Hell Contractor: Rise of the Last God

God’s Retreat.

Rapture's Army were known as the most powerful organized force all the states. They're a military institution which keeps the northern state of Cloud 9 shrouded in mystery. Most people know never to venture west because of the legends about terrifying forgotten beasts that are beyond imagination, but the north is ruled by a different kind of fear. The most powerful beasts and beings who align themselves with the element of light are under Rapture's Army, with only a few exceptions.

Ayanda only knew about the north based on what he's read along with Mr. Han's knowledge. In the past, Ayanda would've avoided travelling towards uncertainty, but he now believes that with time, can can reach the mythical level, and be able to travel between the states, possibly even further. With Professor Nhlanhla most likely away for a long time, Ayanda needs to reflect and study more about daemonic vitality before he ventures outside of The Dragon Province.

Ayanda senses Sango reaching out to him, so he allows him to leave the ring.

"That man... He feels familiar." his first words seemed as though he had been observing Professor Nhlanhla carefully while Ayanda spoke to him.

"You've meet him before? Haven't you been trapped in that ring for more than a century?" Ayanda was puzzled by Sango's comment.

"I'm not too sure why I have this feeling, but he definitely reminds me of someone... His knowledge is clearly at a level we may not even fathom." Sango muttered bitterly. He now wondered why he's encountered another remarkable human who he overlooked. It's possible that since Professor Nhlanhla is a workaholic, he would have never been in any battlefield or evil deed that Sango took part in.

"Yeah. For now, I have no choice but to study this daemonic text and find a way to increase my spiritual and daemonic vitalities." Ayanda turned to leave the library, and as he exited the floor, he felt a strange field enveloping the entire floor, shutting an invisible door behind him, "It seems like the professor made sure nobody was eavesdropping in our conversation. I wonder why?" as he contemplated the possible reason behind Professor Nhlanhla's meticulous actions, Ayanda made his way back to the apartment so he can start to understand the daemonic text.

Ayanda returned to his room and opened up the scroll after circulating his Hell Scroll Sacred Art, but was shocked by by lines of text inscribed onto the scroll. The daemonic language seemed alive and fluid, constantly shifting and changing, giving Ayanda no chance to get it into his memory. The more he tried to force it, he would begin to experience intense migraines starting to creep into his brain. Ayanda summoned Levy and Sango to attempt to read it back to him, but even for Levy the daemonic text was difficult to comprehend as he could only barely make out the text.

Ayanda prepared to go to bed and slept quite easily as he usually does, but that night he had the eeriest nightmare, where he felt such anguish that he wanted to destroy the world, burning everything down. The nightmare didn't last long for Ayanda, but when he woke up, it was already past the usual time he gets up, even missing Mr. Han at breakfast.

"What the hell was that dream about?" Ayanda was wondering if he was still experiencing Mohini's Amrita, so he was feeling the aftershocks of her memories. But Ayanda was worried about his sleep being affected, making him sluggish in the future.

Ayanda can't wait around to allow that to happen, so after eating, then preparing to go out on a hunting trip with his tusk knife in order to practice more with it, he set out with the daemonic text scroll in order to study it while he looks for ways to understand his daemonic sacred art cultivation base. Since he's now registered for the final exam, much like the rest of his classmates, he would have to be focused on his practical cultivation in order to display his progress from studying at Dark Dragon Academy, and these results will help any organization wishing to recruit promising youth, especially the Phoenix Sect, who recruit the very best students to join their private military.

As Ayanda was leaving his apartment, Bright happens to be waiting by the training area they sparred in the previous day, but now she has brought heavy staff made of metal, along with replenishments for herself.

"What are you doing here?" Ayanda seem startled by her being there. He had already left a note and prepared to go out for the next few days, and he knows he didn't make plans with Bright today.

