“It’s almost three days…”

 

“Then, we should send some users to search for them, Kairi.”

 

“No, it seems to me… Dark Kage and others have met Revioryx. I can feel the existence of their spirit beast calling for help. We must go, Ziphoteninx. And I want to only bring you, Rafiz, Kironinx, Draco and Angelote.”

 

“Understood.”

 

Three days ago, Kairi had a chat with Dark Kage on his room’s balcony.

 

“I will only give you three days to reach the person from Eridan royalties. If not, I will come to get you.” He told Dark Kage.

 

“You think I might meet my doom, huh?” Dark Kage smirks.

 

“I am sure you know how powerful Revioryx has become with my power in him. He could have put something around Eridan that may restrict you all to escape from him.”

 

“Well, I guess the same. But, we must search for the survivors from the royalties. Come get me in three days if I haven’t returned by then.”

 

Dark Kage walks to the end of the balcony and jumps down. Kairi shakes his head. It’s really unique to speak to someone with no real feelings. 

 

“He has no fear or pain which could become his advantage to live. I hope he can hold on by then.” Kairi thought.

 

Now, three days have almost come. Kairi has had a bad feeling since yesterday. So, he wants to move out with the people he mentions to get Dark Kage and also Dark Amilia and Dark Ceilius, who had followed Dark Kage too. 

 

Those two following should have subsided his worry a bit. However, the bad feelings didn’t leave him. So… The trio must have met a very troublesome Revioryx or Dark Chronos.

 

When the members of his group have gathered, he teleports them to the Eridan Kingdom immediately. Kairi also had telepathy Aries before he left. The latter was worried but Kairi told her that they would just rescue the trio and return. So, she prayed they were safe in their rescue mission.

 

Back to the trio…

 

Dark Ceilius groans when his back hits a damaged building. He and Dark Amilia were still fighting with the monsters somewhere in the royal city. Dark Chronos, of course, appears to watch their misery fighting his minions. And, he caught Dark Kage again inside his purple ball.

 

“I truly don't understand why you both would still continue to fight. Shouldn't you feel depressed that you have no way out from this kingdom?” Dark Chronos asked them.

 

He actually feels exhausted looking at them. Dark Ceilius stood up and spit some blood from his lips. He glared at Dark Chronos. As for Dark Amilia, she was aiming her bullets made of cement again at all the monsters near her. She could no longer stand up and had her back to another building not far from Dark Ceilius.

 

Glancing at her for a moment, Dark Ceilius made another ice lance and threw it fast at Dark Chronos. The latter caught the ice lances and threw them back with increased speed. Dark Ceilius, who couldn’t dodge it in time, had his lance pierce his left shoulder. He let out another groan of pain.

 

“Ceilius!” Dark Amilia was shocked to see it.

 

She wanted to get to him but her legs wouldn’t move. They were also trembled and exhausted. She could feel her eyes darkening and shakes her head to make it go away.

 

“Ceilius…” She whispered before her sight when dark.

 

Her body slumps to her side.

 

“Amilia…” Dark Ceilius' heart dropped when he saw a monster above her wanting to eat her.

 

So, he used his last remaining power to make an ice lance and he threw it fast at the monster. He killed it in one go before he too went unconscious. The monsters who knew both had no resistance toward them anymore jumped to kill them. 

 

Dark Chronos closed his eyes and flew up to return to the skyscraper. He didn’t take Dark Kage along and let his minions kill him too. But before the trio died, three unknown beings appeared to protect them in their light glows. 

 

Their presence shocked Dark Chronos. Furthermore, they also disintegrate any monsters that were coming at the trio. Dark Chronos narrowed his eyes at them. 

 

“What troublesome spirits beasts. But aren’t they supposed to be trapped inside their emblem? How can they get away?”

 

Unbeknownst to him, Dark Kage's consciousness was forced to enter the emblem realm because his spirit beast had used his last remaining power to take him there. So, only Dark Kage's body remains while his consciousness was in the emblem realm.

 

When the monsters move to kill them, time slows down a lot for Dark Kage while it speeds up inside the emblem realm. He, of course, won’t notice the differences because he feels the hours of movement of the day were still the same inside.

 

And Dark Kage felt he had been there for nine days already. He was lucky that he still had his energy chocolate bar stocks that he saved inside one of his waist bags. If not, he doesn’t know how he could survive in this place. 

