Darkness entailed the group, their sight limited to a few meters, aided by the fire of a small torch. Silence prevailed in the hall, they could even hear each other’s breath. Anything could happen.

The five stood back to back. Staring at the dark fog, they waited for something—anything—to happen.

Like a firefly in the dark, a small light reached their eyes from the fog. It seemed feeble, nearly fading. Yet, it revamped all of a sudden, growing into a massive fireball heading to the group.

“Traps!” Himo's eyes darted from side to side.

Aided by the new light source, darkness subsided, the whole hall back to view. Only a few spots were still concealed by dark fog. And thus, he saw it. Hundreds of arrows falling from the sky and an enormous sea of water surrounding them on all sides. Both enclosing rapidly.

He may survive by avoiding each attack, but saving the others was impossible. Think! A solution for this! He pressed his temples in search of a solution, but he had overlooked one thing.

The others weren’t as weak as he thought.

“I ask thee—” The two siblings chanted together. 

“—Grant me the greatest shield;

Earth Wall!”

A small earthquake shook the ground, rallying up a massive pile of dirt and stone. It rose around the group in a circular shape, reaching twenty meters. Like a barricade erected on the moment, it looked feeble, nearly collapsing on itself, and yet, the great wave caused just a tremor and a few cracks.

Himo’s eyes lit up. It’s possible to enhance the strength of a single spell by increasing the number of casters. It was one thing if only two cast together, but what if they were ten? Or hundreds? Or perhaps, even more?

Himo’s eyes were filled with wonder.

Unlike Himo, Seji just glanced at the earth wall for a moment before turning his gaze above—at the myriad of coming arrows. Quickly, he chanted his signature spell. A small fireball appeared in front of his palm, and he fired it toward the arrows. It took but a moment. Like a grenade, the flame exploded in the midst of them, each arrow either burnt or blasted away.

With the remaining arrows falling on the floor around them, only the massive fireball remained.

Seeing that, Shela let out a smile. She posed a hand on her chest and one towards her target—the fireball.

"I pray thee,

Summon the light to counter the dark,

Fire till nothing remains,

Lightray!"

The hand in her chest shone, emanating a yellow light. She moved that hand forward, paired with the other. 

Seji widened his eyes at the sight.

A small light formed before her hands. It grew in but a few seconds, its radiance reaching the deepest corner of the hall—and she shot it. Towards the fireball, who looked like a tiny flame in front of it. Growing into a ray of light, the magic advanced up to the ceiling and exploded into a thunderous noise upon impact.

It then subsided as fast as it came, only darkness remaining in its place. The fireball was no more, it had been erased entirely.

The noise awoke Himo from his fantasies about millions of cultivators chanting a fireball spell together. He was startled. Only then did he realize that all the threats had been dealt with—he had done nothing!

Looking left and right, he tried to see if any threat remained, but only the black fog stood the same. The fireball, the water, and the arrows had vanished as if they had never existed. The same was for the earth wall, which collapsed on itself, rubble on the floor.

“Are yo—” Himo paled. He felt his back cold. Immediately, he jumped with a stacked [Hopper], not daring to look back.

A sharp sword sliced the place where he was before.

“Kiaaaaaaa!” A ghastly shriek echoed from the fog. It sounded akin to the scream of a woman being torn apart.

Himo crashed on the stone wall and looked back, toward the shriek’s source. Still enveloped by the dark fog, only its blurry figure was visible.

It seemed no different than a human. A human floating mid-air.

Seeing that figure, Shela narrowed her eyes. “A banalis, as expected.”

“Banalis?” Seji turned towards her.

“A swordswoman ghost which feeds on the cursed aura. Normally, it’s difficult to kill them without magic or special artifacts, but we expected their presence and came ready…” In the midst of speaking, she froze and widened her eyes. ”But that… that isn’t something we can fight.” She took a step back. 

The siblings also stepped back.

Seji opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. He couldn't. He just stared at the figure, the figure which created a pressure even he had trouble resisting. Like staying underwater, he felt crushed by the weight—even taking a small step was difficult.

The monster was a rank four, comparable to mid-strings cultivators.

He gritted his teeth. The thought of giving up never went in his mind. He stepped forward, toward the monster. When suddenly, a sword came up from behind him. It was a second banalis.

