The sun was rising as Lee Seng swung his leg on top of the tree branch. He had insisted on taking a second watch and eventually got it when he brought up "I'm doing nothing anyways, so let me do something before I blow my brains out." Olivia was the first to get up. She rose out of her sleeping bed, alerting Lee Seng someone was up. He listened as she smacked her lips, teeth chattered a bit from the morning dead air and unzipped the sleeping bag and wandered off into the forest.
Olivia eventually came back and noticed Lee Seng. She stared at him for a while until Lee Seng turned and acknowledged she was up. He dropped to the ground without producing a sound and turned towards her.
"Need water?" Lee Seng asked. He was already scribbling the rune Keng had taught him. Water began to spew out as Olivia dipped her hands underneath it and started to clean her hands. Lee Seng wrote the rune for 'clean' and pointed at Olivia's hands. Her hands lit up and she pulled away. Lee Seng swiped the air away and motioned for her hands. "I can clean it if you want."
Olivia lowered her hands and then raised them back up. She motioned and Lee Seng wrote the 'air' rune. A gust of wind blew out, blowing her hands dry and onto her face. Lee Seng gasped as he swiped at it, making it disappear. Olivia's hair was a mess, but she was dry.
"So—" Lee Seng began as Olivia just spun on her heel and walked away. "--rry… Ah, good job, Lee Seng." Lee Seng turned and noticed his work from last night. He had accidentally felled a tree with one hit. "Legendary was no joke…"
Soon, everyone was up and getting ready for the day. There was a quiet energy that buzzed in them. Anxiety and the sense of adventure buzzed in everyone. Today would be the day they would be figuring out if a Deimon was a Summoner or not.
The group moved out after having some breakfast. Most of them didn't eat much, but Lee Seng and Keng couldn't help but fill their stomachs before the long day ahead. Lee Seng led the way with Keng next to him. The two twins teased each other, barely paying any physical attention to anything.
"Do you think they're doing their job?" Ritsuka whispered to Calis. Calis watched the twins push each other for a bit before looking at Ritsuka and nodding.
"Yeah. They're paying attention." Calis answered.
"Must be nice to have great senses. I wish my senses were sharp enough that I could deflect a bullet in my sleep."
"Trust me, you don't want too good of senses. I'm pretty sure they hear everything."
"Why do they act like they hear nothing?" Ritsuka asked. "Can they even hear me? Lee Seng's a bitch." Lee Seng immediately whipped his head backwards and looked straight at Ritsuka. He flicked him off before turning and continuing his antics with Keng.
"See? They hear everything. They're like… What do you call it on Earth…? Spy cams? Those pens with a camera and audio in them? What're they called?" Calis looked at Ritsuka.
"Recorders." Keng answered.
"Exactly." Calis pointed.
"What the hell's going on?" Manny asked, looking at Ritsuka and Calis.
"They're talking about us." Lee Seng answered. "Compared us to those recording pens. The ones that capture audio and video."
"I mean… That's what you guys are." Evan commented.
"Having too good of hearing is a curse." Keng told them. "You hear everything."
"Everything?" Liz asked.
"Everything." Keng and Lee Seng spoke in unison.
"Oh, we're almost here." Lee Seng pointed at the large split rock. He pointed at it. "I made an indentation right there. See it?" Keng leaned forward and squinted.
"Yeah. I see it." Keng nodded.
"See what? How can you see that well?" Manny asked, squinting. "I just see the rock somewhat split."
"You'd have to go up to the rock because you wouldn't see such a minute detail from here."
"What is it supposed to be?" Ritsuka asked.
"My initials." Lee Seng answered.
"Huh?!?" The group erupted loudly.
"Is that a smart choice?" Manny asked.
"The only one who knows my full name is Lord Cain and possibly his court of Lords and Ladies. Other than that, most people only know my first name or call me 'Fox.'" Lee Seng brushed it off. The group quickened their speed and looked at him while they breathed down his neck.
