Chapter 7: The Cursed Temple

After countless hours of traveling and avoiding as many demons as we could as Alex continued to restlessly practice his magic, we eventually made it to a corrupted Buddhist temple. As Alex looked around, he was amazed by how it appeared. The pagodas were floating upside down in the air, slowly turning in circles as red blood dripped down from each floor like a reverse fountain, pooling before dripping further until it reached the tip of the pagoda, where the blood fell to the ground below.

As they got closer, He looked at Celeste, who was continuously glancing around the grounds as if something truly evil lingered here.

Then Alex spoke to her. “It looks like we’re going to have to pass through here. The terrain all around will be a pain to cross, and this looks pretty simple if we can make it through.”

Celeste nodded but continued to focus, scanning the area as if something just didn’t feel right to her. Then they slowly approached the stairwell leading up to the temple grounds.

As they got close to the stairwell and it came better into view, Alex noticed something horrifying. To the left and right of the stairway, thousands of corpses were impaled on stakes, their bodies held in place as the wood pierced them from the rear all the way through their mouths. Every one of them was a Buddhist monk.

As Alex looked around at the gruesome scene, he realized the monks’ eyes were open, staring directly at him and Celeste fallowing there every movement.

“This is getting creepier the closer we get,” Alex muttered. “Looks like we’ll just have to push on.” as he sighed.

He took his first step onto the stairwell, then the ground trembled. Cracks spread across the stone steps, and within moments, the entire stairway collapsed, leaving only the portion where Alex stood intact.

He looked up and saw that the stairway had transformed into a series of tall pillars leading toward the temple grounds. Below, bubbling blood churned and popped.

Alex sighed. “Damn, this just keeps getting worse by the second.”

He turned to look at Celeste, but behind her, a horde of undead Buddhist monks was approaching, cutting off their escape.

“We have no option but to proceed,” Celeste said firmly. “Let’s go and be extremely cautious.”

Not wanting to face the horde, Alex leapt from pillar to pillar, climbing toward the temple entrance, with Celeste not far behind.

As Alex jumped from pillar to pillar, making steady progress toward the top, he suddenly heard a crack beneath him. The pillar he stood on split apart and began to fall. Acting fast, he leapt toward the nearest pillar and managed to grab onto its edge, holding on for dear life.

“Damn it!” he shouted through gritted teeth.

Celeste’s eyes widened. “Hold on! I’ll be right there!” she yelled, jumping at a fast pace up the pillars. She finally reached the one he clung to and landed above him. The pillar was barely large enough for one person, so when she grabbed his arm and helped him up, their bodies pressed together.

Both of them froze for a moment, faces flushed. Celeste quickly turned her head away. “Let’s continue,” she said sharply, quickly fleeing and leaping to the next pillar.

Alex took a breath, calmed himself, and refocused. He followed after her, jumping from pillar to pillar until they finally reached the top of the temple grounds. Together, they stood beneath the archway, gazing into the foul, corrupted, and twisted Buddhist temple that awaited them.

As they reached the top of the stairs and looked into the temple grounds, they noticed a splash beneath their feet with every step. When they looked down, they realized the entire courtyard was covered in a thin layer of blood. Each step sent ripples outward, splashing crimson across the ground.

All around the temple grounds, more Buddhist monks were impaled on spikes, their lifeless eyes staring directly at Alex and Celeste. Above them, the temple buildings floated in the air, shifting slowly in the blood-colored sky, with the massive pagoda of blood looming as the centerpiece in the distance.

Then they heard it the whispers of a demonic mantra being sung from all directions.

Alex then spoke "ok this is really starting to creep me out now" as he looked at celeste

Celeste’s eyes darted around the area. “Let’s just keep moving. We don’t want any more surprises. We need to get out of here quickly.”

They proceeded forward carefully.

Suddenly, one of the floating buildings began to shake. revealing stone Buddhist monks tumbling from the structures entrance. The statues hit the bloody ground and cracked, but then began to move.

As they stood, cracks spread through the stone, exposing a fleshy mass beneath. With every movement, the stone split further, and their forms began to twist. Some remained monk-sized, while others grew taller, their arms and legs stretching grotesquely, with slabs of flesh pushing out from within the broken stone, distorted, nightmarish copy's of the monks they once were.

But their transformations were not yet complete. Soon the stone around their heads began to crack, and horns pushed through, curling upward as their eyes flared bright red. Their mouths opened wide, the stone breaking apart to form jagged, fang-like edges that made their faces look monstrous.

