Lowly Ascent

Waiting patiently, time went by as hours passed as Cain sat in that room. He watched as one by one, each of the girls stood up and headed to their deaths.

He felt nothing from their imminent end; they were alive but soon dead, it is the natural order of things, especially for those who hide behind others since they can't protect themselves. But Cain didn't plan on following the natural order; he wanted to destroy it.

Finally, it was his turn. He heard a crisp and exhausted "Come in." Cain closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, his body was no longer that of a woman, but his own.

Fully ready, he headed to the door and swung it open with a kick. The room smelled like rotten flesh as corpses piled around a bed where the Emperor lay.

He was wearing nothing but a light, almost-clear robe. His hair was messy, and he had bags under his eyes. Cain noticed his eyes were dim and lifeless, realizing the mental state of the Emperor was bad indeed.

"Who are you? Does this mean there are no more servant girls for today?"

"Yes, but I'm not here for that. Are you Emperor Julius Salazar?"

Raising a brow, he looked up and stared at Cain for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I am. What is it?"

"Great! I was wondering if you knew what was inside this box."

Cain took out his black box, which he carried in a pouch behind his back. The box itself was as big as a fist and had a golden line going horizontally around the whole thing. The rest of the box was pitch black, and under close inspection under light, one could see reflective symbols engraved on it ever so slightly, like a woven pattern.

Seeing the box, Julius got up as soon as he saw it and neared Cain.

"Y-you found it!"

Putting on a façade, Cain began putting his acting skills to work. "What do you mean, sir? What is this black box?"

"It's a lost treasure of my family. It is said to hold the key to us ruling Netherane and the other territories! It contains the hope of the ancestor that sealed it so that we could one day rise above all others!"

"So what exactly is in this box?"

Julius raised his eyes from the box and looked into Cain's eyes. "Who are you? How did you get this?"

"Someone around my age sold it to me. I paid around 30 silvers."

"Are you from the Royal Family? How did you get in here?"

Julius kept launching one question after another at Cain. His exhaustion and delirium didn't last long as his cautious and suspicious nature took over when he realized Cain seemed foreign.

"Well, I guess I'm not going to be able to learn even that much. Well, let it be a surprise for when I open this gift."

Cain put the box away as he threw a punch at the miserable Emperor. Unexpectedly, he felt his hand stop, and he noticed the Emperor caught his punch.

"Seems like this is going to be fun, huh?"

"Die, Assassin! I will take that box off your corpse!"

Julius waved his hand, and the air stirred. Cain was blown away and burst through the door leading to the hallway. The two guards stationed there were bewildered, but they didn't have time to understand the situation as Cain quickly got up and cut off his arm.

His arm began to melt and turn into mist. Now in gaseous form, the mist attacked the two guards, entering their bodies and destroying them from the inside. Julius witnessed this as he stared at Cain and his newly regenerated arm.

"You appear to be a Grade 4. Who are you?"

"Why don't you ask that nephew of yours? He knew exactly who I was before I killed him, just like I will do to you!"

A loud boom spread like a sonic pulse, causing Cain to spit out a bit of blood as it was even able to hurt his internal organs.

"What. Did. You. Just. SAY!"

"Ow...how did you do that? You shouldn't be able to attack my internal organs using sound. They're pro-"

Cain found his head in the grasp of his opponent as he was slammed through the wall and entered the outside gardens.

Julius attacked with the ferocity of an animal, flailing Cain around like a ragdoll. After bashing him into a few stone statues, he pounded him into the ground, creating a giant crater.

Getting up, he tried to continue, "That really hurt. But like I was saying, my orga-"

Julius once again began to swing his fists as he bashed Cain again and again into the ground, expanding the crater.

At this point, the noise was filling the entire Palace, and everything was on alert. Cain's grand infiltration plan was in shambles.

As the Emperor punched over and over, Cain caught his two fists after taking a little more pummeling. He used this to get himself up and onto even ground. Even after all those attacks, his face was only a little dirty.

"Why don't you just let me kill you so you can meet Augustus? How's that sound?"

"Not before I kill you first, you murderer!"

Again, the air shifted, and Cain was blown away, now into the wall surrounding the Palace. Fascinatingly, it didn't break from him being thrown into it.

The Emperor again waved his hand as air itself came to his beck and call. The air rapidly built up on its way to Cain but it was stopped by a dense invisible wall, one made of air.

"Did you think tricks like this can work on me?"

"How can a deceitful murderer use that! How can you control microorganisms!"

"For someone who just spent his entire day murdering servant girls, I don't think you have the right to call me that."

The Emperor was still angry, but it seemed his intelligence returned, and his cautious nature began to show again. "I would've never thought the Defiant Slave would reach Grade 4 in just a decade as well as unlock this secret power. I should have snipped you when you were still a bud. Perhaps Augustus would still live."

"You live and you learn. Now let's continue this dance. I wish to see just how powerful the Emperor of the Salazar Empire truly is. I was disappointed when I saw you in that bleak state."