"I was hoping we could spar again..." Bright said, but took notice of Ayanda's bag, and the fact that he's wearing his training gear for hunting companion beasts in the wild, "But it looks like you were already heading out. Maybe I can join you if you don't mind sparring while you train?" she asked.

"Well, I was actually looking to hunt some wild companion beasts while I study. Maybe even try find a wild mythical beast to practice hunting it." Ayanda spoke honestly. Ever since he's gotten back, the one career path that Ayanda sees as advantageous to him having more freedom to move around would be a wild beast hunter. There are many students who avoid this career as wild beast hunter's have to ready to explore dangerous places, and even lost ruins, in order to retrieve the goods their client requests. Wild beast hunter's may be required to chase after violent criminal who use ferocious companion beasts that even soldiers wouldn't be able to take on, so they're mostly viewed as oddball mercenaries by many who are unable to coax them into joining their strict organizations.

"You want to hunt a wild mythical beast!" Bright was astonished by Ayanda, even worried now. "This guy better not be thinking that just because he has three sacred arts, that he's invincible now." she thought to herself. "I'm definitely tagging along. I don't care what you say." Bright instantly became like a shadow next to Ayanda, waiting for him to walk so that she could follow.

Ayanda sighed and thought that it wouldn't be so bad to go with Bright, but then he may not be able to study his daemonic text. Either way though, in order to take his trip with a peace of mind, allowing Bright to come with wouldn't be so bad, considering she probably has more knowledge than he does, so he decides to leave together with her, heading south.

Nez was making his way towards the academy's high tech training facilities. He knew that since the final exams were coming up in a few weeks, there would probably be other students training, so he wanted to take some of them down in order to show off how much stronger he's become. Although he doesn't openly brag about his cultivation, Nez is one of the few students at Dark Dragon Academy who has secretly promoted their sacred arts to almost reach mythical level. Nez felt that he could take on anyone, even Yethu, as she and Bright have been constantly vying for the top spot against the enigmatic Zola; a transfer student who never attends any classes, but always scores in the top three scores. Nobody at Dark Dragon Academy has ever seen this student, but their name is registered every year.

As Nez is nearing the facilities, he notices Ayanda and Bright leaving campus together, clearly on an excursion where they'll be in the wilderness. There's no policy preventing students from fighting each other, but off-campus fights run the risk of there being severe injuries or even fatalities. The academy does have teachers and guides posted in various off-campus sites to help keep an eye on students, but even Nez knows that once you're out of the bounds of Dark Dragon Academy, it's pretty much survival of the fittest. He licks his lips with an evil grin and quickly turns around to try and follow them before being stopped by Yethu who instantly appears out of nowhere.

"Don't do it. You'll regret it and nobody will be able to save you." Yethu spoke softly, but her voice had a strong hint of menace and dominance. Her entire posture wasn't exaggerated, but she was emitting a dangerous aura to warn off Nez.

"You think I'm scared of her? I can take her any day!" Nez retorted but wasn't willing to take a step forward.

Yethu let out a sigh and relaxed her intimidation somewhat in order to let Nez move, "I see. If that's the case, then try not to embarrass yourself." she sounded relieved as she answered him.

Nez was taken aback, "What do you mean? You think I wouldn't stand a chance against them both?" he angrily questioned Yethu with a deep voice.

"No. You can't take Ayanda on. He's beyond your level." Yethu coldly remarked plainly with her statement like it was an irrefutable fact.

"What! He's just a useless.." before Nez could finish his sentence, Yethu has already taken out her phone to reveal a video recording of Ayanda's test for his registration. The part she was replaying for Nez, the only clip she's saved, is of Ayanda's sacred art cultivation bases.

"Th...Thr...Three... He has three sacred arts!?!" Nez stammered as he was barely able to comprehend what he was seeing. To him, this was illogical. If Ayanda has three sacred art cultivations, then even if you ignore their level, what has to be considered is the nature of his companion beast that can be contracted to him. Warriors with multiple sacred art cultivation typically have companion beasts with potential of mythical promotion.

