The Spirit Martial

Spirit 60

“Did you see anything?” Gin asked at umiling ako. Halos tatlong oras na kaming lumilibot sa lugar na ito pero hindi pa rin kami umabot sa lake na dapat naming puntahan kasi we might find some clues kung saan sila lumipat pero syempre we are expecting na may kalaban rin kaming makakasalubong. Fortunately, wala.

Sabi nina Hex at Hugo, the lake is quite far from us kasi nasa kabilang town iyon. This town here, isa ito sa limang town na nawala at ito rin ang pinakadulo. So it will take a day for us to go in that lake. To save some time, tinapos namin ang pagiimbestiga sa town na ito kasi baka nandito sila lumipat. The demon scents are everywhere kaya mas mahirap hanapin ang demon’s lair.

“Masyadong makalat ang moy ng mga demon, not to mention the smell of rotten corpses, ang hirap,” sabi ko at tumingin si Kailani sa akin.

“Right. I even smell fresh blood na hindi masyadong malayo sa atin,” he added at tumango ako.

Gin grabbed us both at pinaharap sa kanya.

“Fresh blood?! It must be a spirit caster. Where is that scent coming from?!” he asked at nagtinginan kamini Kailani.

“Y-You can’t smell?” I asked.

“Apparently, kayo lang at ang may mga matitibay na ilong dito,” Lor said and sighed.

“West. 345 meters away,” Nieve interrupted at napatingin kaming lahat sa kanya. Biglang hinawakan ni Kali ang shoulder ni Nieve.

“You got wrong again. It’s 349 meters away,” singit ni Kali.

“You know what?” Hugo said at isa-isa kaming tiningnan. “These first years are weird and strong at the same time,” he added. Being strong is okay pero tinawag na weird? Hindi na lang sana niya sinabi. Okay na iyon eh.

After that nonsense conversation. Nagmadali na kaming umalid. We are inside the forest so we had to jump in tree branches para mas mabilis kami. Pwede namang gumamit ng kapangyarihan pero nagtitipid kami. Hindi na kami nagsalita sa isa’t isa hanggang sa umabot na kami sa destinasyon namin. It was really a spirit caster. From its appearance he’s been dead for hours. His hands are both cut off while his feet were wounded- pierced in the ground with some seafoam-colored crystals.

“Let’s put him to rest,” Gin said at yumuko siya. “The rest he truly deserve,” he added and he jumped down first.

“First years, maghukay kayo,” Tempest instructed.

“Roger that,” sabay naming sabi and we jumped down.

Pumasok kami ng konti sa forest nagsimulang maghukay gamit ang mga nakakalat na gamit dito kasi malapit ito sa isang log house. I bet dito sana nagpahinga ang spirit caster na iyon but he was attacked. The four of us kept watching the others which are 3 meters away from us while doing Gin’s instructions. They all look concerned as they gather the remaining parts and getting the crystal off. I just hope we won’t end up like that. I hope.

“Cygnus,” Kali called kaya bumalik ang tingin ko sa kanya. “Snap out of it,” he added.

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” sabi ko at nagpatuloy sa paghukay.

While I was doing it, napatigil ako nang may naamoy akong kakaiba. A strong smell from behind the log house. A demon? Yeah, one hundred percent demon.

“Cygnus, I said snap out o-” putol na sabi ni Kali at napatingin sa log house. He felt that too for sure. The four of us stood straight at tiningnan ang log house. Now its all of us watching the log house. We all smelled that. Hindi lang ako ang nakakaamoy sa malansang amoy na iyon. I know demons has this kind of smell but I never encountered a demon smell as strong as this. It was stronger than the demons we have encountered before - from the first Pandora’s Box I’ve encountered down to the last one we just fought earlier- this smell is a looooooot stronger.

“What’s wrong?” biglang tanong ni Gin habang dala-dala ang katawan ng spirit caster while the others brought the parts. I thought the whole hand was chopped off- it turned out it was cut off in pieces and they were holding it like a pig meat. I can't believe they have strong guts na kaya talaga nilang humawak ng ganayan.

Someday, this demon madness will turn me into a different person. I'm gonna expect that the longer I'm doing this, the colder I get.

Before we could even answer, the scent we just smelled vanished kaya sabay ulit kaming lahat napatingin doon. Something is following us. I’m afraid we could get ambushed in no time.

