Chapter 1211: Dark Quarry

The room was utterly silent as the projection spread across the table. Anzu had been clear about what he’d found, but to see it with their own eyes was another thing entirely.

At first glance, the projection of the next plane spoke of an advanced civilization with great skill in magical engineering and high levels of organization. Sprawling circular cities connected by long roads spanned the single enormous continent, great bridges ran over wide rivers and connected smaller islands with the mainland, and extensive agricultural regions could be seen even from the perspective of the projection.

What Leon found particularly curious about this was that the cities were all built in a single architectural style, focusing on thin spires reaching into the sky that radiated outward in concentric circles from huge needle-like towers in the center of each city. It seemed that the people of this plane had been of a unified culture that had long existed on the plane, given the dearth of older buildings of different styles that Leon could see.

Had been.

In the projection, the buildings were scoured clean of detail by waves of inky black darkness, discoloring the stone, metal, and glass. Corpses filled the streets, though not spread out haphazardly, but arranged neatly amongst the streets and alleys, radiating out from the central towers of the cities in the same pattern as the buildings. Though these corpses were all skeletons, their arrangement suggested a more peaceful passing than what might’ve been assumed.

The same couldn’t be said for outlying regions, where corpses had been impaled into each other, forming small hills of the dead. Craters and crashed arks spoke of far more violence than in the cities, and the corpses’ not yet decomposed bodies suggested their deaths were more recent.

What truly horrified Leon, however, was the visible traces of darkness magic everywhere he looked. The buildings were nearly all dyed black, while curtains of darkness fell from the sky above the plane, forming lakes in the valleys and subsuming everything around them. Darkness whirled around the plane, carried by the wind, turning what plant life remained to dust.

Leon had seen such things before. He could already feel the adrenaline in his body start to spike, though through sheer force of will, he kept himself under control.

Not quite in the exact center of the plane, though it was in the center of the continent, stood what looked like the last remaining building that had yet to be touched by this dark corruption: the central spire in the plane’s central city. Pristine iridescent stone, gleaming silver, and reflective glass, all surrounded by a glittering shield of white light over which darkness splashed against and spilled over like currents of black mist. This white needle-like tower, shimmering in blues, purples, and golds as what little light remained on the plane illuminated the surface, was not the only unique thing about this city, however—the streets were filled with skeletons just as the rest of the plane’s cities were, but these were more chaotically spread out, most looking like they had fallen as the people ran for the iridescent tower. In the streets and squares around the tower, piles of bones lay, as if people had been thrown at the feet of the tower’s light shield, or as if they had died there, crawling over their own people in a desperate attempt to gain access.

“What in the hells is this?” Daryun whispered, his sentiment shared with the few others in the room. Leon, having already heard of the state of this plane from Anzu, had commanded his immediate followers to immediately depart Jiaxing to prepare for a more in-depth investigation. Zhang and Anshu hadn’t been particularly enthused about leaving Jiaxing so soon, but Leon’s order was explicit, and now that they could see what Anzu had seen, further arguments had died.

Aside from Daryun, Zhang, and Anshu, Leon was joined by Anzu, Red, Marcus, and Clear Day. The rest of his expedition’s commanders remained on Jiaxing, keeping what Leon was quietly and tentatively referring to as the Yun Cluster at peace.

“The plane has been contaminated with some kind of dark power,” Anzu grimly stated. He shared a worried look with Leon before continuing. “If you’ll bear with me a moment…” He activated a new projection, this one showing a more zoomed-out view of the plane, and the shock of the room grew.

A ring of ice and stone encircled the plane—remnants of the shattered moon. Many of the curtains of darkness pouring onto the plane had their source within the largest pieces of the broken moon. More eye-catching, however, was the plane’s sun, which burned as black as pitch—it might not have even been visible were it not for a gray corona that bathed the plane in unnatural light. All around the plane, glimmering like a field of stars, were bits and pieces of metal, some large, others smaller than any of Leon’s fingertips. The few remaining pieces larger than the room they now occupied made it clear what this metal was from: arks, enough to form a vast fleet. By Leon’s estimation, enough to outnumber the expeditionary fleet nearly ten to one, assuming a similar proportion of ark classes.

