Wanting to get down faster, Kaiza sat onto the railing, sliding all the way down, seeing movement of a large creature, the creature started moving as Kaiza realized that the creature was in fact a minotaur, Kaiza stopped his momentum from going down and confronted the minotaur who was more than twice his size.
"So, a little human has come down here, to offer themselves a tasty morsel for me to eat." The Minotaur said.
"Why would you want to eat me?" Kaiza asked. "You look like you're already fat enough and you don't need anything else to eat."
The minotaur roared out, starting to thrash around, as Kaiza used this to slip by, to get away from the minotaur as it didn't even realize Kaiza had gotten away. Kaiza soon came upon the red lake that he had seen from the previous floor, he could hear many people screaming from within the red lake, the red lake was bubbling wildly which looked to be at boiling point, most likely due to the fire at different points of the lake.
From the distance Kaiza could see what looked like centaurs, they were each holding onto a bow, with an arrow quiver connected to their backs, they were shooting arrows into some of the people, who were trying to crawl out of the boiling red lake.
"What exactly is this lake made of?" Kaiza said, mainly talking to himself.
"It is made of boiling blood." Someone said, from behind Kaiza.
"Jesus Christ!" Kaiza yelled, looking back seeing a centaur standing behind him. "And who exactly are you, you couldn't have scared me and I would be dead faster than I should be."
"I am sorry Child of the Demon and for I am Nessus, as the guardian of this area, I shall take you unto the next area of this floor."
"Next area, what do you mean by that?" Kaiza asked.
"The floor of violence, is split up between 3 smaller rings, each a different version of Violence, we're currently in the first ring, Violence Against Neighbors, the boiling lake of blood is filled with murders, tyrants and others of the sort." Nessus explained.
Kaiza thought for a bit, while looking over the horizon, only to see an expanse of boiling blood and more centaurs, then looked back toward Nessus and asked him something.
"While the trial is important, I have to take care of something else, I'm looking for someone."
"Deer Child of the Demon, you don't have a lot of time, your life hangs in the balance." Nessus said.
"I don't give a fuck about my life right now, I need to save them, deep without my heart, I feel the urge that this is something I cannot, give up." Kaiza said.
"You who have lost his ability to transform, what can a lowly half being do!?" Nessus asked aloud.
"Wait you said I'm a half being, tell me who I am!" Kaiza yelled.
Nessus looked pained, not meaning to reveal that, before he was about to speak, the loud roar of a lion echoed through the floor, both Kaiza and Nessus, looked over, seeing a large, ash white lion, with a tree-like mane, while the boiling blood flowed out of its mouth and different cracks covering its body.
"Atr." Kaiza said softly.
Nessus grabbed Kaiza by the back of his back, pulling him onto his horse, back yelling for Kaiza to hold on tightly, Nessus started galloping away from the lake, making his way toward a different part of the lake, he galloped over the bodies in the lake. Kaiza looked back, seeing the lion creature, attacking the centaurs, until it turned its head toward them and started charging through the blood lake aiming for them.
"Give me your damn bow!" Kaiza yelled, taking Nessus' bow, knocking an arrow into it and shooting it at the creature.
The arrow flew by the creature's head, as Kaiza could aim correctly due to riding on the back of the centaurs, he knocked a second arrow, closing his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Shoot the stopped thing, it's almost upon us!" Nessus yelled.
Kaiza kept his eyes closed for a little longer, until he heard splashing getting very close, he then opened his eyes, unleashing the arrow, as it sailed into the lion's right eye, causing it to roar out in pain.
"We're going into the second ring, prepare yourself!" Nessus yelled.
Kaiza stayed silent, just keeping his sight on the lion, watching it trying to recover from the arrow in its eyes, as it slashed around, trying to look for him, only to hit bodies in the lake.
Dreadnought Crusader
Sora was in the training room, punching a punching ball really hard, forming cracks on her knuckles, she started yelling really loud, until her fists fell down to her hips, feeling tears rolling down her cheeks, she dropped to her knees, slamming her fist into the floor.
"Sora!" The voice of Jan rang out.
This snapped her back, looking back seeing Jan, staring down at her, his skin was getting pretty pale.
"What is wrong Jan?" Sora asked, while wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Don't beat yourself up, you will reunite with Kaiza, we all need to have hope, we can't lose another ally." Jan said, while slightly trailing off at the end.
"Jan are you doing okay, you look pretty pale?" Sora asked.
Jan opened his mouth, then shut it, walking over to a bench, removing his shirt, as Sora's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth. The result of Jan using Final Life, caused his hand to become decay-like, as this was now covering his entire right arm, while it was slowly spreading to his body.
"Once Final Life has been used, there is no way to stop it, my life is slowly being eaten away, only very few are able to learn it, though the method to be able to do it is really bad, many months of grueling pain." Jan said, putting his shirt back on. "All I'm saying is, try to have your hopes up, everyone has their own pains, but Kaiza has always been able to fight back, so he will be able to fight against the problems he is facing now, you will be able to see him."
