This was devasting, he couldn’t find a solution to absorb the powers of Shuten-Doji and Leviathan. Those two creatures were dwelling within him, and they were truly bothersome. They brought something out of him, that he didn’t understand could be done. He thought he had calmed himself by being able to control his emotions, but those two were able to disrupt everything he worked hard on. Still, one thing for sure is their need to destroy things.

It was why when Yuurei found out about Void Caverns they allowed him to go on his journey without messing with his head. He had heard about three Void Caverns that had appeared throughout the world. It was interesting, but he figured that he would tackle the place that was closest to him. The Warden of the North had kept tabs on the guild and the North since he departed, and coming here to help find a solution to close this up was why he was here.

It took some time to find this place, but the Woods and the Trees here would guide him to his destination. When he got to the entrance Renji would look at him and wonder if he should venture this on his own.

“Why did we come here just the two of us? What if we need backup? Don’t you think you should have gotten Brone or Kaito to come with you?” He asked Yuurei.

The Seraphim would smile at him as he wished he could do that, but there were circumstances.

“I wish I could, but Brone is helping out Lumikki, and I don’t want to burden Kaito. I’m scared of what I might do to them anyway if I lose control.” He said to Renji.

Renji would sigh as he knew what the Seraphim was going through right now. Still, just as he got stronger, there was nothing he could do to help him. Migi’s eyes would open up in Yuurei’s hand and a mouth as well for him to speak out loud.

“You two should be fine, and if Yuurei likes I can take over his body, get rid of you, and force him to do this on his own.” Leviathan had taken over Migi’s consciousness and he wanted to see Yuurei’s reaction.

Yuurei would sigh as he glared at his arm. If they did anything to Renji he would make sure that they would all perish together. Still, the young man looked at the cavern in front of him getting ready to venture in on his own. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew it would or should be tough.

439

Kaito had heard of some kind of disturbance and he headed for the north while he floated on a red cloud as it zoomed along through the trees toward where he had heard about it being but the woodsea had always been a maze on the best of days. Kaito then smelled someone he knew he smelled Yuurei's scent or was it Renji's Kaito was not sure but him and Revy headed toward the faint area that Kaito could smell Yuurei just in time to see the arm speak like that toward him. "Seems you are still not fully in control of those voices huh?"

Kaito laughed a little as he floated up to near where they were standing and looked at Yuurei. "Been awhile huh?" Revy looked at Them as well and she wondered if they were the only ones that had come to try and deal with this mess that was seeming to have unfolded while they were all away or if there was more people on the way.

"So anyone else coming to back us up or are we it again?" Kaito placed his feet onto the ground and stood there as he was not sure of what was in it but he didn't sense much or if at all any danger from inside of the place but that might just be his own power level shadowing a danger that they would need to deal with when the time was to come for it to be dealt with.

Kaito does a wave of his arm and his gear appears on his body so that he is battle ready for what might be lurking in the depths of this place. His sword at the ready in his hand, but his shield was missing during the lost times the shield seemed to have been taken from him and lost out somewhere way from himself in the dimensional sea. He wondered who could have taken it or why they had taken it but he wasn't going to fight about it with them and just let them have it, if it was really his it will return to him.

Kaito made sure that he stands tall and that he was ready for this fight that they were about to run into and Revy takes her human form so she can fight hand to hand or swap with Kaito and use the sword while Kaito fights barehanded. Kaito trusts in his companion to help him get by and he sure as hell hopes that Yuurei will trust him during what ever this thing was that they would be facing.
(443)

Oh brother, for the second time Elijah felt lost in these woods. You'd think that by now they ought to have some direction signs in place, not that it would help that much considering this entire area was a forest but at least it could be a start. After what seemed like hours he managed to get to his destination, a "void cavern" as they called it, mysterious places that appeared around the world. Dangerous but with a promise of jewels and who knows what else, for Elijah it was also the thrill of the adventure and exploration and perhaps knowledge that could be found in those caverns. Whatever it was he was determined to see it through despite his second thoughts on doing this alone. He hadn't really met many people as he was still new to this country but that wouldn't deter him from his goal.

