Prince of The Abyss

The world felt strange, as if something was incredibly wrong, ever since the last guardian was killed. He had expected something great to happen after its death, but nothing. The only change was that there were many people alive, since he had killed most of the villagers. The only people alive were those who were on expeditions when he came to them.

One thing he could say was that the place was filled with Underworlders; they dominated this earth now, so it was to be expected that there would be so many more, but still. It was also not that good for them, since they didn’t seem to stop attacking, even if it was them.

The only thing to do was to go back to the small house where they met the voice, so that they could figure out what was going on, if it had worked, or if everything they had done was for nothing.

His wounds had taken some time to heal, but after all, the Dragon had been a Seeker Demon from what Sena told him, which was insane, at least in his eyes; he would have never thought he was going to kill one soon when he fought the Wendigo with Lilith.

But it definitely lived up to its name. If Sena hadn’t been with him, he would have been dead many times; he barely avoided death because of her string, and after, if she hadn’t come at the right time to kill it, he would probably not have been able to finish it off and then would have been killed because he was out of Essence completely.

Once his wounds had been healed, they had left to get back to the Dark forest, but they knew that it was going to take a while, and they didn’t plan to make a lot of stops at the other villages, so they had taken some food from the Inn to make later when they needed something to eat.

And who would have thought that the way back would have been so much worse than the way to the last region? With so many Underworlders, they had to stop and fight them; so many times, it had been getting on his nerves. They couldn’t walk for a day without being attacked, and him having to fight, but he also wanted a break, and these guys definitely didn’t want to give it to him.

After all... he was planning on fighting something that was probably even stronger than the Dragon, so he needed the rest.

Even with having to stop once in a while to fight, they had reached the Dark Forest. It had been more than a month since they had come here, close to two; how many bad memories he had in this place from their first fight. He had been far less experienced when he had fought the Jaguar; he had improved, and he had found a technique that was really helpful. Abyssal Arrow was great after all, plus it had the small poison because of his bow.

Finding the hut they had first entered on their first day hadn’t been that hard; even if it had been a long time, they still had some memories of where it was, and even then it wasn’t hidden, so it wasn’t hard to find.

Entering it, he felt weird, really weird, as if something had been waiting for them.

Making his way to the trap door, his hand moved hesitantly before quickly opening it. But nothing, there was nothing... at least that was before a black, shadowy hand appeared. The Voice raised itself, showing itself. Its body was like some sort of shadow, but he knew it wasn’t one; it was different. Its red eyes took a lot of attention and gave him a really weird feeling. Two horns rested on its head... ’A demon... how unexpected.’ Aether sighed, putting on a smile.

”We have been able to finish our goal, Father.” He bowed down, which made Sena’s eyes widen, before Aether’s hand moved to make her bow too.

The Voice chuckled. ”I see, I can feel it, my powers... they are all back. How beautiful. I didn’t expect you two to do it so fast; I’m proud of you two.”

...

”Now we can finally rule the world together... or at least that’s what I wished, but looking at you... I can still feel the desire to kill, your need to hold the blade, and fight.”

Aether’s eyes widened. He had not expected the voice to be able to see right through him and notice his true intention under his mask. He had tried his best to disguise them, and he thought it worked; the only thing he didn’t consider was that maybe it had a special sense.

’Well, at least this will make it a bit easier.’

He laughed, raising his head, and let go of Sena, who had wanted to punch him because he had forced her to bow, but knew it wasn’t the moment. He stared into the Voice’s soulless red eyes. ”That’s right, Father, my hunger for killing powerful beings has not been fulfilled, and will not be until I kill the strongest, meaning

You.”

The Voice sighed; it seemed disappointed, annoyed. Which had surprised him; he hadn’t expected it to actually feel something. But I guess even some demons can feel emotions for people.

”It’s unfortunate. I wanted to rule the world together, but it seems like you two have other plans... Tell me, do you really think you can defeat me? I’m someone with a divine blessing, not just anyone.”

’A divine blessing?’ Aether’s eyes widened before smiling. ’That’s even better... it makes things way easier; Voidpiercer is going to have a field day.’

Summoning his blade, Aether didn’t move from his spot, just continuing to stare into its eyes, challenging it. ”Won’t be the first time.’

But it will be the first time without his path, the first time he fought a God with Voidpiercer without using Promise Child... it was time to see just how much the Path did for him.