Jan slowly made his way out of the room, as Sora looked down at her hands, taking a deep breath and squeezing her fists, standing up and continuing her training. While Jan had his back pressed against the wall, outside of the training room, he was panting heavily, he was starting to feel very faint, his eyes started to roll into the back of his head and fell forward. But before he could hit the ground, he was caught by Ryu, hoisting him up, he helped Jan back to his more, making sure that Nora knew that he needed her help.
Ryu made his way through the Dreadnought Crusader, while the interior wasn't as heavily damaged as the exterior, but the walls were dented, loose wires, along with an annoying light flickering, as Ryu continued making his way through the ship, as he walked, from the corner of his eyes, he could see his soldiers, pretty wary from everything going on, Ryu walked into the command center, as Malum walked in soon after.
"You soldiers are getting very drained, no matter how long they have been trained for, humans have their limits, the longer this goes on, the faster the bodies will drop, you have already lost so many of them, if we don't finish this soon, then it may be all over." Malum said.
"Malum this isn't like you, you're getting pretty preachy." Ryu said.
Malum sighed, walking toward the front of the command center, peering out, what remains of the window.
"I have been feeling pretty off lately, I have a bad feeling about the upcoming fighting, it's like a bad itch, getting at my heart." Malum said.
"You actually have a heart, who would have known." Ryu said.
"Did the high and mighty Ryu actually crack a joke?" Malum asked.
"We're all getting tired, not getting enough sleep, always have to be on guard, so what is this off feeling?" Ryu asked.
"The feeling is that the villains we will be going against isn't the real threat, so with the defeat of Lord of Madness and the Master, be wary of a hidden real threat." Malum said.
Ryu stayed quiet, then opened a small cabinet, reached inside and pressed a button, a hidden compartment opened up, Ryu reached into it, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper, setting it onto the desk. Malum looked back at him, then looked down at the rolled up paper, he walked over to it, picked it up, unraveled it and started reading, then looked at Ryu surprised.
"It is exactly what you think, I got this 25 year ago from a mysterious cloaked being, almost every line has fully come to, meaning the last two have yet to happen, so I have no idea when it will happen, so this will be one more thing that we will have to focus one." Ryu said.
"Geez why are we the ones having to worry about, the ones under us?" Malum asked.
"Well why would you really care, as long as you get to participate in a really good fight, you wouldn't really care." Ryu said.
"You know, I hate when you're right." Malum said.
Ryu let out a bit of a laugh, Malum rolled up the paper, setting the paper on the table the left the room, Ryu leaned against the table rubbing his eyes.
"I'm getting too old for this." Ryu said aloud to himself.
Nine Trials: Floor Seven
Nessus had left Kaiza at the second ring of the seventh floor of the Nine Trials, he went back to make sure his soldiers would be able to fight off the large demonic lion, Kaiza made his way through the second ring, everything around him was old shriveled up dying trees, the ground beneath him was covered in several toppled trees, from a closer inspection the dying trees had the appearances of people.
Taking a closer look, he accidentally broke a tree branch branch, instead of normal wood from within, real red blood came pouring from the branch, Kaiza freaked up, grabbing the branch trying to put it back on, something slammed into his back hard knocking him over, while breaking more branches. He looked over to see that several harpies had appeared and was feasting upon the blood that was pouring out from the broken branches, Kaiza slowly started moving backwards, until he broke another branch and several harpies looked toward him.
He got up running fast as a flock of harpies chased him, well running was putting it lightly, due to the toppled trees, he was just breaking more branches and tripping over the trees. Kaiza's right foot snagged on a branch, as he started tumbling forward, getting caught up by more branches, he watched as the harpies got closer to him, he closed his eyes waiting for the impact.
"Hold on!" A female voice spoke up.
Kaiza slowly opened his eyes, seeing several harpies perched on the tree branches, as he then saw another harpy appear, that had a more regal looking set of plumage.
"Speak Low Tier demon, why are you in our fields, one of your ilk, could never survive in the nine trails and make it this far." The Noble Harpy spoke. "Whose sick game are you a part of?"
"I got tossed down here by the Master of the Sinful Seven, I'm trying to make my way through here until I can escape from here." Kaiza told them.
Cawing and cackling sounds echoed through the vast fields of dead trees.
"One of your ilk, will not survive here, you have wasted my time, girls finish him off." The Noble Harpy spoked.
"No wait!" Kaiza shouted.
The harpies launched toward, Kaiza shouted, guarding himself, but before they got to him, a bright green light appeared, as a green orb appeared, Kaiza looked dumb founded.
"Why wait till now to come out!" Kaiza yelled.
The green orb, started taking shape of the harpy he had encountered back in the real world, the visage of Harp looked back at Kaiza giving a soft smile, looking past her Kaiza noticed the harpies had stopped in place.
"Princess, you have finally returned to us." The Noble Harpy said. "Please we must return to the Chaos Realm. Your people need you."
"That will not be happening." Kaiza said.
"Silence you ilk!" The Noble Harpy yelled.
Kaiza looked at Harp, then started standing up, as Harp stayed next to him, causing the Noble Harpy to get more angier.
