.....
Vladimir flew towards Shin and Hanzo, before stopping in front of the two. He look at the pair of swords at Shin's hands before saying to the later. "Are out the one that freed me from my seal?"
Hanzo formed a mysterious smile while waiting for Shin's reply. 'Let us see what kind of person are you.'
Shin take a look at the swords on his hand before raising them up and replying at the Blood Spirit. "Are you asking me that, because of these?"
Vladimir nodded his head and wait for Shin to continue.
Shin shrugged his shoulders before saying. "If that is the case, then it is not me."
He stop for a moment to point at Hanzo before continuing. "According to this Old Man, you have already accumulate enough powers to break your own seal."
"All I did is to take these swords from the stone platform on that church. It may may awaken you, but that is in your berserk state."
"And this Old Man is the one that help you calm yourself down. In short, I didn't do anything at all, except for watching your battle."
Hanzo nodded his head repeatedly as if saying that he is satisfied with Shin's answer. Then he turn his head at Vladimir waiting for the later to say something. But what he heard is beyond his imagination.
"I knew it! I know that a weakling like you can't do that!" exclaimed by Vladimir after hearing what Shin have said. And those words almost made Shin and Hanzo to fall on the ground.
"Tsk, So my plan worked pretty well. Heh! How can that ugly Demon seal me forever? I'm the most powerful and most handsome Elemental Spirit after all." said Vladimir while ignoring Shin and Hanzo's reactions.
'The heck!? Did this guy lose some screw on his head after sleeping for a thousand of years?' thought Shin in his head while looking blankly at the Blood Spirit.
Hanzo shook his head while smiling bitterly. Then he pat Shin's left shoulder with his right hand. It is as if he is mocking Shin. 'What a good taste for taking your Reaper's Retainer.'
Shin do a facepalm as he release a helpless sigh. 'What kind of luck is this? My first Reaper's Retainer is an strong Old Man that is too full of himself. While I'm planning to take this narcissistic individual as my second one?'
Kuhum!
Hanzo cough hardly to catch Vladimir's attention.
"Oh~♪ How can I forgot about a Senior that help me calm myself down?" said Vladimir smilingly as he look at Void Spirit.
Hanzo is about to nod his head and say that it is nothing when he heard Vladimir's next words. "Anyway, I hope that you are alright. I know that I'm strong and you are quite old, so I hope that you didn't suffer any kind of serious injuries while fighting me. And I'm very sorry if there is."
The corner of Hanzo's mouth twitch after hearing that. And he became eager to teach this young Elemental Spirit a lesson that the older an Elemental Spirit is the stronger they are.
For Elemental Spirits, someone with an age of one thousand five hundred and below are still quite young. Especially for someone like Hanzo who lives since ancient times.
Shin can't take it anymore and give up on taking this guy. He feel that he will lose his mind if have this guy around him all the time.He tap Hanzo's right shoulder before signaling him that it is time to go.
Hanzo look at Shin for a moment before chuckling softly. "Hehe.... I thought you want to take him as your second Reaper's Retainer?"
And those words were heard by Vladimir. He look at Shin with a skeptical gaze before pointing at Shin and himself respectively while saying with a mocking tone. "You? Want me? To become your Elemental Companion?"
Then Vladimir started laughing loudly while sneering at Shin. "Hahaha.... That was the wild dream, Kid! Did you hit you head or something?"
"Do you think that an amazingly powerful and super handsome Elemental Spirit like me will take a feeble human like you as my master? Hahaha.... That was an impossible dream, Kid."
Shin rolled his eyes at Hanzo, since he know that this Old Spirit have done that on purpose. He look at Vladimir before nodding his head while saying to the later. "Yeah, Yeah. You are right about that. That is why we going now."
"Wait! Going? You are going?" asked Vladimir as he suddenly realized something. "Ah!? That is right! Why is my Kingdom suddenly become a desolate place? And where are my citizens?"
'Kingdom? Citizens?' These words sink in Shin's mind when he heard Vladimir's words. He turn his head at Hanzo, and signals him to tell Vladimir what happened to this place. Unfortunately, the Void Spirit refuse to talk. No, he don't want to talk to this narcissistic Blood Spirit to be exact.
