Chapter 379 Interlude: Asteria“s typical day as a student part 9
[Kabon!]
[[As the first page of the purple book revealed itself, both Kibou and Celeste gulped, as they expected to see something interesting on it. However, what they saw inside was something that they did not expect to see]]]
[[[Celeste started to tremble at her spot, while Kibou slowly pushed the book away from him. Both of them seemed to be spooked by what they saw, and this was confirmed by the words that they said.]]]
[Celeste]: Kibou? I think we have made a mistake here. We should not have opened this book.
[Kibou]: Ki? Ki ki!
[Celeste]: So what should we do now?
[Kibou]: Ki…
[Celeste]: Stay here? No! We should run as fast as we can, or our lives will be in danger!
[Kibou]: Ki?
[Celeste]: Don"t look at me like that! Let"s run away right now! Do you want to die?
[Kibou]: Ki ki!
[Celeste]: Then let"s go!
[[[These insistent words by Celeste had forced Kibou to run away with her, with him also throwing the Purple Book behind them. They did not look back at the Purple Book as they did their best to get as far as they could away from it.]]]
[Celeste]: Kibou, is there anything that is chasing us now?
[Kibou]: Ki? Ki…. Ki ki ki ki!
[Celeste]: What? There"s someone behind us now?
[Kibou]: Ki!
[Celeste]: What is it?
[Kibou]: Ki ki ki…
[Celeste]: A-a Soul Reaper is chasing us now? Oh no….
[Kibou]: Ki ki ki ki!
[Celeste]: Huhuhu… Kibou, we are so dead right now…
[Kibou]: Ki…
[[[Behind Celeste and Kibou was a 7 foot tall, black robed, humanoid creature. Its whole body could not be discerned as it was hidden under his robes, although a set of red, glowing eyes could be seen peeking out from his hood. One of its thin, skeletal hands held a wicked-looking scythe, which was letting out wailing sounds. Every now and often, this creature would wave the scythe around, with some of the waves almost hitting Celeste and Kibou]]]
[Celeste]: Ah!! We"re going to die here!
[Kibou]: Ki!!!
[[[The air around this creature was slowly becoming stale and dry, as if the creature was sucking the very life out of the air. Even Celeste and Kibou were affected by it too, as their robust movements earlier were now turning sluggish. Their breathing also started to become labored as their flight became slower than ever.]]]
[[[With the way that these two are moving now, it is inevitable for them to be caught by the robed creature, which Kibou called earlier as a Soul Reaper. Only a few minutes remain before the scythe of the Soul Reaper catches up to them, and once that happens, both of them will definitely die.]]]
[Celeste]: Kibou, we need to think of a solution right now! We must… find a way to beat the Soul Reaper! If we don"t, we die!
[Kibou]: Ki! Ki ki ki? Ki…
[Celeste]: You think it is undefeatable? Yes, if this were a normal situation, we cannot beat it. But you should know where we are! We are inside the trial, which means that the rules here are different! If we are able to summon this Soul Reaper, then we can also find a way to beat it! We just have to look for it!
[Kibou]: Ki… Ki ki!
[Celeste]: That"s the spirit! Now, what do you think should we do to beat the Soul Reaper?
[Kibou]: Ki? Ki… Ki?
[Celeste]: Yes, we must find another creature that can fight it. But how are we going to do that?
[Kibou]: Ki!
[Celeste]: Yes, we must open another special book. That is the only thing that we can do here.
[Kibou]: Ki! Ki? Ki…
[[[Kibou seemed to be excited by Celeste"s suggestion to open another special book, although some trepidation can be seen on his face, as if he was also afraid of opening another book. Celeste could not really blame Kibou for this, as their first attempt to open a special book has lead them to this dangerous situation.]]]
[Celeste]: Kibou, the Soul Reaper that is chasing us right now was sealed inside the Purple Book. It was trapped there, and it only got free when we opened the Purple Book. Since a book like that has a creature inside it, there is no doubt that other books will have creatures sealed inside them too! Do you know what that means? Kibou, as long as we get to find another special book, we can open it and use the creature inside it to defeat the Soul Reaper! So you don"t have to be scared of opening another special book, as this is the only way that we can survive!
