Athelei watched the sleeping Jack like a cat watching humans in the dead of night.
Minutes passed as the angel controlled wisps of grey to explore his surroundings.
"All roads lead to a coliseum... This is a path different from the usual Trials."
No matter what Athelei's wisps did, moving through walls, sinking into the earth, and simply moving normally through the many corridors, a coliseum would always appear.
It was a mystery he had yet to crack.
None of the corridors changed. His map was still as accurate as ever, but his destinations seemed inevitable. Passing through a coliseum seemed to be a must.
Even if he went past one, he would discover another, almost identical coliseum somewhere else. What was baffling was that there were currently a dozen coliseums within Athelei's senses at this very moment.
All of which had appeared on the edge of his control range.
"...Curious as ever," Athelei muttered. A small smile had appeared on his face as he poked around even further.
He let time pass him by.
"Urgh," A groan eventually sounded out from Jack.
The bladesman's eyelid shot open in anxious shock. His iris quivered, out of focus, as if he was peering into the void.
"Orien? Are you there?"
Athelei tilted his head. "I'm here. How are you?"
"I need to go back to the place you found me. Can you help me go there?" Jack's remaining eye was still unfocused. His body kept twitching.
"Hm? Sure..." A few suspicions flew through Athelei's mind. At first, Jack wished to relocate, but now after hours of rest, he wished to return? Right after waking up at that...
Athelei directed some of his wisps to the coliseum he had found Jack in.
'This...'
Surprise found its way into Athelei's expression as he sensed what was inside the coliseum. Or rather, what wasn't inside the coliseum.
'Where did all those Cave Spider bodies go...?'
.
.
.
Enhanced by his Will and a Hunter pattern, Athelei dragged Jack back to the coliseum he found the young man in. It didn't take long to make the return trip through a few corridors and turns.
Now, they stood at the highest seats available where a doorway loomed behind them.
'It really is absolutely empty...' With his dark vision, Athelei looked around.
He saw with his own eyes how the carcass-filled space was now as clean as an ancient underground coliseum could be.
Dust covered the stands while patches of moss grew in some moist corners. Cracks were present on the smooth stone floor, not the result of battle but by the wear of time.
"It always does this," Jack spoke up, seemingly sensing Athelei's stare.
He did not question how the young boy could see through the darkness, as he too had the ability to see clearly. Jack had yet to discover that the coliseum was actually dimly lit. There were only four torches placed in every cardinal direction, giving light to those who enter the coliseum's stands.
Jack only continued speaking.
"I was fighting in rounds. Every time I won, there always seemed to be another round coming. Several times, I would win all the rounds in one coliseum and be directed into a new one."
Jack gestured to the centre of the coliseum.
"There's a mark there. It's a drawing of a spider. At first, though, it was only a head—"
Athelei looked to where Jack had gestured to. Indeed there was a faint image of a spider, but this one was nearly complete.
Eight legs, an abdomen, a head, but only seven eyes. Moreover, the image itself was significantly large, about a few metres in diameter if a circle were drawn around it.
"—So, the drawing would change every time you won?" he guessed the rest of Jack's words.
"That's about right, but not quite." Jack half nodded, half shook his head, "It was only when I won against all the rounds of one coliseum was a victory considered."
Athelei watched as Jack scanned his own wounds and breathed in deeply.
"I have another round to beat... Just one more..." Jack muttered these words under his breath. But it did not escape Athelei's special senses, making the angel glance over.
Jack's single, remaining eye, had yet again lost focus.
Athelei then watched as Jack crawled forward like a hungry worm. His only remaining limb dragged him forward with growing haste.
'It's as if he's... possessed,' Athelei felt the giant-horned ram tattoo on his wrist itch as if replying to his thoughts.
Squinting in thought, the angel sat down. A cloud of dust was kicked up by his baggy clothes and weapon sheaths. He was going to see where all this would lead.
Jack then arrived at the centre. He stood in the middle of it all—in the middle of the coliseum and the spider image beneath his feet.
Click, click, click...
The faint sound of creepy crawlies began echoing out of the dark crevices. Athelei sent his fog wisps into there, instantly causing a chill to run through his spine.
'A sea of spiders,' Athelei inhaled sharply. 'Coming from seemingly nowhere...'
He had already ignored the goosebumps that had appeared on his skin and dug deeper with his wisps, but no answers appeared before him.
'Something is clouding my senses. That is for sure. It is stopping me from pinpointing a target to Inspect...'
Suddenly, Athelei heard a warcry.
"DIE!"
While he had been seeking secrets, the Cave Spiders had already fully emerged from the large crevices in the stadium's stone floor.
Thousands of clicks rang out each second, creating a buzz in Athelei ears. Jack's cry was a fleeting sound, instantly drowned out.
Shiing!
The grating sound of metal.
A sword was unsheathed and warmth suddenly blossomed, like flowers in spring.
At this moment in time, Jack looked like a small canoe in the middle of a hurricane-ravaged ocean. His sword was his paddle as he fought to stay afloat in the sea of enemies.
Waves and waves spilt onto the pitiful canoe, and yet with discreet flashes of silver, it always managed to re-emerge.
The dozens of waves did not sink the canoe.
Hundreds of waves did nothing as well.
Only a silver light kept growing fiercer and fiercer with every suspenseful moment.
Athelei counted the number of Cave Spiders being slain.
'16,823.... 17,476... 20,000... Still no residual consciousnesses in sight,' He thought to himself as he watched.
These creepy crawlies were nothing but—
'Puppets. Biological puppets with no mind to call their own.'
Athelei continued to watch in bewilderment as Jack fought without end. The carcasses of the bladesman's enemies became an island on which he could prop himself. The lack of three limbs did nothing to stop his desperate struggle.
Wounds had once again accumulated on his body.
'...Sir Jack is now completely blind,'
At some point, the bladesman had lost his remaining eye.
Things weren't looking good... And yet Jack kept fighting, and fighting, and fighting. Endlessly, no matter how injured he had become.
A mysterious energy had begun to gather, piquing Athelei's interest. Finally, there was something that may just bring him answers.
Inspect was excitedly executed.
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Demonlife
- Mana naturally exuded and generated by the Oxhorian Spawn, the children of Oxhor.
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