At the center of the Nightmare Forest.
In front of the hidden temple.
A luxurious carriage stopped in front of the temple, welcoming their arrival is the black lion beastkin Grand Knight, Akim, and a high-elf light priest, Sian. One was wearing full plated silver armor. Unlike the rest of the warriors which wore a helmet on their head this Grand knight didn't. His face is after all a black lion which prevents him from wearing a plated helmet on his head but his body is completely covered with silver armor for protection.
Standing beside this beastkin knight is a handsome elf with long blonde hair, Elves were a long-lived race even if they've reached the age of 100 they would still look young, unlike the human race. Not only that, unlike the average elves, high elves were more sensitive against mana. They could clearly see through illusion-type spells and see someone's soul as long as it is close up.
This is why when the carriage that bore divinities stopped in front of him he suffered from an extremely heavy pressure of energy that is not meant to be felt by a mortal. He underwent suffocation from the coercion of the divine energy even vomiting on spot and putting himself in an embarrassing position. Crown Prince Viktor and Crown Princess Angela had to be welcomed by a high elf puking in their presence.
Akim, "Welcome your high..."
Pukes~ Urgh!!! [This is the sound created by Sian who is currently retching.]
"-ness...?" cut off the sentence of Akim who was stunned by his friend's rude actions.
Blergh~~~
It was when the grand knight Akim was greeting them that the high elf was retching at the same time. The expressions of the people around them, especially Araysh and Neige at the front seats just behind the coach who was controlling the horse, were not good. Viktor and Angela's expression openly turned distorted and avoided the puking elf literally.
Araysh glared at Sian, "Clean it up. This instance!" His voice was authoritative and cold.
Sian started trembling when his eyes met Araysh and Neige. Thanks to his Elven bloodline, he could distinctly see the souls of these two before him.
His thoughts, 'T-This... how is it possible!? What kind of being are they to possess this kind of soul!!! One is purely made of shadow while the other is made of ice. They aren't humans at all!!!?'
Neige on the other hand had observed the situation closely and immediately understood what was wrong with the elf. He waves his hand to freeze the puke and Sian's mouth before knocking on the small partition that lets him speak with the people inside the carriage.
Knock. knock. Knock.
Swish~
Lucien spoke from the inside, "What is it?~"
"My Lord, there's a high elf outside one from an older generation. He could sense mana purely. At this moment, he might be affected by the leaking divine energy coming from the lords." said Neige.
A cold yet stern voice can be heard from the inside speaking, "We will completely seal up our divinity. Tell that one to clean up and stay away if he is dirty. Our wife hates dirty things." This is Adrienne speaking.
Neige responded respectfully, "As you wish, Lord Adrienne."
Eirwen commented, "Ah~ how annoying ba~" as the partition was once again close from the inside.
Everyone who was outside the carriage had heard the three voices coming from the inside. The other four already knew who those three were, but the original people from this temple didn't. The grand knight Akim was frowning as he helped his friend the high elf, Sian calms himself down. It took another half an hour before the other three went down from the carriage. At this time the pure energy from before had disappeared.
The high elf light priest, Sian could finally breathe properly but his body had suffered from fatigue. Akim, who had been waiting for half an hour for the other passengers of the carriage to go down, could finally no longer hold back his temper. He is a proud beastman who had received almost all the honor a knight could attain. It is very hard for him to treat others like they were his equal.
The crown prince Viktor and crown princess Angela may be young but their achievements were not bad which is why this old grand knight respects them quite well. There is also adoration of an elder which is why it is normal for him to hold back his temper towards this young couple but the other three were strangers he hasn't heard before. Normally, his actions were quite biased at this time.
The Grand Knight Akim murmured, "What the hell is taking them too long!?"
"Sshss! Akim, please shut up. I beg you, please!" said the high elf priest Sian he pleads to his friend. Because, unlike his knight friend who couldn't see, Sian could clearly discern what kind of beings are in front of them right now. He kept his head lower, no longer meeting the eyes of Araysh or Neige who were waiting respectfully outside the closed carriage.
Akim, this grand knight looked at his friend bewildered but still followed his words and immediately shut up.
He lowered his head and asked with an undertone voice, "What is wrong? Did you see something again?" asked Akim, whispering.
"Yes. Please be respectful. They weren't humans. The town waiting outside. One is a god and the other is a demigod. I do not know what God the dark elf one is but the demigod, I heard about him before. He is the Ice Spirit King ruling Ivern. If he left Ivern to serve someone like that means... that the three inside the carriage are Gods that are beyond their strength. Please be respectful. Not even the demon king would dare to anger gods feared and respected by the other gods." whispered back Sian to his friend.