And that was just the debris in the Void, for just as many crashed and broken arks pocked the face of this plane, all showing signs of battle damage… though none of it that consistent with Lancefire, as far as Leon could tell from Anzu’s projections. More worryingly, all of these arks—at least, those that hadn’t been blasted into dust glittering in the dark of the Void—were, like the cities on the plane, all of a unified design. Were it not for the darkness poisoning the plane in an unsettlingly familiar fashion, Leon might’ve thought the plane had been the victim of a massive civil war. Instead, it looked like it had been assaulted by a powerful external force and lost badly.

At least, such was the story told by the arks; the bodies in the streets of most of the cities told a much more confusing story given how orderly they looked in death.

“Arkhnavi looked much like this,” Leon quietly stated, and those in the room who knew what he meant froze, more serious looks crossing their already grim faces. Even Red looked disturbed, backing a few steps away from the projection as if it bore the same darkness as now drowned this plane. “This doesn’t look as ‘advanced’ as Arkhnavi, admittedly, but… it’s certainly more complete.”

Places still existed on Arkhnavi that were capable of supporting life. On this plane, the mountains were bare rocks, the plains were deserts of gray and black dust, and the riverbeds channeled streams of inky black darkness rather than water. What few signs of plant life that remained were black and on the verge of death, crumbling further with every gust of darkness-laced wind that scraped across their leaves, trunks, and stems.

No color remained on this plane, nor any signs of life that Leon could see. However, there was always the possibility that life remained, as he’d discovered on Arkhnavi.

“Any signs of people still left down there?” Leon asked Anzu.

“None,” Anzu replied. “The only possibility that I could see was that white tower in the center of the continent, but I couldn’t get close to see anything specific, so it could be deserted for all I know. And depending on how long this plane’s been like this… how much food could be grown in there?” As he spoke, Anzu returned to the first projection and zoomed in on the tower in question, until the table was covered only by the central half of the city, the iridescent tower shining in the center.

“The shield looks ready to fail,” Zhang stated, revulsion painted thickly across his face as the dark rot of the city was made more apparent.

“How long?” Leon asked.

“I cannot say just looking at it,” Zhang replied. “But not much time relative to how long it’s been operational.”

“Leon…” Anshu whispered, a deep frown and a furrowed brow speaking many times louder than his serious tone. “Even with the ancient arks… are we sure about this?”

A force of four arks wasn’t much, but Storm Herald, Bolt in Shadow, Silver Spear, and Bright Intent were not only the strongest arks he had but also the only ones he thought might last longer than a millisecond against a Primal Devil. He wasn’t intending to fight Planerend if this was where the primordial monster had found itself, but the extra power would ensure their escape… he hoped.

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Still, he understood Anshu’s hesitation, and after seeing what Anzu had found and having had more time to think things through, he agreed that his initial decision to immediately make for the plane was foolhardy at best. It would be better to return to Aeterna and—

[That plane has not been touched by the hand of a Primal Devil…] Xaphan crackled, interrupting Leon’s thoughts. [Something else has nested there…]

Leon glanced around the room, noting the strength of all those present. He hadn’t quite gotten around to talking about Xaphan with Daryun and Zhang yet, but he supposed now was as good a time as any. He pulled on the contract-forged connection, and dark red demonfire erupted in front of his chest, startling everyone else in the room. Xaphan emerged, but as he straightened up, Mountain Cleaver and Daryun’s spear were already brandished.

“Demon!” Zhang shouted. “How have you come here, foul creature?!”

“Don’t talk, slay the monster!” Daryun retorted as he charged.

Magic filled the room as both powerful mages, ignoring the relative passivity of the others in the room, attacked the demon.

Leon immediately halted them in place with his aura, suppressing their power enough to get their attention while keeping them from attacking his partner.

“Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Leon calmly stated as Xaphan burned brightly beside him. “He’s a friend.” He glanced up at the demon and narrowed his eyes for a moment, quickly amending his words upon further thought. “Rather, he’s… a friendly enough partner.”

Xaphan grunted, unimpressed by the two humans. As a post-Apotheosis equivalent being himself, he could’ve stopped them too but apparently hadn’t seen the need.