"That's the stupidest thing I think you've done in our whole friendship." Manny commented.
"Oh, we're coming to the end of the forest soon." Lee Seng ignored Manny's comment and pointed ahead. Light poured out from ahead, eventually revealing the broken blacktop road and rusted cars. A variety of buildings sprawled across on the other side of the road. The road bent in front of them and curved off to the right on the group's left side. Lee Seng led them straight to the flipped car and turned to look at the group.
"The car was over there." Lee Seng pointed behind him. "And that bird came and perched itself right there." He raised his pointed finger up and settled on the building that was at least four stories tall.
"A-and we have to go in there?" Evan pointed.
"How big was it again?" Manny asked. Lee Seng guesstimated the height. It came up about to his pecs.
"Maybe like this tall with wings double my arm span?" Lee Seng guessed.
"Double your arm sp— Ah!" Ritsuka coughed. Calis patted Ritsuka's back while Lee Seng nodded. Keng's eyes narrowed and tapped Lee Seng. Lee Seng turned and noticed Keng was staring at something.
"What?" Lee Seng began to turn when he heard it. A croak followed by the soft noise of a footstep. A humanoid creature with its head tilted backwards as he stumbled up onto the road. It's entire body looked like it was burnt and a fleshy mess. It had no face. Its head was split, flaps curling like a flower while its mouth was agape.
It slowly moved forward, groaning from the depths of its throat. Lee Seng and the gang froze. They watched the creature slowly come forward, groaning, almost making a strange set of noises that almost sounded like it was screaming.
"Maybe I should deal with this… hm?" Keng whispered. The creature shrieked as its head snapped up into normal position and "looked" at Keng. Before anyone could do anything, Lee Seng was already running. The creature went into a frenzy scream. It rushed forward, arms flailing as Lee Seng's left hand opened.
"Lee!" Keng shouted, stepping forward.
"Wait." Manny ordered. Keng's foot slammed on the ground as he turned. Manny and Calis were watching with serious gazes while the rest seemed worried.
"W-why? H-he isn't one hundred percent yet! He could die to whatever that thing is!" Keng pointed. Manny lifted one hand up and Keng sighed, turning to watch.
"Be prepared to back him up."
Cthulu's Moon appeared in Lee Seng's hand, unsheathed. The undead flower creature swung its arm as Lee Seng turned the flat side of his blade towards the creature's arm and raised his right arm up. The glow of cosmic energy shimmered as the arm hit the shield. It's arm bounced as it's other arm flew straight for Lee Seng's arm.
It's fingers crushed in an instant as Lee Seng released a blast of energy. The undead flower zombie flew backwards, landing on the ground as the top of its head pointed straight at Lee Seng. Thick green strands webbed itself all along the opening as a gurgling noise grew.
Lee Seng's eyes narrowed, quickly pulling the blade and pointing his whole right hand at the creature. A dark energy grew from the creature's flower head. The smell of death grew as mucus green energy fired out of its head.
"Lee!" Ritsuka shouted, moving. Calis turned and grabbed Ritsuka and held him in place while Keng took a step forward. A bright golden light fired off above, left and right of Lee Seng, wrapping the group in his light as he pushed against the toxic energy.
"Did he do it?" Evan asked. The golden energy flickered in Keng's eyes.
"It's not stable enough." Keng whispered. He took another step forward as Manny's voice roped him back in.
"Not yet." Manny told Keng loudly.
"B-but—" The cracks immediately grew back. The golden energy fired outwards, pushing the toxic energy and the undead flower zombie backwards. It shrieked in pain as Lee Seng lifted his blade and sprinted forward.
"Gravitum: Piercing Flash!" Lee Seng flashed forward, swinging Cthulu's Moon horizontally. He appeared behind the zombie, sword extended out to his left side as the golden energy twinkled. A large line grew on the zombie's torso. The zombie croaked as its upper body slid, dropping to the ground.
[You have killed an Undead! 275 souls have been added to your Soul Bead! 68,473/100,000 total souls collected!]
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