Akim heard his friend's explanation and was stunned in disbelief. He had always believed Sian's words as he had never seen things wrong. If his friend's words were correct which means these two men who were acting as guards were divinities that aren't supposed in their world. Just based on their aloof and indifferent expressions they mostly don't care about them not being in the mortal world they are currently in. If that's so this only means one thing.
They are only here to escort the three high divine beings inside. They are just escorts and nothing more. The ones with real authority were the people who haven't shown themselves yet.
Knock. knock.
The sounds of knocking had come from inside the carriage. It was a sign that the one outside could finally open the door for them. Araysh opened the door while Neige saluted and lowered his head as Araysh did. The first one to come down is a handsome man with golden hair and pitch black irises. There's a gentle smile on his face as if he is Saint and his whole being is covered in a holy aura. One could obviously feel that the light element in his body is beyond what mortals could store. This is as if he is the source of light himself. It was Lucien.
After coming down first he stretched out his hand and said, "Watch your steps, honey." Lucien said.
The one who held his hand was a beautiful-looking lady. Her features were even beyond that gorgeousness of mermaids and exquisiteness made those elven races fall short in comparison. There is a usual mischievous smile in the corner of his lips making him look friendly but if one closely looks at those argent orbs one could feel the coldness that is even beyond the ice spirit king possess. He is almost white all over but at this moment those thin lips were a bit swollen and crimson in color which left some hints of temptation and seduction especially when someone meets eyes with him.
Akim and Sian thoughts, 'She is truly a heavenly beauty~'
The grand knight and light priest didn't notice that they were staring for so long until someone's eyes sleeves blocked their line of sight. A piercing and sharp gaze fall on them making them feel chills beyond normal. Waking up from the lovestruck state they've met a frosty gaze coming from the obsidian-haired man standing behind the pretty lady.
The beautiful lady? spoke, "Lucy, Rienne, calm down okay?" Eirwen especially made his tone coquettish which made those who heard blush.
Akim and Sian's faces turned red in comparison. Making the two handsome men accompanying the lady frown.
Adrienne responded, "If they keep staring, this lord doesn't mind turning them to corpses."
"Hahaha~ then shall I forbid their resurrection if Addie really does so?" said Lucien with a smile but his words weren't that pretty to hear either.
Eirwen spoke, "Pfft~ you've been eating vinegar since he got out of the house. Would you eat everyone's vinegar as long as they look at me for a second?" he asked with a gentle smile which is rare itself.
Lucien and Adrienne responded right away, "We would!" they answered honestly which made Eirwen laugh.
"Hahaha~ you've really changed. When we first met you'd even dared to leave me alone in that dirty back alleys from before," said Eirwen.
---
A fragment of their past.
Hundreds of years ago...
SS World: The World of Fire and Death
Inferno
This is a world where violence, lust, and theft are rampant. There are no such existing rules like those on earth. In this world, the ones who spoke the largest are those who have strength but despite that, there are still some human villages hidden. In these hidden places, the human race tried to live their lives. There isn't much difference in how the human race lives here like those on earth but their strength is ahead of those from earth even more closely linked to Vearth instead.
The human race in this world controls qi which aids their cultivation. But instead of spiritual qi, the qi that exists in this world is closer to ghost qi or dark qi used by demon cultivators. The human race of Inferno was born with high resistance to impure qi. This is why they could control ghost and demon creatures to their bindings. These are enough to fend themselves off, against the other strong creatures and races within the world of Inferno.
But despite that, the human race's population is too little to maintain the balance in Inferno. It wouldn't take long before the balance broke. The world's end is the only result. The human race of this world has no idea of their world's current state. This is why the God System which governs all worlds and galaxies that existed sent few gods to investigate this world.
In some dark alleys within the human territory. A young man with his clothes in tatters was running away with all his life in line. Beside him, a group of bulky men was chasing after him.
Run. Run. Run.
This is the only thing that is inside the young man's mind at the moment. Without looking back he runs away from those filthy men who tried to rape him.
'I must run! If I get caught it will be the end of me!'
Despite running with all his energy, this young man still got ambushed by some corner. He got tackled on the ground by a man with a body twice as him. Hitting his head on the asphalt below him, he could feel his head splitting in pain and warmblood strolls down his face. The young man lost consciousness with a man above him and a few more coming over to rape him.
"Did he lose consciousness?"
"He hit his head. Is he dead!?"
"So what if he is? He won't die right away. Let's enjoy ourselves first before healing him."
Meanwhile, the one that was chosen this time to investigate is Hei Anjing wearing a white robe with black snowflakes design his long hazelnut hair is half clipped with a braid. He was overlooking the world below him with desolation and detachment as if he is looking at a rock instead of a world where living beings lives. Despite that, his beauty is overly unparalleled plus that emotionless expression of his face.
