"This place is really dry..."
In a white Land Cruiser cutting a desolete path through the rocky, scorched expanse near the Sinai region of Egypt, Jay sat behind the wheel.
The vehicle bounced over the uneven terrain, kicking up plumes of fine dust that coated the chassis in a layer of pale silt.
Jay was dressed for the climate, wearing a breathable white linen shirt and beige tactical pants. A white scarf wrapped around his head and mouth fluttered violently in the dry wind that whipped through the open window, his dark sunglasses reflecting the shimmering heat haze of the horizon.
Lavinia sat in the passenger seat, her expression serene despite the environment.
She was wearing a white embroidered dress that seemed remarkably pristine given the dust.
To keep the interior of the car bearable, she had manifested a field of Absolute Demise, the frosty aura of her Longinus cooling the air inside the cabin to a pleasant chill that defied the desert sun.
And in the back, it was none other than what Jay called a horny-gluttonous-lazy-useless cat. Kuroka was curled up on the leather seat, sleeping with a peaceful lack of concern for the world, her two tails twitching occasionally.
"Are you sure this is the place, Illya-kun? It seems rather untouched. I mean... I can't really feel any supernatural activity even going on here, so this must be far away from the capital of Ancient-Egyptian Phanteon, The Heliopolis," Lavinia said, her eyes scanning the vast, empty dunes.
Heliopolis was the heart of the Ancient-Egyptian Pantheon.
Its name, meaning City of the Sun in Greek, was a title given by outsiders, while the local deities and their subjects still referred to it by the ancient name of Iunu. It was the seat of power where the current Chief God of the Egyptian Faction, Aten, presided over the divine affairs of the Nile.
While also being acknowledged as one of the strongest existences in the Supernatural World, there is no one who does not know him as one of the Top 10 strongest. Even stronger than the majority of the other Chief Gods of the pantheons.
"The Grail directed me here, so there is almost a ninety-nine percent chance that this is the correct place," Jay replied, his voice muffled slightly by the cloth over his face.
"Um, but I'm still wondering why Solomon would store the books here instead of... Well, his kingdom in Jerusalem," Lavinia muttered, resting her chin on her hand as she watched a distant whirlwind of sand dance across the waste.
As they drove further into the heart of the peninsula, a massive, jagged silhouette began to take shape against the golden horizon.
At first, it appeared as nothing more than a faint, purple-tinted shadow rising from the desert floor like a mirage. But as their Land Cruiser drew closer, the shape separated itself from the atmospheric haze.
Jagged peaks began to pierce the sky, their outlines sharp and uneven, resembling the broken teeth of some ancient titan.
This was Mount Sinai.
The mountain erupted from the desert in a colossal mass of dark granite and weathered rock.
Its slopes were steep and rugged, carved by millions of years of relentless wind and scouring heat. As the sun moved toward its evening descent, the rock face shifted colors, transitioning from a pale, dusty gray to a vibrant copper and a deep, bruised reddish-brown.
Long, spindly shadows began to gather in the deep folds and valleys surrounding the base of the massif.
"That's the place?" Lavinia asked, leaning forward.
"Yeah."
Jay navigated the vehicle past the small, isolated settlement of Saint Catherine near the foot of the mountain.
They didn't stop to interact with the locals, and instead, the car pushed higher into the rugged foothills, grinding over loose stones until they reached a jagged ledge.
Above them, tucked into the side of a steep valley wall, was a cave entrance that was almost impossible to spot from below and entirely unreachable by conventional means.
"We'll be walking from here," Jay said, killing the engine. The sudden silence of the desert was deafening. He opened the door and glanced toward the backseat.
"Get up, you lazy cat."
"Nya? We have arrived?" Kuroka yawned, stretching her limbs like a feline before hopping out of the car.
The three of them stood on the ledge, the sunset horizon illuminating their faces with a rich, orange glow.
The wind here was cooler, but there was something different about this place that they almost immediately noticed.
"Wait, now that I'm here... I can feel the magic, although it's very faint and can be mistakenly as nothing but a faint residue," Lavinia noted, her magical senses finally picking up the signal.
Jay nodded in silent agreement.
He could feel it too, though for him, the sensation was much more clearer.
He adjusted his sunglasses, and beneath them, the Avesta ignited.