As he approached the entrance he saw people outside getting ready to venture further in. Now that's an opportunity to make some friends if I've ever seen one, he thought and picked up his step. "Oh hello there, are you three also going inside this place?" he asked with a soft smile trying to appear as friendly as he could, after all he didn't want to alarm them only to befriend them and perhaps go on an adventure together. Which is exactly what he suggested after introducing himself and sharing his goal with them.

He would listen carefully to remember their names and anything else they said as they could be the difference between him surviving or dying in that place. He could tell they all looked powerful it wasn't just the aura they exerted, he could feel pressure just by being next to them, especially the white haired guy, that one also had a certain air of divinity around him, similar to the Seraphim Elijah had met before. If they agreed with his proposition he would follow closely behind them inside the cavern while being cautious of enemies or traps.

WC: 351

Yuurei wanted to yank his arm off, but he knew the thing would just come back crawling after him. When he was thinking about this, a voice would shoot him back to reality. His neck would snap in the direction where the voice had come from. He would see there, stood Kaito; he didn’t even sense him coming, but it was due to everything that was going through his mind right now. When he heard what he said, he would rub the back of his head with his left hand as he chuckled.

“No. seems like the voices are getting stronger every day, so it is harder for me to be myself. It is kind of why it's been a while.” He said, shamed that this had happened to him.

Still, he had rather it happened to him than his friends that he dragged around in his crazy adventures. He looked over to Kaito again as he heard his words.

“I don’t know, to be honest, I thought I was going to be the only person looking into this. Glad you decided to show up when you did.” He said to Kaito as he had given him a thumbs up after his hand from the back of his head.

Renji would move over to Revy as he was glad to see her. Honestly, she let up his day and he would wave at her as she transformed, and he would do the same thing.

“I guess we’re getting serious now.” He said as he was willing to protect her at any cost.

That was when someone else spoke. Yuurei and Renji would look at him and it would seem like there was another person joining the fray.

“Yeah we were about to head inside. Were you also curious about this Cavern?” He asked him.

Renji would look at the four of them and he would rub the back of his head.

“There are four of us here, you would be the fifth or do I not exist?” Renji said to him as he puffed his chest.

It was then that Yuurei would smack Renji on the back of his head for talking like that.

“The name is Yuurei and this guy right here is Renji. As for coming with us, we don’t mind, but don’t try to be a hero, if you feel like things are too tough.” He said to Elijah.

Renji nodded as he was rubbing the back of his head. He walked into that one and knew that Yuurei would do that after he tried to correct the man.

“So are we going in?” He asked.

Yuurei looked at him and he moved into the Cavern to what would be a nightmare.

455

Kaito can tell that Yuurei was off his game just by looking at him and Kaito thought he was the downer of the group and the one scared to let loose of himself in fear of hurting the ones around him. He had smelled the new comer getting close thought that doesn't mean much as he wasn't pinpointing the persons location. "Yeah lets hope the voices quiet down for you so you might be able to rest and regroup fully." Kaito looked back toward the woods for where this person would be coming through to them as this was a rare treat to have someone new join them even though Kaito was a bit stand offish with strangers he was not going to spook this one off as it seemed that they were semi-fresh. Kaito counted in his head about the number of people that were here four and five if this guy was coming with them but that was something else entirely maybe they were just not bright.

Revy looked at Renji and she smirked at the male Exceed asking if he didn't exist to the other mage or not. He of course mattered but there was nothing that really said he had to be counted as he hadn't transformed into his human form but she was not going to make a point of him to make him do it just let them go with the flow and see if he will even need to transform into his humanish form to help in a fight or something. She was as ready as she was going to be for this fight and she was going to make it count as long as she can watch Kaito's back rather it is now or later there was going to need to be an awakening of sorts for them as stuff has started to go side ways if portals are opening again.

Kaito watched Yuurei go into the void portal before him and then he looked at the new blood that had walked up to join them and go in with them. Kaito started to walk into the opening and then he spoke. "In case this drops us into a water filled or poison filled area make sure to hold your breath when you go through." Kaito took a deep breath and then ran in unsure what will be on the other side of the entrance to them and he wanted to be safe even though he is mostly immune to the issues that might greet them.