He had no time to react. All he could do was taking a glimpse of what was behind.

White.

White hair, white skin, white eyes, white sword. A ghost-like woman had stepped out of the fog, wailing as she thrust the sword to Seji's back.

The sword cut through the air, when it felt resistance. Something had stopped it.

It was a black curved blade.

A scythe’s blade.

The banalis shrieked and ran back into the fog. Meanwhile, Himo stared at it as he held the scythe. Then shook his head. “You’re not worth my time.” Unlike the rank four floating at the side, that one was just a rank three.

He posed the scythe on a shoulder and stepped toward the rank four banalis. “I’ll take care of that one.”

“Th-that is…” The siblings stared at the scythe, the terror coming from it far outclassed by their excitement.

“A cursed weapon.” Shela had the same reaction. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

Only Seji wasn’t surprised. “Thank you for saving me.” He grinned slightly; he had mostly got used to the scythe’s terror, which, for some reason, he felt weaker than before. “Are you able to fight it? I can help you.” He had seen Himo’s fighting before. While he was no weakling, he was far from fighting such an opponent.

Himo shook his head. “It’s fine, help them instead.” His gaze lingered on the fog. He saw yet another figure hidden there.

The others had noticed it too.

“I will hold the rank four at bay, can you fight against the two ranks three?” Himo glanced at the others.

“Give us five minutes,” Shela replied promptly. “We should be able to kill the two, then we will come to help you.” She took out a weird object from her storage ring.

Presenting an open long tube leading to a box, the object resembled a primitive vacuum cleaner. Made in dark metal, its job wasn't to kill the banalis, but to seal it. It piqued Himo's curiosity, but the child didn't question its working.

The two siblings each took out a similar object. Seji didn’t have such a thing, but he still walked up to Shela to aid her for the fight.

"Good." Seeing their resolve, Himo nodded. Knowing that they would be fine, he turned his gaze to the banalis in front of him. Unlike what Shela believed, he had no plans of waiting—he aimed to kill. On the head of the rank four banalis he could see a lavish bounty with a reward named 'worthy kill'.

The second worthy kill out of ten.

His figure turned into a blur as he dashed toward his target. In but a moment, he stood in front of it—eyes locked onto each other. He slashed with his scythe.

The monster stepped back as to avoid the attack, then counterattacked with a slash of its sword.

Seeing that, Himo dashed backward using [Hopper].

The banalis chased after him, not giving him a chance to rest. It kept slashing its sword at him, but had never done different attacks—it either had limited combat experience or low intelligence. But that didn’t mean it was weak.

Himo gained distance with a stacked [Hopper] and frowned. He found himself outclassed in speed; using a single [Hopper] seemed useless. But that was fine. He still had an ace up his sleeves, a brand new ace that awaited its first use. The Requiem Dance.

He stopped using [Hopper], standing still on the spot. His left foot slid forward slightly, the right one held its position. His gaze grew focused, he couldn't allow himself to get distracted.

He held the handle with hands in a mixed grip. His hands clutched it loosely—each finger ready to shift position anytime. The scythe's blade aimed to the right, pointing to the sword of his opponent.

The atmosphere around him changed. It grew sharper. Swifter. Deadlier. Everyone felt a cold shiver down their back, monsters and cultivators turning to stare at him, halting their fight. They couldn't shift their gaze, drawn in by his stance. It was as if, at that moment, the world revolved around him.

All of them believed that they were about to see something incredible. Something unheard of. The start of a legend, perhaps.

The banalis dashed towards him, slashing with its sword. As a reply, Himo moved the scythe to the right. Slowly, nearly imperceptibly.

The sword and the scythe met each other. The force of the sword resembled a mountain, overpowering easily that of the slow-moving scythe. Yet, like an unmoving dam before a river, the scythe deviated easily the attack. The sword tip crashed on the floor, nearly shattering.

Everyone held their breath.

Taking a single step forward, Himo rotated the scythe, its momentum building up. The blade advanced to the opponent. And, just as quickly, the handle slipped out of his hands. The scythe fell on the floor, its blade piercing the stone blocks.

Himo blinked. Thrice. Scratching his head, he noticed that both monsters and cultivators were staring at him, dumbfounded.

“Oops.”