Prince of The Abyss

Aether dashed forward, Voidpiercer slipping through the crack between the helmet and the chest piece of the guard’s armor. Blood gushed out onto the metal piece as he fell to the ground.

From behind him, he felt a huge gust of energy, his hair being moved by the wind caused by it. ’He’s going all out.’ He sighed, taking out Voidpiercer. He blocked the incoming blade of another as he stared into his eyes, then grabbed it and pushed it right into the ground. Feeling the presence of a blade coming down from above.

Aether rolled out of the way before wrapping his chains around the neck of the guard, strangling him to death.

In all this time, the blast of energy continued, and he could hear and feel each one as it happened. Lilith seemed to also have no problem with them, which was to be expected. While he didn’t have the Codex to confirm it, they seemed weak, really weak.

Summoning his bow, Aether used it alongside his Abyssal matter to shoot and kill three more guards, all the ones remaining on his side, while also running out of the majority of his essence.

Turning back to Lilith, who was also almost finished. "Looks like I was first." He teased, as Freedom grabbed and crushed the head of the last guard with his bare hand.

"And would it have been the same if they had been stronger?" Lilith said, not fond of his joke, since, after all, both of them knew that if their opponents had been stronger, he would have finished much more slowly than Freedom.

Aether rolled his eyes. "Doesn’t matter; that is for that, this is for this. I beat you; now accept it."

Lilith sighed, walking over to him. "Fine, you were able to kill some weakling faster than me. Is that good enough for you?"

Aether nodded with an obvious smirk on his face. "Very pleasing." He stopped, actually trying to be serious. "How did you get here?" Aether asked, resting a hand on the back of his head.

"I mean, I got flung by that damn monster... no one expected such a powerhouse to exist, and then I found myself in some sort of garden. I didn’t spend much time in it, though; I just chose a random direction, trying to find someone." He smirked. "And as luck would have it, the one I found is none other than you." He flicked Aether’s forehead. "Quite funny, isn’t it?"

Aether pushed him away, without any actual sign of rage. "Shut up, there’s nothing funny about our situation... I mean, this whole place hates us." He clenched his fists. "They are aware of our existence, Lilith, of what we are, and our abilities. They hate our guts."

The Vessel’s eyes widened as he heard Aether’s words before he grabbed his chin with his hand. "I see, I’ll choose to believe what you are saying..." He sighed. "It’s definitely not a good position to be in; not only do we have to worry about monsters, but at the same time, also not to be discovered, which means we have to kill all the witnesses...’

Aether froze for a second, looking around at the now-empty city, which had been evacuated. "I don’t think that’s possible anymore... It’s your fault, you know?"

Lilith frowned. "And how was I supposed to know? I don’t have the ability to talk to shadows and find stuff out."

Aether scoffed. "I didn’t use my ability, you dumbass; I only used my words... and a threat... and a false promise, but you get the idea. I was smart about it, unlike you."

Walking over to one of the stands and grabbing a chair, Freedom sighed as he moved it back to Aether and sat down on it, which confused Aether, after all, who did that in the middle of such an important talk?

"Well, I didn’t encounter any humans outside the one from the village, and they started to question me... and I got mad..." He didn’t look Aether in the face, almost as if he was slightly embarrassed. "I was a bit paranoid; after all, I had just lost my whole team... speaking of it-"

"Reno is dead." Aether quickly answered his question even before he asked it. It was obvious he was going to ask about the others. But Reno was the only one he knew about... and that was because he had seen his head.

"I had found a small hut with a human inside. She had given me his head to eat... then she realized I was also a reader and attacked me, but since I’m here, I’m sure you know what happened."

Lilith didn’t respond instantly; instead, he continued staring at the dead bodies on the floor... "That is rather unfortunate." He finally spoke; his tone was visibly displeased, but at himself rather than anything. "He was someone with huge potential. I took a huge risk when I asked him to come, since he wasn’t that good defensively... and it seems I have paid for it."

Aether frowned, his mouth open. "They had a choice?!"

Lilith groaned, turning back to him. "Of course they did; they are Celestials, you are not. It’s as simple as that. But enough of that. It’s not important. Any ideas on how to get out?"

Aether sighed. As much as he wanted to complain, since he was still mad about being forced to enter this expedition, Lilith was right: at the moment, what was more important was getting out.

"I mean... we could just try to get back to where we came from, the border; maybe we can leave that way," Aether said, already seeing some flaws in it, but it was the only thing he could figure out.

Lilith shook his head. "That’s a horrible plan, and you know it. I mean, not only is that thing probably still there, and if not, it will come. But we have no idea in what direction it is.’

"Alright... I don’t have any other idea." Aether put it simply. "You don’t either, because there isn’t anything else, any other way that we are aware of."

...

"So you are trying to say that we should explore this cursed place?" Lilith asked, which was exactly what Aether had wanted him to do.

"That is the whole reason for this expedition, no?"

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