Converging

"No! No!" Zeeth yelled through the screen, but Hetio wasn't near to hear him. He tossed the book he was reading into the air, yelling, "the circle needs more! It's not going to work!"

Hetio realized the same but he couldn't speak to Detro or either of the other two, all four were spaced too far apart so he watched along with Zeeth. When they reappeared, the school was simply dropped in another location within the kingdom, just a few miles closer to the complementary circle the twelve hunters drew. The same circle, hundreds of miles away, shone a little but dimmed before anyone noticed.

The Bolluma violently reared its head, raising two front legs and stomping down to stop itself. Ice burst from every movement it made, nearly throwing Dande off.

The Bolluma changed its position and headed for the school's new location.

Zeeth moved away from the screen, checking the books. 'What is this?'

He held a thick book with a square engraving in front filled with hundreds of rectangular designs. Each were drawn in with complex symbols like circles, but these followed no patterns or language he knew.

Hetio said, "those are talismans. They also stem from magic, just like magic circles. They're like their harder, ancient brother. Don't even know it's origin. They work like magic circles, except every time you put in magic, you absorb it in a new form, permanently increasing your stats."

"Permanently?!?" Zeeth held the talisman up, "Really?"

"Each talisman can only be used once per person, they will be destroyed after each use due to their extreme power, the permanent stats usually aren't that impressive, and the ones that are impressive have major drawbacks, and talismans are nigh impossible to create. But yeah, permanent."

"Oh. wow."

"You sound a little disappointed."

"Uh, yeah."

"What did you expect? Everything has its ups and downs.

Death flowed over like a wave, swinging the scythe in circles, elongating it and growing four more blades from it. *Skwil, how have you evaded me? You shouldn't exist in this realm.*

"Hau- how do you-" as Death neared, she began gasping for air, appearing thinner and darker.

Skwil fell off Page's shoulder and hit the floor, giving her some distance from Death. The cold floor and distance shocked her out of her fear, causing her to bolt away automatically.

"Skwil, don't run!" Page yelled.

But she arrived at the end of the hall and twisted into the curve, losing no speed, but around the corner was Death, covering the entire hall. She ran into the darkness, falling unconscious once she entered.

Inside Death, Skwil woke up in complete silence, surrounded by a grey space with dark branches stretching toward her. A soft, sweet voice spoke, *you did you avoid me for so long?*

"I… didn't…." Skwil thought, finding herself unable to move or speak out loud.

*But you did. You should've died decades ago. But you never came. Why?* the voice choked, like she was going to cry.

The branches opened in front of her, revealing the face of a blackened woman with grey hair, grey eyes, and grey streaks drawn symmetrically on her. Her eyebrows scrunched in the middle out of sorrow.

"Don't cry." Skwil thought.

*but you left me. And didn't tell me where you were.*

"I didn't do it to hurt you. I was trapped inside a monster."

*really? You don't hate me?*

"Of course not."

*so. Why couldn't I find you?*

Their voices echoed in her head, not as a painful headache, but as a soothing melody. She wanted to sleep but she also wanted to watch the woman's face to make sure she didn't cry.

The woman walked out the branches and held Skwil in her hands. She noticed the face changed into a round, cute bear.

"Rah traps anyone that beats it. It beat Rah to become famous. I was trapped with a hundred others for centuries."

*Hundred others? They were all with you? How did you all leave?*

"Zeeth went in. He was the final person in and with his slimes, Zero pushed us out."

*May I watch what happened?*

"Sure. How?"

The bear nuzzled against Skwil's belly. Skwil giggled and flailed about, closing her eyes longer and longer in comfort. The bear purred and smiled and when she licked her, Skwil fell asleep again. Deaths voice echoed, *I see. So it wasn't entirely your fault. Then, according to the Laws of Death five and seventy, you may live the rest of your time and I must give Death's Dread.*

"What's… that…?"

*you'll see.*

Over by the school, White once again tried to push in mana but a massive icicle shot through the ground, rupturing it.

"The Bolluma?!" Sieda cried, "How'd it get here already?!"

"It's not the Bolluma." White took over, looking into the distance. "The icicle's too perfect, it's shaped to destroy the circle."

