The Eighth Sin - 65 Legends of the Underworld

Now it was time for the Legends of the Underworld event. Riyku had been pushing himself for this day so that way he could keep his vow. All of the students were seated and waiting for Instructor Rina to come into the room. The tension was high because they all knew what today was. Of course, it was not just Riyku who was the only one to training and studying. All of the class, including Astraia, had been doing the same. Attention shifted towards the door the moment Instructor Rina made her way in. A smile upon her face as she turned towards her class.

“Good morning everyone! As you all know, today is the day of the Legends of the Underworld. As such we will waste no time in getting started. Before we port, let me go over what you should all expect. This year they decided to go with something short and simple. War.” Everyone seemed too shocked to speak when Instructor Rina said that War was going to be the event.

Instructor Rina could see the surprise on her classes’ faces so she decided to enlighten them with more information before someone would attempt to ask questions. “Now, now. I know what you are all thinking. War!? Really!? Well, that is just a simple way of putting it. Since there are plenty of Netherworlds out there, they decided to keep it short and sweet. There will be multiple Wars going on, but each War will consist of three Netherworlds. Each War will take place in a land that has no wildlife, or populace. So there is no need to worry about an outside attack. Many of the Overlords have purchased a planet or two to be used for this event. So there may be multiple Wars on a Netherworld, but there are precautions used to make sure Wars do not interfere with each other.” It seemed the confusion started to clear out. Everyone was starting to understand what was going on and could predict what was going to happen. “Are there any questions?” Instructor Rina would ask, to give others the floor to place their questions. One of the students rose their hand, “Are we going to be ported into the event or to an assemble hall of some kind?”

“The details will be provided once we get there; however, from what I can tell it will be a Capture the Flag and Defend your base type of battle. Since we are porting directly into our base.” Instructor Rina would answer. One more question seemed to come out, and this time it came from Riyku.

“Will anyone actually die from this?”

All attention shifted towards Riyku when he spoke up, but shifted back towards Instructor Rina who smiled softly and shook her head. “No. The Netherworlds have an effect called ‘Port home’. If you die on the field you will be ported back here where you can watch on a magic screen what goes on. No one will actually die from this. You have my word.” The answer Instructor Rina gave seemed to ease some of the tension that had built up. However, Riyku still could not grasp it. If people did not die during the event, why were they to die during the Overlord Selection and why was Instructor Rina not talking about it? He wanted to ask her, but it seemed that was a wrap. Instructor Rina was already starting the porting process. A class-wide magic circle appeared on the flooring much like when his previous Instructor ported them to the mountainside. Only this time they were ported to another land.

Upon the fading of such a blinding light, they were all set in a small obsidian stone hut where a black flag waved proudly in the middle. There was only one door which was in front of them. Interestingly enough, Instructor Rina was nowhere to be found, which left a majority of the students in confusion. Astraia could see this and spoke up, “The Instructor is probably back in the classroom. We were most likely the only ones who ported here and this is most likely our base. Let’s just wait for instruction.” Astraia’s tone of voice seemed to quell the confusion and everyone settled down. Riyku decided to take a place beside Astraia. “Good job.” He told her which drew her attention towards him with a smile. “Just doing what I can. Anyway… what was that question about? You are not thinking of relying too heavily on the Contracted Entity, are you?” Her expression shifted when she asked that question.

Riyku would sigh lightly and shake his head. “I have no plans on that. I just wanted to make sure that no one would get hurt. Still… something bothers me. If someone dies they are ported home, right? What about their injuries? Are they healed when they get back?” Riyku seemed to still have his worries on the matter and Astraia could see that; however, before she could get out another word an authoritative voice echoed throughout the hut.

“Welcome, Students of the Underworld. Welcome to the Legends of the Underworld. Our yearly event to determine the top ten Netherworlds in all of the Underworld. I will be brief. This year we will be going with a War Battle. It will be three teams in a battle royal. There are two ways of winning the War. Either eliminate all other teams or steal their flags. Once a flag is stolen it must be brought back to your base and placed near your flag. You can not capture a flag if your flag is stolen, so be sure to have someone on guard. With that said, there are no rules. Do as you please. The event will begin in the next thirty minutes, so prepare. Good luck to you all and may Hades and Lucifer guide you.”

The voice seemed to finish and everyone looked at each other. “Teams? As in each school right? So does that mean we are going against two other schools?” Someone spoke up.

“So it is ten against ten against ten, right?” Another would add-in.

“Yeah, I believe so. But who should stay here and who should we send out?” Someone else added in.

Everyone fell silent in thought and began looking at each other. Riyku would step forward. “I will go take all of the flags. Can you all stay here and guard ours?” This was a bold claim. To go out alone and take the flags himself. He had his reasons of course. He wanted to make sure no one from his side would be selected for the Overlord Selection. If what Skeith had said was true… he did not want to fight them or watch them get killed by anyone else. This also went for Astraia. He knew just how strong she was, and he knew that she would end up being one of the candidates to be selected. If he could deny her any spotlight then…

“Nope.”

