Prince of The Abyss

After entering the room, Aether had to say he was quite confused... the floor was grass, green like emerald; it looked fake, and it probably was. But how had this happened? Why was he here in the first place? Looking around, the walls were made out of stone, with only some lights above.

There was a closed door at the end... which probably opened once you killed the monsters in the room.

’The heck?’ Aether’s eyes widened, as not even seconds after he entered, a grey monster lunged at him, its hands made out of axes, coming to cut his head in two. Moving it out of the way, he watched as it hit the wall, doing nothing to the stone.

”Be careful, Aether; these are Seekers’ fragments.” Lilith laughed madly as he dashed forward into the pit of the other monsters. There were five in the room, one on him, and four more that Lilith had gone for.

These monsters... they were humanoid, with their bodies grey. Their limbs were long really long, both feet and arms- the axes on their hands he had already said, but they had saws on each side of their chest, spinning, not allowing you to get close. Their head also looked distorted, making them seem as if they had horns. And eyes, they had many of them; instead of two on each side, they had ten on each side.

Aether dashed away, watching as the monster followed him instantly.

It was fast, really damn fast, faster than he had fought as a Reader... it almost matched his speed. But he could feel it... he was still faster.

’So this is how it feels to fight a Seeker; my last time wasn’t this hard, but can you really count those as fair fights? I mean, I had exactly what I needed to beat them.’

The monster slashed sideways, trying to cut his head off his neck. Aether ducked, glancing at Lilith, who had just blown a hole through the chest of one of the monsters... and damn, did he have a crazy face on right now.

Aether screamed out. ”Hey! Are there any cameras in this place?” Aether said while barely dodging another one of the monsters’ attacks.

Lilith turned his head at his surprise, as his head was inches away from being hit by an axe. ”Huh? No, why?” He laughed. ”Oh yeah, you’re still trying to keep your identity hidden. Don’t worry, even if the professor could, she would be too occupied making the other teams, and probably still recovering from the shock, so go all out, little Devil!”

Aether frowned. ’Little Devil? What the heck is that nickname?... Like, come on, Aeth, and now this- why do I always get the worst ones!’

Aether watched as the monster trying to kill him raised his head, giving him an opening to test his new toy.

Aether raised his left hand in front of him, watching as chains gushed out from it onto the arm of the monster. Gripping the hand chain with the same hand, Aether pulled down on it with all his force, making the monster lose his balance and stagger forward, and giving him time to summon Voidpiercer and drive the blade into its face.

The monster screamed. It hadn’t died. Which made him wonder just how strong Lilith’s attack that from a punch, he had blown a hole. ’Crazy guy,’ Aether thought, before using his foot to sweep the monster’s feet and making it fall on its back.

Once down, Aether pulled Voidpiercer out, preparing to deliver the finishing blow, but before he did, he saw the monster’s hand come from him with the side of his eye. Gritting his teeth, Aether stepped back and let the monster swing before letting his chains wrap around its body.

’This would have probably been harder... if I wasn’t two damn ranks above this guy.’

Aether thrusted Voidpiercer into the heart of the beast, killing it.

Looking back, there were only two monsters left. In the time he had killed one, this guy had killed two, and he had taken four at the same time.

’And I expected to beat him as a Reader... yeah, no chance.’

Though he noticed something: when Lilith’s marks started to glow and he prepared an attack, using the force of his affinity, the monsters noticed, as they stepped back. They weren’t dumb; they noticed his patterns. If he had to say, this was his ability, to unleash extremely powerful energy forces with his body, yet he had to charge them, and when they were fully charged, all his marks alongside his hair and eyes glowed. So it wasn’t hard to see.

Normal punches weren’t that strong, so there was no reason for him to use them. And since his punches were already too strong, there was no need for him to wield a sword; it was only for show. ’Which meant he had beaten us... while playing around.’

But the problem was hitting them; the monsters were fast, and he too, but they knew when his attacks were charged, so they knew when to get away...

If only Lilith had the ability to restrict their movement.

Aether blinked twice... ’Did this bastard know or something?’ He frowned deeply, before sighing.

... ’Yet I’m not sure how to use my chains on them. I could try to keep them guided by pulling as I did with mine... but they still had a high chance of dodging...’

His manifestation was formless; he could make it into anything he wanted. It was an extension of his body, his powers... he had only taken a liking to chains because not only were they helpful, but they were easy to shape; they weren’t anything complicated, so not only would he not use as much essence, but his core would also not hurt as much.

But... they didn’t have to be chains at first.

A soft smiled apeared on his face.

From his foot, pure Abyssal Matter dripped on the floor, in its normal form, as a liquid, it slowly flowed to where Lilith was fighting one of the monsters, charging up his attack, the monster noticed, ready to step back, but as he was about to, the Abyssal matter from the ground near its foot changed into chains and wrapped around him, binding him to the ground. It looked at his foot, trying to get out, but he couldn’t. It then quickly looked at Lilith, or at least tried, as before it could, Lilith already made a hole through its chest.

The monster stood, dead, but standing. Lilith glanced at him through the hole he had just created, smiling and waving at Aether.

He sighed, seeing this... and even more after seeing that the boy didn’t see the axe coming from behind him, for his head.

”Behind you, dumbass.”

Lilith grinned. ”Oh, I know.” After saying that, he lifted his hand behind him, his marks lighting up, as a sword burst through the monsters and into his hand. The beast fell down. Dead.

Aether just stared, dumbfounded, before dismissing his manifestation.

The door to the next room opened as Aether slowly walked to Lilith.

”See, I knew we would make a new team. The next room, if I remember, is a maze.”

Aether’s eyes lit up. ”So then you will finally tell me why you chose me instead of Iris? What is your plan, Lilith?”

Freedom looked surprised at him, while they walked into the next room, which had these massive walls that didn’t let them see. Indeed, this was a maze... however, because of how tall they were, only a bit of light got to them... ’Meaning we have shadows... that’s actually great.’

Aether looked at one of the shadows, moving his hand in a motion asking where to go. The shadow massaged its chin before pointing in a direction, before leading the way.’

”So are you going to answer?” Aether asked, glancing back.

Lilith tilted his head. ”I just wanted to get a higher record, and Iris doesn’t help me that much. I always chose her until now because we are friends, so we know each other well, and our abilities, but also because there was no one better... Sena was a second, but she isn’t usually in class; I was surprised she came today... but it was pretty evident she came for you.”

Aether frowned. ”You still haven’t answered my question.”

Lilith sighed. ”Isn’t it obvious, Aether? I need support, and while sure, healing and me being more powerful is of course good, it’s good for anyone; I needed something more for... me. Which is why I took a risk with you; I knew the Abyss was formless, and though you might know a way to deal with the monsters... and I was right, you helped me kill them much faster than before.”

He smirked.

”Plus, this ability of yours to talk to shadows, right? It’s quite good...”

Lilith glanced up, staring into his eyes.

”So not only can you fight for yourself so I don’t have to worry, but you can also scout and gain information, and help make my fights easier. Don’t you think you fit my support role quite well...

Aether?”