It was an expedition, a thousand strong. We were sent to an ancient primordial temple down the edge of the world. The source of the cataclysm was inside the temple down in the core of the temple yet the forces outside the temple were strong. We lost a quarter of our forces because of the guards outside and even with that many casualties we were only able to get inside the temple by sneaking through most of the forces.
We thought the inside of the temple would be a breeze but that was just wistful thinking from our side. My party consisted of ten people being killed in an instant. The expedition lost three fourth of its forces in an instant. In Front of me was a bull-like beast wielding a two-headed axe, its body engulfed with magma and its axe radiating icy magic.
"Captain we're being pushed back" A fully armored man shouted before he was squashed by a giant boulder.
The people around him became a panicked mess and started to break away from the defense formation leaving the minion monsters rushing towards our heavy hitters distracting them from the bull monster and resulting in their deaths. Blood was painting the temple floor as the bodies of our members were becoming little hills of corpses. My condition was on the injured side as I had a small hole on my waist and a few arrows sticking out from my back.
"Dark arts. Stalking shadow" I chanted and soon a spear flew past my abdomen.
"Captain we won't be able to hold out much longer" I spoke as my physical form returned.
"We don't have much of a choice, it's either dying in here whilst in battle or run away and be killed later in shame," A stern female voice yelled trying to boost our morale, although it did work. It was only a matter of time before fear started to kick in the natural instinct of survival.
"Fear is the most ancient emotion for any living being and the most frightening type of fear is fear of the inevitable, someone who fears nothing is someone who loves nothing. They have nothing to lose and therefore a man who has nothing to lose is a dangerous man." I chanted in a toneless voice.
My sense of fear had been dulled as I slashed monsters. My emotions started to dull as if I was a mere shell of myself. No soul could be found, just a mechanism that was made to fight, to kill, to win. The screams of my fellow expedition team members started to be deafened and the only sound I could hear was the sound of battle.
Soon I found myself standing in front of the bull-like monster, its axe swinging down towards me, but I managed to turn into a shadow again and relocated myself so I was behind him.
"Ice spears" I chanted and its back was soon littered with ice spears and some even managed to puncture to the other side of its body.
But that small victory was short lived as the bull-like monster roared and the ice spears shattered by its muscles and its wounds were healed in an instant. The bull-like creature's appearance also changed as its once onyx black horns were now glowing bright red and its body grew and its axe covered in blue flames.
With one roar it stunned all the people and monsters around it except a few that were strong. The roar snapped me back to my normal self as the voices of others returned and my mechanic thoughts were gone.
"Razark, catch" The captain threw a red orb pill at me and I understood what she meant, giving a nod towards her as confirmation I caught the pill and immediately swallowed it.
Rage pill. A pill that breaks one's limits and makes the consumer have their full energy for one attack. The drawbacks are either death or barely alive.
After consuming the pill my body felt hot as energy began gathering inside me and my strength going beyond my peak.
"Rainbow flamed phoenix fire" I chanted my strongest attack, I took a stance. Both my hands held the sword in front of my body and I raised my sword before slashing down.
Soon rainbow fire appeared around me and charged at the bull-like monster. The rainbow fire formed a shape of that of a phoenix. I watched as the attack hit the bull-like monster before I was swallowed by a pit of darkness and I fell onto the ground.
??? pov
How did it come to this? The information we received told us that a thousand would be enough to conquer the temple. Gripping my lance tight I screamed in frustration and threw my lance towards the wall cracking the wall.
I looked at my reflection on the wall, my once long red hair was now no longer than my neck, my red eyes were dull out of fatigue and my body filled with scars from the battle. I, The captain of this expedition team, had led the team to a disaster because of misinformation. And I detest myself for allowing this to happen. Had I checked with other sources none of this would have happened.
I walked down towards a temporary camp the remaining team had set up, with Razark on my back his consciousness still gone, but thankfully his heart was still beating. After arriving I laid him down at the section for the wounded and went towards the other to discuss how we should proceed.
Razark POV
Where am I?