A voice perched forth. It was Astraia who had rebuttal his decision. “You charging head in to fight against how many people? Nope. I will not accept this unless I am allowed to come with you.” Everyone had shifted their attention from Riyku towards Astraia. He would bite his inner cheek when she spoke up. “Well… Umm… we need people to defend our flag. The more the better.” Riyku would retort.

“And? Our class isn’t weak. They can handle it.” Astraia would comment.

“Still, I insist. With you here, we will never lose our flag.” Riyku would reply.

“And what if you die? Who is going to collect the other flags?” Astraia would add.

Riyku fell silent. He had no retort to this comment and just sighed softly in defeat. “Fine. Just stay close, okay.” Riyku would add, meanwhile, Astraia giggled and move beside him to take his hand in hears. Her eyes bright and filled with affection, “Always.” She spoke joyfully.

The class just watched the soap opera before them with smiles and soft breaths of relief. Any and all tension that was in the room was cleared out now and everyone was relaxed and ready. “Okay love birds. That is enough. We need to start. When the doors open you two are the first to make your move.” Someone spoke up.

“Yeah, be sure to show them just how strong love is.”

“Mhm! You two are unstoppable together!”

“Agreed. Show the Underworld what a power couple is!”

The cheers started to fill the hut which caused Riyku and Astraia to look from each other towards the others with a smile. “Right!” Riyku would exclaim happily. They were right. There was no way they could lose if they stuck together. They were stronger together. They were going to take the flags and bring them both back to bring home a win for their Netherworld! All doubts and fears were washed away now and replaced with resolve. A loud siren went off and the doors flung open. Riyku and Astraia made their way out of the hut only to see they were placed upon a hilltop with a lovely view of an open clearing. In the distance, one could see two other bases along with two beams of black light as if to give a position on where the flag was. “Over there and there.” Riyku would point out. “That must be where the other bases are along with the flags.” Astraia would add with a nod. She did not need to look back to tell if their base was giving off a beam since it was most likely true since the others were.

“Left or right?” Riyku asked Astraia who would glance from the left to the right before pointing towards the left. “The Left seems further away, but closer towards the right base. So they may end up clashing with each other which should give us time to capture the flag and bring it back before going towards the right base and getting their flag.” Astraia would comment and Riyku would nod in agreement as he observed what she mentioned. “Fair enough. Let’s go.” With that, both of them would sprout their medium-sized bat-like wings to take off for flight.

As they grew closer towards the base in question they started to descend towards the ground; however, they came in contact with fire, ice, and lightning bolts alike. It seemed that they had been spotted and were being targeted. Riyku would drift left and right to avoid being hit just like Astraia did, sometimes both of them would shift past one another and use each other to avoid bolts that were coming in too fast or were too large to avoid on their own. When they landed at the base of the hill-side, they saw four students in a different uniform from their own running down the hill-side. Riyku would reach his hand into a magic circle to pull out a rapier, meanwhile, Astraia withdrew her greatsword. “Four ground and three anti-air. So three others are not accounted for.” Astraia would claim and Riyku would smirk.

“Fair enough. Let’s get started.” Riyku seemed to dash forward, alongside Astraia. Both of them charged for the four who came down the hill. Astraia would leap over Riyku and bring her greatsword down upon the ground causing the ground to rupture with her strike. Of course with the uneven ground she fumbled back; however, instead of falling back she would jump backward, flip in mid-air and press her feet against an ice pillar. It seemed Riyku had used his magic to call forth to an ice pillar for Astraia without even communicating it and Astraia trusted that he would do something like this. She would kick off the pillar and straight towards two of the four students who were unsteady from the rumbling of the ground. They were trying to maintain their balance. She brought her blade around twice, both horizontal swings which cut down both her targets. Their bodies seemed to light up and port out the moment their flesh was cut through. It was as if something had detected that they were considered ‘dead’.

As for Riyku, he had jutted forward with a quick step to pierce through one of the remaining two students who was still trying to regain his posture. The moment the tip of his blade met with the student they were ported out since his thrust was aimed for a vital organ. Since there was no resistance, Riyku seemed to surge forward and used this motion to pivot towards the last student who had decided against fighting the flow of gravity and just leaped into the air. Both of his hands had gripped the blade and he decided to go for an overhead swing. Riyku would bring his blade around to parry the attack, moving the motion in a swift and powerful direction for the student to release his blade. Using his free hand, Riyku grasped the student’s blazer and pulled him in while thrusting his rapier for the student’s heart. Again the moment the tip of the blade was about to pierce through the vital organ the student ported out. In a matter of moments, four students of some unknown Netherworld were taken out while two of Crimson Ash remained.

