A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️

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"GIVE!"

Leon was stunned in his place, the banshee's screams resonated deep with something in his core.

"IT!"

It made him shiver, but not from fear or demoralization.

"BACK!"

It was almost too familiar… the pain… the suffering… It felt like it hit him somewhere he needed to be hit.

The Banshee, however, was already reaching out to him, and the hundred Will o' Wisps swarmed all over the place.

"LAD! FOCUS!" Vadim held Leon by the nape of his neck and dragged him back into the vault.

He hit his hammer against the ground, and a shockwave engulfed all the surrounding Will o' Wisps, shattering half of them on impact.

"Damn it! If this many Wisps go through us, I'd age a hundred years." Vadim said with worry.

He caught a glimpse of Leon in his eyes and saw him still focused on the Banshee. Banshees have a horrifying appearance, and something about them makes it impossible for one to look directly into their faces, let alone meet their eyes.

As for Leon, he wasn't even blinking as he looked at the banshee.

"Lad! Be careful. You need to…"

"Such a disgusting thing!" Leon spoke with complete clarity and obvious confidence.

For a second there, even the banshee seemed to have heard him, and in a fit of rage, she screamed.

She let out a mournful wail, a woeful cry. She emerged with all her might and let out the strongest scream ever heard from a banshee, to the point that Vadim had to cover his ears and bite his lips.

As the banshee was done with her scream and her echo went silent, Leon kept standing there as if he was unfazed by all that baleful Death Mana.

"Scream all you want." His words were so monotonous that they made the banshee question her ability to scream.

Without even readying herself, she launched her arms at him, ready to rip his soul apart, but he nimbly moved back.

"MY SOLDIERS!" She cried, "THE ENEMY HAS SENT THEIR DOGS! THE BETRAYERS! THEY CAME FOR OUR TREASURE! OUR BOOK. END THEM!"

The banshee made a crying speech, and the hundred Will o' Wisps stormed in once again, but this time rather than targeting Leon, they started to possess everything around them, from jars to shelves to old weapons.

"Lad, cast yer shield." Vadim said.

"Don't bother!" Leon replied, "We need to force our way out of the vault first. Outside is a better stage than here."

"Got a plan?" Vadim asked.

"Hold on tight." Leon didn't even ask for permission before grabbing Vadim off his beard and suddenly using one of his most dangerous spells, "Divine Step!"

A spell Leon formulated from scientific knowledge and used to escape a deadly chase. The light enveloped him as he rushed out, and the spell altered the magnetic properties of the natural Light, allowing it to affect Leon's movement. This aura of Light made him go against the Will o' Wisps, and rather than letting them pass through him, he was the one blurring through them with Vadim.

Not only did he counter the negative death energy in the Will o' Wisps, but he even shattered some of them upon impact.

He skated like a pro and was now outside the vault with all the Wisps chasing him.

"GO!"

"NOT THE BEARD, YA LITTLE SHIT!"

Leon tossed aside Vadim, who stumbled a bit before securing his footing. Leon then had the dagger ready and moved fast against the first patch of Wisps that chased him.

"Lights Up!"

He covered his blade with the element of Light, which is a bane to the undead, and once his attack made contact, he started to destroy them one by one.

This was the first wave, and it was the easiest before the emergence of the second wave; it consists of the Wisps that managed to possess the inanimate items in the vault.

"Get behind me!" Vadim called.

Leon used the Divine Step and retreated in a blur behind Vadim. The Dwarf wielded his hammer with two hands and waved it diagonally to cause a stream of fire to burst and cause an explosive arc that overkilled any possessed item and destroyed Wisps within before they would escape.

Leon still lacks a decent AOE magic spell, but he has a lot of useful movement spells, which make him a tricky opponent to handle. Even with this many Wisps around, he was moving around with the Charge, Divine Step, Step of the Wind (previously Wind Reinforcement), and also the Double Jump to create a gap in between him and his enemies while shooting them blindly with Magic Bolts.

Still, Leon could feel his Mana depleting quickly, and the best thing to do is to make sure that this fight ends as soon as possible. Still, there were half the Wisps remaining, and now the Banshee joined the fray.