Dande stood on the Bollumas head, holding her hand in the air. Black, Clone, and Detro gathered around White, all noticing the icicle.

Detro touched the ice. "Is this Dande's?"

In the distance, she began chanting, "Frost Giant God, I call upon your real name, Brivyc. Assist me in my time of need. Grant me all your power to protect that which is dear to me. In exchange, I give you my sanity."

A mirage of a blue, damaged hand sunk into her from the skies. A giant, blue face fell with it and muttered, "are you aware of the tragedy this will cause?"

"Yes, and I am ready to bear the consequences. Protect the school at the cost of my mind."

The face opened and swallowed her whole. "I hope you know the catastrophe this will bring."

Her body rose into the air, hundreds of ice shards grew around her, branching out further and further until it encased the entire Bolluma. At the end of each branch, dangerous weapons and contraptions formed. Pipes filled with darts filled with frost and expelled them with terrifying power. Her body grew with the ice, turning blue and muscular. Her teeth sharpened and elongated, turning her mouth into a bear trap, her hands grew larger and changed into three fingers. The clouds above her shifted aside into a ring, shining a bright blue light down. Her feet broke through her shoes, showing her three, large, blue toes. She stomped towards the school, striking the Bolluma on the head first.

The entire kingdom watched her storm the area in shock. Ice grew all around her, freezing everything and covering her in a layer of frost. Ice fell from her joints as she moved across, creating a round path as she walked.

Inside the Lexicon, Zeeth, who began absorbing talismans, suddenly thought of something. 'I can learn to make that!'

Black, watching her approach, had every cell in his body screaming at him to act. Every warning sign, every bell, every single inkling of danger he ever learned over the course of his life warned him, begging to live.

"I know this feeling." his three eyes widened. White's hearing went out and all she saw were his lips moving. They trembled but, disturbingly, they formed a wide, uneasy smile.

'Why are you smiling??!' she thought, unable to find her voice.

A tear ripped across the sky directly in the face of Dande. Black's grin only grew wider upon seeing that. He thought back to Page's letter, where he wrote, "I finally figured out why the portals to hell aren't appearing in the same pattern as before. Portals to hell appear around you. You are the nail that drives this world apart. Your body was struck into this world, it doesn't belong here and it's forcing the barriers apart. The solid fabric that the world is made out of doesn't know what to do but to bend around your anomaly of an existence."

"I was expecting you," Black said, leaning down and pushing against the ground. He grabbed the Demon sitting on his shoulder and leapt at the gate, leaving a slight dust cloud and sonic wave behind.

A demon flew out the gate with one fist out, yelling, "I'm free! Yaya! I'm coming, my beloved!"

Black grabbed the demon's throat and locked him in place, flooding his mind with colors and flashes of darkness, confusing him so much that it rolled its eyes back and landed on the ground.

White shouted, "Black! What are you doing?!"

"Just watch."

He plunged the Demon on his shoulder into the throat of the floating demon, yelling, "what do you see?"

"What?! Nothing!" it yelled.

"Just let me." Black ran out of the path of Dande, closed his eyes, and watched from the Demons' eyes. It was true, it was nothing. But he could also see a load of strings and cords of mana connecting all parts of the demon with his eyes. But the lines began waving and disappearing. Black looked out of the demon, back at the portal and jumped back to the portal. He put one foot in it, trying to balance himself. The air from the gate pushed against him and every breath he took hurt, but it wasn't enough to keep him away. Checking the demon's body again, he noticed lines began to tighten themselves again. "So it is true."

"What?"

"That a demon derives power from Hell. I wonder…"

"What?"

"Aren't you supposed to know what I'm thinking?"

"I know what Zeeth thought the moment I appeared. You are different."

"I was wondering, will your power be derived from these gates if you absorb their power?"

"Why would you wonder that? Are you dumb? I'm just the imagination of Zeeth in mana form, I can't absorb anything."

"Yet you can give power? Mana is a two way street, if there's a way out, there's a way in."

"Yeah, my way out is to Zeeth, my way in is from him. That's my path."

"But that path has entrances, no? I can make some in the path and have you absorb the power."

"Oooh, nohoho. I may be evil, but the ba;ance of power is one thing I won't mess with. It's way too fragile."