Revy looked at the mage and smiled. "Don't mind him his name is Kaito and I am Revy and he was just being overly cautious, you should be find but if stuff gets rough remember to trust in us as your team mates." She gave the man a thumbs up then she ran ahead to join up with Yuurei, Kaito and Renji before they get too far left behind as those two liked to rush some times.
(507) (950)

Elijah witnessed the second transformation too late before addressing the group and apologized after the exceed's comment even though Yuurei tried to somewhat put him in his place. They seemed like a nice group, edgy and a bit too serious looking sure, but everyone has to deal with their own issues in their own way. Introductions and pleasantries aside, Elijah was accepted in the group much to his delight and without further ado they started going in one by one leaving warnings for the nephilim to follow. The atmosphere in the area shifted the moment Yuurei entered the black substance as if the feeling of dread was released from inside for just a moment, Elijah shivered slightly as the others followed suit and then he at last entered the void.

After a brief moment he opened his eyes and looked around, where he expected to be in a normal cavern, he was instead in a lush landscape full of trees and greenery but the arcane energy in this area made it seem like the place had a glitch, with the green colors switching to purple and black for a few seconds. That dreadful feeling was now surrounding him as he didn't quite know what to expect, he only heard rumors about avian creatures and their piercing cries. The others were ahead of him as he rushed to catch up and stay relatively in the middle so he could stay protected. He had some confidence in his own combat abilities but the rest of the group seemed much more battle-hardened and ready for whatever was coming.

"I overheard people talking about this place. The creatures here are attracted to powerful sources of mana so if we can track one it could be their nest." he said in a soft tone as not to alert any monsters, looking at all party members but mainly Yuurei and Kaito. As he was inexperienced with adventuring and especially with places like this, he would follow the group's advice and/or commands in order to stay safe and at the same time provide them with support or cover fire if needed. After letting them know of this "strategy", he spotted a flock of birdlike creatures descending towards a forest. "That could probably be a good place to start." he said while pointing towards it. He was certain the others noticed too but it didn't hurt to make everyone aware just in case.

WC: 411 | 762

Yuurei would hear Kaito’s words, and he would have a faint smile on his face. He hoped this would return to normal, but he didn’t know how long that’d take. It hurt him that something like this could happen to him. It was then his head would tilt, and he looked away from his friend.

Look at him, he thinks you could tame me and Levithan. He’s too optimistic with you, this power you have, cannot tame us, boy. All you can do is fight for your life and your control over us. The moment you slip up your life is forfeit. Shuten through his thoughts and opinions on Yuurei.

The Seraphim would twitch his head hearing these words as he would ignore them. Renji and Yuurei would enter the place, and the greenery around this place was in abundance. It was everywhere, beautiful for the both of them to witness, but the number of things that powered around this place was unbelievable. He could sense it everywhere and he wondered what was going to happen.

“I wonder what we should do here. It looks beautiful and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it. I guess we should look for some valuable things to take back home.” He said out loud.

It was then he would see a bunch of green things flying around the air. There were a lot of them together, and they seemed to be flying around at first, but then something changed. They seemed like they had targeted something. At first, Yuurei was relaxed, but then he noticed that these things, these creatures were coming straight for him.

“What the hell, why are they coming after me?” He questioned this as Migi would bring out his two appendages.

They would become sharp, and they would start smacking the void birds all over. The Seraphim didn’t stop there. No, he would have his gear appear on him. His Drakkon Helmet, alongside his Berserker’s Suit. This would bring him to shoot a beam of arcane energy out of his helmet. He would move around the blast in the air, taking the creatures out with it. Renji would see that they weren’t paying attention to anybody but Yuurei.

The Exceed noticed this and he’d take advantage of this. He would move around, and he would start kicking and punching any of the creatures that Yuurei had missed.

“It seems like they’re after Yuurei, that means as long as he distracting them, we should be good to take them out.” He said to everyone.

426|1320

Kaito was fully not expecting to be greeted by an area of lush green and trees he was more expecting gloom and doom and maybe things going boom toward them but it seemed this place was far more of a restrained and quiet area at least until the birds dropped down on them from seemingly out of no where and being quite loud. Revy was quick to realize that the birds were seeming to majorly seek toward Yuurei right after the other man had said something about them seeking mana it made sense as Yuurei was probably a walking gold mine of mana and magical power. Kaito moved to help and deal with the birds as they were annoying, loud and probably dangerous if this group would have been made up of lower level mages and not maxed out ranked mages and their companions for the most part. The birds seemed to break pretty easily with what felt like a slight cool breeze coming from in side of their bodies as they broke.