“Hey, ano bang tinitingnan niyo doon?” Lor asked.

“A demon,” biglang sabi ni Argo. Bruh, its his first time speaking since we travelled yesterday. He’s quieter than the usual.

“A demon?” Hex asked.

“I bet they smelled it but I just saw a faint shadow behind that log house, the smallest demon shadow I saw wearing the darkest aura I felt,” Argo answered.

“I guess that’s a bad news then,” Tempest answered at hinulog ang dala niyang sirang kamay sa hinukay namin.

“It is bad news, Tempest.” Gin answered at hinulog ang dala niyang katawan. The others who were holding the other parts did the same thing.

We all closed our eyes and did a prayer stance to say our prayers and hope he gets the peace he deserves. After a whole minute, sina Gin at Tempest naman ang naglagayng lupa sa spirit caster. It was painful to look at lalong-lalo na kung alam namin na ganito rin ang hantungan namin when its our time- it can be now or not. That’s what makes it scary, we may not now if this is our last day or not. Naisip ko na lang rin kung matutulog ba ako or makakatulog ba ako sa lugar na ito. A demon is following us so I know we cannot sleep peacefully here- if we can then I bet our eyes will never open again because we’ll be sleeping peacefully forever.

Argo brought some woods galing sa log house at itinali niya ito sa isa’t isa para maporma ang cross. After Gin and Tempest covered the body with the soil, agad naman nilagay ni Argo ang cross.

“May his soul find the pathway to heavens,” Gins whispered.

“Amen,” we whispered back.

“Let’s get moving,” Gin said at tumango kami.

Gin started walking at nagulat ako nang papunta siya sa log house. Magrereklamo na sana ako pero huwag na kasi alam kong may rason siya nito. So far, lahat ng desisyon ni Gin ay tama kaya hahayaan ko na siya. I trust him. He analyzed everything from the moment we were called to do this mission. I knew he’s a great man and a captain but I never knew he’s a great strategist. He’s fit to be a King- leadership, care for companions, sympathy, strength, spirit caster rank- halos pasok na pasok na siya sa pagiging hari.

Tumigil kami sa harap ng log house at agad itong binuksan ni Gin. Agad akong napatakip ng ulong at bibig ko dahil may lumabas na napakabahong amoy- it was not demon’s scent, it’s dead body’s scent. Muntikan na talaga akong masuka nang makita ko ang iba pang katawan ng mga spirit caster.

“I guess the man that we just buried managed to escape,” Tempest said.

Gusto man namin silang itabi sa hukay pero hindi namin kaya. There are three more corpses here. Two are men and one is a woman. We buried a guy with incomplete hands but here? We’re watching a log house filled with blood, destroyed organs and faces that are chopped into half. From the way it looks, they were not killed by a weapon- it was like their bodies were forcefully open with bare hands.

Napatingin ako kay Gin na halatang galit na galit sa nakikita niya.

“I’m gonna hunt that demon even if I get killed,” he whispered napaatras kami nang naramdaman naming pag-iiba ng pressure nina Gin at Tempest.

The next thing we knew, we all fell down into the ground and we couldn’t even move a finger. My eyes widened when I saw Tempest and Gin in full power mode- their forms are changing.

 Gin’s skin were filled with silver scales and his eyes turned into red. His hair turned into silver and as he was gritting his teeth, I saw how his fangs grow. Tempest on the other hand grew three tails- tails of scorpion. His eyes turned into blue-green.

Is this the true power of an S Class Spirit Caster?

“G-G-Gin, you’re making our presence known,” sambit ni Lor.

“I think they’re doing it on purpose,” Argo replied with a smile of amusement. Now that’s the first time I saw him smile.

“Doing in on purpose?” I asked.

“It’s like they are giving them a sign- a warning sign to be exact,” Argo responded.

“Warning sign that we’re here to find them?” Nieve asked and he looked away with awkwardness. I know the reason why but I didn’t really give any attention to it to make it less awkward.

“A warning sign that we’re sending them back to hell,” Kali replied. “That’s what their aura is screaming.” Kali added.

Now that’s a dangerous sign- we may survive it or we’ll end up like these spirit casters. Whatever the result is, I choose to fight with them.