The Burning Fiend

The time to enter the Necropolis of the Gods was approaching and Reynolds had done every preparation that had come to mind, he was seating under the shadow of a tree with Windsor, Jenne and Koral enjoying the cold air or the morning. 'If my main purpose of entering that place is gathering souls, then it will be better if I act alone and stay apart from the groups the others would from... it should not be difficult as I don't think I know anyone there, perhaps third brother would be there'.

"Kid it is time". Cesar's voice awakened him from his thoughts and kissed gently Windsor and Jenne on their foreheads. "I will come back, be careful and do not leave this place". He then scratched Koral's head. "Be careful and take care of our family... and make that useless cat train, I swear that if it is still sleeping when I come back I will throw it to the center of the Dark Forest..."

Reynolds became a blur and soon was floating in the air gazing at his lake next to Cesar. "Sorry for the wait Lord Cesar". Cesar just looked at him with a mocking smile. "I remember the first time I entered the Necropolis of the Gods. I was full of hope and d.e.s.i.r.e, I was sure that I would gain the divine spark and be free from all sort of troublesome things... but things were not as easy as I thought, either inside that damned place or after reaching the deity level." He released a sigh and started flying towards the center of the Dark Forest.

Reynolds suddenly became aware that he had never actually explored the Dark Forest, it was as if something inside him had told him that he should not enter this place... that he was not strong enough but he had not realized until now.

After a few minutes the arrived at what looked like a giant metal castle and there were many humans and beasts all at the saint level waiting outside patiently, some of them bowed and greeted Cesar. "Lord Cesar!" Reynolds noted that his third brother and Barker were among those people and could help but smile, he also noticed that the most beautiful woman he had ever lay eyes on was looking at Cesar with anger and disappointment. 'It looks like Lord Cesar has his own history on how to enjoy life...' Reynolds smirked in his mind carefully making a point of never boarding this subject... at least while he was still a saint.

"Kid you stay here waiting with them, things will start soon". Cesar voice had not disappeared yet while his body was already gone, Reynolds paid attention to the group of people and noticed that he only knew four them. His third brother was in a small circle with other four saints whose auras seemed to be a level above the rest, that beautiful woman was one of them. Then was a group of what he thought were followers of this five top saints and Livingston and Barker where among them.

He decided to greet Barker and Livingston first since he wanted to explore the Necropolis of the Gods on his own and going directly to Linley who was with the other 4 top powers would attract much attention to himself which didn't seem wise.

"Barker, you have not changed a bit... how are your four brothers doing and the old man Zassler?" Reynolds greeting made Barker smile and said while patting his back. "Kid! It is been a while! My brothers and Zassler have all become saints and they are enjoying life at the Baruch Empire. We received news from the Dawson Conglomerate that you have appeared a few months ago and that you were already a saint, where have you been hiding? Were you afraid that someone would steal your two women?"

Reynolds laughed with him. "Yeah... you could say something like that. Hey Livingston good to see you, do you already know Barker?" A man with red fiery hair had approached and said. "Reynolds! Yes we met a few hours ago, how are you with Lord Cesar?"

The unlikely gossiping trait of the saint magus made Reynolds blink as he had not expected that. "Well, he said something about me enjoying life too much and that I had to come here to represent his name... I myself do not understand much either". It was Livingston turn to blink in surprise and the three of them the start laughing out loud. "Yeah... that sounds like Lord Cesar".

"Fourth brother! Where have you been hiding all this time?" Reynolds found himself being embraced and laughed while returning the hug. "Third brother! Didn't I said that we will met again when both of us had become saints and that gal Delia had tamed you into an obedient husband? How is it that you were allowed to come here? How much did you had to beg her?"

Linley was still laughing but now he had the impulse to attack his little brother who seemed to retain his habit of making fun of him, he sighed and said "You have not changed at all!" An excited voice interrupted them. "Reynolds! Where is Koral? I want to show her how strong I have become!" Reynolds found Bebe floating next to him. "Hello Bebe! You seem to have become stronger and I'm sure you and Koral could have a good battle. She didn't come as Lord Cesar only requested for me to come and I would not want to leave Windsor and Jenne alone and without protection for 10 years".