 

He was able to find clean water that looked like green algae colours. Well, he did experiment on it first with the tools he brought. And finally or accidentally, drinks it because he was very thirsty. He was lucky it wasn’t poisoned or he might die there. 

 

After all, it was impossible to survive for three days without water!

 

“Damn! I thought that monster had my spirit beast in it. It seems it wasn’t… God, how the hell am I going to find my spirit beast in this place?”

 

Dark Kage guessed he was inside the emblem realm. How he got there, he doesn’t know. After killing the monster, he walked for miles in the realm without meeting any humans except for monsters of small to huge sizes. He didn’t fight any of it and escaped once he saw them from afar. Who knows what ability they have since this place was strange.

 

“Hm… Wait, isn’t this realm supposed to have stellar spirit beasts? Should I try finding any monster that looks acceptable like them?” 

 

He feels he should have done that earlier instead of getting dumbfounded at anything he saw in this realm.

 

“Tsk! What a waste of time I have done.”

 

And so, he begins another journey to find a spirit beast. It was not long before he found another monster that looked like an ostrich. Except its colour was white with a long blue mane and the same colour of furs on both its ankles. It even has a pair of small horns on its head that glows in a blue colour.

 

Dark Kage was contemplating whether to ask or not. After all, what if the ostrich look-alike didn't understand his language or would chase after him because he was strange in this realm? 

 

Wait, everything was strange around here. Still, he must try.

 

"Ehem! Hey!" He called to it while ready to run if it became aggressive toward him.

 

The ostrich stared at him.

 

"Err… Hi? Can, Can you understand me…?"

 

Still silent and keep staring.

 

"Sigh, what a waste of time…" He thought silently.

 

"Sorry to bother you. I'm going to leave now so… Don't chase me, okay…?" He told the ostrich and slowly backed away step by step.

 

"... Aren't you one of the Bright Star users?"

 

Dark Kage gasped when he turned his back on it and heard a feminine voice inside his mind. He snapped his head back to the ostrich with disbelief. The voice sounded like a girl.

 

"Are, Are you talking to me?"

 

The ostrich blinked her eyes at him before stretching her neck to tidy up her left side feather. The voice hasn't replied for a long time and it irritates him a little. However, he must be patient.

 

The ostrich turns to gaze at him again. "Good attitude. Why are you here, young one?"

 

Dark Kage finally felt a lot of relief. It seems the ostrich really was one of the spirit beasts. He didn't waste time and told her about his trouble and also didn't know how he got there. She nodded in understanding.

 

"I am Yandoutin. As you see, I am an ostrich and also one of the stellar spirit beasts. But, I do not have a human user nor one of the 32 stellars who follow after our Master of Stellars."

 

"Huh? Wait, you're not one of the 32 stellars? Then, how come you said you are one?"

 

Yandoutin chuckled. "Do you ever watch the stars above your world? There are too many stellar constellations but only 32 of them were chosen to help our Master of Stellars."

 

"Why?"

 

"That's of course… A secret."

 

"Eh…" 

 

Dark Kage thought Yandoutin would tell him. Seems not.

 

"Well then." She shakes her body. 

 

"Let's find your spirit beast quickly. You shouldn't stay long here. Although time is slow outside, who knows what will happen already to your real body outside."

 

Dark Kage swallowed. Maybe his body got eaten by the monster. He shuddered at the thought. He hopes nothing happened to him.

 

"Hop on, young one." 

 

Yandoutin lowered her body to him. Dark Kage hesitated for a moment before he rode her.

 

"Okay, hold on tight!"

 

Yandoutin opens her wings and flaps them. Then, she rushed in a direction at a fast running momentum. Dark Kage almost had a heart attack from her sudden run. He got used to it a moment later and felt so good when the air brushed his body.

 

But, he freezes out in the cold a second later when they reach a cold area that was covered in snow. Yandoutin jumped suddenly when something came out from the snowy ground.

 

Dark Kage gasped after looking at the green tentacles that were coming after them. However, Yandoutin's mouth opens and throws a huge blue flame on it. The creature shrieks loudly and hides on the snowy ground again.

 

"Are you afraid? It's normal around here." She asked Dark Kage.

