Prince of The Abyss

Entering the arena, he felt the light blind his eyes; he frowned, raising his arm to cover the sun, before looking at the crowd. It was much smaller than before, but it is to be expected; it was a battle between a Shattered and an Unranked, and while people of his rank did interest some people, most wanted to see what the high rankers of the factions were doing.

Plus, people of the Unranked were usually used by the higher ranks as a way to get wins easily, so what was the point of watching, if the person the watch would die soon either way.

After all, all it took was being challenged by one of the Crowns, and he was dead.

Adapting to the sun, he looked to his opponent, a scrawny man who looked to be in his forties. He was wearing ragged clothes, which made him wonder about his origin. By his age, he could make that he was probably a father, and by his clothes, someone who didn’t have a lot of money.

But still, a family, so why would he sign up here?

Well, he didn’t; he didn’t think he would willingly be here. Instead, he had probably done something illegal for money, and was caught, and now he was here.

Seeing the rusted dagger in his hands, he didn’t even know if he could cut anything with that small blade.

This explained the lack of audience even more... who would want to see a match that is already settled? I mean, look at the guy.

”A Reader Fragment...”

Aether looked to his side, where he saw the Abyss... apparently, this guy had the knowledge to see the powers of people and be able to translate them into the power system of the Codex, which was quite useful, so that he could know whether to take a fight or not.

”You should be able to do this easily, as a Reader at the Enlighment point, and as an Echo, even more if you were to use your own blade... but that would be disrespectful... wouldn’t it. To the blade.”

Aether looked down at his arm, at the mark that had cursed him. It was true. To use the blade for such a fight, the same blade that had killed a Breaker...

He clenched his fist before letting out a deep sigh, and taking the rapier gifted to him by Kael.

The blade was truly beautiful, not one you would usually see, which was why he wasn’t surprised by the gasp let out by the crowd, to see such a blade in a place like this?

The old man also looked surprised, though, it was more as if he was already defeated, his arms hanging by his side.

Truly, he didn’t want to kill the old man, but his training mattered more than his life.

...

’When you put a value on a human life, it becomes worthless.’ He chuckled.

And took his stance.

’Freedom... adaptation... what is that supposed to mean?’

What is a style built on freedom supposed to look like, to do whatever you want? But can you do that with a rapier? It’s a very powerful blade, but one with great restrictions... so how did that work?

But at the same time... it was also what Clarisse had said when she taught him her style, do let freedom take over after parrying.

So what did that freedom mean to him at that moment...

He took a deep breath.

Putting one of his feet slightly forward, and pointing the blade low to the ground.

Watching this, the old man noticed that his guard was low at the moment, after all, you can’t really cut with a rapier, or if you do, they aren’t going to be that powerful as a thrust.

So he dashed forward with his dagger, trying to stab him.

He waited until the tip of the dagger was about to stab his eye, and that was when his hand twisted on the hilt of the blade, and without bending his elbow, he raised his hand, together with the rapier, and watched as the rapier... pierced through the floor of his mouth.

The man instantly died, as blood started flowing down the floor.

”...A style that doesn’t go by the rules, who looks honor in the face... and does the most unhonorable thing possible... the most disrespectful thing.”

He pulled out the blade, letting the body collapse on the ground, and looked as crimson blood washed the ruby blade. Painting it with its color.

Though... he had to say, the blade didn’t look as good as Voidpiercer when it was covered in blood.

He chuckled before looking back and going back through the gates.

The crowd stood behind him.

...

Walking through the hall, he looked over his shoulder, where the Abyss rested.

”Hey, what rank is this blade?”

...

”Around the Reader Demon rank, though, ranks for weapons and armor in other worlds, that aren’t relics, of course, don’t give abilities; it just makes them stronger. So more like a human would be appraised.”

A Devil rank? The same as Voidpiercer... of course, the blade was still a lot weaker than the one sitting inside his hand, since there is a big gap between a Reader and a Seeker, even when the Reader is at the Enlightenment ranks. His battle with Lilith was the best representation of that fact.

Walking over to the board again, he looked to see who was going to be his next challenge.

Usually, low ranks like him had to battle every week to not be killed, but they could fight as many times a day, just the fact that you had to wait your turn, and the gap between fights was going to be big, since there were a lot of people in the arena that still had to do their weekly fight.

”How strong do you want it to be?” The Abyss asked

Aether picked up a poster, examining it.

”Another Reader Fragment, I don’t think it’s a good idea to fight a Echo with an unfinished style.”

The Abyss nodded. ”True, but still, you should know that your blade could probably deal with it if something goes wrong, just infect your opponent with the poison and wait.”

Aether put the poster back and sighed.

”And what’s the point in that? I don’t improve my style if I do that.”

...

”If you say so... but keep in mind, this blade isn’t a relic, it will break... so be careful, since these tricks leave you vulnerable, and if your blade breaks while you try one.

You die.”

...

Aether picked out another poster, with an opponent that seemed good enough, but before going to register for the fight. He looked down at his hands... which were shaking.

”I know that.”

...

...

Aether was in the arena again, just this time in the stands. It was a battle between two of the Named ranks. People quite high in the ranks, and some who have decided to stay in this wicked place.

He was, of course, sitting in the lowest stands, after all, someone like him, even if he had won a battle, he didn’t have a faction to give him privileges, to watch from higher up. He wasn’t allowed to join a house, ever.

But he did know that he was going to be the target of many if he continued like this.

After all, he was a danger to their new recruits, so why not take a cockroach like him out with a tiger?

The crowd cheered as he watched the battle, watching the styles of the fighters. Truly, he didn’t have the skill to copy any of their techniques, and neither did he care to learn them. After all, they didn’t seem to have... that ’freedom’ he was looking for.

In the end, the battle ended, and by the banner the winner was wearing, since after joining a faction, you must have their symbol somewhere, he was from the Crimson Ledger... which, by his guess and his personal opinion, were the stronger, and more importantly, the ones with the most authority.

And the ones with the most wicked principles.

’Makes sense.’

Either way, the winner didn’t really matter to him; after all, it wasn’t like he was going to challenge any of them soon.

...

Yet as he was about to leave, he felt an intense gaze upon him, looking around, he found it to come from the winner, and the recruit of the Crimson Ledger...

And the smile on his face only confirmed his speculation from earlier even more.

They already wanted him dead.

Gone.

Aether frowned at the fighter, leaving the stands behind him.

He didn’t know when they were going to come for him, but he did know something: if he had a fight already planned, they couldn’t challenge him.

So he just had to challenge as many people as possible, so that they couldn’t fight him.

That way they couldn’t kill him...

And he was going to kill all their new recruits one by one.