Crossover
Chapter 9: Lazurias Forest
Kuro’s expression brightened as he heard Crescent’s idea. He quickly closed his eyes and did what Crescent suggested. He opened his eyes, and his mood slightly dampened, “Crescent, I can't feel the same thing when I summoned the portal. Does this mean that my ability is limited only to portals?”
“Master, it would be natural not to feel the same way you did before since your body is already circulating magical energy to become its own. A simple thought would be enough to release your abilities.”
Kuro laughed in slight embarrassment, “I guess that is logical.”
Kuro plucked a fruit. This time, he didn’t close his eyes and thought of his portal being used as a storage. “Black portal.”
He put the fruit inside, and it didn’t fall on the ground. He looked at Crescent’s head. “There’s nothing on your head?” Kuro skeptically asked.
Crescent tilted his head in confusion, “Hm? There’s nothing above my head, master.”
“Could it be that master designated the portal’s end above my head?”
Kuro remained ignorant about Crescent’s question and cheered, “There’s nothing above your head! Black Portal!” He took out a piece of fruit from his portal and shouted, “It worked!”
“Crescent! It worked! It worked!” Kuro, as if not believing what happened, tried to store the fruit once again, did the same thing, and had the same outcome. His eyes sparkled in delight as he ate the fruit on his hand.
Crescent was happy for his master. He clapped his hands and gave praise for Kuro’s amazing feat. “Congratulations, master. It seems you are one of those gifted space ab—"
“There is a total of 58 fruits in this tree. I also need to give Bryer and the others fruits. Ah! There is another tree over there! It seems that I would be able to enjoy a lot of mango-strawberry cupcakes for the next several days after my return.”
Kuro skillfully climbed the tree without any hesitation and proceeded to pluck the ripened fruit into his storage-space ability. He hummed a happy song as he gently placed the fruit, as if it were a newborn baby.
After plucking all the fruits in one tree, he jumped on its branches without slipping to proceed to the next one. Crescent found this attitude of his master towards food quite funny.
“Master, you cannot carelessly put all your harvest inside your storage-space without knowing its entire area. May I also remind you to check whether the storage-space is not affected by time? If it is, the fruits might get rotten inside the space, and that would be too troublesome to handle.”
Kuro heard Crescent and abruptly stopped his joyful harvest. He regretted and lamented his actions; perhaps, he was a little bit greedy. “But what would I do with these ones? They’ll be wasted if I leave them like this.”
Crescent raised his hand, and countless black threads magically appeared out of nowhere. After a few seconds, the black threads turned into a black bag, and Crescent gave it to Kuro.
“Please put the fruits inside this bag; we will later give this to Mr. and Mrs. Xenophil as an appreciation gift. While the ones inside the portal, it's better to reduce it to test whether the fruits will rot or not.”
Kuro was astonished, “That’s a very convenient ability. What do you call it?” He inspected the black bag to look for faults but found none.
“It is called Black Filament. I can use it as a weapon and craft items with it, but the only downside is that the bigger the item is, the harder it is to change the black color.”
Kuro shook his head in disagreement, “Black is not a bad color, though. Regardless of the color, your ability is really way too convenient.”
Kuro proceeded to place the rest of the fruits inside the bag. He opened his portal and placed the bag inside. While doing so, he suddenly thought of something and turned to Crescent.
“Crescent, is it possible that I did not only receive powers but also had my strength and senses heightened?”
“Indeed, master. It is only natural for any being that has magic powers to have their strength and senses heightened, although it varies per person.”
“Hmn, then that’s why when I threw those soldiers, I felt like I’m throwing pillows and cushions. But, there were also moments when they were heavy to punch, though.”
“That’s because your body is still adapting to the huge changes it had. It will take time and practice for your body to get used to it.”
Kuro was silent for a moment, “Crescent?”
“Yes, master?”
“If I say that I’d like to stay here for a moment to test my limits and at the same time investigate matters about this continent, would you assist me in doing so?”
He did not want to actually meddle with the problems concerning this continent. He knew that he would only die if he did so. After all, what would a senior high school student be able to do to stop wars?
But his intuition was telling him that it was the correct decision for the moment. He never knew why, but he didn’t want to dissuade his intuition. He knew he had to test the waters first.
Crescent swiftly replied, “Master, I am your faithful servant, your wish is my wish, your decision is my decision as well. I will naturally follow your orders; if you desire to investigate, then I will do my best to assist you and solve the truth.” He kneeled and bowed to Kuro as he resolutely pledged.
Kuro immediately shook his head, a bit flustered, “Uh... eh… I told you that no bowing and kneeling anymore.”
