Hell Contractor: Rise of the Last God

Ghost of a Phoenix.

Ayanda is making his way towards the stairs he had planted his explosive device before. With Levy lying grumpily on his shoulder, Sango annoyed and sad, Ayanda removes the explosive, then rushes up the stairs to the entrance. What took him hours before was only covered in a few breaths, then he places the explosive device onto the top of the entrance stone frame. Ayanda turns to the entrance one last time, Levy is ignoring the mountain in anticipation of finally being outside so he doesn't care about being sentimental in any way. Ayanda rushes down, triggering the explosive simultaneously which destroys the entrance, causing debris to fall down into the stairs and caves to seal everything up inside. The Star Shadow Chimera is at the peak of the mountain looking towards the west, and after looking at Ayanda, and making a gentle growl, it teleports away instantly.

Ayanda is rushing back to his camp site, but when he returns, he discovers that wild beasts have ravaged his belongings. He is able to recover is academy ID, uniform and cell phone, which he quickly switched back on to check his messages. He sees that there are notices for his final exam registration from his school, also some calls from Mr. Han too.

"I'm in big trouble when I get back." Ayanda started to regret his little trip. What he thought would only take two days at most, has now been close to four days. But now with his advancement, Ayanda can rush back to the school in a few hours, and probably register in time to get the supplementary courses for companion beast training and battles. Ayanda has to catch up on the course work he hasn't been able to do all these years before he can take part in the companion beast battle exam section. Ayanda goes through his webchat messages, and he only has one message from a friend called Bright, who asked why he hasn't been on campus recently, or if he dropped out. Bright was probably the only student who didn't treat him differently, but Bright is from the Phoenix Sects core family, so she always felt like an outsider towards others since her family was protective of her. Now she's grown up to be the Phoenix Sects current generational prodigy as well as Dark Dragon Academy campus beauty. Every senior and even college students wish to even go on a date with her, but her family treat any involvement with outsiders as a possible threat to her life.

Ayanda messages Mr. Han to tell him that he's on his way back now from a training trip. He made up a lie about needing to avoid some wild beasts so that he can have an excuse later, and he also told Mr. Han that he found a companion beast now, so he can finally take part in the final exams. Ayanda doesn't wait for any reply, and takes off, planning to use his trip back as a way to start a new training regime, and to also try to hunt wild beasts in order to practice his new sacred arts as much as possible.

Nomzamo and Petal are walking across a snowy field, with old giant demonic buddha statues broken down and sticking out of the earth. Nomzamo is releasing her hell flames in a radius that covers Petal, looking like a glowing red orb cutting through the snow steadily. Ahead of them is a set of stone pillars, set up in a strange array, and in the middle, a breathtaking woman is seated on the back of a huge snow white jaguar with four sapphire eyes that open up sharply. The beautiful woman's rich brown skin is revealed through a snowy gown and loose coat. She has a golden saber resting on her hilt, and that alone is the only weapon on her. She's swirling a glass of blood red wine slowly as Nomzamo and Petal get closer in order to kneel before her.

"You've returned my child." the woman's voice had a haunting beauty to it's tone, sending a shiver down Nomzamo's spine. She wanted to push away the hypnotic hold of her voice, but it was too late to resist, and even Petal was trapped under her power. Both of them couldn't move an inch. This was the terrifying power that Abaddon could display, there were never any opponents for her to ever truly test her blade skills.

"Yes Master. Please forgive me for acting without your orders." Nomzamo begged as she contemplated how dire her current situation is. She expected Abaddon to interrogate them, but if she waited for them alone, that means she plans to do whatever she wants, even killing her own daughter. The Abyss Sect would absolutely go into chaos if that were to happen with the Banish Empire, bit since Nomzamo had run off on her own, Abaddon could kill her and Petal right there and be done with them. 

Nomzamo is worried about what will happen next, but soon she is in disbelief.

"Good. Your return is well timed. You must re-enter the Sect now, it's time to boost your promotion to mythical and establish a blood contract with Lucifer. I need you by my side." Abaddon says softly, releasing her restraint on Nomzamo and Petal, who both are relieved. 

"Yes Master." Nomzamo agrees and is ready to leave with Petal.

"Petal." Abaddon says in a cold voice. Petal tenses up since she hadn't moved yet, waiting to be told that she is allowed to leave, "Make sure you stay by my daughters side. Never let her down." 

"Yes Master!" Petal joyously answers, getting up to follow Nomzamo who is leaving the stone array. From the shadows of the stone pillars, three giant figures grow out of the ground to reveal themselves. One is a an orange crystal bull, the second is a teal crystal eagle and the third is a grey crystal wolf. They're spiritual beasts without any physical form, but have mythical powers, having been around for ages now.

"Well, do you think the Leviathan was released from it's seal?" Abaddon asked coldly, taking a deep sip of her wine.

"It's not easy to say. Sipho was definitely killed by something that drained his vitality. I can't think of many beasts that could pull that off." the grey wolf cackled in a raspy voice, along with a sickly cough.