Revy kept a hold on Kaito's sword and used it to swat at the birds as they moved on to see if they could find a center or maybe the core of the forest and stop the birds from coming in swarms as they seemed to form and come. Kaito was looking around with his eye that showed him the weak points of the birds as he hit them and made them easier to break with just his hand covered in mana as this was nothing over the top just a simple thing and he wondered if there were more of these that are like this and need to be taken with more care but Kaito also knows that he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth if he was going to keep going on like this. Kaito pointed his fingers and he started firing more beams from them at the birds that were higher up in the air as his spell range was longer and his spells faster so it was easier for him to take out some of the ones that were still staying back and not running in on the group.

Kaito looked at the fresh blood mage that was with them to make sure the guy wasn't being over run or anything as Kaito had become a bit less worried about teams as usually the people he worked with are able to take care of themself with little issue besides Kaito stopping massive spells from hitting them with his dimensional dragon slayer magic there is a lot of things he could do but then there is also on this mission he is working with a bit of a newer name so he should be, being a good mentor to the man and keeping a close eye on him, while he helped break the birds.
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Elijah was in awe of both sides. The sheer number of creatures was too big to count, they didn't seem that strong by themselves but he didn't want to imagine what would happen if they overpowered them with pure number advantage. At the same time that seem highly unlikely as his two teammates and their exceeds looked to be more than pros at fighting, with swords and lasers and exploding beams of death, something he probably wouldn't achieve in his wildest dreams. Then again his preferred style of combat wasn't to throw himself in the fight, he knew that he could leave the big damage to the others while he looked for a way to put an end to this avian issue at its root.

Elijah quickly checked his surroundings, with the creatures heavily focused on Yuurei and a total of four members fending them off, Elijah had adequate time to work his magic. He placed his palm on his chest offering part of his life force and invoking two angels at the same time, he knew he would come to regret it later as he was still not used to this magic but he didn't have many alternatives. The golden coins appeared in his hand as he called out to Eistibus and Shelegiel, prompting the coins to burst in a flash of light. The angel of divination appeared beside him as Elijah commanded him to find the nesting grounds of the void birds while the angel of snow took off and joined the others, creating localized snowstorms strong enough to freeze the creatures solid leaving them open to attacks from his teammates.

Eistibus:

Shelegiel:

Eistibus was working on the locator spell through divine geometry with lines forming around his spherical head into different shapes within a hexagon, unfortunately Elijah was still not strong enough and the fragments of the angels were only as strong as him. Elijah called out to the others that they had to buy him just a few more seconds before he could tell them exactly where the source of this swarm was. Meanwhile, Shelegiel would provide as much support as possible, trying to protect the nephilim's team by either freezing the enemies completely or when time was short rendering them unable to fly. The angel took a couple of hits that made Elijah grunt in pain but it was nothing that he couldn't handle.

Once the locator spell was complete the destination and route were engraved in the nephilim's mind. He called out to Kaito and Yuurei telling them of the route they had to follow and how to recognize the place of the nest. Granted that they were faster and more mobile not to mention literal powerhouses he asked them to speed ahead get to the location while he would, at a slower pace, make his way there. The exceed could remain to protect Eli but seeing how the creatures' target was Yuurei they shouldn't pose a big threat for him. With that plan in mind Elijah would be on his way hoping the teammates would follow his advice.

WC: 522 | 1284

Yuurei could feel that there wasn’t an end to this, and he shook his head as his photon laser would come to an end. Still, it didn’t mean that the void birds were going to stop. No, it seemed like they fed into the mana that he unleashed and more would head in his direction. The Seraphim would bring forth his Excalibur, revealing the beauty of his sword to those who laid their eyes upon it. He didn’t need to hide its presence in this fight, but he wanted to use its power to get the job done.

The Seraphim would look at the creatures that came coming toward him. A smirk appeared on his face as he figured he would give them what they wanted. They wanted to make their way in his direction, well he was going to make them pay for it.