Each twisted monk reached behind its back and grasped the halo that floated there, tearing it free and holding it like a weapon. The halos shimmered faintly with a dark red glow as the monk's raised them high.

Then they roared, but it wasn’t a normal roar. When their mouths opened, the sound that came out was like a cursed mantra, a deep, droning chant that made the air tremble and the blood on the ground ripple outward.

As the unholy chant echoed through the corrupted temple grounds, the monks charged toward Alex and Celeste.

In front of them stood three of the corrupted monk's, ready to charge at Alex and Celeste at any moment. Behind them was another one, holding an old book and constantly chanting a cursed mantra at a fast speed.

Alex and Celeste raised their weapons, waiting for the first move.

But then something unexpected happened. The chanting monk in the back lifted his clawed, corrupted hand and flung it forward. From above, several of the floating statues and temple buildings suddenly plummeted toward them like meteors.

They split in opposite directions, dodging just in time as a massive statue slammed into the ground where they had stood moments ago. The impact sent cracks racing through the earth and splashed blood in every direction.

Alex turned to look back at the crushed statue and muttered, “Damn, that was too close. I would’ve been flattened.”

But there was no time to rest. Another statue came hurling toward him from the sky.

Alex dodged again, barely avoiding being crushed a second time. The moment he jumped past the falling debris, he saw a ringed blade slicing straight toward him. He quickly raised Muramasa, blocking the blow from the corrupted monk, though the impact knocked him backward across the bloody ground.

Looking past the attacker, Alex’s eyes locked on the monk in the back, the one holding the book, the one responsible for the falling statues.

“Damn, I got to do something about that guy fast, or it’s gonna be over for us,” he muttered.

He continued to leap, dodge, and deflect as more stone crashed down from above. The monk in front of him attacked relentlessly, swinging the bladed halo again and again, sparks flying each time it clashed against Muramasa.

Alex tried his best to focus, gathering his thoughts and reaching for his magic. It wasn’t the ideal time, but he had no other choice.

Alex decided that the simplest ideas were often the best for creating spells. Things from the real world, objects he could easily visualize, were his best bet.

So he imagined a bullet firing from a gun. Holding that image in his mind while barely managing to block and dodge each strike, his focus grew sharper, his imagination clearer. Finally, the image became perfect in his head.

He lifted his left hand like a gun, pointed his finger, and focused on the tip. “Stone Bullet!” he shouted.

A brown light began to form at his fingertip, swirling with compressed energy. Just then, the corrupted monk swung its bladed halo down at him. Alex rolled aside, the weapon crashing into the ground where he had stood.

As he came out of the roll, he extended his hand again, aiming straight at the chanting monk in the back, the one causing all the chaos. “Bang,” he said quietly.

The Stone Bullet shot from his finger at incredible speed, piercing through the monk’s head. The corrupted stone monk crumbled apart, and the body within melted into a pile of flesh as shattered stone fragments crumbled onto the blood soaked ground.

Alex exhaled in relief. “Phew… that worked.”

But before he could relax, the monk’s bladed halo came crashing toward him again, forcing him to sprint away.

Meanwhile, after the boulders slammed down and split them apart, Celeste was relentlessly assaulted by the other two corrupted monks who gave her no time to breathe. She constantly blocked their bladed halos with her weapons as she leapt and dodged the shards of falling stone.

This could not get any worse, she thought. I have to deal with this. I have to get rid of them, or the chanting monk.

She locked eyes on the chanting figure. I’ll take him down before this battle ends, she vowed.

She continued to fight, trying to push forward toward the corrupted chanting monk in the back. But after a moment, she realized she wouldn’t be able to reach him. She needed another plan, something reckless, something that could thin their numbers.

Blocking their relentless attacks, Celeste waited for the perfect moment. She noticed one of the massive stones in the sky beginning to shift, preparing to fall like a meteor.

Instead of staying on the defensive, she suddenly charged forward with all her strength. Ducking under the first monk’s spinning bladed halo, she sprinted straight toward the second. As that one swung wide, aiming to slice her in half, she dropped low and slid across the blood soaked ground like a baseball player sliding for home plate.

As she passed beneath the corrupted monk’s legs, she slashed wide with both blades, cutting through his stone leg's. The monk toppled backward, roaring in agony.

Before it could recover, the falling stone from above came crashing down, smashing into its body and crushing it beneath the weight.

