Third person POV.
Ray stepped out of the room full of crucifixes, a slight smile still curling the ends of his lips.
Just the thought of his family members faces when they saw the crucifixes, nearly caused him to burst out in laughter.
"But I have to get to that point first."
Ray thought, as he remembered just how much has to be done before he could finally bring the Ironblood lineage to its knees.
"No matter, I will get there in do time."
Rey turned, following the same route he had used to get this far into the maze before stopping.
Focusing on the two serpent, tattoos wrapped around his farms he spoke to them using the strange link he had with the swords.
"Wait now that I've released you too, will the illusion drop?"
Ray wasn't really sure if he was communicating with the two weapons correctly, throughout his entire first life.
He had never had a bloodline weapon, for the simple reason that it was impossible to steal one, or even make one in the normal sense.
A bloodline weapon could only be inherited by the descendants of whoever first force the sword using their own blood. Factors like elemental affinities, the weapon used, or the person's strength all contributed to how the weapon would turn out if it's was made successfully at all.
"It makes me wonder just who was the first patriarch of the Ironblood clan to make a bloodline weapon?"
Ray asked, the two swords took a while to respond.
"The illusions should be deactivated now."
"Yes, the illusions were only there to keep anyone who wasn't of the blood from just stealing the weapons just because they couldn't bind them."
Ray Nodded at this before a frown appeared on his face.
"If the illusion is no longer there, then just how the hell am I supposed to find my way back to my valuable captives?"
Ray asked the swords.
"It shouldn't be difficult, the illusion was made from 920 m in diameter stones that have been shaped into blocks the size of houses."
Hearing that, raise frustration of being tricked by something so simple only grew.
"This is a problem that can only be fixed by having more power.
Ray thought, as he took a deep breath and continued on his path.
While he was walking, he thought back to what the two swords had said in his soul space.
"What makes you worthy of own owning us, all you have is the first ring and a week residence to the first blood.
thinking back, Ray tried to remember anyone that went by the title the first blood, or even a position of power called the first blood, yet he could think of nothing that met that description.
" Connecting his mind with the swords again he decided to just ask them. "Who is the first blood?
It seemed quite obvious, but Ray wanted to just make sure.
"The first blood is the being to establish the Ironblood clan."
HE had already suspected as much, but he was confused.
Just what bloodline had his clan once possessed to be able to create a bloodline weapon in the first generation?
"Whatever it was, it's most definitely faded by now.
Ray thought as he remembered the many hardships he had faced in his past life.
The problem wasn't just that he couldn't access his element, it had also been that he didn't have much talent for cultivation in the first place.
He had only truly began to rise and cultivation rapidly mini resources, and many sacrifices. At that thought raise fist clenched.
The sudden motion caused a twinge of pain in his right forearm.
Frowning, he lifted the Forearm to inspect it.
"What the fuck, when did this happen?" Ray thought, as he stared at five nail marks in his arm.
Then lifting his left hand, he saw the blood staining the fingernails.
"So I am the one who did this, but why?"
Ray thought as he Went back on the last couple hours and try to find anything off.
Yet he could find nothing other than the illusion, but he didn't give up on thinking about it.
His instincts had saved him countless times throughout the years, and he didn't intend to not listen to them this time.
At the moment they were currently telling him something vital inside of him had changed, yet he couldn't tell win.
Finally, the swords responded.
'The first Ironblood wasn't exactly a human" Ray
blinked at the sword's words.
There weren't many intelligent species on Austria, and the ones that were intelligent enough to be on par or surpass Humans were so strong that they had their own territories on the globe.
So the thought that his family was one of those intelligent races, perplexed Ray immensely.
Because all bloodlines had one thing in common, as you rose in power, they revealed more about themselves.
Yet even with Ray once rising to the peak, he hadn't learned or gained any mysterious abilities.
"Then what was he?'
The swords took a pause before answering.
"We are not entirely sure ourselves. All we really know is that they weren't from this realm."
Those words caused raise eyes to narrow, if they weren't from this realm, then where could they have been from?
The only other realm Ray knew of was the higher realms, they were entirely different from Austria with strange, floating islands and scars on the world, they called rifts.
Just for a second, he got memories of when he used to terrorize the upper realms.
A Grin appeared on his face as he thought about the days where he used to make islands fall like rain from the sky, and had fold cultivators by the dozen chasing after him, wanting his death more than anything else.
"Those were the good days.
Ray said, his expression, one of an old man thinking about his prime.
Looking in front of him and seeing a turn coming up to the left, Ray quickly took it.
If the maze had been based on what he thought it was, he should be going in the right direction.
"If they were using nine stones, it should be a square made from the stones being three stones wide and three stones long. And if I'm correct about that, then it shouldn't take me much longer to get back to my captives.'
