38 Inevitable Doomsday

As Arbor and company descended into the black pit, distant sounds of battle drifted into their ears. These sounds of made by this battle are different than others. There is no clashing of metal, no crackling sounds from lightning or fire, no explosions. An average person would think that a gust of wind is drifting through the dwelling, but to a cultivator a someone with an affinity for wind is fight. The audible sound and speed of wind continued to increase in volume the closer they got to the battle.

"I need your help. Now" A voice echoed in Arbors mind as he walked with the rest of the group towards the laboratory. Arbor paused for a split second before his face became stern and then rushed ahead.

Leo barely noticed the drastic changes in Arbor's complexion before he sped up. Given Arbors temperament he typically would not make any drastic or sudden changes in his actions unless it is called for. Hell, as best as Leo can remember, Arbor has always been easy going and carefree and has never shown a change in attitude like he just did. Thus, the sudden change Arbor just displayed put Leo on edge as he followed Arbor.

Given the short distance from the bottom of the well and the laboratory, Arbor arrived after a handful of seconds. He shrugged off everything inside the cavern after a quick look over before he noticed Sald signaling with a worried face for Arbor to go into the middle cavern.

Arbor arrived and found Eos struggling against the three-soul lunatic. Eos had his back against the wall as he is only capable of dodging. Arbor grabbed his staff off of his back with his right hand as he ran towards the enemy.

"First Swing of the Heavans!" Arbor yelled as he executed the skill for the first time against a human, well three humans.

The enemy felt the sudden impending power targeting him from behind and dodged towards the side. The strike continued on and almost hit Eos who also dodged towards the side.

"Watch it asshole." Eos complained.

Arbor took out two throwing knives and threw them quickly at the mysterious man. Both of them bounced off of the cave wall and fell onto the ground. Arbor regrouped with Eos and stood opposite of the mad-man.

"Who are you and what is your goal down here?" Arbor began to converse with the enemy. He placed his hands behind his back and fiddle with something out of sight.

Simultaneously the three voices each soul responded. "I am…what is my name?" The person went quite for a moment before speaking again. This time the three voices blended together a small amount "You can call us Muru. As for our goal, it has already been achieved. And as seeing that you wont be able to stop it I will go ahead and tell you. My master has finally be awoke after being asleep for a couple hundreds of years. Those six lights that flew out of here, were the six separate souls of the six different beasts. They just left in search for their most compatible body to take over. When they individually reach the Gicho realm, they will merge back together and make a qualitative leap to the peak of the Chikara realm. By that point…" Muru voiced an evil laugh,"This realm will be destroyed and we will move on to the next one!"

"If you are giving us that much information, you might as well tell us how long we have until this so called," Arbor put his hands in the air and did finger quotes as he said, "doomsday."

"It should be around fifty years. But it doesn't matter, you won't be able to stop master. His abilities are too strong for any cultivator of this realm." Muru answered with pride.

Arbor smirked as he said, "That's what you don't understand. We aren't from around here."

"Its all the same. Your power will be insufficient by then." Muru concluded.

Arbor threw a kunia with his left arm right next Muru as soon as he finished speaking. This kunia became lodged into a crack on the wall. Muru moved out of the way and moved to attack Eos but his path was soon cut off by another kunia that flew in front of him. Arbor followed the second kunai and connected with the first swing of the heavens sending Muru crashing into the wall.

Muru got up off the wall and brushed the dust off of their clothing. "That attack contained more power than I initially thought."

Before Muru completely gathered himself, his eyes saw Eos's paw appeared above him. He quickly raised both of his arms above his head to block the strike. His arms were knocked out of the way by the first strike. Another strike quickly followed. Eos's razor-sharp claws created a deep gash down the front of Muru's chest. A second later blood started to flow out.

Muru kicked Eos away and tried to move towards the exit of the small cavern but was cut off again by two kunai. Both kunai stuck into the wall. Arbor chased after Muru causing him to move towards the back of the cave.