Riyku would take a moment to regain his posture as did Astraia before both of them stormed the base; however, when they got there no one was around. Not only that, but the flag was also missing. “Damn it. Someone else beat us to it.” Riyku would mutter. “Looks like it…” Astraia would loosely speak as she looked around before pointing in the direction of their base. “Riyku look!” Astraia exclaimed as they saw students of the other Netherworld along with the three who tried to strike them down with anti-air; racing towards their base. “Wait… why are they…” Riyku would shift his glance from the students skyward to pin-point two beams. The one they were after was heading towards the Right side Base that they were going to attack after this one, meanwhile, the Right side base still had their flag. “Did they form some kind of truce?” Riyku would grit his teeth to this remark. “Riyku, none of the Right side base has lost any people. If anything, they have nine along with the other four heading towards our base.” Astraia called out which caused Riyku to kiss his teeth. “Damn it, let’s go!” Riyku would sprout his wings and surge into the air with Astraia to follow shortly after. It seemed that these two Netherwords had made some kind of treaty. It also seemed that three students of the Left Base Netherworld were probably held as hostages with one from the Right Base staying back to watch over them.

While all of this was occurring it seemed there was something else going on. A man with ashen color hair was looking through a magic screen with various other powerful figures. “This is kind of boring, don’t you think, Hawk.” A voice came from one of the figures who was cloaked in a robe with their hood up. “Why don’t we change things up a bit. A war with no death is boring after all.” The voice continued. The ashen haired male mused deeply. “What did you have in mind?” The man, Hawk finally spoke up. A sinister chuckle came forth. “Remove the protective effect on this Netherworld. We have already done so, and it won’t take into effect until you decide to remove it as well.” Another voice spoke up; this time from someone who was wearing a black mask. Hawk would shift his eyes back to the magic screen. His eyes would peer over it as he watched the events unfold. “Why would I do that? So you can slaughter my people?” Hawk would inquire which caused the hood figure to snicker. “Are you afraid of losing? Tell you what, if you win, we will give you half of our current EC each plus a few slaves and some other goods. How does that sound?” The Hood figure proposed. “Agreed.” The masked figure would concur. Hawk took a moment before snapping his fingers. “So be it. You two do know what will happen if you do not keep to your word, right?” Hawk would confirm while preparing to snap his fingers; actually, no he snapped his fingers without listening for a reply which came merely as snickering from both of the figures.

A damn near missable flicker that enveloped a quarter portion of the Netherworld went off. No one caught it, not even Riyku. Riyku and Astraia were too busy trying to catch up to the raiding party that was heading towards their base. However, it was too late. Half of the raiding party had already entered the hut, meanwhile, the other half was waiting. Since the hut was small, they would have to wait until either of their members came out with the flag. “That’s far enough!” Astraia would call out as she slammed into the ground with her greatsword. Unleashing a build-up of hellfire like a wave that burned those around her. She had picked this technique up when she saw Riyku or well what she thought to be Riyku at the time, slam down and unleash a blast of Pure Diabolical Energy back when he saved her. She was not holding back either, since she knew that the students would be ported out; however, her brow rose as screams filled the air. Painfilled screams of students who were covered in flames by the hell-fire spell she had chanted and built up while racing over here. “W-What?” She was confused, she did not understand what was going on. “What the hell is going on?” Riyku would comment himself as he came to the ground. However, no one stopped moving. Instantly they were surrounded by those who were no afflicted by the flames.

Riyku was not dense, but he could not place his finger on it. Why were they burning to death? Why were these students not just as confused? What was going on? All of these thoughts rang throughout his mind, which caused Skeith to snicker.

“The protective barrier has been disabled. You have been had. The Overlords probably made some kind of bet on who will survive. After all, did you really think that war without death was fun to watch? Real strength comes from survival, kid. Although… perhaps these two Netherworlds planned it. From the emblems, they are from the weaker Netherworlds. They probably want to knock out Crimson Ash so they can tax the land and make slaves of the people. Their people are probably aware of this since those kids are not fazed by the fact that they are losing people.” Skeith seemed to state which caused Riyku’s eyes to widen. Instantly would press his back against Astraia’s as he called out her name. She did the same with a silent nod. Both of them took to a defensive stance.”I don’t know what is going on, but if people are dying this changes everything! We need to save them!” Riyku exclaimed as he kept his eyes on the surrounding enemies. Astraia would nod in agreement, “Mhm, I’ll make a path for you. Take it and go!” Astraia exclaimed and Riyku nodded. He did not want to leave her by herself with this many enemies, but he knew she was strong. He knew she could handle it. So he trusted her. He had faith that she would survive.

Astraia would use a short incantation of hell-fire to shoot out from her palm to make a path for Riyku to take towards the hut. Those in the line of fire were taken out, but some were able to evade the blast of flames. Riyku took this moment to surge forward as fast as possible, knocking aside anyone who came in his path with his rapier until he got to the entrance which was cleared out thanks to Astraia. Although when he got there his eyes widened. He fell to his knees and dropped his weapon. “No…” Riyku would mutter weakly.