Shin sighed helplessly before telling him what have happened after he was sealed by that powerful Demon. He also told the Vladimir that he already killed all the other monsters that are living on this place previously.
"D*mn that ugly Demon! I should have killed him if he didn't got lucky on that time!" cursed Vladimir when he heard the first part of Shin's narration.
And he can't help but look at Shin weirdly when he heard the later part of it. "You? Oh~♪ come on~♪. Don't try to trick me, Kid. How can you kill all the inhabitants of this place? You are just a Kid in his First Awakening. If you tell that this Old Spirit have done that, then I might believe you."
Shin rolled his eyes at Vladimir and said. "Alright, Alright. Whatever you say. I already told you want you want to know, so let us leave for now."
After that, Shin turn around and planning to leave this place as soon as possible. But before Hanzo formed a special gate, Vladimir call them out. "Wait! You are going right? Then let me come with you!"
Shin and Hanzo turn their heads at him, before the former open his mouth. "You want to come with us?"
Vladimir nodded his head before saying. "Right! This place is already desolate so I can't do anything here. This place can only serve as my rebirthing place and nothing else."
Shin turn his head at Hanzo asking for him the take over. The Void Spirit release a helpless sigh before saying to Vladimir. "You want to get out of this place? Unfortunately you can't, young Elemental Spirit."
"Why?" asked Vladimir almost instantly.Hanzo smirks at the Blood Spirit and said. "Why? Because you are also affected by the curse. Even of you are in the right mind for now, your Elemental Mana is already been corrupted. So the moment you walk out this place, that powerful Senior is going to kill you on the spot."
Vladimir already knows that there is a foreign Energy mixed with his Elemental Mana. But he still can't accept that he is going to become imprison on this place for the rest of his life.
He look at Hanzo and sneered. "Heh, so what? Do you think that I'm afraid of him? I'm going to beat him into a pulp after I get out of this place."
Hanzo find his words funny and said. "Heh! Can you separate a part of the Main World and turn it into an Independent World? If you can do that then go out by yourself and fight that guy."
Then Hanzo clicked the thumb and middle finger of his right hand, creating a spacial gate behind him. After that, he jump backwards while dragging Shin on it. And that gate immediately close itself after the two entered it.
Shin and Hanzo appeared at the place were the dimensional gate towards the Atlas World will open. And there are still few minutes before the gate to open, so they sat on a boulder to wait.
And while they are waiting, a pool of blood suddenly appeared in front of Hanzo before it shot upwards and formed a humanoid figure. Moments later, that figure transformed into a humanlike creature, and it is Vladimir.
Vladimir look at Hanzo and asked. "Is there no other choice?"
'Heh, where is your narcissistic attitude now?' Hanzo look at the Blood Spirit with amused expression and said. "Actually, there is still a way."
Vladimir's eyes suddenly turned bright after hearing that. "Really!? Come on. Tell me. A handsome and powerful me doesn't fit to this desolate world."
Hanzo point at Shin and said. "Become his second Reaper's Retainer. If you done that, then your 'Heaven's Oath'(Contract) will suppress berserk nature of your mutated Mana. And that Senior will not take your life anymore."
"Che! Why would I do that? I rather die than to become that feeble guy's servant. And why are you serving him? He is too weak to become your Master." said Vladimir almost instantly.
"If you don't want to, then there is no other way for you to get out on here." said Hanzo while caressing his overgrown mustache.Then he added after some careful thought. "And as for why I'm serving him? Well I also don't know why. But I can assure you that he is an interesting guy. Especially his connections outside this world."
Vladimir look at Shin and observe him a little. And after some time of careful thinking, he decided to take the offer. "Ahh!!! If only I killed that ugly Demon, then I shouldn't be in this situation!"
Then he called Shin. "Hey Kid! Come here for a moment!"
Shin tilted his head a little before walking towards the Blood Spirit. "What?"
"I agree. I agree on you becoming my Master. But! You have to promise me something. If we encounter a Demon named 'Balanar', let me kill him myself. And you should be thankful that an amazing Elemental Spirit like me is willing to serve you." said Vladimir directly, and not forgetting to compliment himself.
