I Don’t Want To Court Death!

The evil magi thought they were hyenas who found a lonely kitten, unaware that they were messing with a tiger. 

The evil magi stood in a triangle formation and formed a spell circle with their grimoires and magic-aspects. The lackeys had the same grimoires, a Rank 3 Bone Knight Grimoire which created magic-aspects of skeletons in armor. The captain was slightly more impressive with a Rank 3 Bone Summoner Grimoire which created a magic-aspect of a skeleton in robes. When they combined their magic together, the illusory image of a skeletal warlord appeared before it solidified. The skeletal warlord, donned in impressive armor and carried a heavy bone-sword, gave a mighty roar. 

"Hmph! Today's your unlucky day, outsider! Prepare for reckoning!" The trio controlled the skeletal warlord to attack with its heavy bone-sword. 

"Just cheap necromancy. Life Drain, together." Yang Yang dodged all the attacks and summoned nine Life Drain spell circles. The spell circles rotated around each other, connected by lines of magical power, and formed a giant Life Drain spell formation. A supreme suction forced the life force out of the trio. 

"What the hell!?" The trio screamed. Their life force was quickly sucked out of them. The skeletal warlord stopped and then collapsed into dust before it could send in another hit. The evil magi, majorly withered of their life force, dropped to their knees. 

Yang Yang stepped forward and grabbed one of them by the arm. He took of cloak and mask of the captain, revealing a wrinkling old man. "Spare us, sir! Spare us, good lord!" 

"Answer all of my questions and I'll let you live. First, who are you? Second, where are you from? Third, why are you here?" Yang Yang busted out the golden Flame of Purity and pressed it close to the captain's face.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Completely scared out of his wits, the captain confessed. "Sir, I am Captain Bone One, and these are my comrades, Bone Two and Bone Three. We are from the Sacred Cult and we were sent to the fourth layer of the Sacred Abyss to harvest the Arcane Sapphires. We headed to your direction because we thought you were one of the rare beasts that lived in the fourth layer. Those rare beasts are extremely dense in the unique magical power of the Sacred Abyss." 

"Why do you call it the Sacred Abyss?" 

"The other name of this dimension is the Arcane Abyss, but only the Arcane Temple and outsiders call it that. For believers of the Sacred Cult like us, we refer to its greatest name: the Sacred Abyss. This is what we were taught by our supreme leader, the Sacred Master." Although he was fearful, the captain's eyes sparked with reverence when he spoke about his supreme leader. Even the eyes of the lackeys flared in response. 

"Sacred Master?" Yang Yang does not recall this name being mentioned in the intelligence report he was given. "Who is this Sacred Master, and what's the history of your cult?"

"Well sir, our cult had been around for millions of years. In fact, we are the first residents of this dimension. Our people lived here in peace and harmony until the outsiders came in to steal our Arcane Sapphires. Because of these magical crystals, the world beyond call this land the Arcane Abyss while us true believers know that the real name of this land is the Sacred Abyss. In the great war between us and the outsiders, our first lord, the Sacred Overseer, sacrificed himself to create a mighty seal that locked Wisdom King and above outsiders from coming in. Although that prevented anyone else in this dimension from rising above the Manifest Aspect level, we are happy and supreme here!" 

"Who's this Sacred Overseer? And you still haven't answered my other question." 

Pretending he didn't hear the second half of Yang Yang's statement, the captain began talking again. "Our Sacred Overseer was the hero of our people who died for our peace and happiness. It is said that his soul vanished and his body fell down into the eighteenth layer. We worship him as our god and-" 

"Quit the crap." Yang Yang burned off the captain's hair, making his head shiny smooth. "That's a warning. Next time, I'll toast your head." 

"Oh, good lord, please have mercy! We really can not say much about our Sacred Master. The Sacred Master is the leader of our cult and he is said to have lived for as long as the cult's history. He was the right-hand man of the Sacred Overseer and personally buried him in the eighteen layer while living in the seventeenth layer. We really can't say more about our Sacred Master and our Sacred Cult. We are simply people fighting for the freedom of our land. I know you are from the world beyond, but please spare us. We each have our family to raise at home." The captain banged his head even harder on the ground. 

The lackeys took off their masks and cloaks before banging their heads on the ground as well to beg for mercy. Yang Yang sighed in his heart. 

"This is strange. Way too strange. Either this intelligence report is incorrect, or this cult was recently established within the past few millenniums. Could this be the reason why the legacy students went missing?" 

Yang Yang asked another question: "And what is the Arcane Temple that you mentioned?" 

"Sir, this organization is formed by the outsiders over last few million years. Although their leaders were kicked out, they remained behind. These people are truly greedy for wanting to steal our Arcane Sapphires. In fact, they took over the seventh to twelfth floor. This is our rightful land, but even we have difficulty of reaching this location. Several of our squad members had died along the way because of the Arcane Temple."

Tears dropped from the trio's faces. For the past twenty years, their lives had been filled with danger and misery. Usually they distract themselves from hardship by arguing and gambling. For the first time in a while, their feelings were let out, even though they were steely and iron-willed. Even they didn't notice how sentimental they were being; it as though an invisible, spiritual force was compelling them to speak their hearts out. 

"Do other outsiders join this group when they enter this land?"

"Uh...yes." Although he was hesitant to answer, the captain did it anyways. Hatred flashed in his eyes when he spoke about the Arcane Temple.

"Hm... this situation is certainly more complex now. Well, at least I have a lead rather than running around all over the place in this pit. The seventh to twelfth floor? Great. It shouldn't be too hard to reach there."

"I see then. Thanks." 

"With pleasu-" Before he finished his sentence, the captain saw the golden flames consumed him and his lackeys, completely scorching their very being.