"Second Swing of the heavens." Arbor roared as he attacked with his staff again. Muru dodged out of the way causing Arbor attack to land on the wall. His attack caused a reaction in the cave as the walls vibrated and rocks started to fall. As soon as Muru dodged Eos appeared right next to him and attacked him again. This time, Muru prepared himself and easily dodged Eos's attacks. Arbor through more kunai that barely missed Muru.

At this moment outside of the cavern all of the complete bodies that are lifeless started to slowly awaken. Their hands and feet, tails, or claws started to twitch. Soon enough the hundreds of bodies from the other six smaller caverns all came alive. By this time the entire group was in the large cavern. Everyone noticed the changes in the surroundings and started to attack the puppets under Chen Hong's orders. Most of the puppets moved into the cavern that Arbor, Eos, and Muru are in and started to move towards Arbor and Eos.

Arbor noticed the incoming wave of beasts and yanked hard with his left arm. Muru noticed Arbors odd action but soon figured out the reason behind this. He was tied up by an extremely small thread!

"What the fuck is this?" Muru growled as he struggled to move.

"Use those damn things of yours to get use out of here. If they pull those kunai out of the walls we should become untied." A haughty voice spoke this time from Muru's body.

"You disrespect them again and I'll ruin your next experiment." The puppeteer countered.

Arbor and Eos had their hands full with a hundred different lions and snakes when they noticed that Muru successfully became untied and disappeared through the exit after grabbing the black eyeball on the table. Arbor thought about giving chase but gave up the idea. Muru, himself does not pose any big threat and his goal has already been achieved. Essentially it would be a waste of effort to chase him down. Its those that are with him that need his attention. The newly awoken beasts need to be cut down before anything else.

Eventually the only things left standing are the eleven living humans. Arbor recounted what Muru had said about its master and the inevitable doomsday. Sald added on about the observations she and the other females made while they were studying Muru. Everyone besides Sald and Leo had ugly expressions on their faces. How and if would they be able to deal with this? To make a jump from the Gicho realm to the peak of the Chikara realm? After the Kuwa realm is the Kaholo realm, then the Gicho realm then the Chikara realm.

"Excuse me juniors, if I may. I am part of an organization that handles problems like this. While we might not be strong enough to write this problem off, if its all true, we have the quantity of members to spread the word about the problem. Even if we are able to catch one or two of the reincarnated beasts, it would be a great help. The founding of the organization is to help the good of the people. Please come meet me at the Chen residence any time after a month. If you would excuse me, I need to go inform my superiors of this matter." Chen Hong bowed before leaving. Everyone agreed that if they would visit Chen Hong at the approximate time.

Before Senoir Hong could leave, he was stopped by Arbor, "I assume you will need evidence of some kind to validate your story? I hope these two things will work."

Arbor handed Chen Hong a worn dark maroon book with the sketching of a monster in the center that resembles the carcass in the center cavern. At the top it reads "Aru Praniya". Arbor then handed him the glass jar with the black eyeball inside it.

"I don't know what the use of this eye is but im sure that someone can put the pieces together." Arbor said nonchalantly.

Chen Hong received the two items, nodded his head then left.

Arbor took fifteen minutes to look through everything in the laboratory and then made the decision to leave. He did not find anything of value. The group of ten left the cave. Decades from now, those who embarked on this small adventure will look back and deeply regret the handful of minutes they wasted. The sorrow, difficulties, and life-threatening situations could all have been avoided.

Perched on a tree outside of the cave is a multi-colored squirrel with two puffed out cheeks. When the group exited from the cave its eyes glued onto Arbor as he walked by. The squirrel followed the group from a distance all the way back to the city.

Leo took his mercenary group back to the headquarters to report what happened to The Mammoth and to see what the higher ups can do.

Arbor, Sald and Eos went back to the inn to find Orion sitting at the table with a cup of tea waiting for them.

"Nice of you all to show up. I have been worried sick about you." Orion teased the three as they walked in to the room. Eos, Sald, and Arbor all glared at Orion before they went to their own separate rooms to rest.