Crescent stood up and smiled at Kuro. He actually appreciated Crescent’s help and felt at ease, “What you said was too much. I don’t want to clip off your freedom; if you are against it, then refuse it. You have been my cat for almost 16 years of my life. You are basically part of my big family.” Kuro picked a fruit inside his portal and directly ate it.
“This fruit is so delicious! I wonder what its name is. Oh no, I remember that I did not wash the fruits before eating it. Nah, never mind, I bet the forest doesn’t use chemicals,” and he immediately dissuaded the matter.
Crescent smiled, ‘He is really like his parents.’ He enjoyed watching Kuro eat the fruit by his hands. ‘This trait of his is so similar to his mother. They would always get busy when it comes to food except for serious matters that should be apprehended first.’
“Master…”
“Hmn~?”
He pointed behind Kuro, “There’s a snake behind you, on the ground.”
“What the hell?!” Kuro strikingly turned, lifted his foot, and kicked nothing on the ground.
Kuro was perplexed, “Eh? I certainly felt a weight on my foot when I kicked, but there’s nothing? Could it be that it was invisible?”
As if voluntarily using itself as proof, the invisible snake hastily ran towards Kuro and prepared to attack. There was nothing on the ground but a slight dent on the grass where the snake was probably crawling.
“I was right! It was invisible!” Kuro and Crescent remained indifferent, not even showing a tiny bit of fear on their faces but a hint of a shock.
When the snake was near to bite Kuro’s legs, Kuro mercilessly stomped at the snake and felt that the snake’s skin was tough.
“Strange… do snakes really have tough skin?”
“It depends on what kind of snake it is, master.”
Kuro glanced down and saw a 4ft long and 6 inches wide snake with glistening emerald skin and green dead eyes. The snake’s head was squished to death, which made Kuro regret his actions.
“I should really learn how to control my strength.” Kuro sighed and took another fruit, peeled it, and ate it. He pitifully stared at the squished snake.
“I wonder what this snake is; it has sparkling emerald skin and has the ability to become invisible. I wonder if it can be sold for some copper coins.” Kuro squatted and unsheathed the sword on his waist; he poked the snake to verify if it was really dead.
Crescent praised Kuro again, “Well, it should be. Master had kicked it with a lot of strength, yet it was still alive. Such a tenacious snake might be worth a silver coin rather.”
“Well then, I can’t lift this snake all the way back since it looked really heavy. I wonder if there is still space in my storage…” Kuro opened his portal, inserted his head, and peered inside. Crescent was taken aback for a moment but immediately recomposed himself.
After peering inside, Kuro decided to lift the snake, which was light, contrary to what he expected, and put it inside the portal.
“Even if the storage-space is pitch black, the inside was like a room brightened by an incandescent light. The things inside were neatly arranged too, and the size of the storage was approximately the size of my entire room. The only matter I need to know is whether the storage-space can freeze time or not.”
Crescent chuckled, “It should be known after a day or so. Master should be ready to clean the storage-space if e—"
“Awooohhh.”
When they heard the wolf howl, they became extremely vigilant; they could feel its hostility despite its unknown location. Soon, a bright red wolf appeared, and it was really large!
‘Dangerous!’ was his initial thought; he might have a power, but it was a non-attacking one. He might be strong, but he had yet to grasp it clearly.
“Run!”
Both of them ran around the forest, trying to escape the wolf. After a good five minutes, they managed to lose the wolf. Kuro panted, trying to catch his breath, while Crescent was all fine.
“That wolf was really dangerous… it’s a good thing that we were able to lose it.”
As Kuro was trying to calm himself down, he heard someone shout not far away from them.
“Alios!” It was a young girl’s voice; both of them clearly heard it. They both looked at each other and decided to search where the voice came from.
“Alios, you slowpoke, hurry up.” This time, they both confirmed it; the voice really came from a young girl, and they were getting close.
‘Have I heard of this girl’s voice?’ Kuro thought.
“This voice… it's too familiar…” Kuro muttered as they walked.
“Master, it came behind those doors.” Crescent pointed forward, and Kuro saw a dazzling tall silver double door in the middle of the forest. It was surrounded by some golden dust, not fireflies, which looked really mystical at a glance. The doors had intricate runic designs that he didn’t know the meaning of.
Kuro and Crescent walked nearer to the door, and when Kuro tried to touch it, they heard the voice again.
The owner of the voice giggled, “Alios! Fly higher!”
Kuro finally remembered whom the voice was.
“It's... Rosalie’s?”
-End of Chapter 9-