Leon slowly released his hold on his newest retainers, and as soon as he regained control over himself, Daryun heatedly demanded, “You made a pact with a demon?! Why?! What madness took you to do something so imbecilic?!”

“Such creatures are duplicitous by nature,” Zhang added, his gaze not wavering from Xaphan nor did his weapon drop. “And power hungry. Trust one and find yourself addicted to blood soon after.”

“Power hungry and duplicitous?” Xaphan growled. “That’s rich coming from a human. Nothing lies quite like a man, especially to himself. Now calm your deliciously burning rage and let me teach you something—assuming your soft, spongy head is even capable of absorbing the wisdom of such a majestic being as myself.”

Zhang scowled and his killing intent spiked, but Leon let his aura spill forth again, halting all three conflicting parties.

“That. Is. Enough,” he coldly stated. “Returning to the matter at hand…” As he paused, he glared around the room, focusing mostly on the three he’d locked down with his aura and making sure with his gaze alone that he was not in the mood for further interruptions. “When I saw this plane, my first thought was it was visited by the Primal Devil that ruined Arkhnavi.”

“… That name again,” Daryun said as he took a step back from Xaphan and tore his gaze away with what looked like terrific might. “What is it?”

Leon blinked in surprise, but then for the sake of Daryun and Zhang, he ran through a summary of what had happened on that plane, emphasizing Planerend’s escape but skimming over his escape from the Devil, having little memory of it himself. He was also careful not to directly state that it took place within the Divine Graveyard, though how much either of his newest retainers might’ve cared about that he wasn’t certain. His eyes momentarily stung as he recalled that he’d at some point lost them, and would’ve rendered him blind if one of Ambrose’s friends hadn’t regenerated them while he was unconscious.

Once everyone was caught up, Leon said to Xaphan, “Now, to truly get back to the matter at hand… Xaphan, if you would kindly reiterate what you just told me what feels like an eternity ago?”

The demon snorted in amusement. “This is not the work of Planerend. I’m not the one to ask just what forms of devilish corruption exist, but this is the work of a beast I’m familiar with, one that you squishy humans are particularly ill-suited to combat.” He paused for dramatic effect, leaving it just long enough to annoy Leon before stating almost triumphantly, “This is the work of a Souleater.”

“That… is quite the dramatic name,” Marcus said.

“And not one that’s unfamiliar to me,” Clear added, having subtly placed himself between Zhang and Xaphan while Leon summarized the events on Arkhnavi. “Such nightmares prowl the Void, feasting on entire planes, draining them of all life.”

“Close enough,” Xaphan conceded. “This plane is clearly a recently-made nest. Hasty, too. They also don’t like getting too close to the Nexus, preferring the colder and darker regions of the Void.”

“There are fewer human-populated planes further from the Void,” Marcus pointed out.

“Less food, yes,” Xaphan said, “and fewer hunters. This Souleater is likely young and inexperienced. More mature Souleaters show their pathetic race to be nothing but cowards and weaklings, for they would rather piss themselves and flee than incur the wrath of a human Lord within the Nexus. Imagine being so scared of the upright monkeys that—”

“We get it, Xaphan,” Leon interjected. “No need to lay it on so thick.”

“If you humans aren’t humbled every once in a while, your heads would explode,” Xaphan shot back.

Leon grunted neutrally. “What are the signs of a Souleater nest?”

“The sun’s the big one,” Xaphan stated, and Anzu quickly switched to the other projection to include it. “Souleaters are beasts with great darkness magic. They drown their lairs in it, they submerge entire planes in it, and when they arrive in a new nest, the first thing they do is block out the local sun to protect them from the hated light.”

“They’re weak to light?” Red asked with a vicious grin. “What about fire?”

Xaphan shared a grin with the wyvern, though Leon suspected only he, Clear, and Red herself were able to see through Xaphan’s flames enough to see it. “All things are weak to fire,” the demon proudly stated, to which the wyvern nodded in solidarity. “But as for light, no, Souleaters just don’t like it.”

“A shame,” Marcus said as he exchanged a look with Zhang, his fellow light mage.

“Truly,” Anshu added, a light mage himself.

