AN: please leace a review for the story if you have time.
After talking with Beelzebub I made my way out of the tomb … After a few minutes, I made my way through the graveyard and arrived at the servants' entrance of the castle. I cleared the thorn vines from the door, ripped it off its hinges, and walked up the stairs into the castle.
As I reached the top of the stairs, I reached the servant corridors. I decided to go down the right hallway. Every once in a while, I come across doors that lead to different supply rooms and servant rooms. After a while, I finally came across a door that allowed me into the main part of the castle. Interestingly, the hall features a ripped and dusty rug on the floor, while the pictures on the walls show signs of tearing or burning.
As I walked down the hall towards the center of the castle, three headless knights intercepted me. All appeared to be in pristine condition. I launched a fireball at them, and the first knight jumped forward, magic covering its shield and blocking the fireball, which slid back a foot or two while the other two ran forward. I dodged the swing of the sword of the first one, but the second one managed to hit me, but the bow I picked up earlier blocked any of the damage I would have taken, but the bow was trashed.
Without wasting a second, I used my gravity manipulation to reduce my weight and jump away a few feet before manifesting the runic gauntlets before launching a punch that shattered the knight who managed to hit me the one that missed before swinging at me again, but I dodged it by moving towards it and smashed my fist through its back before ripping my fist out, finishing off the second the thired ran forwards torad me but this one was different instead off attacking me when it got close, it stopped and swung its magic-charged blade, releasing a wave of energy twords me in response I raised my hand up and activated the negate attack rune and blocked it with a barrier.
But while I was busy, it continued its advance and swung its sword again, getting a clean cut on my side. I delivered a gut punch, sending it up into the air, before increasing its gravity and slamming it down into the castle floor. I did not stop there; I gave it the san's treatment and slammed it nonstop into the walls, floor, and then the ceiling. When I was done with it, it was so crumpled up and smashed that if it were not for the other two bodies, there would be no knowing what this monster was.
Taking a second to check the wound where I was, it was not to deep but better to take care of it now before it gets worse so I pulled out two bottles of red medicine from my hidden arsonal while I was taking the medicine, the three bodies turned to dust, leaving behind large dark cores. "Jason, if you are going to inherit my power, you will need a lot of those; the higher the quality, the better." Beelzebub said, manifesting as a small fly right by my ear before disappearing again.
After a minute and with the wound closing, I continued making my way down the hall towards the center of the castle. Every once in a while, a painting would have a spirit reach out of it and try to attack me, but they were easily dispatched with a punch from the gauntlets. Eventually, I reached the end of the hall, opened the large wood doors, and entered the next room, which appeared to be a large study with a wall-sized window allowing the purple hue of the miasma-blocked sun. As I looked around the room, I spotted a young girl in a bluish-grey dress trying to hide behind one of the large chairs. Realizing I had seen her, she let out a small yelp before speaking.
Please don't hurt me; I'm not like my father or his men. she said, trying to hide more behind the chair. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to collapse your dad's domain so my family can leave and to prevent others from getting trapped here." I said as I dismissed the gauntlets and sat down in the chair to show her I don't mean her any harm. After a second she poked her head out from behind the chair and studied me for a second before she stopped hiding.
"So you are like the hero that tried to stop my father in the past?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she continued to study me. "I guess you could say that but I would not call myself a hero." I said, pulling out a sandwich from my hidden arsenal before pulling out a second one and holding it out to her. After a second she took it from me but hesitated to eat so I took a bite of my own to show it was safe. After she started to eat, I could see her face light up in delight. "What is this? It's so good. "It's been so long since I had something to eat," she said with a large smile. Oh, these are just basic Italian sandwiches. I had a third one for a friend of mine, but she has not come out since I entered the domain." I said between bites.
"Oh, is she a spirit?" she asked after she finished eating. "Yes, she is," I said. "oh thats why my father made it so that no outside spirits weaker than him can enter his domain that pulse he made the domain with his soul means no future hero can beat him because they can't kill him again physically, and summoners can't destroy his soul because they can't summon any spirits," she explained as she sat in the chair across from me.
"So, I'm guessing he learned from his first defeat, but how did you and he come back as spirits? Humans can't normally return unless they are tied to a powerful artifact or receive the help of a god," I said, just thinking out loud. "That is not a happy memory but I will tell you as long as you promise to help me stay in the human world after you collapse his domain," she said, giving me a serious look.
"That should not be a problem; you could do what I did with my friend and bind with me as an anchor, which should let you stay in the human world." I said, showing her the tattoo and explaining how we performed the ritual, "That should work, but we will have to do it as the domain collapses. To explain how we returned as spirits, my father, having grown as powerful as he could and expanded his land as far as possible with his strength, performed a ritual that allowed him to make a deal with a powerful spirit, sacrificing my mother to gain that power.
but I could not let him get away with that so I sent a letter to the prince of a neighboring kingdom who was known for his kind heart and pursuit of justice but after he killed my father, my father made a second deal with the same spirit that brought him back to life; in exchange, he sacrificed my life but I used that deal myself to trap his domain to the size of the castel grounds but I could do nothing else to stop him," she said with a depressed look on her face.
"So it seems he found a powerful benefactor if just two deals could do all that and you said he can't be killed physically, so I will have to beat him in a shadow game but im guessing I can't use any of the decks I have now; I will have to make a new one here." I spoke out loud as I checked whether I had packed my paint and canvases in my hidden arsenal. Looking inside, I hades engh paint but I needed more canvases.
"Do you have any paint canvases I could use? "I asked as I stood up. "Yes, my mom used to paint all the time; you can use her painting if you need a powerful spirit we could go and see if the hero's old dragon would help us. I can take you to him," she said with a small smile as she began to drag me out one of the side doors to prepare for the final showdown with her father.