Pudding, his hands in the pockets of his Tattered Black pants Ray knew he needed to get some new clothes.
The clothes he currently was wearing were a very generous donation from random clothes lines.
Everything he was currently wearing, came from there, except for the boots.
Ray glare down at the two Mitch match boots covering his feet, one of them were lights brown and looks slightly frayed at the top, while the other one was nearly black and had so many holes in it that way wasn't sure if it was more patches or boot at this point.
Yet, it was the only two boots that he found that could fit his feet good enough to not impede his running.
Ray thought about the trashcan he had found the dark brown boot inside of, along with the random guy he had to knocked out for the light brown one.
"Now I think about it, why the hell was that guy wearing Mitch match boots? I could fit one of the boots he was wearing easily but the other one was so damn big. I would've been tripping with every step. Realizing he had passed the third block, Ray turned to his right before continuing to walk on.
Thinking about his captives, a excited Grin took over his face.
"I can't wait to see what happens when I put them on them. Will it immediately start siphoning, Will I have to insert my ether in a certain pattern, and just how much Ether will the process provide me?'
Ray said to himself, his eyes seeming to glow from within with a insane light.
Seeing the last turn, he had to take coming up, raise grin only widened.
There was no need to think about what would happen when the reality was nearly upon him. Then he remembered something vital he had forgot the Ask the swords it was so crucial that he nearly faced palmed.
How had he forgotten, it has to be one of the most idiotic things he had done since coming back.
Realizing his excitement was clouding his judgment, Ray quickly stopped walking.
Everything has to be done one step at a time, a single fuck up wouldn't just kill the captives with no real gain, but could also kill him if he wasn't careful.
'What can You to do?'
Ray waited for an answer, but it never came.
He frowned, this time he was sure he was communicating correctly, so if that wasn't problems on his side of things, why weren't the swords answering?
He was just about to ask again win The swords finally began to speak.
"We have the ability to carry the killing intent from one Holder of the swords to the next"
Ray was just about to grin when he heard this until the swords continue talking.
"But you can't access this ability until you're at least in the second ring before trying to use it. If you tried now it would shatter your soul like an egg against a rock."
"Well that wasn't very encouraging."
Ray thought, as he heard the swords words and surprisingly the two swords responded.
"It wasn't meant to be"
But even so, Ray thought about it, would the ability truly shatter his soul?
His soul was peculiar to say the least, he had turned it into near dust before yet it has somehow regenerated, so who wants to say that his soul wouldn't regenerate after being shattered by the swords? two
Ray was still thinking about it when he caught side of his Captives surprisingly, they were still strewn across the floor and looking almost peaceful as they slept.
Three of them were even snoring, loud enough that Ray was wondering how they didn't wake the others up.
Once again, Ray wondered if he had hit them too hard.
"I don't think it can turn blood from the dead into ether, or can it?'
Deciding it was a worthy experiment. Ray grabbed the nearest person to him and quickly slaps him awake.
"Rise and shine my good friend."
Those words seem to make the man jolt, as if he was hit with lightning before his eyes snapped open with a gasp.
The man Floundered around, swinging his limbs randomly while shouting questions like "where am I… Or "who are you.""All without waiting for any answer to be provided.
When Ray was finally fed up with the man screaming, he slapped him, again, and again, and again until the man stopped fling around and just lay a limp.
Ray looked at the man he was holding by the back of his shirt. His body dangled from his hand like a rag, a particularly bloody rag.
"I really hope I didn't kill him, while trying to take the blood from a dead man would be interesting dead people are a lot more heavier than the living."
Ray thought as his brow furrow in mild annoyance at the man's state. Finally, he could still hear the man breathing so he shook him.
"Don't tell me you fell back asleep, I have a job for you.
At that the man seemed to perk up, actually Perk up was a bit of an over exaggeration, it was more like the man seemed to be regaining control of his senses.
He blinked cluelessly as he looked around, but even so his mind seem to be locked on the words Ray had said.
"A job, what kind of job?"
Ray smiled pleasantly at that response as he responded.
"All I need you to do is help me drag these bastards to a room, don't worry it's not that far and I'll pay you handsomely for your work."
The man nodded drunkenly , Before trying to get to his feet.
He nearly fell 3 times in the attempt, but eventually he stood to his Full height, which was unsurprisingly much taller than Ray.
"If that's all you need then I'm your guy."
The man said, sounding a bit more coherent Now he had a goal.
Meanwhile, on a ray's side of things, he was thinking something along the lines of.
"Yep, I am most definitely gonna kill him before this is over.
While glaring at the man with such ferocity that it was a shock that he didn't melt on The spot.