"True. To think that Beelzebub's contract simply vanished, it's hard to imagine otherwise." the orange bull spoke in a polished gentlemanly accent.

"With the loss of Sipho and Beelzebub, you made the right choice in promoting Lucifer. You can't afford to loss anymore daemon companion beats, especially mythical ones. To crush the traitors, you must stay strong!" the teal eagle spitefully said, with a blood thirsty look in her eyes. She was relishing the chance to pull out the souls of Abaddon's enemies with her talons.

"For now, I'll keep her close to keep an eye on her. The traitors can't stay hidden any longer now that the Leviathan is possibly loose." Abaddon concluded and dismissed the three spirit beasts.

Levy suddenly sneezed while laying on Ayanda's shoulder, and even Ayanda gave him a strange look. Levy opened up his eyes slightly and thought to himself who the hell is talking about him right now, but he shrugged it off to return to lazily laying on Ayanda. So far, Levy has simply been sun bathing or cursing at his reflection. The poor guy feels humiliated by his current appearance, so he's acting like a grumpy child who didn't get the gift they wanted. Unless it's about his Taboo Slayer Divine Art, Levy won't even help Ayanda out with his hunting training.

Ayanda has been getting used to hunting wild beasts, and now he's been sharpening his ability to react, anticipate as well as utilize his surroundings. Before he was more of an evasive fighter, but now he has the attacking ability to perform killer blows and kicks. Most of Ayanda's techniques from the Burning Phoenix Sacred Art are good, but he's yearning to try God Blood Lightning Sacred Art because it has a much sharper feel to it. The movements with that sacred art feel more fluid and they also heighten his senses, making his ability to read a situation better. Ayanda doesn't want to be in a situation where he has to layer sacred arts, he'd also wants to be able to have sacred arts that can dominate alone. God Blood Lightning feels powerful since the lightning surges within his body, and his blood has the ethereal flames which he hasn't figured out yet, but can tell that they provide him with more than just a boost in protection.

"Sango, how do you cultivate you sacred art to use it for much longer?" Ayanda asked the ring casually. He still doesn't trust him, but at least he knows that he can't do much for now.

"Please master, this old ghost had to build up a lot of energy over time to get to the mythical level. For you, that may take even longer." Sango was cursing Ayanda in his heart before, but after watching him hunting, he realized that he has to rely on skills that don't consume a lot of vitality. This was strange considering how much Ayanda absorbed before, but it would make sense if he never had any base before, so all of the energy he's absorbed so far has been to build his foundation. Fortunately, this means that now Ayanda only has the lowest level of practical ability with God Blood Lightning Sacred Art, but it means he's the only one who can grow the cultivation since Sango passed onto him directly.

Ayanda was slightly troubled. As much as he wanted to force Sango into being honest, he wasn't exactly sure how he even got into the ring in the first place, which made him impervious to physical threats. Ayanda was desperately wishing for a way to make Sango talk.

Just as the thought went through his head, Levy was awakened by the feelings Ayanda just had to try to torture Sango. Levy hadn't thought much of Ayanda talking out loud now, but now he's realized that there's something inside the ring, and when he looks closer, he can see Sango much more clearly than Ayanda can. Levy links his mind with Ayanda's to share his vision with him.

"Woah!" Ayanda's pupils transform into Levy's eye's and suddenly before merging into back to his original pupil, so now his vision has become incredibly sharper. Now he can see Sango's soul clearly, which is like a tiny flameball with an emoji like face, which looks annoyed at Ayanda. At this moment, Sango can't tell that Ayanda can see his expression, so Ayanda continues to act like he can't tell where he is. Ayanda passes on a telepathic message to Levy.

"Do you know what he is?" Ayanda asked.

"I'm not sure, but he's too weak to worry about." Levy responded lazily. He had already scanned over him after he received the God Blood Lightning Sacred Art. Any vitality that he had before was taken away by Ayanda, so he doesn't consider him a threat.

"He spoke about getting his revenge on the God's or something. That's all I know." Ayanda confessed to Levy. He wasn't really sure if someone like Sango himself was a God, but he wanted to see what Levy thinks.

"Interesting. If that's the case, then he should be a mythical beast of some type, maybe higher. Not many beings can contend with the God's. They had to lock me away because I was one of them." the smug tone Levy conveyed with his words made him sound nostalgic about his sealing away.

"Shouldn't we be worried about these God's? I mean, I get that they locked you away for all those years, but if they could do that, what's stopping them from putting you back?" Ayanda was prepared for the worst, but still concerned about these God figure's that Levy and Sango seem to hate. He didn't want to feel like he'd be courting eternal damnation for himself.

"Relax. When those bastards sealed me away, it cost them big time. They couldn't stop me, so that could only lock me away for eternity." Levy casually told him, "Besides, since I've been out, I can tell that the God's are not around anymore. For some reason, it feels like they've been separated from this world."

"You mean something killed them?!" Ayanda was in disbelief. If Levy couldn't kill them and they could only seal him away, what kind of existence could overwhelm the God's until they were wiped out?

