Chapter 994: Tartarus
The sky is blue and white for miles and miles around. Stick and fluffy clouds can be seen dotting the sky, the sun that went MIA also clocked in once more. It rained down its sunshine goodness on the island and sea.
It's been five days since the Prison Barrier collapsed and the prisoners escaped.
It's mysterious how the overcast weather came in when Itogami island was experiencing that event. It's like God himself is watching the event unfold while hiding in the dark clouds hanging over Itogami Island.
After 5 days, the dark clouds cleared up slowly until there was not a single dark cloud in the sky.
The barrier that cut off the island from the rest of the world appeared, it was invisible until now.
After 5 days, the barrier's time is up. The barrier cracked and broke into a rain of barrier crystals that landed in the sea or flew away as the wind whisked it into the horizon.
Itogami Island is quiet...
At the northern end of the island, on top of the castle ruin that used to house the Prison Barrier, the crowd here is rather rowdy compared to the rest of the island.
There were humanoid figures on the ancient islet, the captives were either bound in seated or prone states. The prisoners are also wounded. They are also placed in a collective hypnotized state of sleep. Somebody placed a very powerful hypnosis spell on them, forcibly keeping them in the land of dreams.
Despite this, the criminals still had bad energies leaking from them. It didn't take one long to deduce that they are not a company you would want to keep around you. They were also giving off powerful pressures, they were no ordinary criminals.
These captives are the prisoners that escaped from the Prison Barrier.
Five days elapsed and the barrier around the island ran out of energy. If there are still any prisoners uncaptured, it would spell trouble down the road. Fortunately, Wu Yan & co secured all the prisoners with the help of the special police.
The castle ruins were cleaned up. In other words, the remnants of the Prison Barrier can no longer be seen. With a vacant area, it's hard to see that this place was once the host venue for the Prison Barrier.
Wu Yan watched as Yukina toiled away near the vacant site. There is also a girl in a black gothic dress near Yukina, she had a parasol. Natsuki went back to her original look. Meanwhile, Kotori and Kojou were keeping an eye on the prisoners. Kanon and Nagisa stayed home so they didn't join this trip.
Yukina's drawing something on the ground with Sekkarou, she also used weird minerals, sand, and liquid to methodically re-arrange the ground. Natsuki glanced at Wu Yan when she saw Yukina sweating up a storm under the sun.
"Your student is about to get a heat stroke and you're just standing there. You're worse than I thought..."
"Yeah, says the assault mage who sends her students to dangerous missions?!"
Wu Yan snapped back.
"Also, Yukina insisted on this, it's not that I didn't want to offer a helping hand."
"Still finding excuses for yourself?"
Natsuki narrowed her eyes.
"That's just sad."
"Hey, Natsuki..."
Wu Yan sighed.
"You've got a problem turning into my familiar? Is that why you're so sassy with me?"
"Hmph..."
Natsuki raised her chin.
"Then tell me what happened to me, why did I transform into your familiar?"
"I've heard of humanoid familiars, I have never heard of a human transforming into a familiar though, how did you do that?!"
"Even if you ask me..."
Wu Yan bitterly laughed.
"I don't know how to explain it to you..."
Natsuki started staring at Wu Yan to see if he's lying. Wu Yan almost averted his gaze when she just snorted.
"Fine, do whatever you like..."
"Erm..."
Wu Yan cautiously approached Natsuki.
"Natsuki, are you angry?"
"Not yet!"
Natsuki continued.
"You better find a good time to properly explain this to me, or else..."
Wu Yan sighed in relief. He nodded at once.
"Okay, I will make sure to do so."
Wu Yan asked another question.
"Right, you said something about familiars in human forms? There are vassal beasts like that?"
"Hmm, I don't know..."
Natsuki glanced at Kojou who is yawning some distance away. Wu Yan's eyes lit up and he started juggling with his internal ideas.
"Sensei!"
Yukina ran over to Wu Yan and Natsuki with her Sekkarou in tow. She wiped away the sweat on her forehead.
"Done with the preparations?"
Wu Yan passed her a bottle of water and clean towel. Meanwhile, Yukina rubbed herself dry before nodding.
"Yeah, I did it as per your instructions."
"Great!"
Wu Yan patted her shoulder.
"Sorry for the trouble!"
"Nah, it wasn't that hard..."
Yukina shook her head.
"Compared to watching over senpai, this job is way easier..."
Kojou almost fell to the ground when Yukina dragged his dirty laundry out. Wu Yan also chuckled.
"Well, thanks for the help!"
Wu Yan approached the vacant area...
Yukina stood with Natsuki, they watched Wu Yan with attentive attitudes.
They were curious.
They wanted to see what Wu Yan's about to do.
Wu Yan entered the large magic formation drawn by Yukina. He got down on one knee and he pressed his right hand against the ground.
"Pit of Tartarus."
Wu Yan used this in place of the Prison barrier.
Its origin is the Greek Mythology. Zeus, the ruling god overthrew his father, Cronos. After usurping his father, Zeus imprisoned the titans, allies of Cronos, in the dark realm of that prison.
That abyssal prison is also known as the Pit of Tartarus.
According to legends, the titans couldn't break the door and walls of that prison. It also had an auto-lock function that kept all the prisoners imprisoned. It's rumored to even be able to seal god-tier beings.
Wu Yan doesn't know if the Pit of Tartarus can really hold god-tier lifeforms. However, he's confident that he can imprison Vatler inside, forget the other weaker prisoners.
He started pouring his immense magic power into the formation. He also continued chanting an ancient language while the formation lit up.
It's a very intricate magic formation that hurt a viewer's head just gazing upon it.
The light grew brighter until a magical pillar of energy shot towards the sky from the formation.
Schwing...
The ground started rumbling. Soon, a holy castle several times greater than the Prison Barrier castle emerged with the formation as the center. It rose up from the ground...
That's the Pit of Tartarus!