The world transformed into a blueprint of magical constructs as he saw thousands of intricate runes written into the very grains of sand and the microscopic cracks in the dirt.
"It's definitely intentional... This place is hiding in plain sight. With all these runes being applied, it's definitely so that the gods from the Ancient-Egyptian pantheon won't realize what's hiding inside this place," Jay said, crouching down to let a handful of sand slip through his fingers.
He watched as the golden light caught the faint shimmer of the hidden seals.
"Do you think Solomon did all of this by himself?" Lavinia asked, her voice hushed by the scale of the concealment.
Jay shook his head slowly.
"No, this is divine energy. Unless Solomon's status as a human was a false one, then all of these seals were made by someone else... A Divinity... A God."
Jay scanned the flow of the seals once more.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, a sense of familiarity tugged at him, a resonance with the energy that constructed the barrier.
He then stood up and fixed his gaze on the jagged maw of the cave.
"Anyway... let's go inside."
Lavinia and Kuroka followed his lead, nodding as they stepped over the threshold. Jay raised his hand, and a small, flickering purple flame appeared on the tip of his finger.
The violet light cast long, dancing shadows against the cave walls as they ventured into the earth.
As they moved deeper, the world outside vanished.
The bright, orange glow of the sunset was swallowed by the darkness behind them, leaving only the rhythm of their footsteps on the smooth stone.
Initially, the cavern appeared ordinary.
A natural formation of granite and dust that had remained undisturbed for centuries. Tiny clouds of fine sand stirred beneath their boots, drifting lazily in the stagnant air.
But then, the air began to shift.
"Hmm..."
Jay came to a sudden halt, his hand held up to stop both Lavinia and Kuroka.
He felt a presence ahead, something predatory lurking in the absolute blackness of the tunnels.
"Is there something wrong, Illya-kun?" Lavinia asked, tilting her head as she peered into the dark.
"Don't you two feel it?" Jay asked, his eyes unwavering. Avesta pulsed, scanning the depths far beyond the reach of his physical sight.
Suddenly, Kuroka's pupils dilated into thin slits, and her entire body tensed into a crouch. Her dark purple mana flared around her like a shroud.
"Nya! There are ghosts!"
Lavinia narrowed her eyes, her own magical power beginning to hum in response.
And almost immediately, from the darkness ahead, a low rumble echoed, followed by the sound of dozens of paws hitting the stone.
Out of the darkness burst a pack of lions.
But the strange thing, they weren't creatures of flesh and bone, but translucent entities made of a shimmering white aura.
They rushed toward the trio with terrifying speed, their eyes glowing with a crimson, predatory light.
They moved like ghosts, their forms blurring as they lunged through the air, ready to tear the three of them apart.
Jay didn't move his feet as he simply flicked his finger toward the charging spirits.
"Incinerate."
FWUOOOOM
And then, a violent burst of purple flame surged forward, filling the entire width of the cave.
The violet hue consumed the darkness, washing over the spectral lions in a sea of heat.
However, to Jay's surprise, the white lions didn't vanish by the fire.
They surged through the purple fire as if it were nothing but a harmless mist to them, their forms unaffected by the longinus' flames that should have reduced any creature of darkness to ash in an instant.
Jay's eyes widened behind his glasses.
He watched as Avesta scanned the structure of the lions.
'A spirit?' he thought, his mind racing.
The lions were meters away from leaping upon them, before-
"True Cross."
FWUOOOM
The all-burning black flame erupted from beneath Jay's feet, swallowing the cave in complete darkness. It surged forward, engulfing the pack of lions, and in an instant, their forms disintegrated, reduced to drifting ash that swirled violently through the air.
"What... is... that?" Lavinia asked, her voice trembling slightly.
She stared at the spot where the lions had been, shocked that creatures could ignore the Incinerate Anthem only to be deleted by Jay's black flame.
Meanwhile, Kuroka looked at Jay with a profound sense of wariness.
This was the first time she had witnessed Jay using the black flames in person. Her Nekoshou instincts and her Senjutsu sensory were screaming at her, a primal warning that vibrated through her soul. Every sixth sense she possessed told her never to touch that flame if she didn't want to be wiped from existence.
The silence returned.
Yet Jay's eyes remained fixed on the darkness beyond the violet glow of his finger.
He could feel it, a presence moving slowly and deliberately toward them.