I found myself asking that very question many times before looking around to find myself in a huge and spacious room. No furniture could be found in the room besides the chandeliers that were hung on the roof. In the middle was a scythe inside a glass container as if it was some kind of display. It was a black scythe with a silver blade, and blood red on its edge, the handle was made out of what appears to be rough black wood that was never polished, but it wasn't wood, it was some type of metal.
"It has been so long since someone has managed to get inside this space of mine" A voice spoke in a muffled manner, quickly I darted towards the source of the voice and raised my sword.
"Sheesh, such anxiousness, but I like it. Nice posture, good talent, and excellent skill" He spoke as he assessed me as if I were some item for sale.
"Who are you?" I shouted as I turned around the room trying to find the source of the voice.
"I'm *^&*@#" The voice spoke and a bright red light shone from the scythe and a spirit stood beside the scythe, making its way towards me.
"I am one of the oldest spirits in this realm, even older than those whom you call primordials. I have existed before life was sent down here," The spirit spoke and suddenly it appeared in front of me, my body froze not being able to react.
"What do you want?" I choked out the question as I felt his pressure engulfing my whole existence.
"Huh?" He tilted his head confused by my question and that made me confused as well.
"What do you mean what do I want? I'm the one who's supposed to ask you that," His eyebrows furrowed and so did mine. What was he talking about?
We stood there in silence like two idiots trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I could see the confusion in his expression was genuine and I was for sure confused at the situation I was in.
After what seemed to be a few minutes he faked coughing to get my attention and I stared into his silver eyes.
"There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding here. Let's start over shall we?" He asked and I nodded, although I wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.
"People who once entered this plane are people who had evil intentions or greedy wishes, so which one are you?" The spirit asked again and I shook my head.
"There seems to be another misunderstanding here," I spoke and the spirit let me continue.
"I never intended to enter this plane in the first place, after defeating the bull-like monster I was transported here," I explained the misunderstanding to him but he seems more surprised now.
"You're telling me you managed to defeat a taurus?" He asked me and I nodded, "So it's called a Taurus" I noted but then he spoke again " You are the most intriguing demon I've seen in this realm" He spoke as if there was any other realm.
"So it seems like this was a misunderstanding so can I possibly leave this place?" I asked, but unfortunately he shook his head.
"I've never found any other host as talented and skilled as you, can you please reconsider my offer?" He insisted, but from the pressure he was emitting this was not a request. This was a forced invitation.
I manifested a sword from mana and struck his heart but when I looked at his form it was slowly blurring and then he vanished.
"It seems like I'd have to take a different approach, a rougher one at that" He spoke and suddenly black pillars appeared below me and raised me towards the room's ceiling in less than a second before disappearing and I fell down to the ground. My sword deformed because I lost focus.
"Do you feel like forming that contract now?" He asked hopefully but I just spat blood from my mouth before reforming my sword.
"You are one stubborn man, but I like stubborn people, they are more focused on their goals more than anyone else" He spoke and soon black humanoids appeared alongside skeletons and soon undead, golems, and monsters in different states.
"I am !@#$%^, sovereign of the dead and watcher of the gates of the underworld," He spoke and the many creatures charged at me. I formed a wind current to push back skeletons and formed a shield before one of the golems nearly hit me directly with its club.
"Fascinating! Struggle more! Fight more! Cling harder to your survival! Show me your potential!" The sovereign shouted like a madman shouting at his favorite idol.
"Don't kid with me! You think you can just come here and demand me to sign a ridiculous contract with a being I never knew existed? I'd rather choose those trash evil spirits than signing a contract with an unknown freak like you!" I provoked the sovereign, but it seemed like it was useless as his eyes didn't react and his facial expression was the same, it was as if I was talking with a monarch that only strives for power no matter what he had to sacrifice to obtain it.
"Boy, such provocation will never work on me. I am a being that existed before your species came into this world. We sovereigns have watched over this realm and enforced order for eons. For me, I am the one who enforces the order of death. I am a being that walks between the borders of the living and the dead," He spoke in a bored and flat tone as if I was some kind of insect that he took pity upon because of my ignorance.
"Then at least I will die knowing I fought with my all. I will die a warrior's death. I will die knowing I was at least defeated by an ancient being," I let out a tired breath as I vanquished another hostile creator that tried to kill me. Honestly I've lost count on how many creatures I've killed and because of my previous wounds I was running out of stamina.
