Prince of The Abyss

Aether took a deep breath, looking through the unwavering fog. He clenched his sword by its hilt as he took a step forward.

"Ace, is it? That's the first."

He wondered what kind of powers he had. What powers did any of the knights have? It was hard to tell, since each of their paths just referred to their card, meaning their abilities are related to that card. But what could Ace mean?

He also didn't know if The Ace had any other trials besides the first.

If he really thought about it, he really only knew about one of the Knights, that being The Jack. And he didn't even know his abilities. But, he had a feeling that J. hadn't set up any other trial. He wanted to be killed after all.

But he wasn't going to fight him, not now.

From what he heard from Azel, The Ace serving as number one for whatever reason, was the weakest, and The King is the supposed strongest... and a Harbinger. So, he will have to make history yet again.

He also wondered if killing all of them would even get his rank to ascend.

Azel had also told him that whenever a challenger wins. If that were to ever happen, they would be allowed to rule over the zone they've conquered, which worked perfectly with his plan of changing the Second Ring.

He had to admit, it was hard to see anything this far down. If he weren't used to it, he would have died a long time ago from the lack of oxygen. It also made it so he had no idea how much more he had until he reached whatever was next.

If he didn't have his lantern, his marks would have probably activated a while ago. He didn't want to feel that pain again, and definitely not in the middle of a fight... but how was he even going to do it? Not only did he have no experience with this type of weapon, but he was outclassed and probably outranked, too. But he also had to fight with the lantern.

Things were really not looking good for him.

He didn't even know how to get his sword back inside his arm, so he was stuck walking around with it. Which was really inconvenient.

But it didn't matter. He was going to do it.

He wasn't promised for nothing.

As big a disadvantage as he had. His sword was created to do exactly what he needed. He could just pierce them one time to get the poison ready, then just survive. If he's lucky, then maybe two or three times.

And, if he was on the verge of dying, he could use the rage of his sword to get one more hit. Or two at that. So it depended on whether he could get the first hit. Which was hard to do since he had no experience with a rapier or anything close to it.

His teacher had taught him how to survive with the blade by deflecting others' attacks. To be unhonorably, as after an enemy attacks, and it gets deflected to use his feet to make them lose balance. But he doubted he could use it with this blade. So he was forced to either learn it on the go, and until then just wave the blade around. Or use the other blade, which wasn't even a relic.

"The former it is."

It was impossible to win with a normal blade.

...

...

After walking for what felt like an eternity, he saw a building far away in the mist. Rushing to it the minute he saw it.

It looked just like the one he had seen in his zone. Just that above the door, stood an Ace of Spades. As he approached to touch the door, it opened for him. Only darkness on the other side. But as frightening as it was, especially for him, since he had the marks. He walked inside. The doors closing behind him, trapping him inside.

But luckily for him, the light turned on. To show him that he wasn't the only one in the room. There was also a dog with two heads, with so many teeth that they escaped its mouth. There were even some on their neck. If he counted correctly, there were eight legs and five tails.

"Shit."

Aether managed to curse last second, as the dog dashed forward at him, hitting its head against the wall as it missed him. It didn't seem to be quite intelligent, which probably meant its rank was low. It was a good sign. Maybe he could actually defeat it.

He clenched the hilt of his blade with both of his hands, putting his feet next to each other, and positioning the blade just above his waist. He waited as the monster ran to him again, trying to bite him. Stepping to the side just last second. Putting his strength in one foot, so he could turn to the beast quickly, and raising his blade, he hit it with the edge of the blade.

But as it did, he felt like he had tried to cut steel. He hadn't expected the recoil to send his blade back up, and with one hand off the hilt, as the other barely absorbed the impact.

Had it been one of its abilities? To make its body as strong as steel?

He didn't have time to think, since his attempt had given the monster time to turn back and head to him again. And he hadn't regained his balance.

He cursed under his breath as the beast jumped to bite him.

With all his muscles, he turned his body just enough for it to miss, as he fell onto the ground. Which had damaged the wood of his lantern.

Not wasting any time, he got up on his feet, rushing to the beast and kicking it with his foot right into the wall. It had hurt, like hell. He even thought that he had broken his foot. But he had it right where he wanted; he had to force himself.

He rushed over at the beast, and drawing his sword back, as he thrusted its tip right into the crack between both of the heads. Killing it.

[You have killed a Reader Fragment, Two-Headed Canine]

[Your knowledge grows stronger.]

Aether stuck his blade into the ground, using it as support.

His breathing was heavy... but he was excited. He had won his first fight alone. Had it been with a monster the same class and rank as him, had he only probably won because his blade was of the Seeker rank... maybe. But still, he had killed his first monster.

But he had probably broken his foot in the meantime. And his lantern had also endured some damage. Which could have been avoided if he had just put it down.

The question was if he was going to continue forward...

His foot was broken, and so if he went to fight with the Knight, he would probably lose. But at the same time, he expected this to be a trial, so if he left, would he find another next time?

But if that was the case... couldn't he keep on killing them to get stronger?

"As if. One mistake and I'm dead."

He didn't want to leave. He had just gotten here, and was he really going to go home after the first trial? Second, counting the mist. He coudnt. But if he didn't, he would have to fight again, and it wasn't set in stone that there wasn't another trial before The Ace. So was it even worth it?

It would be better if he came back after he rested, and his foot got better. That way, he could come back, now knowing how to beat the beast easily.

He took one last look at the stairs that led to the next floor. If his vision didn't lie, he was able to figure out that it had three in total. Did that mean there was another monster on the second floor, and then The Ace rested on the third?

But the one in his zone was gigantic... what did that mean?

Either way. While he wasn't going to climb and challenge the second floor, he did think that it might be a good idea to see what he was dealing with. So he slowly made his way up the stairs, using his sword as support for his foot. He let the door open. Where he saw only darkness, yet again. But this time, he put his lantern inside.

Which, even if it wasn't doing that much work. He could still see... five of the same beasts as on the first floor.

..."Well, damn it."

How was he supposed to deal with five of them at the same time? He got injured from fighting one, but all of them.

Even if he knew how to do it. When would he even get the time to try and pierce all of them?

This... was going to be a nightmare.