Chapter 20) Towers of Doom.

The man who ambled out of the shadows was tall and slim in a dark purple hanfu robe with flared arms and flowing skirt that billowed in the wind after him like multiple tentacles. His dark hair was pulled up into a bun by jeweled hairpins and golden ribbons that glistened down the sides of his face. The same sparkly jewelry adorned the front part of his robe, the silver hems and the silvered belt around his thin waist. The silver also formed beautiful patterns all over the robe. As he moved ever so slowly, he appeared to be floating, carrying himself with poise and power. Elegant and ethereal.

Mana sparks crackled around his body like an aura of strength that his appearance disguised. His narrow face was made serine by slim eyebrows, slender nose and intelligent but kind eyes. He was the youngest of all Phantom Mystics and Master Kim Sao's closest friend. The two were more like brothers than anything else. They even looked alike in more ways than not.

Kim Sao was happy to see him, and showed it with a bright smile.

"You are always one to appear just at the right time, Tantai Xi."

The Phantom Mystic raised a delicate eyebrow. "My right timing has saved you from trouble more times than I can count, Kim Sao."

"Trouble, yes. This time it's not my fault. I was simply here to visit a young Mystic's mother at the hospital over there." Kim Sao stared at the looming Dungeon towers and sighed. "Things just got a little out of hand."

"A little?" Tantai Xi's face was more amused than anything as he looked around.

Kim Sao considered the crystal cores from vanquished beasts that littered the street. The abandoned cars and possessions presented a state of chaos, as well.

"I may have understated things a bit." He admitted. The whole situation had gotten out of his hands fast.

Tantai Xi's smile faded. "What is going on here? I've never heard the bells of Celestial Academy jingle as loudly as they did this evening." He nodded towards the night sky, where the red clouds were still rumbling above the hospital. "I had my suspicion but I hoped I was wrong."

"You are never wrong, Tantai Xi."

A different emotion passed over the Phantom Mystics face before disappearing the next second. "Someone performed the Domination Ritual."

Kim Sao nodded. "Now I see why it's forbidden and the reason you were so shocked about mentioning it." He looked beyond the other Mystic's shoulder. "Where's the rest of the calvary?"

"They are on their way. The call sounded urgent, hence I couldn't wait for the others to finish getting ready." He gave Kim Sao a meaningful look. "Good thing I did that. Are you ok?"

"Yes. I just need to power up." Kim Sao floated around to absorb the crystal cores within range.

The familiar zing of electricity flourished through his body with each core he took in but he didn't stop until the system told him all his attribute bars were full. He had a long battle ahead of him and needed all the energy he could get. If only he could store some of the crystal cores. He recalled what Xavier had done back at the Grade B dungeon by collecting cores for a third party mystic.

Making up his mind, he reached out to grab a crystal core. It didn't solidify as he'd hoped. The core rather sipped through his palms and into his body to repair the damages to his body.

"What exactly are you doing?" Tantai Xi wondered, watching him with interested eyes.

"I have no idea, really." He looked up at his friend. "I witnessed the most wonderful thing today. I'll tell you all about it when we reach the academy. Let's take care of the beasts inside the buildings."

"Already did that." Tantai Xi flexed his long fingers, sparking bronze mana around them. "Horned Devil Grizzlies have nothing to their advantage apart from their numbers."

"Don't forget their anger management issues." Kim Sao summoned his sword. "Are we going into the dungeons or we letting the beasts come to us? Time is not in our favour at the moment."

The words were barely out of his mouth when System notified him that a Dungeon Erupt had taken place.

The metallic doors of ten dungeon towers flew open to release a horde of grizzlies, the bigger ones with humongous weapons. They poured out of the dungeons to swarm the wide main road that branched into various streets, one of which led to the hospital. The beasts eyes glowed red with Berserker Mode, and they pumped their hind legs in preparation to Chaos Charge towards the mystics.

"Elsa!" Kim Sao called as he released mana to ignite the powers of his sword. The Million Stars of light glowed brightly, thrumming with unreleased power.