 

"I think… I am used to seeing it already." He replied dryly.

 

"Good because now we are going to see a lot more than that one."

 

And they did find more bizarre creatures.

 

"Oh, Yandoutin, what is that on your back? Wait, a human?!"

 

A monster bird flew by and coincidentally saw them.

 

"Corvus, what are you doing here?" Yandoutin asked back while she slowed her pace.

 

"I was going to meet Volans. He said he found a treasure cove again in the cold west sea. I want to add more accessories for my nest you see."

 

"Oh, seriously! You two truly have nothing to do other than treasure hunting."

 

"Well, we are trapped in this realm. So, the fun thing we could do is do something. Come on, tell me, why is this human here? And where are you going anyway?"

 

"He is here to find his spirit beast. Do you see a monster like Scorpio anywhere?"

 

"Scorpio? Didn't he die eaten by that dark creature thousands of years ago?"

 

"What?!" Dark Kage was shocked to hear it.

 

"Calm down. Remember the time difference between this realm and yours? And he is alive somewhere around and if he truly is dead we should be able to sense it too." Yandoutin told him and then glared at Corvus.

 

"Oh, right!" Dark Kage felt much better.

 

"Heh! So, to answer your question, I don't see him or the dark creature that ate him. But I did find something interesting though." Corvus told them.

 

"Spill it," Yandoutin told him.

 

"Well, I saw the creature who ate Cepheus and Lupus. They seem to be searching for something though."

 

"Cepheus and Lupus?! Miss Yandoutin, we need to go check it out. Those two were my best friend's spirit beasts!" 

 

Dark Kage thought if he could defeat them, he might be able to release his friend's spirit beasts. Kairi has told them which stellar users they were, so he must help to rescue them.

 

"Got it. Which way, Corvus?" Yandoutin nodded and turned to Corvus again.

 

"In the south from here. Good luck finding them." Corvus told them before he left.

 

"Thank you!" Dark Kage told him.

 

He really appreciates the given information.

 

"You're welcome…!" Corvus' voice sounded far away.

 

Yandoutin start to change directions and ran to the south. Along the way…

 

"Miss Yandoutin, can I ask?"

 

"Sure. What is it?"

 

"The 32 stellar spirit beast is your friend, right? Why didn't anyone rescue the twelves spirit beasts after knowing their circumstances?"

 

Dark Kage has been questioning it since he saw how closed Yandoutin and Corvus were. So, all the constellation spirit beasts should be getting along too… Right?

 

"It was because the creatures that ate them had the power we could not win over. The power restricts us from coming closer. So, we could only watch from afar. Moreover, all the twelve spirit beasts were forced to be eaten by those dark creatures in this realm."

 

"I don't understand something. This realm, all of you share with those dark creatures?"

 

"No, the creatures suddenly appeared thousands of years ago. This realm used to be a paradise for us but no longer." Yandoutin sounds sad. 

 

"Presently, we just got used to them here but you can't communicate in peace with them. They don't speak our languages or have intelligence. All they do is fight anyone around they see."

 

"Oh..."

 

Dark Kage understood it now. He must tell Kairi later about this problem. A few minutes later, they reach a region in the fall season. 

 

"I can sense them nearby. How would you fight them?" Yandoutin asked him.

 

"Since you said they don't have intelligence then we must fight them with our intelligence. Ah, will you help me?"

 

Dark Kage forgot that he included her to help him.

 

"Sure. It should be fun after not fighting anyone for a long time. What's your plan?"

 

"Do you know their abilities first and what kind of restrictions they gave you."

 

"Let's see… The dark creature that ate Lupus has ice power like him and the other one has earth power. As for the restriction, I cannot come close and my body would feel weaker because of it. Hm… Feels like I'm not really helpful, huh?" Yandoutin turned her head to Dark Kage.

 

"No, you are very helpful to me. Do you have a long-range attack? I think your attack just now was like a fireblast."

 

"It is a fireblast. I can make a flame ball too. Just, it won't hurt them much since their body was tempered by the power of Lupus and Cepheus."

 

"But one the dark creature power is an ice type. Won't your fire melt his?"

 

"Only a bit."

 

"Well, let's think of a solution on how to melt it a lot then and also defeat the earth type too."

 

Dark Kage felt like he needed a plan to take down those dark creatures.