it on Zest's neck, trying to behead him, but in a flash, Tamaki's Sword hands fell off his body.
Tamaki started laughing dramatically as the grin on his expression grew., then he tried to end Zest by using his legs which had also turned into swords, but flio stopped him. "She's not playing. And if you continue doing that, you'll really die."
While Flio was talking to Tamaki, Tamaki's severed hands disappeared from the floor, and bubbles started forming on the spots where they were severed, and he recovered his damaged limbs.
"Fine, you won this round. Take care of his back whenever I'm around." He said as he walked away from Rin, and Rin went to sit down as Zest stood behind her.
"What're you waiting for. let's get this shit started, I've waited long enough." Tamaki exclaimed as he let out a killer smile.
Flio opened his eyes a little bit and looked at Tamaki, and said to him with a serious face and voice. "Does that mean you are trying to lead us?" Tamaki didn't respond to Flio's question, he stayed silent as some dust particles settled on the table.
A moment later, dark blue fog started to gather around one point in the room, followed by some cyan lights, flames, and a very strange clicking sound.
A moment later, a portal emerged and a man named Jin came threw it, dressed in similar fantasy closes as the others.
Murcus sealed his book shut and everyone went quiet, and one by one they started taking their seats.
Gilbert kept his distance from them afraid of being molested, but Rin looked at him with a smile that was saying everything was going to be okay, and he should relax.
Everyone in the room had a different level of power, from strongest to weakest, and they all knew who deserved respect. Take Murcus, for example. He was strong, but nowhere near Rin's level—yet he became their leader because Rin rejected the role.
As for Jin, Tamaki, and Flio: Jin was the weakest. He had no combat-based abilities; all he could do was open portals and conceal his presence, which left him vulnerable in a fight. Tamaki and Flio, on the other hand, were evenly matched in power, the difference lying in how they fought.
Tamaki relied on speed, while Flio compensated with intellect, using strategy to predict his opponent's moves before they even acted.
"Enough fooling around." Marcus said. "Huh?" Tamaki responded with a disgusted look on his face. "Let's focus on why we are all here." Marcus said, his voice unchanged.
The room went silent for a moment like there was nobody around. Everyone was waiting to hear what the agent meeting was about. All eyes where on Flio.
"Okay then." Flio stood up and said, "The hunter is awake." The silence grew and the mood of the room completely changed.
What's the hunter?...
...Hmmm, whatever it is, i bet it must be something bad, like really bad. Gilbert wondered while observing the situation at a distance.
"So you felt it too huh, i thought i was going insane." Jin muttered.
"Why would you think that you were going insane, I mean it's the hunter." Tamaki replied as he looked at Jin with an intensified look.
"I don't know, I guess it's because I was close to where the hunter was sealed off." Jin explained as he moved his hands to better explain himself.
"Huh? What where you doing there? Were you the one who..." Tamaki asked then suddenly paused "Just forget it." he continued.
"Enough with your chatter, and let's focus on the bigger picture." Marcus said, his tone commanding.
"Ahh. I guess your right." Tamaki replied while sitting properly on the chair he was seating on top of.
"So does Nanako know about this?" Marcus asked, shifting his gaze at Rin.
Nanako, She's one of them but in her own league, in another term, she's like a goddess born from nothing but blood from Esteria, no addition factors were involved in her creation.
"No, i don't think she knows yet cause i just found out about it myself."
"I think it would be best if she doesn't know about it." Rin said.
"She doesn't know." Tamaki uttered. "How can someone so powerful not know about it?"
"Yeah, how's that even possible? Wasn't she the one who sealed the hunter in the first place?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, and she was the one who released it from the seal." Flio replied with a flat tone.
"What do you mean she was the one who released the seal. Did she do it on purpose or maybe something made her do it?" Tamaki asked while he stood from his seat.
"No, the seal was broken after it got into contact with her weak mana. As you already know what's going on out there. And right now, she can't control her mana because of her weak state." Rin said
"Her weak state? What do you mean?" Flio asked, Marcus added. "Couldn't she try to control herself an-" But before he could finish his question Rin replied even though Marcus hadn't finish his questions.
"She was in too much pain that she couldn't even try to control herself. As you already know, the time has come for the reincarnation of the fallen god and Esteria's father, since you know how the last time i wasn't able to do so, so the goddess created her as my replacement."
As Rin was explaining about the situation at hand, Gilbert was confused with what Rin was saying. He said to himself, What are they even talking about? is the Nanako they are mentioning here the village chief or someone else?
"Oh, what about that unusual mana that was coming from the west. was that your doing?" Marcus asked Rin curiously.
"Don't worry about it, I've sent Yomeko to take care of it." Rin replied with a smile.
"Anything else you want to add?" murcus asked Flio. "No that's it. But i just want all of you to be careful, with the hunter loose." Flio replied as his body turned into a thick fog, vanishing into the thin air.
"If that's it, I'll be on my way too." Murcus said, his body fading away, and a second after he'd vanished dark fog started to slowly gather around again, forming three different colored portals. Dark-blue, red, and orange.
Gilbert paused for a moment and stared at the sealing as he thought about how scary dangerous people can be when they are on the same page.
"Let as too be on our way Zest." Rin said.
"Where are we going?" Gilbert asked. "To my dimension of course," she said, grabbing Zest's hand, dragging him close to a portal.