"This isn't about balance, this is about power. Through this method, it would be like if he chose you nearly exclusively, I see nothing wrong with this. In the skill name, you are a demon, these creatures, according to God's Eye, are demons. The power transfer should be flawless, there is nothing wrong about balance in this."

"Listen, if he doesn't choose me, that's his loss. But this sounds risky."

"Oh, fear not. I will not only ensure your safety, I will ensure you ultimate power."

The entire time, Zeeth was in the Lexicon, scribbling something on paper while flipping through page after page of "Basic Talismans, a Book of Talismans with no Drawbacks composed by Hetio" absorbing the talismans.

Dande stepped around the gate, heading for the school with only three people to defend it now.

"Listen to me. Activate the power now and I can attach Hell's energy directly to the path."

"You'll have to do one evil deed of my choosing."

"What is it?"

"Let's see… free the rhino beast." the demon pointed at the Bolluma.

"Isn't it supposed to be life saving?"

"We aren't exactly in that kinda situation. Fine, then kill all those demon eyes looking at us." he pointed in the gate where ten, red flying eyes turned to look at him. Beams collected in their eyes, ready to attack him. The angel weakly appeared on his shoulder, squealing, "don't do it! Just throw the demon away and close the gate!"

Black grinned and pushed the angel away, releasing a beam of black magic from his third eye, slicing all the eyes apart. The demon on his shoulder exploded into a ball of orange magic. At the height of its growth, Black closed the demon's mouth around it and threw it into the gate. The orange cloud lifted out of the demon's body slowly as Black moved the mana around it to mix them like wool. They tried to separate each other but Black kept weaving them into each other, intertwining it constantly. The orange powder from the demon flew into Zeeth, dragging demonic energy with it.

Black closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, leaned back and yelled, "YES! YEAH-HAH HAH!"

His three eyes shot open, swiveling orange in the black. The orange condensed in his eyes until they were a single point in the pupil. Orange and black streaks swivelled around his body, gathering more and more and surrounding his body like flames. His magic soared, passing wave after wave of energy out of himself. Soldiers who finally caught up with Dande had to crouch to avoid being pushed back by him.

"Hey! I'm running out!" the Demon said.

"Keep going!"

"What do you mean?! Yeah, like that's going to help! The demon's body is dried up!"

The demon's corpse was now a pile of bones with a light, orange hue hovering above it.

"Use the bones! And the eyes!"

"You don't think I thought of that?! I already did!"

Black scrunched down, rubbing his head furiously. He felt the air of Hell becoming natural and inviting. The gate pulled him in and each breath tasted sweet instead of painful. He heard voices in his head giggling and had to resist the urge to walk into hell and begin eating the first thing he saw, which were the bones and dead eyes on the ground.

"What's going on? Stop! STOP!"

The Demon sucked the last bit into his body. He felt sharp points against his forehead, rubbing his head even harder. "I need to get out."

With the demon dead, the gate began closing again. But when Black stepped out of it, the gate opened again, trying to tug him in. Black flung off the robe, casting his slimes aside and casting Dande's ring far away. An explosion of power blew from his legs, fully releasing everything he had, rubbing his head to get rid of all the pain and confusion he had. He flew at the ground, nearly crashing into it, but without trying, the ground split apart, letting him fly through it freely.

Even without God's Eye, he realized Natural Assistance was activating on its own. But somehow, its power appeared to have grown. Before, it would only move small patches of dirt, but now it created entire tunnels for him.

Dande, who was still stomping towards the school, suddenly stopped to eyeball the tunnel that had traces of assistance mana in it. She stomped over, plugging it with a finger, but the traces already escaped.

"Oh, no." she stated, watching it flutter away. Her blue mana hovered around her and a bit of that flicked with the white trace and shot them into the sky.

All around the world, Gods and Goddesses were alerted at once. They dropped what they were doing, some causing floods, some throwing lightning, some reveling in food and pleasures, and began moving at once. Hands, claws, spoons, and utensils of all sorts reached down from the skies to grab people, often digging up the land and ignoring all defenses in the way. Hands reached down in the middle of battles to scoop out humans and killing many in the process, they capsized boats and tore through magic barriers to get their humans.