"Do you still think he's your match?" Yethu asked with somewhat of an uncharacteristic sly smile. She's usually expressionless, but is enjoying the shock Nez is experiencing. To her, Ayanda became a rival that she can't wait to take on, "You might think that this isn't enough, but even Bright lost to him.". Yethu's last sentence made Nez freeze.

"Bright lost to him?" Nez had a strangely calm demeanor now.

"They were just sparring, but she said that she couldn't keep up with him. You could say it wasn't really even a fair fight, he went soft on her." Yethu admitted what she knew. With Nez, she knew that no amount of suggestions would work, but even telling him the truth ay spur him into something outlandish. But Yethu knew that she wouldn't worry as long as he had enough information, not even Nez would go after someone who has three sacred art cultivations at their disposal, even if they're seemingly inexperienced.

Nez appeared to halt his plans on chasing after Ayanda and Bright while Yethu decided to leave him to think about what she just told him.

"Impossible... There's no way..." Nez muttered under his breath.

Ayanda had decided to warm up his muscles along the way, so he focused on using the movement techniques from Immortal Phoenix Sacred Art to move at a frightening speed. Bright was keeping up with him, but it was becoming obvious to her that Ayanda's movements were truly inspiring, as she was starting to push her own movements to the highest point but she felt that she was inferior.

"What is that movement technique your using?" Bright blurted out as she couldn't keep up anymore. In her mind, anybody that can move like this has to be an elite sacred art with impressive movement skills that can be learnt.

"It's... It's a unique sacred art. The person who taught it to me didn't give it any official name." Ayanda was telling the truth. Although he understood the name based on the idea Lucky had, Ayanda knew that he could never really claim this sacred art, since it belongs to the Phoenix Sect. There's a strong chance that nobody from her family would even be aware of Immortal Phoenix Sacred Art since Lucky was only able to leave behind the fragments that Ayanda pieced together.

"Can you teach it to me then?" Bright asked earnestly. If Ayanda had a sacred art that could improve her movements, and also be a sacred art that had no strong ties to anybody important, then she could improve without regretting who provided her the skill. Ayanda was someone she trusted already.

Ayanda to a moment to mull over it, then decided there couldn't be any harm in his actions. If anything, he's just returning a sacred art back to it's rightful owner. So Ayanda explained to Bright how she must do her best to mimic his movements first, while circulating her Burning Phoenix Sacred Art throughout her body. This is the only way Ayanda can think of to guide her vitality back into becoming a true phoenix. Lucky's development of Immortal Phoenix Sacred Art only succeeded due to his breakthrough in understanding the pure essence behind a phoenix's vitality. Through this enlightenment, he was able to push his creation to the peak, but he mysteriously vanished before he mastered it.

Bright was diligently tracing Ayanda's movements which she found oddly familiar, but still deeply profound. Every step Ayanda took was like a pure phoenix walking in the air, his aura feeling as if he has wings that could lift him of the ground at any point.

"This!... This movement is like something teacher has described before..." Bright was lost in her thoughts as she was now able to slowly adjust her own movements until they were more like Ayanda's. Her Burning Phoenix Sacred Art was now aching in relief, like Bright was finally giving her cultivation base the treatment it truly deserves. Even Bright suddenly could tell that her movements have become more fluid, experiencing a new sense of speed and power which is unlike before. Bright started to glide elegantly and had a strange feeling developing from her legs up to her back, as if she was sensing a set of wings forming slowly.

Ayanda had not noticed this development, since he was focused on getting his body in a much higher physique, with his plan to hunt a wild mythical beast to test whether he's ready to explore further in the future. He was trying to pick up as much of his surrounding as he moved, and he vaguely detected an old stone trail in between the dense forest they were rapidly moving through. Ayanda turned quickly and stopped to land by where the stone trail gets buried deeper, with Bright landing behind him frustrated.