"Don't be daft! They're just in another dimension. It's like something is preventing their influence to completely control the world." as Levy sent a telepathic message back, he looked up to the sky to the west like the Star Shadow Chimera did, then turned back to stare at Sango in the ring, "We should find a way to deal with him first. Can't have a rogue spirit with us who could give us up."

"He's still a threat as a soul?" Ayanda asked.

"More than dangerous. If he didn't get ahead of himself and saved his vitality from his sacred art, he may have been able to possess you. Fortunately you absorbed his vitality before he could think, but real spirit beasts wouldn't have been as naïve." Levy answered, "I have a way to submit to you, without forming a contract. But you'll have to bear the price to restrain him.

"What price?" Ayanda asked worriedly.

"Blood. If you're willing to bind him to the ring with your blood, then not only will he have to obey you, but he will be a spirit beast that can guard you against unknown daemonic attacks in the future." Levy said to Ayanda through their telepathy.

"Are spirit beasts that strong?" Ayanda was shocked. If he had known about spirit beasts, he would have looked into tracking one of those than going after Levy.

"Depends on their level. This one must be reasonably strong to have cultivated a sacred art, but without a vessel, spirits loss their vitality far too easily. If you restrain him in the ring, and allow your blood to flow through it's spirit, it can regain some strength to fight. Your lucky that someone has gone through the trouble of already restraining him in the ring, you just need to make him obey you now." Levy goes into some details about his Taboo Slayer Divine Art as the technique to become Sango's master relied on how far he could push his limits. For absolute control, Ayanda must force his body into a mythical level state in order to subdue Sango's vitality absorption. As long as he can exceed it, Sango will have to obey.

Sango is mulling over how he can try to keep up his falsehood in order to remain as a ghost, when he suddenly feels a surge of vitality rushing into his spirit body. He's shocked and confused, and while he's trying to figure out what's happening, he's sucked into another dimension. This is Ayanda's Soul Scape. Sango is aware of this because he tried to enter here before, but had his vitality drained from him. Now he's been pulled back in, which means he's lost control over his spirit, and is now under Ayanda's control.

Ayanda is looking down at Sango, alongside Levy. Levy nods to Ayanda, and begins to circulate his Taboo Slayer Divine Art, while Levy does the same. Simultaneously running the Taboo Slayer Divine Art was just a way to jump start Ayanda's vitality boost. Next, he has to pull in Levy's circulation along with his own, and then start exerting pressure into his Soul Scape. The moment Ayanda reaches the critical point where the synergy would be stable, he starts to pour tidal waves of vitality into his Soul Scape environment, but all to make it more dense.

Sango is floating around in the Soul Scape, when in the next second he feels a mountain of gravity falling onto his body, causing the entire Soul Scape to start shaking and rumbling. Sango feels as if his head is about to split, and quickly starts to absorb the vitality pouring into the Soul Scape. Sango doesn't understand why Ayanda is doing this, but he has a bad feeling since he's been forced into the Soul Scape. Even if Ayanda found a way to destroy him, since he was a God, he would simply return to the reincarnation cycle and be reborn into a new body. That would be his fail safe, but a scary option as he would end up powerless as a new born God, needing to restart his progress in life from scratch. Sango wants to avoid that as much as anything unless he really has no way out, so he fights against the dense vitality in hopes of out lasting Ayanda.

It's only been a few minutes, but Ayanda is already feeling like he's lost most of his vitality. With his body pushed to it's very limits, He's been carefully spreading it all around Sango, drowning him in it. So far, Sango has been absorbing it painfully, but he also seems to be as driven as Ayanda, and he can tell that it won't take long until Sango can push back. Before Sango can have even a chance to adjust, Ayanda layers in the Celestial Phoenix Song Sacred Art vitality, using the golden flames to burn his blood in order to create a much denser vitality. 

Suddenly Sango feels that the vitality pouring in has become thick and hot like molten steel. Even for someone like him who has pure God Blood, this heat is unbearable, the thickness is choking. Sango screams in pain as he struggles violently, but fails to escape the weight of the vitality, and feels a strange presence entering his body. The unbearable vitality seeps into his spirit and body, fusing with his current physique, turning his blood darker. Sango's fireball form becomes laced with golden embers, while his features become more pronounced. Sango can tell that he's now being influenced by Ayanda, and is being forced to be in sync with Ayanda's blood so that he has to obey him. He tries to fight back, but it's useless now that Ayanda has taken away his pure God Blood.

Ayanda has followed Levy's instructions, and he now feels a stable connection to Sango, as well as the fact that he can remove him form the ring if he wants. As far as spirit beasts go, Ayanda is interested in if this is how the Abyss Sect contract their companion beasts. It also seems as though Sango's God Blood has found a way to blend into the vitality that was returned to Ayanda's body after he failed to absorb it.

Now Ayanda feels a strange flow of energy in his body, as the Burning Phoenix Sacred Art and Celestial Phoenix Song Sacred Art have merged into one cultivation base, forming the final will of the strange ghost who passed it onto him; Immortal Phoenix Sacred Art.