“Indeed,” Clear said, the light-magic-focused Ascended Beast frowning.

“Then we’ll cut it to pieces!” Anzu declared.

“A fine plan,” Daryun agreed.

“You can try,” Xaphan said with a faint laugh.

“We’ll make do,” Leon retorted, a sense of competition blooming within him, his body having relaxed quite a bit knowing that he wasn’t about to run into Planerend. “What else should we know about this creature?”

“Their bodies are wreathed in shadow,” Xaphan stated. “Expect to be struck from anywhere within darkness.”

“Everywhere’s dark down there,” Marcus pointed out.

“Yes, yes it is,” Xaphan condescendingly responded. “Thank you, young human, for pointing out the obvious

danger. Expect assaults upon your mind. These monsters also have potent venom. If struck, even the weakest of their attacks can be lethal if aid is not soon sought out.”

“Their weaknesses?” Leon asked as he stored this information, plans already forming in his head for how to hunt such a creature.

“They don’t like light,” Xaphan said. “As I said, they’re not weak to it, they just don’t like it. It limits the reach of their darkness. They prefer ambushes to direct challenges. And mental strikes to ambushes. Within their shadows, they are as fast as shadow, but their bodies are large and cumbersome; slow when forced to physically manifest.”

“How large?” Leon asked.

“A mature Souleater is larger than this ark.” Xaphan gestured around at Storm Herald, the more than two thousand-foot-long ark they were riding within. “But since this one likely isn’t mature… perhaps half as large?”

“That’s still… large,” Leon said.

“No shit,” the demon crackled provocatively. “I’ve heard some of the mad fucks in the Elemental Plane of Darkness keep Souleaters as pets. I don’t normally associate with such madness so I can’t confirm if it’s true, but it makes sense—Souleater venom is a rare but not uncommon commodity seen in the most prestigious interplanar markets.”

“Well then, demon,” Leon said, “what do you make of our chances?”

Xaphan scoffed. “I’d turn this beast to ash in moments! But the rest of you might struggle; as more enlightened beings would expect of humans…”

“We’re not all humans, my friend,” Clear coolly stated.

“Not wrong though,” Red said. “We’re leagues better than humans.”

Anzu pinched the wyvern, a playful, if muted, scandalized look plastered across his face. Red at least looked chastised even as Xaphan burst out laughing.

“All right,” Leon said. “We get it. But… I have to admit that I’m intrigued by this creature. It’s been nearly a century since I’ve had a good hunt, and I… want to test myself against this creature. Besides, just leaving it to occupy this plane would be… strategically unsound. What do the rest of you say?”

“I’m game for a good hunt,” Marcus immediately said.

“Storm Herald is ready for any challenge,” Anshu added.

“I’m with you, brother,” Anzu chirped. “And if I kill it, think I can have its head?”

“No,” Xaphan immediately said before Leon could reply. “Not unless you want to die a wasting death from venom almost as insidious as the poisonous mist of an Aesii.”

“Oh…” Anzu whispered.

“There’ll still be glory,” Red huskily breathed. “A creature like this may not taste good, but slaughtering it for trespassing on my—our rightful territory will prove our strength to all who look upon us!”

Clear sighed. “All of you sound eager for a fight. I’m less useful in direct engagements, but I’ll use my power as I can to keep all of you safe.”

Leon smiled at the eagerness of his companions, his gaze falling finally upon Daryun and Zhang, the two not quite looking convinced and still clearly wary of Xaphan.

When he met Leon’s gaze, however, Daryun said, “Fine, fine. I can barely remember my last hunt; this should be interesting.”

“I would never dishonor myself by staying behind,” Zhang continued. “I would never prove this demon correct in its assertion of man’s cowardice.”

Xaphan stifled a laugh. “Do as you will, human. I’ll be watching…” The demon pulled on the contract with Leon, and Leon momentarily contemplated insisting the demon join them, but after a moment’s thought, simply allowed him back into his soul realm. Xaphan would be there if needed, anyway, no need for him to insist on anything until the situation demanded it.

As the demon’s heat rapidly dissipated in the wake of his departure, Leon said, “It sounds like we’re in agreement. Now… we’re going to need a plan for this hunt…”

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