"Why did you stop?" Bright felt as if she was on the breakthrough of enhancing her movement techniques with Ayanda's display. She was about to reach the cusp of fully realizing her Phoenix Wings, but it was still enough for her so far, now feeling her sacred art vitality is more re-energized than before.

"Do you know where this path leads to?" Ayanda pointed to the stone trail, with Bright giving a glance to the ground.

"This could be some old ruin. Maybe an ancient path leading to a temple. But these ruins are from thousands of years ago, there isn't any ruin left to discover in The Dragon Province." Bright deducted from her short look. From her gaze, she wasn't as interested as Ayanda seemed.

"A path. Really?..." Ayanda muttered as he started to walk down the earth covering the stone trail and suddenly feel the remnants of spiritual vitality seeping from below, as if it's buried deep. Ayanda continued to follow the path on foot, with Bright following behind him.

At one of the secret gates leading out of Dark Dragon Academy, Nez hops out of an old metal door built out of the furthest end of the campus grounds, giving him a good starting point to track Ayanda and Bright down.

"I can understand ignoring Yethu, but to use our master's door's without his permission is really courting death." a hoarse voice speaks to Nez, but remains hidden in the shadows.

"It's just some worms. Master doesn't have to hear about this." Nez replied.

"How dare you decide what the master should be aware of! Don't forget, he's the only reason you still breath air into those pitiful lungs." the hoarse voice sneered to Nez, who froze up at the remark, "For your own sake, I'll keep this from the master's ears. You had better hope you don't lose to those worms." the voice faded away mysteriously, leaving Nez left alone.

Ayanda and Bright had been walking along the path that's become part of a long stretch of trees in the forest. These trees are unusual compared to the part of the forest they had crossed, with the trees here having a faint glow of spiritual vitality, but a vitality that is more earthly, with a profound philosophical aura within it. Ayanda couldn't fully comprehend it at once, but it gave him a similar feeling to the daemonic text for some reason, so he wanted to try and see if he could read the scroll now.

"Let's camp somewhere nearby. It looks like there's a some boulders in a few meters that we could use to build a decent encampment for the night." Ayanda said to Bright as the path cleared and they really did find the boulders. Bright had no issues and decided to look for a water source while Ayanda set up the camp, and within a few minutes after she has left, Ayanda has set up the fire, sleeping beds, with a tent set up as a canopy to keep their heads covered.

Ayanda took a moment to pull out the daemonic text scroll, and when he started to read it now, the pain wasn't as intense as before, as he started to understand the basic daemonic alphabets as well as syllables that are translated phonetically into text. As he understood more, he replayed his memories of the vision Mohini's Amrita showed him, and he had a suspicion that the man Mohini was mourning for may have been her only son, who was actually half daemon and human. Mohini seemed to have held great hopes in him bridging the gap between the two races. Ayanda realized slowly that him being able to cultivate the Hell Scroll Sacred Art makes him the second person ever to cultivate it. With Mohini's experiences and memories, Ayanda could feel that the better he comprehends the daemonic text, the faster it will be to follow Mohini's past.

"Professor Nhlanhla is too radical! What if I used this rare sacred art against him? But he must have known the difficulty of cultivating this, so he gave it to me as an experiment." Ayanda thought to himself, then summoned Levy after some time in order to let him out to stretch his legs a bit.

"Hmm. I can't sense some spiritual vitality below." Levy passed on a telepathic message.

"I can sense it too. It's very faint." Ayanda responded.

"Not for me. I can tell there's something beneath the stone path you've been following. I'm not really sure what it is, but it has a lot of spiritual vitality leaking out, and the earth around it is just letting it seep out into the forest here." Levy said to Ayanda calmly.

"What!? Can you tell if it's alive?" Ayanda was shocked.

"No. But, it's not dead. It could be something sealed away. Might even be hibernating." Levy guessed vaguely.

Ayanda looked to the ground as his mind raced with curious thoughts about investigating what's below.