Elsa materialized on his left and promptly snuck around him to nuzzle Tantai Xi's stomach.

"She is always in a happy mood no matter the situation." The Phantom Mystic grinned. He glanced down at the bracelet around his wrist with a wistful expression. The bracelet was simple and made completely of a shimmering purple material that no mystic at the academy had been able to identify. It was both beautiful and mysterious, with strange runes glowing all over it. The bracelet was all he had left of Little Woo, his soul creature.

Kim Sao felt sorry for his friend, Tantai Xi. The worst thing that could ever happen to any sane Mystic was loosing their soul creature. It didn't happen often, meaning it was very rare to encounter a mystic without their soul creature beside them. The bond between mystic and soul creature was eternal, and even death couldn't break it. If a soul creature died, it would surely return back to the world in another form. It was left to the Mystic to find it and reconnect.

Tantai Xi was going on five years now without a soul creature. He had lost Little Woo in a particularly treacherous Grade A dungeon that had also taken the lives of so many other mystics and soul creatures. Since then, Tantai Xi had not ventured into a dungeon. He preferred to stay out of the blood and battle. When the High Lord position at the academy became vacant, there had been no other person fit enough for the position but Tantai Xi. He had barely left the Academy ever since, which was why Kim Sao was surprised to see him.

"It's been quite a long time since you last played with beasts, right?" Kim Sao taunted casually to lift up his mood.

Tantai Xi grinned devilishly. "That doesn't mean I've gotten bad at it. I always get to vanquish more beasts than you do."

"Let's not make it a bet because you know what I'll ask for when I win."

"You suck at betting, Kim Sao." Tantai Xi released mana from his body to summon his soul weapon.

It materialized in his right hand with a feint trembling of energy. It was a long dagger-sword with double crescent silver blades. The purple handhold had runes and symbols carved into it in scripts. Simple but deadly. Kim Sao knew that one swipe of the weapons could severe even a mountain in half if Tantai Xi wanted.

"We need to get to that hospital now." Kim Sao couldn't help the urgency in his voice.

"Let's keep the beasts occupied until the others get here."

The Devil Horned Grizzlies Chaos Charged then, their hefty paws pounding the earth as they advanced towards the Mystics.

Tantai Xi tapped the pointed tip of the dagger-sword on the ground to transfer mana into it. With a great rumble, a deep chasm expanded at the center of the street to swallow up the first wave of grizzlies. The others jumped over it to meet the mystics head on.

Kim Sao threw himself at the grizzlies with Wind Waft before taking out multitudes of them with Lightning Storm. Tantai Xi was a force of destruction beside him. The Phantom Mystic raised spikes of various metals from the earth that caused havoc amongst the beasts. Destructive runes exploded from his dagger-sword, decapitating tens of grizzlies before they even got to him. Elsa on her part was keeping the grizzlies from wandering into the buildings. She went totally invisible, throwing off any of the beasts who went out of line.

Kim Sao heard commotion coming from behind and on looking back, he discovered that about five dungeons there had just Erupted. The beasts poured out in their numbers already in Berserker Mode. He was preparing to have to contend with beasts in both directions when red orbs of fire dropped from the sky. The orbs exploded among the grizzlies, releasing tons of crystal cores.

"Festus Hermsworth has arrived." A burly man announced in a booming voice as he touched down on the ground, swinging his huge battle axes with flaming blades to take out multiple grizzlies. He was easily taller than even Tantai Xi and powerfully built, with long ginger hair and excited eyes.

Three other Mystics immediately joined him. Two women and a man. They were only called on during terrible situations. Whenever a Grade X dungeon appeared in a city, it was the Conquerors that the Academy sent to vanquish it. Things were way worse that terrible tonight. Four of them were Wizard Mystics from the four Elemental affinities. The four were the top ranking mystics from their various years and were a few level ups away from becoming Phantom Mystics. The four of them were collectively called the Atlas Conquerors, the most famous group of Mystics on planet Lazuli.