The Guard of the Last Door

Having come through the portal as Cyrus and the rest of the group had a weight over their hearts. Each of them seemed to be affected in one way or another, but Godfrey was the one to help keep them going. For they had to reach Roland before it was too late. Cyrus approached Whisper and held out his hand depositing 10,000 of the coins. This gave Whisper a pleasant surprise but the face of the young Inheritor was betraying him.

"What is wrong... Cyrus?" Whisper asked pulling the coins away slowly. He began to pull out some items and stopped as Cyrus spoke.

"Thane is gone..." Cyrus just looked down at the counter, unsure of how he should feel. But Whisper just seemed to nod, placing down a couple vials filled with red liquid and a green one. The merchant also set down a spell book and the another piece to the artifact gun.

"I see... did he... go happily?" Whisper asked, while Cyrus nodded in return. "Good... Then may he... return to Chaos... and return to us... in another life." Whisper took out two coins and set them in a blue flaming brazier. The flames licked the coins before they were gone inside the flames. Cyrus then placed the flask that was nearly empty on the counter. Whisper guessed for he needed a refill on the purified waters.

He took the flask and disappeared into the back, while Cyrus gathered the items before him. Acquiring two red healing potions that heal 10 HP and a green potion that recovered his CEP by 10 points. The book held the defensive spell "Shield" inside it. While he gained the third piece of the artifact weapon. Only one more and he would gain another artifact. But what it did, he had no idea till he recovered or bought the last piece.

Giving the spell to Grimm he then decided to take a seat from a table in the room. It seems as if the shop was looking more refurbished the more rune coins he spent. Whisper returned seeming to hover out from behind his counter and set the flask on the table. Bowing his head and hovered back to the counter. His shadowed face looked at them all before letting out a sigh.

"You... must not forget... you have a goal... keep moving forward... for the ones... who have been lost." He snapped his fingers making tea appear before them. "Don't stop... drink up... save Roland. For Thane..." Raising the cup to the air he watched as Godfrey also raised his cup.

"For Thane!" Then Thomas joined in, holding his cup and repeating the words. Chase took a moment before joining all who was left was Cyrus. He looked at his cup and held it gently in his hands. The porcelain feeling felt like the smooth texture of Thane's head. He recalled the words that Thane said before he died, slowly lifting the glass he raised it into the air.

"For Thane and all those who have lost their lives today." They all drank their cups and set them down. Having now regained some composure before heading to the portal. Whisper nodded to each of them and thanked them for visiting.

"Good luck... Will see you again... soon..." With that they headed through the portal. However, when Cyrus did he saw his system give him a notification. What he read was not something he had expected and feared.

[Special instance ended! Returning to main Chaos Tear with all party members and orbs.]

As they passed through the portal, they found themselves in a large room with a large gilded door with several holes inside it. In front of those doors was standing a large knight, white armor and wielding a sword and shield. However, in its hands was a humanoid figure, clothed in the Fenrir Operations Groups clothing. Yuri had been gripped by the white knight of Samantha's summon. While looking at the sight Cyrus also saw Samantha on the ground with a wound in her abdomen.

Yuri called lightning to strike the knight which seemed to cause it to let him go, however it threw him across the room towards Cyrus and the others. Running forward he leapt into the air and caught Yuri, though the force threw him back as he managed to land safely next to Chase and Thomas. With swollen eyes and blurry vision he saw Cyrus but couldn't tell who it was. He reached up and grabbed hold of his black coat and pulled him closer.

"You have to stop that thing," he coughed, blood coming from his mouth, "Something happened and it has attacked Samantha without warning. It is," he coughed again and was struggling to talk. Cyrus saw that he was badly injured and knew that he had to heal him. Pulling out one of the potions he gave it Yuri. Though after consuming it, he passed out from exhaustion. Standing and setting Yuri down to the side, Cyrus approached the white knight.