Celeste quickly rose to her feet and glanced back with a faint, relieved smile. “I’m glad that actually worked,” she murmured, exhaling softly.

The remaining corrupted monk looked down at its fallen companion. It reached out and grabbed the bladed halo sticking from the crushed body’s hand, tearing it free. Now wielding one in each hand, it turned toward Celeste and roared, charging forward as she braced herself for the next onslaught.

But then Celeste heard an explosion. She turned toward the chanting monk in the back, the one holding the book, just in time to see it crumble to pieces.

She exhaled deeply, a faint smile forming on her face. “He did it,” she whispered, feeling a rush of relief.

Alex was finally getting better at using magic, and that thought gave her renewed focus. She turned back toward the corrupted monk still standing before her, tightening her grip on her weapons as she prepared to finish this fight.

The corrupted monk charged forward continuing to relentlessly strike at Celeste, swinging both of its bladed halos in a reckless fury. She blocked each blow, sparks flying as the bladed halos clashed against the mythical weapons.

Then the corrupted monk swung both arms in a wide arc, trying to slice her in half. That was when Celeste shifted from defense to offense.

She waited for the exact moment both bladed halos aligned, then drove Masamune upward inside of them, locking the twin blades in place stopping its attacks just long enough for Celeste to counter.

With the monk’s blades trapped, she released Masamune and dashed forward, slipping between its arms. She thrust Excalibur into the monk’s chest, and holy fire erupted from the point of impact. The corrupted flesh beneath the stone began to glow gold as flames burst outward, consuming the monk from within until its body collapsed into a heap of stone and ash.

Celeste turned to look at Alex. She didn’t want to interfere while he practiced and learned through experience, but she silently reminded herself that if he were ever truly in danger, she wouldn’t hesitate to step in.

For now, she simply stood and watched.

Alex, on the other hand, was struggling. The corrupted monk he faced was incredibly fast and had great reach. The arm it used to wield the bladed halo was nearly twice the length of its other arm. Its attacks came in wide, sweeping arcs, forcing Alex to stay constantly on the move as he fended off its relentless strikes.

He kept stepping back, trying to catch his breath. Then the corrupted monk swung its weapon down vertically, aiming straight for his head.

Alex leapt to the left just in time, but the blade still grazed him, slicing into his jacket and tearing a chunk of flesh from his arm. Blood streamed down his hand, dripping to the ground below.

Before he could recover, something even worse happened. As he jumped aside, his back slammed into one of the impaled monks surrounding the temple grounds.

Its withered hand twitched, then suddenly grabbed him by the neck, tightening its grip and holding him in place.

Alex panicked. He was trapped, the impaled monk’s arm locked tightly around his neck. He clawed at it with his left hand, trying to break free, but the grip was impossibly strong.

Ahead of him, the corrupted monk was struggling to pull its bladed halo from the blood soaked ground where it had struck too deeply.

“What do I do? What do I do? How do I get out of this?” Alex thought frantically. His mind raced, flipping through memories for anything that could help.

Then something clicked. He remembered an educational video he’d watched years ago about a phenomenon in the ocean known as the Finger of Death, a deadly freezing brine that formed beneath icebergs.

That image burned into his mind. He visualized it clearly, adapting it into his own version. Concentrating on his left hand, he felt a chill spread through his body as a faint blue light began to glow around his left hand.

Grabbing the impaled monk’s arm, he shouted, “Icy Hand of Death!”

Instantly, frost spread across the monk’s arm, solidifying and turning it brittle. Ice raced up toward its shoulder, freezing it solid. Alex yanked with all his strength, and the frozen limb shattered, freeing him just in time to duck as the corrupted monk’s halo blade sliced through the air where his head had been, cleaving the impaled monk clean in half.

Alex spun, gripping Muramasa tightly, and swung in a wide arc. The blade released a burst of its dark magical energy, slicing straight through the corrupted monk. Its body split in half, the upper and lower halves collapsing in opposite directions as they fell into the pool of blood below.

Alex let out a heavy breath of relief. “Magic really is amazing,” he muttered with a small smile, realizing he was finally starting to get the hang of it.

Celeste approached him with a small smile and a look of acknowledgment. “You did really well there,” she said. “I can see all the magic training you’ve been doing on this trip is paying off. Keep it up.”

Alex smiled back, still catching his breath. Together, they turned and looked ahead, continuing their way through the cursed temple, unaware of what new dangers awaited them beyond the blood soaked halls.