"YOU! I'LL HAVE MY VENGEANCE ON YOU!" The Banshee looked for Leon and went straight for him.

Aware that he would be at a disadvantage in this confined space if the powerful Banshee pursued him, Leon retreated behind one of the pillars, which offered little protection, and prepared his next spell. As for the remaining Wisps, they started to turn Invisible around Vadim.

"Shite!" Vadim saw this and realized he was in trouble since all he could do was cast some of his limited magic while relying on his prowess to buff it but now that he can't see what he's hitting…

"Behind you." Leon's voice sounded near his ears, and he suddenly turned to hit whatever Leon warned him of.

It was a Wisp that snuck behind Vadim and wanted to go through him to cause the Life Leech damage. Still, Leon was nowhere to be seen, and the banshee seemed to be screaming as she was going around looking for him left and right.

He seemed to have angered her a lot, still…

*swoosh*

Many magic bolts came from multiple dark corners, which meant that Leon was cleverly hiding and hitting while maintaining his movement in the shadows. Once Vadim saw that, he praised Leon's judgment in his heart and decided to complement this move with one of his own.

Staying on the move against an invisible opponent is a good strategy, and so Vadim started running like Leon but on a tighter scale. He could feel it with his sharp instincts before he ran into any Wisp, and so he kept gathering the Wisps behind him for Leon to shoot down.

The strategy worked fine until Leon finally ran into an invisible Wisp. It seemed that the Banshee had spread her Wisps to form a net, and finally, Leon was caught. The feeling as the Will o' Wisp went through his chest caused him great pain, as if his heart and lungs were collapsing and his ribcage was shattering. This pain didn't last long, but the feeling lingered.

"YOU WON'T ESCAPE!" The Banshee ran madly towards Leon, but at that moment he was almost in her grasp, Vadim appeared between them with his palm aimed at her.

"Repel!" Vadim cast a quick light Magic spell, which flashed with a burst and hit the Banshee on her horrifying face.

She took the full might of the spell and was sent a large distance backward. After that, Vadim raised his hammer and cast one last spell.

"DIVINE SMITE!"

Vadim's warhammer seemed to have an aura of its own as he smote down with it on the ground. A ring of light blasted all the area surrounding him, and almost all of the Undead Will o' Wisps were taken care of.

"Annoying Bastards, ya alright, lad?" Vadim extended a hand to Leon, who took it and stood up, holding his chest.

"That… kinda hurt." Leon said with a pained face.

"Wisps are some sons of bitches, but a Banshee, ya'd be dead if I wasn't here." Vadim said as if blaming Leon for this mess.

"No." Leon shook his head, "I'd have seen this through no matter what."

Leon seemed determined for some reason, which Vadim wanted to ask about, but surely, like anything related to Leon, one must be patient and learn things in due time.

For this one in particular, Leon took out the metal box he hid in Storage.

"This… this is called the Book of Rhyme." Leon said, "It is sealed, but for some reason, it resonates with me."

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[ The Book of Rhyme ] < Sealed Book >

A book sealed with the highest authority.

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It wasn't resonating with Leon as much as it was resonating with the Ring of Horus. This is part of the mystery, part of the secret of why he got transmigrated here.

"I don't understand. Almost nobody has had any notion regarding this place for thousands of years. Why would you…"

Vadim was asking a logical question, but Leon stepped past him.

"I must meet her." Leon said.

"Who?" Vadim followed Leon nervously.

"That girl."

"What girl?"

"The Banshee."

"No! No! Bad idea!"

Leon didn't need Vadim's permission, let alone his help, to locate the Banshee. When Vadim blasted her off with "Repel", she was sent back to the vault. Leon simply marched in that direction and took on the steps while raising the book above.

"I come in peace." He said.

He still hasn't entered the vault, but as soon as he was back on the shelves level, he could see the Banshee at the end of the vault.

Once the Banshee sensed him, she turned in his direction to face him with a hideously distorted visage.

"Mountain's belly!" Vadim looked aside from the horrifying scene of her face, which got worse because of the spell he used against her.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The Banshee shouted, "IT IS HIDEOUS! IT IS DISGUSTING! IT IS ALL TO WASTE!"

The grieving undead mustered the remaining Will o' Wisps around, and there were only four of them.

