Numbers x Casket-Chapter 3: Quadra Entrata

Beyond the curtains of dust and stars, there was a world void of a deity's presence.

According to the legend, different kinds of celestials from different dimensions coveted this very place, but until now, not a single one was accepted as its rightful ruler.

The reason? They just failed.

Conquering its vast land was not as easy as they had thought. The beings living in this world could harness powers paralleled to them. They were considered gods from their respective dimensions, but in that place, they were nothing.

A world called Quadra Entrata. It was like a battlefield for honing warriors; a day without war was a fleeting dream. Several factions fell one after the other. Even a child that only learned how to crawl was given a knife as their first toy.

This world was vast enough to have a huge continent that was divided into four regions, and each of them held several factions. However, there were only four races that reigned supreme on this land.

From the north, there were the beastkin; their territory was called the Endless Labyrinth. It was a huge place that consisted of several forests. Towering giant trees could be seen around the area. The entrance towards it was covered with a thick fog that acted as a protection against invaders.

Meanwhile, fiends roamed the west; they were beings born and lived their entire lives in the dark. Known as the Sunless Cradle, a land without a speck of daylight, a twenty-four-hour scene of nothing but night sky made it quite an eerie place.

And there was the home of the spirits, which was located in the southern part of the continent. The Mythical Sanctuary, the land of unusual phenomena.

Lastly, the direction of the east, governed by humanity, the Oriental Plain. Inside of it, there were eight factions fighting for power despite having the threat of invasion from the other regions.

In this world, all the living beings had the potential to absorb, circulate, and use a certain type of energy, which allowed them to harness different kinds of Flairs.

These so-called Flairs were abilities that differed from one another; some had the skill to manipulate elements, while the others awakened something that could enhance their physique or change one of their characteristics and perform miracles; there were even those who had the ability to peek into the future or alter a part of reality.

In regards to this, anyone could manifest several Flairs depending on their capabilities and the number of strings circling their hearts.

If an individual awakened a Flair, a string made of a thin white line would encircle their heart; they could store energy on these strings, and the more strings someone had, the greater the energy they could possess.

Flairs could be obtained through luck and hard work, and sometimes they could be inherited through bloodline. If somebody trained in a freezing environment every day, the chances of him awakening ice-related Flairs would be high.

However, not all were given the opportunity to wield Flairs; there were those who died searching for what potential they had, while the others failed to manifest even one in their entire lifetime.

And in the Oriental Plain, humanity's territory, these people who could use Flairs are called Equators.

. . . . .

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows along the abandoned town filled with large debris of buildings. There were even craters several meters below ground and skeletons scattered everywhere. After a long journey, the group arrived at this place, their target destination.

According to their mission, remnants of a criminal organization of beast traffickers used this ruined town as their spot to sell dangerous beasts from the Endless Labyrinth. They needed to investigate if the information was relevant, and if it was, they must report it back to the guild and request further assistance to take down the organization.

"It's about to get dark; we need to set up camp. Lindsay, please prepare the meals," the captain ordered as he looked at his group.

Then his eyes searched for the appraiser, and the moment he did, he started to speak again.

"Hey! You! Come with me," he stated.

"Me?" Efraim pointed at himself while looking at the others, and upon seeing Lindsay, smiled at him; he reverted his gaze to the old man.

As a response, the captain nodded before turning around. With a short sigh, Efraim went to follow him.

"Is there any problem?" He asked as he caught up to him.

With just the two of them, the captain faced the young man. He looked at him straight in the eyes before opening his mouth.

"I need you to do the scouting with me tonight," he said with determination.

"Are you sure you want an appraiser to go with you?" Efraim asked, teasing the old man.

Upon hearing the question, the captain smiled and shook his head for a second.

"I would rather choose an appraiser who disposed of a group of bandits as if they were nothing than any equator who couldn't even unsheathe their blades," he replied, and a chuckle escaped from his lips.

Given this fact, Efraim extended his hand in front of him and said. "Well, I'm at your disposal until this mission ends."

The old man stared for a second at his hand and looked at his eyes once again before accepting the handshake.

"It's a pleasure!" he exclaimed; excitement could be seen written on his face.

. . . . .

As the stars came into view and filled the entire sky with their glittering radiance, the two people ventured deeper towards the center of the abandoned town. They moved with stealth, hidden in the darkness of the night.

With the old man's lead, they inspected the places that could hold large amounts of beasts. Starting from the town's coliseum, they searched every nook and cranny to find traces that could lead them closer to the completion of their mission.

However, despite flipping the whole place, not a single piece of a clue was found. In light of this fact, they moved on to the next location. It was a ruin of a laboratory several meters away from the coliseum. They were about to enter when a loud crashing sound reverberated across the premises.

The two people took a sudden glance at each other, and without further ado, they pulled out their weapons.

The captain held a straight sword with a symbol of a sun in the middle of its rainguard while Efraim drew one of his blades while holding the other one's hilt.

"We're not alone," Efraim said, his voice barely a whisper.

They remained in their positions, doing their best to hide both of their presences while enhancing their senses for the incoming danger.

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

Several seconds had passed, and a menacing screech echoed across the horizon. Then, a flying beast with pointed claws attached to its wings circled above the two people.

"Take cover," the old man ordered, and they soon rushed inside the abandoned laboratory.

"What was that?" Efraim asked. He had encountered several monsters on his missions, but not a single one matched that creature's appearance.

"If I'm not mistaken, that thing is part of the vampire's family. It feeds on blood like their masters, but the internal organs are their favorites," the captain explained, sharing his knowledge.

"But why was a fiend native to the Sunless Cradle here?" He added, asking with confusion.

Upon hearing this, Efraim's eyes glowed with excitement. He reached for his other blade and walked outside.

"Hey! What are you doing? Come back here!" The old man exclaimed as he watched the young equator exit the place.

"I'll be back, captain. I'm just curious how strong this fiend is," Efraim stated without looking back.

Upon stepping outside, he looked for the bird-like creature; it was still up there, circling as if searching or waiting for something.

Efraim's left eye pupil shrank in size, and a cyan hexagram pattern emerged on it. Then, a number seventy-four written in blue appeared at the top of the creature's head.

"That's doable, I guess," Efraim uttered.

Without a single hint of hesitation, he swirled the blade in his right hand, then he lowered his waist by bending down his knees. The next second, he propelled himself upward, leaving a shockwave behind.

A few seconds before contact, the fiend noticed the blade aimed at its throat, causing it to change its course. It rotated into the air to dodge. Then it launched a counterattack through its claws, slicing through the equator's body.

However, what it hit was only an illusion, a mirage, and the human was nowhere to be seen. The creature looked around, searching for the enemy, but in the next second, its head all the way to its torso split open as a flash of white jolted downwards.

Efraim descended onto the open ground; his clothes and blades were painted red while blood splattered on his face.

As the carcass of the fiend fell down behind, he looked above, his left eye still gleaming with a bright cyan color.

"It's still the same," he uttered.

Curiosity and disappointment could be seen plastered on his face.

Written in a tapestry of red and black, a value that represented the concept of nothing and the absence of quality was right there floating above the young equator's head.

The lowest of the low, a zero.

. . . . .