Blessed by Night

Chapter 143  Hope of Humanity

 "Hard to say. Immortal Moon had a late start as their guild master was... wrapped up in some messy business..."

The young man tilted his head like he didn\'t quite understand. "What could have been so messy that she missed a world wide alert?"

Morgan looked uncomfortable as he tried to spit out the best excuse he had. "Ah, well... it could have been anything, lad. That\'s the life of a guild master...someone\'s always trying to fuck us."

Ryo wrongly assumed that Morgan\'s words were metaphorical and not literal. And Morgan had absolutely no intention of correcting that false belief. "W-What is that!?"

One of the blessed pointed into the sky towards the east and garnered the attention of everyone present. Flying ever closer was an enormous creature that sent chills down the spines of most onlookers. It was an entirely black sphinx, with wings made from lightning and burning black flame on the tip of it\'s tail. Several members thought that there may have been a gate break at another location, but they could not sense any hostile intent from the approaching creature. "Easy lads!" Morgan warned. "These are just the last of our little group."

His words proved true when the creature suddenly hovered above their heads, and beautiful women started sliding down from it\'s enormous back. One by one, members of immortal moon landed safely on the ground among the unit. They all seemed rather chipper for people who were about to go into a literal deathtrap. "That was fun!"

"I\'m glad we made him give us a ride, I feel less nervous now."

"He\'s like our own lil taxi service!"

"Yea, but don\'t let his girls hear you say that... They\'ve been acting mad possessive lately."

Finally, the shadowy creature in the sky vanished out of existence and three figures fell from the sky. Malachi held both Bianca and Luna by their waists and floated down from the sky like a god descending upon the land. All three were already donning their weapons and armor, and Bianca had even created two new masks for her and Luna to wear that were similar to Mal\'s. But while his was just a regular row of teeth, theirs were closer to a snarling animal\'s. He was unbelievably jealous of how cool they looked. Once they landed safetly, Morgan was the first one to try to exchange greetings. However, he was quickly beaten out yet again. "Mis amigos! It is so good to see all of you again! I must admit, your entrance gave us all quite the scare!"

Enzo cut through the crowd, trailed by two of his most faithful guild members. Always overly friendly, the world\'s number one guild leader held out his arms in a cordial and friendly embrace. "Luna my dear! You look absolutely-"

It was only for a brief second, but Malachi\'s eyes changed to a hateful red color and his teeth sharpened beneath his mask. Somehow Enzo was able to recognize the threat to his life and he quickly pulled his arms back in, hoping to keep them on his body. Malachi blinked several times until his eyes went back to normal, and he let out a shy cough of embarrassment. \'Not enough meditation practice, huh babe?\' Bianca thought.

\'Guess not... I\'ll practice a little more when we come back.\' n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Luna suddenly tightened her grip on Malachi\'s arm and pushed her body just a little bit closer into his own. \'You don\'t have to, you know? I think I prefer you just a little bit unstable.\'

\'...You\'re crazy....I like it though.\'

\'You better love it, sense you\'re the one who did this to me. \'

At this moment, Malachi was wishing that he had an extra 30 minutes or so to spare just so that he could show Luna just how much he loved her but unfortunately he had more pressing matters to attend to. Morgan breezed past Enzo and finally got a chance to greet Malachi. "Hell of an entrance. You should sell tickets for a ride like that."

"I\'m not a carnival ride, man. I just wanted to give the girls a nice experience before we went into this hell."

Malachi saw all of his guild mates as precious friends that he never waned harm to befall. Even though they had agreed to come on this expedition, there were still a great many of them who were worried about what lie ahead. But because Malachi didn\'t want them to feel afraid, he tried to at least make their journey here a little more fun. And now that they were here and about to go inside, he would give everything that he had to protect them if it was necessary. As for everyone else in this raid... he was unsure. He was no longer the same person as before who had that burning desire to save the world. As far as he was concerned, there were only a handful of people that were worth putting his cape on for. And anyone else would have to tread carefully, or at least be competent enough to save themselves. "Alright everyone, it\'s time! Listen up!"

Enzo walked out in front of the crowd of blessed and prepaired to give a speech. Perhaps as the world\'s number 1 guild leader, he felt it was his responsibility to act as the one in charge of this raid. And in his glimmering teal colored body armor, he did somewhat look the part. "I won\'t sugarcoat anything, we are in for the fight of our lives. We haven\'t yet determined what lies beyond these gates but to earn such a high rating it must surely be a significant threat. ...But none of that matters today. Instead, I want to talk about something else. We live in a time where the relationship between us and the people whom we are trying to protect is teetering on the brink of collapse."

All of a sudden, it felt like the tension within the area had multiplied. People were trying and failing to be discreet, as they glanced at the blessed beside them. Everyone wanted to gauge reactions to Enzo\'s words. Who still believed in protecting the humans?

And who was interested in the new day Arias spoke of?

It could not be made certain by simply glancing at facial expressions alone. "Today isn\'t just a SSS rated raid. It is an opportunity for us to show humanity that we want to walk beside them, not above. And that we will protect them from any threat, be they man or monster.

Even though we have the powers of gods, we are no better than the average man. To find true tranquility in our world, we must cast aside any hidden prejudices, and focus on making the world a better place for all! ...But that is a tomorrow problem. "

Enzo drew his weapon from his back, a large macuahuitl that was made with a strange black wood and magical stones embedded in the sides. "Today, I and the Children of the Aztecs will lead the charge! Stick together, and do not give way to despair!"

A round of rousing cheers erupted as Enzo and all twenty five of his accompanying guild members charged into the portal.

The members of Ragnarok and Platinum Scale were next to follow, with Dead Sea entering after them. Leaving Immortal Moon as the last ones to enter, and Luna gave a small speech of her own to her guild mates. "I know all of you have agreed to come along because you want to fight, but I don\'t want you running onto the front lines unless it\'s absolutely necessary. Your lives are my top priority."

Luna\'s sincerity touched the hearts of all of her guild members, and they felt like they had indeed chosen the right organization to sign with. However, they couldn\'t follow her orders just this once. "We appreciate the sentiments, my lady, but..."

"We didn\'t come here to hide."

"We\'re all prepared to fight with everything we have, so you don\'t need to worry about us."

Faced with such firm resolve, Luna couldn\'t do anything but smile bitterly. "I see... it appears I was worried for nothing then."

With Malachi and Bianca at her back, she confidently started walking towards the portal.

It seemed like she didn\'t have a worry in the world, but Malachi and Bianca knew full well that her act was a facade. \'Darling... please-\'

\'I\'ll protect them, love. I promise that we won\'t lose a single member today.\' Malachi thought reassuringly. \'Thank you...\'

After receiving such a firm promise, Luna could finally relax a little bit knowing that the girls she took care of like her own children would be protected. The members of Immortal Moon finally passed through the ominous red portal to face the unseen threat waiting inside. After they were all inside, a figure in white robes and a mask appeared in the area they were once standing in. He pulled out a small communication device from within one of his many pockets and punched in a few key codes before holding it up to his mouth. "Inform his eminence that they are all inside. The sentinels are cleared to move."