"A Fiendish Wyrm?" Paneneko said."Oh my, you must be even more powerful than a regular Wyrm." Paneneko mocked.
"I am, little human, and you if you were wise you would be stuttering in fear." The Wyrm said.
"If I stutter in fear will you let me live," asked Paneneko.
"If you agree to become a Fiend I can let you live. That"s the only way," replied the Wyrm.
"Somehow, I get the feeling I wouldn"t like being a Fiend," Paneneko retorted.
"Perhaps you would like being dead?" asked the Wyrm with derision.
Paneneko merely chuckled and walked forward towards the Wyrm. Suddenly he flashed forward and before the Wyrm understood what was going on; Paneneko appeared beside the Wyrm and stretched his hand up just slightly behind its jaw.
"About here, I believe," Paneneko said.
They Wyrm was instantly filled with dread.
"No, Please, not there!" it cried.
Paneneko released a spirit blast that blew a hole through Wyrm. This was its Achilles heel. It instantly died as Paneneko moved on.
"I thought that would be harder, I guess they really don"t know how strong we"ve become." Paneneko continued down the hallway and began to laugh.
Lorne continued down a pa.s.sageway while scanning his surroundings with his Ridarn vision. He stopped abruptly.
"Is that a Fiendish Wyrm I see or do my eyes deceive me? Why don"t you come out and stop hiding in the shadows," he said.
"I don"t know what surprises me more, that you could see me or that you could recognize me as a Fiendish Wyrm," the creature said.
"Neither feat is too impressive. I have a special vision technique allowing me to see you, and my master educated me on the Fiend variants a long time ago," Lorne said with a smile.
"Whatever, human. It won"t save you from me!" The Fiendish Wyrm cried out!
"Actually, it will," Lorne said.
The Fiendish Wyrm was just about to strike when he heard Lorne"s comment. It froze in place to see what this human was about to do. If the human had a way of dealing with it, then it would simply run away.
"I had a break thru not too long ago," Lorne began.
"My Ridarn vision allows me to see through things; while my Laser vision allows me to burn through things. I was bridge the two so that I can see through an object and then use my Laser vision surgically. Which means I don"t need to get close to you to take advantage of your weak spot," Lorne said.
The Wyrm was suddenly filled with terror and was about to flee, but Lorne was too fast and had already used his Laser Ridarn vision to surgically strike the Wyrm"s weak point killing it instantly.
Seeing his work done, Lorne flew up and down the hall.
"I really hate Fiends," Tower said while crossing his arms and looking at the Fiendish Wyrm in front of him. B"riri stood next to him holding a spear in a very relaxed manner.
"It"s just a little Wyrm, no need to worry too much about it, but I know what you mean. These Fiends are completely repulsive. This thing being a Wyrm is just, how do the other girls say it? Icky?" B"riri commented to his side.
The Wyrm hadn"t said anything. It was stunned out how it had been disregarded by this pair. Not only was it surprised to see two people enter the hall, which shouldn"t have happened, next he saw them deftly dismantle the formations. At first, he thought when revealed himself they would at least seem anxious. Instead, they seemed more perturbed.
Before the Wyrm could understand the situation he saw something silver pa.s.s before his eyes before finding himself suddenly turned upside down. Only he wasn"t upside done, his head was chopped off. The last words he heard before reaching oblivion shocked him even more.
"Hone, don"t you realize you"re supposed to aim for the weakness of these things. Their skin is very tough and it"s nearly impossible to penetrate their flesh. That"s why the weak spot is so important," Tower said playfully correcting his wife.
"How could some Wyrm"s flesh and skin be able to stand against one of my husband"s weapons. Much less this Heaven Slashing Spear you made me!" B"riri smile sweetly at her husband. The pair continued on their way as if they were enjoying a leisurely stroll through a park.
This scenario played out similarly throughout the secret realm as no one seemed the least bit fl.u.s.tered facing the formations or the Wyrms. Most made jokes and made derisive comments towards the Wyrm they faced before easily killing it.
However, there was one person who was fl.u.s.tered, or perhaps it"s more accurate to say she stood before a Wyrm with mixed feelings.
Su Ming looked at the Wyrm before her and recalled her meeting with Lorne. The two seemed to hit it off well at the banquet and she was even hoping he would pursue her. Then, she noticed his pleasant looking face change from one of interest to fear and anger. He suddenly stammered about something and rushed off.
Later, she was informed there was some concern the secret realm was a trap. Everyone talked about this possibility but when she discovered why it was thought to be a potential trap, she was embarra.s.sed, hurt, confused, and perplexed. It turned out Lorne, whom she had talked with at the banquet claimed a calamity was coming because he liked this girl he met at the banquet.
He claimed every time he liked someone a big calamity struck. At first, she wasn"t sure if she was the girl he was talking about, but somehow it made it around that she was the person Lorne liked. She remembered after it became clear everyone started giving her strange looks. Some people laughed, others made fun of her, even worse some people began to look at her as if she were some harbinger of destruction.
Eventually, with the help of her friends, she was able to convince herself these things were all rumors, or maybe Lorne was a little off in the head. However, here she was in the secret realm. First, she had to dismantle the two formations, and next, this Wyrm appeared. It meant that everything she heard about was true. Lorne liked her and believed she was a sign of a coming calamity.
On one hand, she was flattered Lorne liked her. On the other hand, Lorne liking her did make her a harbinger of destruction. Su Ming stood before the Wyrm with mixed feelings and then started getting mad.
"Stupid Fiend, if it weren"t for you, how could anyone look at me as some Calamity woman!" Su Ming said suddenly, and with that, she throughout two small knives in an arcing motion which struck the weak point of the Wyrm. As the Wyrm lay dying there it could only think, "What the heck is going on?!"
Su Ming moved past the Wyrm and mumbled to herself, "See if I like you now, stupid Lorne. How dare you like me!" Su Ming paused for a moment before pondering, "I wonder if now we"ve met the calamity he can liking me without worrying about more calamities, or will I always be a sign of calamities so long as he likes me."
Su Ming pondered deeply about this question as she moved forward down the pa.s.sage.
Before long, Lorne came to the end of the pa.s.sage he was walking down. Opposite him was a door. Behind him, he could feel Fiends appearing around him. It was an ambush! In front of him, the door opened and a Fiend who was clearly much stronger than the other Fiends came forward. The Fiend began to laugh derisively.
"You did well to get past the formations and the Fiendish Wyrm, but you will go no farther human!" The Fiend said with a fiendish smile.
Lorne was unimpressed. He looked around the room and looked at all of the Fiends who were smiling viciously in antic.i.p.ation of his doom. To them, it seemed inevitable. Lorne could tell these Fiends were powerful if he matched them against his strength in the past. If he met these creatures a few hundred years ago and hadn"t cultivated the Three-Five Paths, this group could end him quickly. He had, however, cultivated the Three-Five paths, and it was several hundred years later. Fighting these Fiends would be like an adult mercilessly beating children.
"I hope you can let me pa.s.s and go away," Lorne said to the smiling Fiends.
The Fiends stood where they were and laughed. However, Lorne"s next words killed the laughter and wiped away all of the complacent smiles.
"I would hate to force you all to face the Fiend Fate. It really is a terrible fate, it seems to me," Lorne said.
"You know of the Fiend Fate?!" The formerly mighty fiend cried out.
"Of course I do, and I also know how much you Fiends secretly fear it," Lorne responded.
"How could you know of the Fiend Fate?" the Fiend asked disbelievingly.
"I once killed a Great Fiend," said Lorne.