"It is disgusting indeed." Leon said while looking directly at her, "I am not sure how you endured it."

"I CAN'T! I CAN'T ENDURE IT ANYMORE!" The Banshee screamed and stood to face Leon, ready for the final round with her remaining soldiers.

"Betrayal is hard; it is the worst feeling in the world." Leon said with words from deep within, "I've betrayed the only two women that ever loved me… I… led them to their deaths."

"YOU!" The Banshee's face twisted even more as she screamed, "YOU ARE LIKE THEM? YOU ARE ANOTHER TRAITOR!"

"I am sorry… I really am… I want to atone but… I can't…" Leon spoke but the Banshee was almost grabbing his neck, "Mother… I betrayed her…"

At that exact moment and with those exact words, the banshee froze.

"I was the one who sinned, and she was the one who suffered the bitter end." Leon said with grief.

"You did… too?" At that point, the Banshee didn't scream for the first time since they encountered her.

"NO, LAD!" But it was Vadim who was screaming, "You haven't done such a thing! It wasn't because of you!"

"And the girl who loved me for years… I left her behind too… Last I saw her, she was dead instead of me." Leon said, swallowing hard with hot, burning tears running across his face, "Betrayal is disgusting… I am sorry."

Vadim was at a loss. First, how can a man pacify the undead with no Death Magic? Second, what on Earth is he talking about? Those don't sound like Annabelle or Alice.

"All living must die." The Banshee said, "Join me in death so their souls may rest, betrayer."

She welcomed him to the side of the dead with open arms, but Leon shook his head.

"I've already died once. Though I do deserve death, my current life is the only way I can make things right." He said, but then asked, "What is death like?"

"Lonely." She replied.

"True." Leon nodded, then continued, "I came to ask you about this."

"Give it back." The Banshee demanded.

"I feel it is connected to me for some reason." Leon said, and then, "It is called the Book of Rhyme."

Mentioning the name of the book caused the Banshee to pause as if she had become frozen in time.

"I don't like this, lad." Vadim said.

"Rhyme?" She asked in a softer voice and her visage got easier to look at as her agony disappeared little by little, "I remember now… I am Rhyme."

"Rhyme the Banshee." Leon acknowledged the name with a nod before introducing himself, "My name is Shady, but the living call me Leon."

"Shady." She looked at him and seemed to have calmed down, "You feel like a kindred soul."

"I am glad you think of me that way." Leon smiled and said, "I feel the same about you as well, Rhyme."

"A kindred soul… You know about death, Shady?"

"I've seen it, Rhyme. I know its hold and feeling. It is not like your state of neither living nor dying." Leon said and then changed the subject, "But I meant to ask you, what is this book?"

Rhyme looked at the book and passed her hand over it.

It may have been thousands of years, but the shape of the book didn't corrode like anything else; rather, it seemed to have gathered a layer of residue on its cover that hid its true shape. The Death Mana of the Undead caused this residue to come apart and fall like sand.

Leon looked at the book, and just as his eyes landed on the cover, he froze in place like a motionless corpse.

"Only the Blood of Rhyme can unseal the Book." Rhyme spoke those words, which were written on the cover with a very ancient form of the Holy Glyphs, "Alas, Rhyme is dead as you see."

Rhyme pointed to her skeleton, which was lying at the end of the vault.

"That…" Leon said, "This shape."

Leon couldn't mistake what he saw, for it was the thing that tormented him the most and the item he never managed to understand.

Rhyme looked at Leon, who raised his hand to touch the cover of the book, and Vadim stepped forward to see what was happening and to defend Leon if a critical situation were to arise.

As Leon passed his hand over the book's cover, the Ring of Horus started to glow with the colors of the book, as if the two of them were of the same nature.

The pattern at the center of the Book's cover was the shape of the Ring of Horus, the snake biting its own tail.

All Leon needed to do was press the ring against the cover and…

*click*

< Seal Lifted >

The book started to loosen in Leon's hand and turned from a metal box to a metal-covered book with metal sheets instead of paper.

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[ The Book of Rhyme → The Book of the Dead ] < Sealed → Unsealed >

Gaze into the Duat for it to gaze back at you.

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A/n: Help me reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree'' ⬅️