Like unmelted glaciers which nothing could move even in a millennium. It was beautiful, pure, and untainted. His existence itself is noble and graceful. No one would deny that he is not a person on this lower plane as long as they see his face. He is like an immortal overlooking the world itself. Unattainable and immovable being.
Hei Anjing spoke his cold yet monotonous voice can be heard coming out from that cerise yet thin lips.
"Is this the world where the target is? Guide." He was talking to the prototype system the God System had prepared for him for this mission.
[Answering to the Venerable Lord Hei. Yes. This is the world called Inferno. An SS World in which evil is rampant more than righteousness. Many of these original residents work for the Nether Subsystem.]
"I didn't ask for that information. Answer only what I asked you."
[Affirmative, Venerable Lord.]
"Find me a vessel immediately. With such a fragile world descending with my immortal self would instantly destroy it. I do not want to alert my target for Execution Mission."
[Searching... I beg the Venerable to wait for few seconds.]
[Searching in progress...]
[... Progression reached 90 %]
[Ping! Vessel found. Initiating Transfer.]
During this time verification of the vessel, the world hopper would enter are still faulty. There are tons of times that they would enter the wrong vessel as the systems were not made of prisoner's souls but just machinery that couldn't think for itself without a command.
Hei Anjing entered a vessel within that world to investigate. It just so happened that his soul was sucked into the body of that young man who fainted. The vessel that he got is a young man with a slight feminine face and slender body. His cultivation is quite lacking as well. The physique of the body is too weak for Hei Anjing's abilities to be used without breaking the body into pieces.
'What is this... disgusting feeling? This is the first time... I...'
Once Hei Anjing opened his eyes he could vaguely feel a breezy and wet feeling on his chest and legs. He then saw himself with tattered pieced clothes on himself and a group of men licking him there and here.
'What the hell is this?! What the fuck are they doing!? This is disgusting! Disgusting!!! Guide what kind of vessel did you find this lord for!!'
[Error... System Error. Deviation in target transfer. The host had entered the wrong...crzz... rizz...v-ve...ssel...]
AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Once he saw that Hei Anjing almost lost it. He screamed so loud as he forcedly used his qi to spread around him. His original qi is so strong that those groups of men turned to piles of mashed meat. With flesh and blood scattered. Around him even painted the walls red.
Once Hei Anjing calms his breathing to normal he observes the body he got pulled in to do his mission. This is the first time he felt such disgusting emotion in his whole being. He couldn't help but puked as he felt the wetness on his skin even the cold wind couldn't help him remove the nauseous feeling stuck in his throat. He could only stop puking when all that came out of his mouth was clear bile. But despite that, the hellish feeling doesn't go away.
PUKES~ Blerrgh~
He forced his extremely weak body to sit up and lean on the bloodied wall near him not even caring for the scent of blood and flesh that sticks to his skin. He is trembling so badly. Not only is his current body so weak. The remnant feeling of disgust lingers in his mind. After all, what he just experienced is very traumatic for a young master like himself.
For some unknown reason, he could control his tears from falling. He felt so disgusted with himself for what happened. That scene left a traumatic feeling in his mind. After all, his family has a history of OCD, and only their family and the person they love could be allowed to touch them. What he experienced left him a nightmare in his mind.
But unlike other world hoppers, he had an administrative position in the God System which is why there is no need for a system to assist him. He could if he wanted but Anjing never used a system when he went to work. The vessel he entered was the nearest unoccupied body which just died a few moments after he arrived in the world. It just so happened that this is the first time he got a vessel who was suffering at such a humiliating event. It was his bad luck.
Adding the fact he was forced to use his qi just now, Hei Anjing is truly tired. He was about to close his eyes to repair the vessel he is in when he heard two men coming over to help him.
"Xiao Ye over here! There's a man here!"
"What the hell happened here? Did he kill them all!?"
"Anyway he seems to have fainted. Let's have someone treat him. Carry him, Xiao Ye."
"Do it yourself!"
"I would if I could. My right arm had a fracture. It's not completely healed yet. Huh? Isn't this that little brother of Hei Lili, your little admirer?"
"Fuck your little admirer! She just saved me once and thought I owe her my everything for saving me for a simple cut in the gut."
"Whatever, carry him home. He's badly injured."
"Tsk!"
Hei Anjing before he completely closed his eyes saw the eyes of the man who carried him.
'Deep dark obsidian irises. Clear as the evening sky. It would be even more beautiful if there were stars and galaxies in it. Such a pity.'
These were Hei Anjing's last thoughts before his mind completely blanked. As his vessel entered auto repair and auto-upgrade.