Drawing its sword, the visor had multiple red eyes peering through it. Cyrus cast had Grimm cast the Regeneration spell onto Samantha, allowing her to recover without alerting the white knight. Chase and Thomas drew their weapons as well as Godfrey. Looking to them and to Samantha he knew it was going to be difficult to deal with the summon while they were in danger. That is when the knight angled its sword towards Cyrus.

"Seems it wants a duel, but we don't have time for a duel." Cyrus said to the knight. Having said that, the knight pointed its sword at Samantha and raised it into the air. Cyrus then stepped forward, "Fine, fine we will have a duel." The weapon stopped just before it had made contact with Samantha. Then the knight turned its attention back to Cyrus raising its shield. Chase looked at Cyrus and stepped forward to place a hand on his right shoulder.

"You sure about this Cyrus? We don't know anything about that creature it isn't from our world." Chase was worried for he has never seen such a knight that was the size of Godfrey. But he got a terrible feeling from it like it was radiating hatred and death like a Shadow would. Cyrus nodded and stepped forward drawing his Inheritor's Chained Sword. The two warriors stepped forward as the knight stabbed its sword into the ground.

An eruption of shadows encircled both the knight and Cyrus leaving the rest of them outside the pillar of shadows. Chase circled the room and grabbed the woman who was passed out on the ground. To him she was a very pretty human, the smell of her blood was sweet. Picking her up he carried her back to Yuri and the group that had to wait outside. Godfrey didn't like the look of the shadowy field. Nor did Thomas, as he had a feeling that it was something out of the ordinary.

That is when sounds of shattering glass could came from their left as black knights came crawling from the windows. Godfrey raised his axe as Thomas readied his sword, while Chase stood guard over the two humans. The two engaged the black knights, fighting multiple of them at once while Chase kept the others at bay with an incantation spell. Chase knew that humans from earth had gifts, but seeing one cast lightning and one apparently having a large knight summon was not something he had heard of before. But now that they have reached the door they would do everything they could to save his father from the shadows that are plaguing the two worlds.

Godfrey roared as his axe cleaved several black knights in half. His axe cutting through the armor like butter. Though some were more resistant and created dark shadow shields to protect themselves. Stopping Godfrey's axe and pushing him away. He had not expected anything like the black knights of the castle to be strong enough to push him back or even block his attacks. Seeing the black shields meant that they had been corrupted by the shadows and no longer part of the castle guard.

Flexing his muscles causing his armor to creak and groan under the pressure from his sheer muscle mass it broke apart off his body. Exposing his skin to the light of the room and showing his muscular build. A blue aura came over Godfrey as he let it travel up his axe and cover the red part of the blade. Gripping the axe in two hands his stance changed to be lower and slightly crouched. Thomas had pushed aside the Black Knight he had been fighting and managed to kill it with the flaming sword. When he turned to see Godfrey in that stance he immediately backed away returning to Chase's side to protect the humans.

Godfrey had several of the black knights on him each one raising their weapons to attack and strike him down. Shadows seemed to over come their blades but as their attacks had stuck Godfrey, they seemed to phase right through his body. An after image had been created as six knights were suddenly cut into pieces. Standing on the opposite side of the disappearing knights was Godfrey still having a blue aura.

"Pathetic creatures, they will all die by my axe." He readied himself for more of the black knights. As they kept climbing through the windows. While Chase and Thomas battled some that got past Godfrey and quickly dispatching them. They would not lose nor get corrupted by the shadows that they battled. For they felt more determined than ever to defeat them.

Deep inside the veil of shadows, Cyrus was face to face with the white knight though it had stabbed its sword into the ground and removed its helmet. What he saw was a dark face with three red eyes, black flame like hair, and looked like a humanoid figure. The shadows had taken over Samantha's summon and changed it from within. It then opened a mouth with several teeth inside it, speaking a few words to Cyrus.

"Greetings Inheritor... we meet at last."