Prince of The Abyss

”Aether!” Lilith shouted. Just before the monster was about to go rogue, Aether turned his head to Lilith, but as he did, the Codex appeared...

’A relic transfer?’

”Take my blade for the time being; it’s stronger than whatever you have, and I have no use for it either way.” Aether’s eyes widened; Freedom was giving him his blade? Well... it was true that he didn’t need it himself, so if he thought about it, it was a smart thing to do. And while he loved Voidpiercer, he had missed the ability to cut things.

Aether nodded before he accepted the transfer.

[You have gained a new relic]

Summoning the blade, the first thing he noticed was its rough shape, it handle looked to be burned, melted, yet as he gripped it, it shaped around his hand and remained that way, perfectly shaped for his hand.

The blade itself was curved, like a katana, and made out of a beautiful blue crystal; if he had to say it was blue sapphire, a very strong one. The blade was very different from Voidpiercer, but what could you expect? One was a rapier, and the other a katana.

And while he had never used a blade like this, he was going to have to learn how to.

”Did you get a new blade? I don’t remember this one.”

Lilith scoffed, his marks starting to glow as the monster finally stopped its raging scream. ”That useless thing broke; it wasn’t that strong either way. I’m surprised you even lost to it.”

Aether had wanted to fight back, but before he could, the monster had rushed towards them. Gripping the blade, Aether used his manifestation to bind the blade to his hand; he didn’t want to lose it, and it wasn’t bound to him like Voidpiercer was, so he couldn’t lose it.

True, he could just summon it again, but that would take time, and they didn’t have time.

Watching the monster come for Lilith, Aether quickly dashed fowards, watching as the beast mindlessly swung its arms to hit Freedom, the boy doing good work to barely dodge the attacks, it was faster than both of them, so if they weren’t paying attention they were death, and when dodging, you really had no chance of attacking, you had to be bailed out by someone else.

As Aether approached, the monster noticed, turning too quickly to launch him away, but in doing so, he gave Lilith time to attack, striking its foot with great energy, making it stagger slightly, and giving Aether the opening to slice that very same leg. The monster screamed in pain, but at the same time it didn’t seem to be so affected, as before he could react.

Its arm came from the side, punching Aether directly, gushing blood out. Aether hit the wall; he clenched his chest before standing back on his feet. Did it hurt? A heck of a ton, and his feet were against it. But he had to keep going; Lilith couldn’t do it alone.

And luckily for him, it was focused on him, running to finish, him, yet before it could get him, chains wrapped around his arms and legs... his mind hurt, a lot, he had used his manifestation quite a bit after all, and the chains were probably weaker than ever, which was why hardly after they wrapped around the monster, he was already close to breaking them.

But he didn’t need them to hold; he had already done what he needed.

As the chains broke, Lilith unleashed a kick full of energy to the beast’s back, directly in the spine, pushing it forward. Seeing this, Aether thrusted the blade into its chest. The monster stood frozen for a second, before raising its head and screaming in his face. Aether disengaged the chains binding the blade to his hand, escaping just before the beast’s claws could rip him apart.

’Just how much is this beast going to take!’ Turning its head to Aether, it tried running to him, and it had been close to doing so; he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to escape if it got to, but Lilith was there, kicking and sweeping its leg with a burst of energy and making it fall to the ground.

Seeing this, Aether summoned his blade back. Seeing the perfect opportunity, the moment its chest hit the ground, Aether was already on it, cutting its back with the blade in a long slash.

Yet, as he finished, the arm of the monster twisted so that it could come for him. His eyes widened, but just before he could die, Lilith kicked the hand away, landing also on its back. Feeling both of them, it quickly got up, launching them into the air. Aether was falling back, while Lilith had managed to jump in the air before it could fully launch him.

...

And while falling, he saw the Codex again, requesting a relic transfer; before he could even fall, he had already accepted. Watching as Lilith summoned the blade, his marks glowing more than ever before, as he launched the blade in its mouth, coming out the other side, right next to him.

...

It stood frozen, lifeless, but standing... before falling.

Aether sighed in relief, lifting his hand in the air, a sign of victory. Lilith approached with a big smirk on his face, as he grabbed Aether’s hand and lifted him to his feet. ”That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Aether chuckled. ”Are you kidding me? I thought I was about to die at least ten times. If this was an actual fight where we could die, I definitely wouldn’t have done a lot of the things I did.”

Freedom nodded, pointing to the door at the end of the room. ”Our time stops once we pass through there. Come on, let’s not waste time.”

Aether sighed, following Lilith, a small smile appearing on his face as he passed through the door.

...

...

...

Coming back to the class, everyone else seemed to have paired up, discussing tactics if he had to guess, and making a plan. The moment they appeared, though, all eyes were on them. Even the teacher seemed surprised.

Walking over to them, she clapped. ”That was quite fast.” She turned to him. ”How was your first time?” Aether looked at the faces; they were all staring at him... it made him wonder what they were thinking, and more importantly, how many of them were bad.

”Um... fine?” Aether glanced back, not knowing what to say.

Before the teacher could respond, Lilith barged into their conversation. ”And I think that’s a new record.”

The teacher’s eyes widened, a bit confused. ”A record? But to put one, you would have to kill the...” She froze. ”You mean to say you two also beat the boss?” Aether could even hear the class gasp... was it that big of a deal?

Lilith quickly smirked. ”Of course, and you can look and see.”

She didn’t respond instantly; she just stood frozen before clearing her throat. ”Um, no, I trust your judgment. You can go take a seat on this side of the room until others finish joining you.”

They nodded, going to seats meant for those who had finished. He felt the eyes of the others continue to follow him as he made his way to a seat; he could hear their whispers.

...

He had done nothing else that day, nothing but wait for everyone else to finish. And since this class takes so long, it’s only two times a week, and when it is, it’s the only class. So you could say he had gotten things done quite fast. Apparently, from what he heard from Lilith, the place they were in and fought was the teacher’s domain, a place where she could do whatever she wanted; that was her affinity, a quite powerful one, if he had to say, too bad her powers were limited to that place.

Though sadly for him, he still had to meet up with Avius for his tutoring sessions, so he wasn’t quite done yet.

Knocking on the door to his office, he waited for the wizard to open the door. ”Ah, Aether, come in.”

He nodded, walking inside and taking a seat just like before, as Avius walked to his.

”You know, Aether, I’ve heard some interesting news.” Aether’s eyes widened, confused.

”What do you mean? What is it that you heard?” He didn’t think he had done something bad, but who knows...

...

”I heard you and Lilith have set a new record on one of the challenges in your class.” He said, smirking while taking a sip out of his cup of tea. Yet his eyes never left his.

Aether responded, a bit nervous. ”Um, yeah, I did... it was mostly him, I didn’t do that much.” A lie, of course, but what was he about to say?

...

”Aether... are you sure you’re just a Fragment Rank? Are you lying about your Rank?”