THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"Kriekk!!" 

"Sigh…Of course." 

Soon after the entrance collapsed, the Longinus men reach me, already transformed. However, most of them look weak and have shriveled bodies to begin with. 

"Maybe they have been down here for too long." 

There are fifteen of them from the crystals I can feel, trying to squeeze themselves through the tunnel where I am. I am not sure I should make things explode here. I could make the whole city collapse on me. I guess I can only move forward then. 

I advance to the possessed men and slay those who had already pass in the tunnel. Three of them more precisely.. Then, another pair of three comes. Two is the maximum number of people who can walk side by side in here so they can barely move once they are in here. Sadly, their brains don't seem to get that information.

I dispose of them and grab the crystals which are shining so weakly you would think they will stop at any time. Is it because they transformed for too long? I think it must be the reason because every time those guys transform, their Regas aura diminish with time. And so does their power.

I continue and walk to a larger structure inside. It is cemented with bricks and very well built. 

"It must be the place they mentioned."

The mist is covering the place and I can feel my power weakening already. There are also some Longinus further ahead. And one of them must be particularly strong since it has three crystals alone. Still, using crescent bullets would too easily reveal my presence so I will keep them for the time I really need it. 

The place is indeed dark. There is no light whatsoever. If I weren't trained to use the night's eyes. I would surely need a torch. Anyway, I bring out my raizen and enter the mist. It has a been a while since I used a physical one so I hope I am not rusty. 

"Brrr…." For the first time ever, I find a Longinus is not screaming. It has the size and the form of a sloin but unlike one, its head is closer to a human than a dog. Still, the crystal is still brimming at its forehead. 

"Brr…Kriek-" The thing tries to scream as I strike its forehead and kill it. 

"Krieekk!!!" Still, I guess it was enough to wake up the others. 

I feel them getting closer so I fire bullets at their direction. I have to minimize the damage to the place to the minimum so as not to get buried here so my bullets are only made of lightning, giving a grey like color. 

They fly in the mist and hit all the targets except one. The three-crystals Longinus. Still, all of them are alive and coming. I back off and evade the slash of a first one that appears from the mist like a real ghost. It seems those guys weren't wrong. They do look like ghosts in that mist.

Even more impressive, the Longinus doesn't continue its attack and tries to go around me. Meanwhile, another one attacks up front. I block its attack then two come from my sides and the one from earlier from the back. The other one is observing a bit far it seems. Is it coordinating their movements or just trying to find my 

"Kriekk!!" 

"Too bad that I can feel you guys' presence, I guess." 

All but the one in front of me receive bullets and fall to the ground, headless. Sorry guys but the ones from earlier weren't at full power. 

"Kriek-"

I behead the other one after that and grab his crystal. I immediately put it my mouth then block the long range attack of the Longinus hiding in the mist.

"A bolt?" I deflect a bolt that strikes the ground after that. Could it actually be a human? "Should you not reveal yourself when you are fighting?" 

"…" Silent treatment, huh. It must be either a human or something that can understand my language. A simple Longinus would have screamed already. 

"If you want to play like that. "Let's play then.

Another bolt comes and I deflect it then launch a bullet myself. I don't think he got hit, sadly. Suddenly, three bolts pierce through the mist. It seems he got hit after all. It must have angered it. 

I managed to fend off two and dodge the last one then run forward while shooting another bullet. Once again, no scream as three bolts comes again. I use Sphere and run faster but right when I should be in front of the Longinus, I lose my footing. No, I didn't lose it. 

"Goddammit." I look down and there is nothing below, just the void.

"Krkrkr." Then as I look up, the thing is there. A sort of prator with a human like head. 

Holding a normal crossbow as well. It is grabbing the wall like a spider with his legs and shooting with his hands. A pretty good strategy, I guess. As I fall, its laughter continues to resound. So you were waiting for something like this, huh. Sorry for you though. 

I wait a bit until I am sure it can't see me then hover in place. Now, to one shot him surely, I should use Raizen. I store back the physical one then use a full lightning, flame and wind based Raizen. 

I fly with my maximum speed and when I reach the Longinus, his smiling face has the time to change into something else that I slice him in two piece. It doesn't see me coming at all.

"Krieek!!" 

It screams madly while losing his footings and falling into the pit as well. Still, it is not dead yet, it seems, so give it ten bullets so that it won't feel lonely. 

"Kriekk-" Finally, the presence and the scream stops. Still, it would a good idea to grab the crystals just in case. That thing was creepy as hell. A prator with a human head looks really weird. Was it a human to begin with or was it just a normal Longinus that started changing like the others I have seen so far?

I go back down and the more I go, the more I can hear the sound of water. Finally, when I reach the bottom, where the mist of Regas doesn't reach. I find some human bones, the three crystals and a water stream. The crystals, which shines brightly, are the only sources of light here.

"This must be why they didn't continue the project." If water is this far below, then it is indeed too bothersome to bring it to the surface. 

I grab the crystals and leave. Now, I should go to the city.

***

Looking back, I am actually grateful to that Longinus. Without him setting up that trap, if the others were here, some would definitively be dead right now. I fly up the well of sort that connects this place to the city and exit inside a room. It is as big as a dining room but there is nothing inside besides the well. And they didn't even cover it. Don't they know this thing is dangerous? 

Also, I can feel way too much Longinus outside. It's like a sea of Longinus has flooded this city and there are waves of them moving around. I don't know how this city got conquered but there is no way people are still alive here. Although I still feel pretty good, surely thanks to the dragon heart, preventing is better than anything. I take another crystal from the small fries and start sucking it. I got used to the sweet taste after all. 

I fly to a window then open it and look outside.

"This is definitively the definition of hell." 

There Longinus as far as you can look. On the roofs of the building, on the streets, even inside the building…everywhere. Worse yet, the mist is so thick outside, the streets aren't even visible anymore. I can only see the Longinus's form as they walk through it. Now I understand why it infiltrated the building and even went to the underground passage. 

If I go out right now, not only would I be weakened as fuck, I won't even last more than a minute. At best, I should be able to launch like three bullets and kill maybe five bullets but then they will munch on me like a snack.

"Fufufu." This is the one of the rare time I am actually scared. My hands are trembling like crazy. Would Willhem and the others be as afraid if there were here? 

There is not much I can do here now. I can only wait either for the others to arrive or for the army to strike. 

"This mist won't let me rest though." I will just sit up there on the supports of the roof and wait.