Rebirth Of The Bastard Spirit Summoner

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Footsteps echoed through a large hall, as a woman walked through it, each stride elegant and each step graceful.

The hall's design was simple, yet elaborate in its own way. Golden highlights lined the wall in artistic patterns, an interplay of gold, royal blue, and electric purple. Although the room was bright, there was not a single light source in sight.

Like a cloak of shadows, her clothing fluttered by her side, a long airy gown with many shimmering dots that made it look as though a universe was encased in her garments.

Her gaze was impassive, her red eyes staring straight ahead and her lips pressed in a thin line.

She continued like this, walking for several minutes before the halls finally changed. Now multiple stairwells appeared on each side of the room, each of them bright at the other side.

From one of the stairwells, she could hear a beautiful orchestra performing… angelic tunes that made even her cold heart flutter.

From the other, there was absolute silence, a still world where time was forever held in stasis, a place where realities clashed.

And finally…

She placed her foot on the stairwell of choice and the world around her changed.

The endless hall was gone, replaced instead by a large room with multiple monitors on each side.

It was a place commonly called the All-Seeing Eye.

Although the room was large, there were only two people present, two people she knew quite well.

"Adeline! Who would have known I would meet you here?" she said and walked forward to meet them.

Immediately they saw her, both women frowned, visibly distressed.

"N-Nekro…" Adeline began. "I told you I have a meeting with the overseer today, remember?"

"Hmm?" Nekro smiled. "Whatever are you talking about?" she asked in a coy voice.

"Death, it's always a displeasure to see you. What are you doing here?" came another voice.

Nekro glanced in the direction of the voice but didn't see anyone, then she lowered her gaze to meet the petite woman.

The woman had golden-orange hair, the color of the setting sun, eyes as black as obsidian, and two short horns sticking out of her head.

There was an additional third eye on her forehead, one that was as white as polished jade.

Nekro smiled. "Oh, Matii, I didn't see you there."

"Don't talk down on me. Aren't you supposed to be watching over Sheol? Or did hell get too hot for your delicate skin?" she shot back, a wicked smile appearing on her face.

Nekro frowned and leaned down to ruffle her hair. "That's not how to talk to your big sister now, is it?"

The girl pouted, a faint blush appearing on her face. "What do you want?"

"I need a favor…"

Matii sighed. "What is it?"

"Remember that kid I wrote to you about?"

She ran her delicate hand on her chin. As she did, multiple images began flashing across the jade orb on her forehead until it landed on a single image.

"The boy that escaped hell?"

"Mmhmmm." Nekro nodded.

"What about him?"

Adeline coughed, as though she already knew what Nekro was going to say.

"He is very entertaining as he is, but, I was wondering…"

She began tapping her index fingers together, a habit she had picked up from watching too many mortals.

"Can you… get him…"

"Stop acting, spit it out already!" the woman complained, getting impatient.

Nekro sighed, then her voice turned cold. It was just a whisper and yet Matii and Adeline couldn't help but shudder.

The look in her eyes was just far too terrifying.

"Can you connect him to the Arcana?"

Silence…

"Oh, sorry about that," Nekro said, returning back to the way she was a few seconds ago.

Matii breathed out a sigh, cold sweat dripping down the side of her face.

Then she sucked in a deep breath. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!"

"Come on! Just help me out this once?" Nekro begged, leaving her celestial pride behind to plead with her sister.

"Don't you tire of messing with mortals?"

"Whatever do you mean? I'm just trying to help him."

"Bullsh—" Matii paused when she noticed Nekro's gaze darken. She was thousands of years old and she still couldn't curse without getting on her sister's bad side.

"Uhum…" She coughed. "We all know that the Arcana is just a means for you to manipulate their actions, am I right, Adeline?"

Adeline looked to the side, unwilling to interfere in the conversation of celestials.

She did not want to be sentenced to hell by Nekro or forever forced to see only darkness by the overseer.

"Tch, coward…" Matii complained. "Anyways, no."

Nekro frowned, and then folded her arms across her chest as she considered her options.

The last hundreds of years had been a terrible bore, and now she was finally getting to see something exciting after so long.

Yet it was not enough. She wanted to see that maddening rage again, and she was far too anxious to push a few buttons.

The Arcana was the only viable way.

"Can I really do nothing to change your mind?"

Matii glanced at one of the large screens, and an image of a young half-elf popped up.

"I created the Arcana to aid outstanding talents. I see no need to waste it on a corpse. Even without my eyes, Nekro, can't you see where this expedition leads?"

"Oh?" Nekro smiled, a finger on her lips as she stared at the screen. "Why don't we make a bet then? If he dies, you get to borrow my power for a week. But if he lives, I get access to the Arcana."

Matii scoffed, the sides of her lips curving in a smirk. "Deal, Adeline will serve as our witness."

"Wait, who?" Adeline was about to protest, but the deal had already been sealed.

•••

"Achooo!" Stark sneezed, rubbing his nose.

"Are you okay?" Jasmine asked from the side, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

Strangely, Stark felt a chill run up his spine, it was almost as if there were a pair of invisible eyes staring down at him.

He shook his head, getting rid of the troubling thoughts.

After arriving at what must have been the mimic's nest, Kael spent an absurdly long amount of time staring at the scratches while smiling to himself like a lunatic.

And then finally, he adjusted his clothes and turned to face them.

"Well, we are done here. Let's search for more clues before calling it a day," Kael said.

Jasmine's eyes brightened at the thought of leaving the eerie mountain. "Professor, can we visit the bakery when we get back?"

Eurus turned in their direction and nodded, clearly interested in it as well.

"Sure, as long as we don't stay there too long. I have some papers to work on."

They continued their investigation, finding a number of new scratches as well as some shattered trees, but nothing as major as the nest.

When Kael was finally satisfied, he turned to Stark and said, "That should be enough for today—"

Whoosh!

Stark was already moving, about to evade the beast that had lunged at them when Jade grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the side, a claw narrowly missing his face.

He unsheathed his dagger and sucked a deep breath as he looked at the creature, a beast more than two times his size and with enough bite force to crush his head like a pumpkin.

The sound of Kael's amused scoff reached him a second later. He had already retreated to a safe distance, observing them with a curious smile.

It was almost as though he knew what was coming….

'Did he know about them?'

Stark clenched his jaw as he focused on the beasts around him.

Both he and Jade were standing back to back, surrounded on both sides by a pack of Silverback Bears.

It was an ambush.