Ritual

"Argh! Who the hell are you?!"

…

"Do you think your life will be spared when they find out about you?! The Blood sect will make you an offering!"

…

"Neither you nor the blood sect can stop me. Just sleep in silence." Keiichi darted towards the man and slashed his neck.

*Bam!*

The man fainted when he received the blow to the neck.

'These guys have great insight.' Keiichi was surprised at the level of awareness people in the blood sect had. He had followed some men out of the secret passage, after they were at a safe distance from the scene, Keiichi made his move. However, despite maintaining his concealment, one of the men still managed to locate him before being knocked out.

'Well, I'm not very good at concealment either.'

Keiichi picked up the men and took them to a secluded spot in the middle of the forest. He didn't want to risk any of them waking up and warning the other members of the Blood sect, so he chose a faraway place.

Keiichi took the hand of one of the men who had been knocked out. He hadn't knocked them out for no reason.

'I hope this works.'

Keiichi took a knife from his waistband. He was still hesitant to do this, but that was the only way he could think of entering the secret passage.

…

*Slash!*

Keiichi cut off the man's right hand. Blood began to leak in all directions. Keiichi found this situation a little disgusting, but there was no choice. He stole men's clothes and put them on.

'Let's go.' He made an air barrier to keep the men from leaving if they woke up.

-

Keiichi checked the area and when he realized there was no one, he took the man's hand out of his pocket. As he placed his palm against the tree, the tree glowed red and sucked Keiichi inside.

-

*Cough!*

'I feel a little dizzy.'

Keiichi felt his head spin for a moment.

...

'So this is the Blood sect?'

Keiichi looked around with a curious expression. The space Keiichi was in was filled with houses with features he had never seen before. The most important of these features is the emphasis on the horizontal axis, in particular the construction of a heavy platform and a large roof that "floats" on this base, with the vertical walls, not so emphasized.

The tree that sent Keiichi to this place was behind him. He didn't know how that worked. How could the tree send him to this place?

'Well, at least I already know where the exit is.' He decided to memorize the location where the tree was.

*Steps!*

Keiichi heard someone approaching where he was. He already expected people to be here, so he hid his presence the moment he stepped into this place. To be on the safe side, he decided to back away from the scene a bit, as the blood sect people seemed to have good detection skills.

...

a moment later

"Where's group number 08?" A man with a red mask on his face asked the men who had just exited the passage.

"We don't know. They always clown around at important times, Useless!" The man who appeared to be the leader of the group responded.

"Find number 8's group. We can't fail this operation." The masked man said, in a serious tone of voice.

"Well, that's fine. we'll make an offer after they show up hahaha!" The men put their hands on the tree and came back.

'You will be the offering.' The masked man thought before leaving.

-

'…' Keiichi was confused as he overheard the conversation. Offerings? What offerings?

Keiichi had a sinister feeling about this.

'I better get Toki Sakata and get out of here.'

Keiichi shot towards where Toki Sakata was standing. He could feel his presence getting closer and closer.

-

"᳀ ᰁᰕᰒᰉ ᰜᰕ ᰒᰉ ᰒᰉ. ᰣᰍᰜᰌ ᰜᰌᰉ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰁᱏᰁᰑᰉ ᰀᰙᰍᰓᰋ ᰜᰉᰙᰙᰕᰙ ᰜᰕ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ."

In a dark room, an old man was muttering unrecognizable words. A giant circle made of blood was in the center of the room. Around the circle, several people were kneeling, praying.

*(door opening)*

"Sir, we can't find group number 8." The masked man and the others arrived in the room.

"Forget them. Bring Toki Sakata here." The old man said, with an impassive expression.

"Yes sir." The masked man left the room again. The other men joined the circle.

-

"Come!" The masked man pulled Toki Sakata by the neck.

"What are you going to do?! I've already prepared the item, now let me go!" Toki Sakata started screaming.

"Shut up." The masked man took the potion from the table and returned to the room with Toki Sakata.

-

"Very good." The old man looked at Toki Sakata with a smile.

"Let go of me! I've already done what you asked!" Toki Sakata was desperate. He didn't want to participate in this crazy plan the Sect leader made. Honestly, he thought this plan was completely suicidal. He also noticed that his leader was lying and withholding some information.

"Give me the item." The old man took the potion from the masked man's hand.

*Breathing!*

The old man sniffed the potion.

"Perfect!"

After checking the potion, he poured it into the circle. The circle glowed red. A strong scent of blood permeated the air.

"᳀ ᰁᰕᰒᰉ ᰜᰕ ᰒᰉ ᰒᰉ. ᰣᰍᰜᰌ ᰜᰌᰉ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰁᱏᰁᰑᰉ ᰀᰙᰍᰓᰋ ᰜᰉᰙᰙᰕᰙ ᰜᰕ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ."

The old man went back to muttering strange words.

"You guys are crazy! Crazy! Crazy!" Toki Sakata tried to flee the scene but was stopped by the masked man.

"Stay quiet."

-

'What the hell is happening?!' Keiichi looked at the people who were kneeling and praying with confused expression.

'This place is bizarre!'

He felt like he needed to get out of here.

'There it is.' Keiichi spotted Toki Sakata. He planned to catch Toki Sakata without anyone noticing, but now the situation was out of control.

Just as Keiichi was about to head towards Toki Sakata, a bloodthirsty presence emerged.

Keiichi became alert as he felt an unknown presence appear out of nowhere.

The ground began to shake.

"᳀ ᰁᰕᰒᰉ ᰜᰕ ᰒᰉ ᰒᰉ. ᰣᰍᰜᰌ ᰜᰌᰉ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰜᰌᰍᰛ ᰁᱏᰁᰑᰉ ᰀᰙᰍᰓᰋ ᰜᰉᰙᰙᰕᰙ ᰜᰕ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ ᰛᰍᰓᰓᰉᰙᰛ."

"Take me out of here!" Toki Sakata started screaming like crazy.

'Shit!' Keiichi shot towards Toki Sakata.