Before the conversation continued another all of them noticed that the four deities of the Yulan Continent were floating not far from the metal castle. Reynolds recognized Cesar and imagined that the person wearing a mask should be the High Priest and noticed that this person looked at him with curiosity for a short moment. The other two should be O'Brien and Dylin.

The High Priest started to explain the Necropolis of the Gods for the benefit of those, like him, that have never entered and two of the four powerful saints continued with the explanation while Reynolds summarized the information that he considered important.

There were three tunnels that lead to the Necropolis of the Gods and this time they would be using the one at the South Sea and it was considered the most dangerous of the three. 3000 years ago they had lost many friends and companions on the sixth floor and finally, "... do not drag others with you".

He understood that not only he needed to be careful of the dangers inside the Necropolis of the Gods he also need to be careful of being damaged by the other people who will enter with him, he reaffirmed his decision of going on his own.

After the explanations were over they waited until night before the ruler of the Dark Forest appeared and Bebe rushed to his arms, Reynolds noticed that during this time the High Priest had looked at him a couple of times and he was starting to grow nervous.

The group started flying toward the ocean led by Beirut while the four deities followed behind clearly denoting the difference in power and Reynolds felt a shiver moving through his body after realizing that he have been living next to the most powerful been on the Yulan Continent without knowing and thanked the heavens for not having incurred in his anger and also understood why Lord Cesar was sure that no one would dare to cause trouble at his home that was within the Dark Forest.

It was the first time that he had left the Yulan Continent and crossed the sea and was surprised to find that most of the area in this plane was covered by water... 'I have been living too comfortable, perhaps I should go out and explore with Windsor and Jenne after coming back'.

The entrance to the Necropolis of the Gods was located 20,000 meters below the sea and it was the first time that he understood the power of having flesh comparable to that of a saint level beast as he had no trouble at all resisting the pressure while diving.

He had hoped to see what kind of creatures would live under the water but was disappointed to see that all magical beasts have been scared by the auras of the most powerful members of the group and fled only leaving some on the area fish. Bored he started paying attention at how the other saints were managing to dive and upset the water pressure.

Linley was using qi that seemed to vibrate to offset the pressure while Barker had transformed into his undying warrior form, the other 4 top saints released their aura accompanied by some mysteries that were above the level Reynolds had reached. The beautiful woman seemed to control ice the same as one of the men, other seemed to use light to create a small barrier providing some inspiration to Reynolds as he knew that the barrier had something to do with the 'elements of light' and there should be some similarities with the 'elements of fire'. The last one had released and aggressive aura that gave him an uneasy feeling and he decided that he did not want to get into a fight with that man.

After a while they reached a door that had some similarities with the one below Reynolds's castle giving him an uneasy feeling. 'I hope the monster that rule the Dark Forest do not take offense from us living there'. He shaked his head deciding that this thoughts were not helpful and there was nothing he could do to change things as the difference in power was absolute, so instead of worrying about it he would just hope for the best.

After a moment Beirut opened the door and everyone following through the interspatial door, they entered what seemed to be a world below the ocean and though it was similar to the Yulan Continent, there seemed to be a force that restricted their spiritual sense making it almost useless. In this place their eyes were more important that their spiritual sense and Reynolds suddenly became extremely happy to have practiced the 'fire body' making him almost invulnerable to attacks.

Reynolds was awakened from his own thoughts as Beirut mentioned something worrisome. "... guardian... divine beast 'Ba-serpent'." This few words startle him as he was sure that he could not survive if he had to deal with a deity level combatant. And only sighed in relief as he understood that the divine beast would most likely be sleeping and all depended on luck causing to smile. 'Luck had not fail me yet... lets hope this do not changes in this place'.