"Princess, get away from such low life ilk!" She yelled again.
"Harp or your Princess, can't return with you, because this isn't really her, she died a long time ago." Kaiza said.
"You ilk, you low life trash you killed her!" She screamed. "Attack the low life trash for killing the princess!"
The harpies charged toward Kaiza, Harp stepped in front of him, bringing her wings up, slapping her wings forward, creating a large wind blast immobilizing the harpies.
"How dare you use the visage of the Princess to attack us!" The Noble Harpy shouted.
"Oh will you just shut the fuck up." Kaiza said. "I didn't kill your princess, she died protecting a human."
"Nonsense humans hate us all, the Princess would have never done that!" She shouted.
Kaiza looked down at Harp, as she looked at him, he gave her a small nod, as the visage of Harp flew over to the Noble Harpy, she tried to attack but it didn't work, the Visage of Harp touched the harpy's head, flowing the memories of Kaiza had when he met her and her death. Tears trickled down the harpy's cheeks, but before she could say something, the demonic lion appeared behind her, before she could react, Kaiza had pushed her out of the way, slamming his left foot into the lion's bottom and his right hand, held open the lion's top jaw, but before the the lion could attack Kaiza, Kaiza was grabbed the shoulders and pulled from the lion's mouth.
He looked back seeing a harpy, saved him, as the other harpies started attacking the lion, he was set down, he watched as the harpies attacked the lion, but were heavily attacked back, Kaiza clenched his fists he felt useless, why could he never save the ones who have been able to help him.
"You ilk, I mean child, leave this beast to us, it seems to be after you, so we will keep it busy." The Noble Harpy said, flying toward the lion.
Kaiza stood there feeling anger and being useless, he gripped his head.
"I'm no Child of Destiny, I'm just a useless Low Tier demon!" Kaiza yelled, with tears running down his cheeks.
Unknown to him, the lion broke free of the harpies, charging at Kaiza, bringing it's right paw down toward him, he was knocked off his feet, falling onto his back, he looked up seeing Harp had somehow managed to knock him off his feet, she then opened her mouth.
"Thank you for being my friend."
Kaiza looked shocked, then realized Harp always thought to help others, instead of her own, Kaiza raised his right hand, rubbing her head gently.
"You're a true selfless princess." Kaiza said gently.
She smiled at the touch, leaning down kissing his forehead, the area around them shined brightly, her visage fused with Kaiza, he floated off the ground as his eyes became bright green. He turned his direction to face the lion, a green aura surrounded his body, he slowly raised his hands, shaping his thumbs, index and middle fingers into a rectangle, putting the lion in the rectangle.
"Air within the shape vanish." Kaiza said, with a calm voice.
The ground and everything vanished, Kaiza looked down the newly open hole, floating down the hole.
Master's Base
Acedia was gagging a bit, she felt something slithering around from within her, until her body started convulsing, she started screaming as her body started to split apart, until she started to evolve into a much more demonic form then before, she started laughing a bit, feeling even through then before. From within the shadows of the room, a being slowly stepped out, as only a madly grinning smile appeared, until the being vanished.
Nine Trials: Floor Seven
The Demonic Lion reformed within the third ring of the seventh ring, it roared out, as Kaiza appeared before it, creating spears of air, launching them into the lion's side, causing it to roar out in pain.
"I'm coming Atr, just a little bit longer." Kaiza said calmly.
The lion slashed at Kaiza, as he lowered himself to slightly above the ground, sliding along the grounds, creating more spear of wind and continued launching them at the lion, while Kaiza slid along the ground, small white particles were picked up by the wind, they floated down, landing on Kaiza, causing him to get burnt.
Kaiza looked around the area, seeing that these particles were raining down from the sky, in the distance he could hear the screams of people, he slid along the ground toward them, seeing people walking through the white ash particles, while the louder ones were coming from the ones laying down, before he could react, he felt something behind him, moving fast just as one of the lion's paws came down.
Kaiza started thinking, then started creating more spears of wind, this time using the particles to add a burning effect to the attacks, this kept the lion busy, but he couldn't keep going like this forever, he took a deep breath, as this next attack will need a lot of concentration he started taking as much of the ash into the air, concentrating it into a small orb, launching it forward creating a white ash beam like creation, shooting right through the lion's head.
The demon stumbled to the side, he made his way over to it, placing his hand onto the lion's side, heavily burning his right hand, he closed his eyes, then opened them as he was same void like area he encountered Be, walking around until he saw Atr, huddling on them ground.
"Hey Atr how are you doing?" Kaiza asked.
Atr looked toward Kaiza, but his appearance briefly changed to that of a human female, he tried to speak, but it got distorted and sounded much like a female, tears streamed his/the female's face. Kaiza just slowly stepped over to them, kneeling down and hugging them, the area around the shined brightly, then Kaiza awoke, looking at the area the lion once laid, he leaned over picking up the orb, then made his way toward the next gate, but woozy from the pain of heavily burning his hand, he slipped falling off a waterfall and blacked out.