[Swoosh]
[[[The Soul Reaper waved his scythe again, creating a shockwave that almost grazed Kibou and Celeste. This another close shave made Kibou tremble in fear, as this was the closest time that he ever got close to dying. His body almost collapsed to the ground, and it was only when Celeste caught him that he was able to regain his senses.]]]
[Celeste]: Kibou, are you okay?
[Kibou]: Ki? Ki ki ki…
[Celeste]: Kibou, I know that this might be too much for you, but we cannot afford to rest right now. If we do, the Soul Reaper will be able to take our souls and use them as its food. If we die that way, even reincarnation will be impossible for us! We will just be another sustenance for the Soul Reaper, who might attack Asteria next. Do you want all those things to happen? Do you want all of us to die? Do you want Asteria to die?
[Kibou]: Ki… Ki! Ki! Ki!
[Celeste]: So you"re okay with dying, but you don"t want Asteria to die? That"s a weird outlook, but I accept it.
[Kibou]: Ki ki!
[Celeste]: So for Asteria"s well-being, are you ready to help me win against the Soul Reaper?
[Kibou]: Ki Ki!
[Celeste]: Good. In that case, use your psychic sensors right now!
[Kibou]: Ki!
[[[Kibou then let out an excited shout as a powerful psychic field erupted out of his body, which spread out to his surroundings. Everything that were hit by this field became signals that were recorded and observed by Kibou. Nothing inside the psychic filed were able to elude this observation, not even the tiniest particles that floated in the air.]]]
[Kibou]: …
[Celeste]: …
[Kibou]: …
[[[This psychic field continued to increase in size until it covered a circular area the size of lake. Once this size was reached, Kibou"s eyes flashed as he continued to a.n.a.lyze everything inside his field.]]]
[Celeste]: So how did it go Kibou? Did you sense any more of the special book?
[Kibou]: Ki! Ki ki ki! Ki… Ki ki! Ki ki!
[Celeste]: So you found 32 more special books? That"s great! Where"s the nearest one?
[Kibou]:Ki ki ki!
[Celeste]: We just need to fly for 10 more seconds before we can reach the nearest special book? Good. Let"s get that book and use it against the Soul Reaper!
[Kibou]:Ki! Ki ki ki!
[Celeste]: What do you mean we can"t? Is there any problem with that book?
[Kibou]:Ki…
[Celeste]: Go on, just explain everything. I am not getting angry at you now.
[Kibou]:Ki? Ki ki! Ki…
[[Kibou then proceeded to give a more concise a.n.a.lysis on the characteristics of the books that he had seen. According to Kibou, out of the 32 special books that he had seen, 15 of them were all Purple Colored Books. As for the other 16 books, the color that they had was Yellow.]]]
[[[If the book of the Soul Reaper was included, that makes a total of 32 Special Books, with 16 Purple Books and 16 Yellow Books included in it.]]]
[[[After saying this, Kibou continued talking as he said that the nearest Special Book to them was a Purple Book. With the experience that they had with the Soul Reaper, Kibou was not enthused on opening another Purple Book again.]]]
[Celeste]: So the Purple Books might possibly contain creatures that will hurt us, while the Yellow Books might contain creatures that will help us? Is that what you are thinking? Is that why you don"t want us to open the nearest book, since it was a Purple one?
[Kibou]:Ki!
[Celeste]: I think… I will follow your opinion. After all, we already had a bad experience with one Purple Book. I don"t want to open another Purple Book if something like a Soul Reaper exists inside it…
[Kibou]: Ki…
[Celeste]: So we have to just open a Yellow Book. Kibou, where is the nearest Yellow Book?
[Kibou]: Ki…. Ki ki!
[Celeste]: We have to fly for 40 more seconds to find that Yellow Book? Umm…. I think we can reach that book, as long as we do our best to survive here. But can we survive that long, Kibou?
[Kibou]: Ki! Ki ki!
[Celeste]: So we just have to leave it on our luck? Sigh…. I hope this won"t backfire on us…
[Kibou]: Ki ki…