Prince of The Abyss

Aether didn’t move; his face didn’t twitch a muscle. Looking at his face, you would think that he wasn’t even affected by this, just a normal day.

”That had to hurt, eh?” The Abyss chuckled, resting his arm on his shoulder and leaning onto him. ”Though I hope you know that if you just stand here, you are going to die, let’s just get out of here, alright? That way you can have some time to think about it, everything... You need a break, even more now.”

The Abyss smiled, starting to walk towards the exit of the City... but after some steps, he stopped, and he didn’t hear anything. Looking back, Aether had not moved, but his eyes had, staring at him.

”I need your powers,” Aether said, the tone in his voice showing no emotion.

The Abyss’s eyes widened before shaking his head.

”You have to understand that half control is not something that a vessel should use. Among all vessels, the person who used it most only used it two times, because he did. You already matched that record. True, by what I see, your soul is a lot stronger, which is why it has not been broken by mine, but still, a third time will be too much. I need you alive.”

...

”I wasn’t asking....” He said, summoning Voidpiercer and raising it towards his neck. ”It’s either I die now, or you give me your powers, and we’ll see if I survive or not.”

The Abyss stared in shock, frowning. ”Have you gone crazy?” But with each moment he wasted, Aether brought the tip of the blade closer to his neck. ”Fine, fine.... I’ll let you use half control again.”

Aether let Voidpiercer back into his mark. ”I don’t want half control... I don’t need your help... I don’t want your help. Just give me your powers.”

The Abyss laughed, thinking he was joking, but then he realized that at the moment, the brat would never lie. ”I can’t do that, it’s insanity. Half control exists for a reason. If I were to just give you my powers, your soul will never survive. In half control, I’m an anchor to help with it, but without me, your souls will be destroyed alongside your body.”

...

...

Aether frowned. ”Does it look like I care at all? Just give me your damn powers!” He shouted.

”You have really gone mad. You better not die.” The Abyss said, disappearing in the air.

...

...

Aether waited... until he felt that rush of energy, that power rush through his body, through his threads, filling them with powers a mere Reader should never have been able to feel. It was insane for someone like him to use the power of a god.

Raising his shirt, he saw how a black string ran through his body, wrapping around his organs, and coming up to his eye... he felt strong, but also... weird.

And when he saw a crack in his body, with a white glow coming from beneath it, he instantly figured out what it was. His soul is being destroyed.

...’ Then I’d better start.’

...

...

Aether arched his body, as if from his spine, Abyssal matter rushed out, like branches of a tree, high into the air, killing tens, maybe even hundreds of monsters in the sky/

[You have killed-]

[You have killed-]

[You have killed-]

[You have killed-]

[You have killed-]

...

He summoned Voidpiercer as he dashed down the streets like a madman, spikes darting from his body, killing monsters everywhere he went. It was a bloodbath. The streets were filled with blood and bodies, either from monsters or humans.

...

And he wasn’t stopping until all the monsters in the City were dead. Though with each second, he felt his chest burn more and more, as his body began to crack with each second that passed... yet he didn’t even notice, he was too caught up in killing.

It went to the point, he started taking even more power from the Abyss, its matter starting to take over his body, as it wrapped around his feet and hands. If anyone were to see him right now, they would not believe he was a human, but rather one of the monsters. And for good measure.

He really did not feel human at the moment.

With his speed and with the help of his spikes, it had been easy to clear the streets of the weak monsters. What was left before him was something that could only be described as a nightmare. Guts and organs splattered everywhere, the whole city painted in red, and with a metallic smell burning your nose.

... And yet it gave him pleasure.

Knowledge Rank — [Echo]

>2000/2000 knowledge shard

...

[You feel your instinct evolving, to move on to the next rank, you have to learn to fight like a Beast]

Normally, he would be ecstatic to hear this, but at the moment, he really didn’t care.

...

But... with all the weak monsters gone... what was he going to do now?

...

...

Among the monsters that had attacked the City, from the Shadows, since they didn’t dare lie to him now, there were three leaders... he was going to kill them all.

Aether dragged Voidpiercer on the floor as he met face to face. At first, you would believe it was a mountain of scales and muscles crawling across the battlefield, but it was a beast, and one really strong. Its body alone rivaled a fortress in size, supported by six massive legs that dug trenches in the earth each time it walked. It was covered in scales, as powerful as shields.

But the body was not the important part, but rather what was about it.

Six enormous serpentine necks rose from its shoulders, each ending in a different dragon head. Each looking like its own element.

A gigantic beast, almost as tall as the whole city, outside of the tower. No way a Reader or anyone in the army would have been able to take down such a monster, so how the heck had they been supposed to win this war?

...Aether frowned, as from his back, two black wings emerged, breaking through his back, and making blood splot out.

He rose into the air, dogging rays of fire and ice, and the heads started to attack him. He had to make sure he wasn’t hit by thunder, while also being worried about poison somehow getting onto him.

...

But how would a hydra compare to the powers of a god?

Aether drew his blade black before thrusting it, watching as Abysall matter shot out in a powerful, giant beam, disintegrating the whole body of the monster.

In one hit.

”Are you mad, you bastard?! You were never meant to take this much power. I’m not even sure how you’re still alive right now! Stop it, this moment.”

But he didn’t listen.

The sky was hollow, once more, the streets were painted in the blood of monsters he was this close.... though it was true that the cracks in his body had gotten really bad, to the point he was glowing in the dark... but at the moment it wasn’t the moment to worry.

Aether flew, piercing monsters and killing them as he headed towards the next leader of the war.

Among those he killed were the cyclops, a giant tree, and the starved sentinel.

...

The screaming sound of a bird is never good to hear... though right now, he couldn’t hear it any other way than music. The second leader was a giant talon, with the powers to control storms, but Aether pierced through its body before it could run away, making its blood and organs splur out into the air, washing over the whole city.

...

’One more.’ He said, watching as his left arm dissipated in the air. His body was like a living hell, burning like never before, but he was this close...

And the last wasn’t hard to stop.

Towering in the sky, hundreds of meters in the sky, you could only see his blade and his body, but one thing was for sure: he was as strong as they got. Aether watched as it raised its slashing, and with that slash, it cut his legs off, alongside cutting the whole city in half.

Aether frowned as more spikes appeared from his back, heading to stab the monster, only to be cut by its slash. The amount of power this monster had, to keep up with the power of a god...

He needed more power. Aether covered his whole body, only leaving small cracks on his face. In the rest, his whole body was drowning in the matter. He rushed to the leg of the monster, slashing through it, even if his blade wasn’t sharp on the sides, at the moment, his powers were enough to make up for it. He rushed up the monster’s body, hundreds of meters in the sky, until he reached the head, and the moment the blade left the body of the giant, giant spikes came out of the monster’s body, where he had cut him before.

[You have killed a Harbinger Titan]

...

[Your instinct has gone beyond humanity, taking away at himself bit by bit until it was a hollow shell, now filled by the instincts of a beast driven by battle and victory. You now share the same instinct as the things you kill.]

...

...

[Your Knowledge Rank has ascended to the rank of [Beast]]

...

...

...

Aether slowly descended to Earth as his wings went back into his body. He limped trying to walk, forgetting that his legs had been taken off. He looked at his body, which was broken, white, and glowing from hundreds of places in his body. His soul was hurting... a lot.

...

He continued to drag himself for a little while before his body collapsed on the ground.

...

...

...

”One second... You were one second away from death, you brat....”

The Abyss said frowning, as he crossed his arms.