“Excalibur!” He shouted as he swung the sword in the direction of where the majority of the birds were coming from. It would go as long as forty meters in range due to Renji, and a width of sixteen meters.

The Exceed would be given the staff with mana in it, Jeweled Sword Zelretch to use as his disclosure. Renji did notice that the young man who tagged along with everybody had summoned two Seraphims, or something similar to them. He only knew this because of Yuurei and what they had fought in the past. Their style was similar if not almost identical.

“I guess I can assist with everyone’s vision.” He said to himself as he would glow with a blessing.

This blessing would allow the Exceed to give everyone around him within fifty meters the ability to see all around them and at the same time see through invisibility spells as well. Yuurei and he would see everything from both perspectives which was interesting. This allowed Renji to move where he needed to and then thrust the staff into the air, which brought out a pulse of pure mana that shot around for 8 meters away from him.

Yuurei would see the delays of the void birds would come, and it was because they had wiped out a lot of them faster than they could be formed.

“We need to find the source of what is causing this. We find this, we can probably find something of value at the source.” He said this as he was ready to move around as a group and make sure that they continued their onslaught against these creatures.

Yuurei could see that Elijah had brought out two Nephilim, and he would look at him.

“How did you do that?” He asked as he could see one of them was looking for something.

That was smart to do, and hopefully, it would be able to find what they were all looking for. The void birds were indeed being formed and heading towards the group though.

"Kaito can do it and then we're out of here." He said this and when Kaito got what they came for, they would be out of this cavern and hopefully on to the next area.

488|1808

[exit]

Kaito heard what they had called out to them and Kaito gets to clearing a path so that the new comer could get through to the area closer to himself, as Kaito knows that he would be faster but they also have their hands full with helping with the birds and he thinks his time is more worth to be here helping Yuurei and the two companions. "Take this portal it should get you closer to the ending so you don't have to worry about being too slow or not." Kaito aimed his hand making a portal for the new comer to go through that should help them be close to the end piece that they needed to collect before they could leave this area. Kaito was not sure if they would do it or if Kaito would have to just man up and take the jump himself but he was making sure that the new comer could also get some glory of their own as he and Yuurei were already up to their eyes in accolades from past things.

Revy was on top of the fighting and getting the birds that were coming too close. Revy wondered if Renji was also having fun during all of this or if this was being one of those days they were going to sleep and have nightmares of for times to come as the birds were cut down she wondered if they had souls or not but she knows that she doesn't have time to be thinking about the morality of this or not but she was going to make the most of what she could and fight till she was no longer able to fight them back any more but with any luck Kaito's trust in the new comer would not be a misguided venture.
(306) (1,738)

This was certainly an interesting chain of events. They both were entrusting Eli with getting the job done and even had a spatial mage among them, that seemed like one hell of a team and the nephilim was glad to be on their side. He agreed to their plan of going through the portal, he'd look for the treasure then find a way to cause some mayhem before portaling back and then they could leave this hellscape. With a snap of his fingers and a couple of words in Lucian the divination angel was dismissed while the snow angel was now following his summoner's footsteps through the portal Kaito made for him.

He quickly scanned his environment for enemies but it seemed like most of them were occupied with the group. Elijah seized this opportunity and checked for any hidden treasure, much to his delight he found a small coffer with precious gems and jewels inside and some kind of items with a foggy appearance as if they hadn't decided what they want to be yet. They have personality for items I'll give them that, he thought playfully but was quickly pulled out of his thoughts as he heard a flock of those devil birds coming his way. "Time to skedaddle~" he said with a smirk as he commanded the angel to freeze the area solid then violently shatter it. This would cause the angel to disperse as it required all the energy binding them to this realm but Elijah wanted to go out with a bang. "That's all he wrote!" the nephilim exclaimed as the angel complied and he jumped in the portal just in the nick of time before everything exploded in a flurry of ice and snow. He appeared on the other side weakened from using his magic but found the strength to let his teammates know that he got what they came for and it was time to leave.

The scenery changed back to the forest they had left behind for what seemed like hours ago, splitting the treasure and talking about a new potential excursion.

WC: 355 | 1639