Jay intensified the purple flame, and the path ahead was finally revealed.
As a figure emerged from the gloom.
The man was handsome, appearing to be in his thirties. He had long, wavy white hair that was meticulously styled into a thick side braid falling over his left shoulder. His skin was a deep, sun-kissed tone that spoke of the Middle East, and his expression was one of immense calm, composed and wise.
He carried an air of effortless authority that commanded the room.
He was dressed in a suit of ornate white and red armor with black accents. The design was ceremonial and regal, decorated with patterns that looked far too grand for a man living in a desolate mountain cave.
As the man's warm brown eyes settled on Jay, his calm expression shifted into one of genuine, profound surprise.
"Uhm? How astonishing it is..." the man said, his voice deep and resonant, echoing through the stone corridor.
Lavinia tilted her head, confused by the man's appearance.
He looked and sounded human, yet there was a quality to him that felt displaced in time.
Jay's Avesta saw straight through the man with ease.
"Another spirit...?" Jay muttered.
The man stood before them and bowed deeply, his movements fluid and aristocratic.
"I truly apologize for the sudden attack, as it was most unbecoming... I thought all three of you were mere intruders. Again, I ask your forgiveness for my unwelcoming reception."
He straightened up and turned his gaze specifically toward Jay, a strange light shining in his eyes.
"But I never truly expected that your inevitable coming would be in the form of a man."
Jay's eyes narrowed, his posture remaining defensive.
"You knew I was coming?"
The man nodded, a gentle, knowing smile spreading across his face.
"I have indeed been informed of your arrival many thousands of years ago by the Lord Almighty."
"The Lord Almighty? Do you mean the God of the Bible?" Jay asked, his voice sharp with skepticism.
"I see that is what you call him? Then, yes, he is," the man replied, nodding with an intricate, somewhat melancholic smile.
"It is a pleasant surprise that the one he spoke of would be human, like me. I must admit, pride fills my heart wholly at this moment," the man said with a light laugh before continuing.
"And indeed, he predicted your coming ever since the day he sealed the Beast of the End, at the place known as the End of the World."
The revelation struck the trio. Jay, Lavinia, and Kuroka were utterly unprepared for the historical magnitude of the man's words. And for a figure legendary not only in the biblical world, but also in the whole Supernatural World as one of the most powerful and influential beings to have ever existed, to be waiting for Jay…
It was almost too unbelievable to be true.
'The Beast of the End?' Jay thought, his thoughts elsewhere.
But the man continued, his gaze drifting as though he were reading words etched upon some buried memory.
"He always told me that someday he would die for the sake of this world, and for the universe, to restore balance... As Yesh returns to nothing, so the Nothingness shall rise from the absence of existence... and that, is you."
The man extended a hand, pointing directly at Jay.
Jay raised an eyebrow, his confusion growing.
"I... I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand what you mean."
"It's okay, we still have plenty of time to talk. After all, I am just a spirit of the real me, and my sole purpose here is specifically for this day... To welcome you so that you may someday break the balance and become a complete existence."
Jay's eyes sharpened.
"A complete... existence?" He asked.
The man nodded slowly, his expression growing solemn and holy.
"The True God of Infinity... the Ein Sof."
The air in the cave seemed to freeze. Jay, Lavinia, and Kuroka widened their eyes at the name.
It was a term from the highest reaches of Kabbalah, the Infinite and the unending. They stood in stunned silence, unable to process the magnitude of the sudden revelation.
"But before we speak of such matters, allow me to introduce myself properly," the man said, his voice becoming warm again.
"I am Solomon, King of Israel. King of men, spirits, devils, and angels... And yet, a humble servant of the Lord Almighty"
The man, Solomon opened up his hand.
"And I welcome you to my temple… O human, bearer of the End of All, the Non-Existence, the Emptiness… Ayin."
He looked at Jay with a gaze that spanned across the ages.
"For our inevitable meeting, three thousand years in the future...Now"
__________________________________________________
YEAH! We've finally reached 100 chapters.
For the next few chapters, the focus will be mainly on the Peace Treaty, Jay's meeting with Solomon, and a bit of a Training Arc, before we transition into the next story arc: Arc V.
Which, you guessed it…
Heliopolis and… ( This could wait for the later )
And yes, that's the origin of the Black Flame.
What do you guys think?