Remuel moved in deeper into the castle. Taking the chance to at the very least investigate and identify whether the static that he learned was truly the threat that he knew about.
Despite being unsure of his actions, he pressed on and finally sensed that he had gone underground, following the presence of Lawrence while hiding his own.
He kept maneuvering around the areas, still hiding himself within the dense fog that made everything difficult to see.
Finally, he encountered what seems to be a dead end, but the essence was too noticeable. Remuel could easily tell that he made it to the project zone.
"A little bit of countermeasure here would work. I may eventually get discovered here anyway." Remuel stayed put and kept his magic in bay, preparing to breach at any moment.
Lawrence finally spoke once again, talking to what Remuel could only tell as researchers considering the topic. "So, how much progress did we make here?" "Pretty solid if I have to say. Give it about a week and we should be able to get him a temporary body here." "So that body won't be able to fully hold him them." "Yeah, we couldn't really find a good target that could handle all that power. If we get like one of the Preeliance Executors then maybe there's a chance but like, I doubt they could hold that body after like multiple combat sessions."
Remuel was slightly relieved, so it may take them a while to forge up an even better body, but that was also easily crushed. "Though, we could use this country's hero. The fact that we somehow kept its title a secret was quite a miracle." "Yeah, the [Hero of-]-" "Hold on, before you say the name." Their conversation was quickly interrupted, to which Remuel felt suspicious instantly. That suspicion was quickly answered when he breached the walls. Lawrence, and the other person, wearing deep black armor with purple lines and deep navy blue accents was already focused into his direction. "As expected, [God of Equivalence] is quite interested. Good work luring him here Lawrence." "Tch! I've been had!" As Remuel cursed himself for being too naïve with getting pulled in with a bait, he took notice of the area. An underground research lab with something contained in the center. Within it contained a young man's body, unconscious and lifeless. "That may be his body. Gotta dispose it as soon as I can." "Oops, can't have you do that. If you delay our Master's avatar creation. Then we'll be in trouble." The man clad in black and purple armor snapped his fingers, after which a black sword materialized on his hand and pointed to Remuel.
"W-What... Was I...? Wait..." Remuel entered a state of daze and quickly realized it, jumping back and barely avoided getting decapitated in his right arm as the man was in the middle of performing an upward slash. "Tch. Considering the Prime Existence has the same ability, you can easily tell huh." Remuel only brought out his scythe in response, and decided that he can no longer waste time as his opponents are Lawrence, and Kenós. "[Deal with the Devil]!" Thinking of how to stop their progress, Remuel targeted the researchers, but his deal somehow wasn't accepted. "You're not using my subjects as fodder for your ability! [Equivalence]!" Kenós rushed in to strike, which Remuel firmly blocked without issue. Lawrence the rushed in to his side and unleased multiple black tornadoes, attempting to shred his armor and destroy his scythe.
Remuel quickly shook off Kenós and distanced himself while weaving through the black tornadoes Lawrence unleashed towards him. He maneuvered his way around the area while slashing through various terminals and research papers to try and set them back further.
Even as he did go through with thrashing the facility, he turned around for a moment and noticed some visible static on the damage he unleashed to the facility, and everything was then returned to its previous state.
"Tch, so his essence is already put in that thing huh?" Remuel couldn't hide his frustration as Lawrence and Kenós didn't even chase or continue attacking. "Unfortunately for you, we're close to finishing his infusion into the [Hero]. Or would you rather hear the real title? Prominence's [Hero of Divine Spirits], it's not like that information is going to help now anyway since our God has taken over his body completely." Kenós only smirked as he explained to Remuel what he's facing as of the moment. Remuel of course took this chance to clap back. "I see, so a degraded avatar was needed because he's still too weak from fighting the Maestro?" "Y-You!" "How easily ragebaited you are. But if I can't kill you all here right now, it will become troublesome. And if I can't use your subjects..." Remuel trailed off with his words, before all of a sudden the entire facility became stained in blood.
With both Lawrence and Kenós' eyes blocked by red, they quickly wipe off the blood from their faces only to find Remuel nowhere. The two frantically looked around before going back to back while their researchers entered the facility only to see blood everywhere, making them panic and escape the room at the very least. After a few moments of stalemate Kenós had enough and quickly activated his sword, which was quickly responded to.
Remuel engulfed both Lawrence and Kenós in fire as Kenós attempted something with his sword, not allowing him to retaliate in any way. "Tch!" Kenós could only click his tongue and grit his teeth as he quickly swallowed the engulfing fire into his sword. However, that was what Remuel wanted.
Finally revealing himself to be near the giant tube that hosted the [Hero], Remuel took a chance to use [Deal with the Devil] once more. This time, using the power of Kenós' sword as payment after connecting to it using his fire. Lawrence took that chance to launch black tornadoes to Remuel but when Remuel brought out the sword's power, all those tornadoes dispersed. "Thank you for your offering. But your god wouldn't make it down here with thi-" As the sword's power formed an orb, it was suddenly covered in static. "!!!" Remuel quickly discarded that energy towards the tube that contained the hero before it loses control, but was indeed too late.
"What do you think you're planning to do with my avatar [Equivalence]?" A soft masculine voice suddenly announced itself in the room, alerting Remuel while Kenós and Lawrence kneeled down. "Damn it! So you're already awake after all." "Of course I am, how's the last soul? Surely not struggling to hold his souls in." "Hmph, that's pretty rich for someone who struggled to fight Meister four versus one." The static stilled itself for a moment before shaking up its form once again. "Well unfortunately for you, I still have seven out of eight souls here. Your position clearly doesn't matter here. If you were to escape it would be troublesome, so let me erase you now." The static started spreading out completely, which Remuel realized that touching it would instantly absorb him into the [God of Dominion].
"Tch, I can't afford to rip open a rift here and have his static connect to Preeliance. Gotta dip." Remuel then rushed outside after absorbing all the blood with his scythe. Lawrence and Kenós tried to stop him but he simply just connected two rifts on the exit and in front of them so he could just pass through them.
After escaping the castle, he took notice that the static didn't spread any further. He couldn't cause enough chaos and set them back which made him regret his decision a little. Since it was still the middle of the day, he thought about doing more damage. "Mission's not done yet, I could still do some more damage here."