"Such a wonderful mindset. Fight with your all even if you know it is a losing fight. Do not back down against a powerful opponent and keep fighting until you can't fight anymore. You really are the most ideal host I've ever come across amongst my millions of years being stuck in this prison" He clapped his hands, his voice carried a hint of amusement, whilst his eyes tingled with amusement at my choices.
"Can you fucking stop mentionning about the host stuff. I say I'm not bloody interested in signing a contract with an unknown entity" I basically screamed out in frustration. Seriously this sovereign was like some kind of creepy stalker that won't let go of something they've set their eyes on. In this case ME!!
"You may reject me now, but I feel it. A connection between us. Soon enough you'll accept me. And I won't care if you will use me as you please, as long as you bond with me. We could achieve greatness together. We could be unstoppable. Together" He smirked like a mad man before extending his hand forwards, pointing his finger towards me and in less than a second a wave of monsters swarmed towards me, I buried my blade inside the stone ground.
"Dark Knights valor" I chanted and a blinding red light engulfed the whole room and two giant humanoids around 8 meters tall appeared behind me. Both of them were wearing a black hood with red linings that covered their heads and a robe that hid their big bodies. The two humanoids were holding a halberd and a shield. The halberds were black and silver accompanied with golden runic patterns on the blades, whilst the shields were red ruby in color with black runes engraved on the front of the shield.
"This spell," His ruby red eyes widened in shock when he saw my spell, but what came out after was like a scene of a nightmare, the edges of his mouth formed the biggest grin he could and all his razor sharp teeth could be seen. His monsters stopped and circled around me.
"I never thought I'd find a descendant of his in this place. How amusing is destiny.. No this is fate. This is unavoidable. You were fated to meet me, Razark!!" His laugh roared and echoed through the room and that laugh sent shivers down my spine.
While that shivering feeling stayed in me, many questions still flooded my head. How does he know my name? He knew my ancestors? He recognized my magic? Who the hell is he? Standing my ground I pulled out my sword out of the ground and the two humanoids behind me moved. Both had their guards up and their halberds pointing towards the monsters around me.
"You keep showing more interesting things to me and expect me to let you go? Not on my watch. I'll do anything to make you my host Razark" He screamed like a maniac and slashed his scythe beside him and something unbelievable happened. Space was torn beside him and he stepped inside. The second I couldn't see him anymore the monsters charged towards me with their deadliest weapons aimed at me.
The two giant humanoids stood in front and behind me in a protective stance and thrusted their halberds forwards, creating a beam of red energy that wiped out the monsters in front of them, but that wasn't the end as I was blocking attacks from the sides which the humanoids couldn't cover.
I dodged arrows, spears, magic projectiles and many other kinds of things that could be categorized as projectiles. Having the tho humanoids may be helpful but it was too much. Even now I could still feel my mana draining at a ridiculous rate and I was sure that it wouldn't take half an hour for my mana to run out. As long as I have them I needed to sipe out as many of these monsters as I could.
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I didn't know how long it had been since I summoned them, but I was reaching my limit. My sword was shortened to a dagger and the humanoids also start to have cracks visible in them, whether it be in their weapons or their bodies.
"Splendid. Even your ancestor struggled to hold for this long after receiving so much damage" A voice suddenly spoke beside me and I jerked my head to the source of the voice, my daggers also accelerating towards the source of the voice, but I felt my wrist getting caught and I was met with red blood eyes.
"Enough of these games" He spoke in a low growl and the hand that caught mine started to glow red and a red aura started to merge with my skin. No matter how hard I struggled, no matter how hard I tried to cut off his hand with my other hand I couldn't do anything because of how much mana I had used.
Suddenly he caught my other hand and the same thing happened. I started to feel a searing pain on my arms that slowly started to expand further. I was slowly losing my consciousness, but just before I lost it a random memory popped up in my head.
"Remember Razark, when you find yourself in a situation where you're cornered. Use that spell"
"Mortiferum Gladio!!" I shouted with my last mana and it all went dark.