Shin stared blankly at him for a moment before nodding his slightly. 'What the hell is this situation?'
Then a glowing contract appear in front of the two. Shin look at Vladimir and said. "I also have some rules. I know that you will not obey me at most of the time, but I need you to follow my orders at critical times. And one more thing, you are not allowed to talk if you are not going say anything important."
After that, Shin signed the contract. Vladimir doesn't have any choice either so he just signed the contract.Then a bunch of System Notifications sounded on his ears.
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You freed all the imprisoned creatures inside the 'Independent World of Corruption' from their sufferings, giving you a full mark on your trial.
*Ding!*
System: Blood Spirit 'Vladimir' has formed a contract with you.System: Vladimir is much stronger than you to become your Retainer.
System: Vladimir sealed off some of his powers to match yours.
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You have successfully turned 'Vladimir' as your second Reaper's Retainer!
System: You are in the process of becoming a Tier 2 Class. Please be patient and wait for your Promotion to become completed, so that you can call your Elemental Companion's in battle.
....
"Oh~♪ So this guy is included to my quest. But I can't say if it is a good thing or a bad thing." muttered Shin to himself after seeing the system notifications.
And while Shin is thinking about it, a Dimensional Gate appeared not far from them. Shin turn his head on that Gate and said. "Alright, it is time to go back to the main world."
Then Hanzo and Vladimir transformed into small lights and circle around Shin. One is a purple blinking light that looks like a firefly, while the other is a crimson light that is moving with a systematic direction.
After that, Shin walk towards the dimensional gate and jump on it directly. Few moments later, Shin is back at the ruined Altar at the middle of the woods.
And the moment he set foot outside the dimensional gate, Shin heard a familiar voice. "Congratulations for passing the trial. You are now a real Reaper. And you successfully become my first disciple."
After that, another batch of system notifications bombered Shin's ears.
*Ding!*
Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
Level Up
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You have successfully became a Tier 2 Class. Tier 2 Skill are become available on your arsenal.
System: Calculating your final score.
System: Congratulations! You scored beyond perfection. You will receive some bonus rewards.
System: Base on your score, you are going to have the 'Grim Reaper' Class as your Tier 2 Class.
System: Congratulations! You successfully become an Official Envoy of the Church of the Sun and the Moon.
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You successfully passed 'Kentas' Trail! You are now his disciple. And you will receive an Enhanced Skills for the 'Phantom Swordsman Class'.
System: Congratulations! You successfully become a Dual-Class. And you are the 24th player that have become one.
*Ding!*
System: You are a Tier 2 Class now. Elemental Companions become available on your battle prowess.
System: Elemental Companions detected. Please give them a code to be registered on your Reaper's Retainer List.
Note: Code = ___ Reaper
...
Shin knitted his brows when he saw the last notification. But he still comply on it after some thought. He named Hanzo's code as 'Void Reaper', while Vladimir's code is 'Crimson Reaper'. Then the series of system notifications continued.
*Ding!*
System: Reaper's Retainers are registered. You will get two random skills from each of them as their host.
*Ding!*
System: Congratulations! You have gotten the Skills 'Void Steps', 'Mark of the Void', 'Blood Enchantment' and 'Blood Rampage' as your 'Elemental Skills'
.....
"Hey, can't I at least have an Ultimate Spirit Skill?" muttered Shin as saw the names of the skill that he got.
"You wish! Do you think that you are strong enough to wield those skills?" said Hanzo when he heard Shin's muttering.
"Heh, You are not worthy enough to have the Ultimate Skills of this amazing Elemental Spirit, feeble human." said Vladimir.
'What an interesting pair of Spirits?' Kentas chuckles softly when he heard those words. Then he said at Shin. "Hey, Kid. You better go back to the Church of the Sun and the Moon to complete your ceremony. And I'll look for you when you are ready to take your Third Awakening."
After that, Kentas disappeared completely, leaving Shin in that ruined Altar. Shin release a helpless sigh when he saw that. But he still formed a satisfied smile when he look at his gains. And they are quite many and amazing this time around.
....