They say if you put a seashell up to your ear, you can hear the ocean but if you put a skull to your ear, you can hear the screams of the condemned.

Jianyu stands at the top of a pitch-black building and sees six beings on the ground, sedentary. "Four stage 1s and two-stage 2s," Jiayu speaks over the walkie-talkie on her long white dress. 

"Copy." A male voice spoke over the intercomms. 

Jianyu had a long slender nose with wide eyes and a scar that extends horizontally over the bridge of her nose. Strands of her pitch-black hair flowed carelessly over her eyes, tied with a silk ribbon. She wore a traditional white dress that was slightly too big for her. 

The sky was empty of stars. The only noticeable source of light being emitted from the black canvas was the moon. As Jianyu looks up to the celestial body, the moon seemingly looks back at her. As though the moon had eyes. 

Everything was a certain shade of black. The clouds were black but empty of water, yet they could cover the sky in its entirety. Jianyu stood out like a sore thumb with her silk white dress. Then again, that was the whole point of her outfit. 

A counter appeared in front of her, displaying a number.

[Balance: 23 Souls]

Jianyu sighs as she chants something under her breath, barely unintelligible. 

[Balance: 22 Souls] 

Jianyu raises her hand to the sky as lightning strikes her palm, creating a flash of light yet not a single ounce of sound.

[Dual Daggers Cost: 1 Soul]

Jianyu disappears in a flash, almost as fast as the lightning that struck her. 

On the ground was a humanoid creature made of pure darkness. He had the shape of a human, the features of a human, the face of a human, yet he was soulless. He roamed around without a purpose, searching for a reason as to why he was there. His skin was covered in boils and had turned a foul gray. His clothes were tattered and worn.

In one swoosh, all four of the abyssal's heads flew off like a basketball as Jianyu stood in the middle of the four of them, scythe in hand. 

The crescent scythe created a crescent-shaped attack that decapitated all 4 abyssals instantly, granting Jianyu four extra souls, quadrupling her initial investment.

[+4 Souls]

A screeching noise made itself apparent as a beast acknowledged Jianyu's presence. A towering creature made of the same darkness the previous four were made of twists its head towards Jianyu. "A stage two, double the points!" 

Jianyu lunges towards the beast as he jumps onto the side of a building. Gravity shifts as if gravity was reliant on her body, not the other way around. She glided on the surface of the walls as she mercifully exorcised the foul beast and blessed his existence with one swoop. 

Everything turned pitch black as a crescent-shaped laceration made itself apparent, squirting dark blood all over Jianyu's dress. It stains her silk dress however evaporates seconds after touching it.

The beast explodes into a spray of black dust. 

[+3 Souls]

"Woohoo!" Jianyu carried the dagger with a sense of swordsmanship, limiting her hand movements while maximizing the damage. Every move she made had a purpose. Every attack has an intent.

The other beast screeches at Jianyu as it throws itself towards the building Jianyu was propped up on. A dust cloud of black particles erupts as the stage two abyssal strikes the building. 

Jianyu dashes to the side as she slides on the hard asphalt ground. They were fighting on a beachside town, to the left was the once bustling city and to her right was the pitch-black sea. The creature unhinged its jaw, revealing a set of pristine white teeth. Its eyes were sunken and its spine protruded through its back. 

Jianyu takes a deep breath in as she stares the foul creature in the eye. 

'Bang!'

The sound of a metal bullet striking hard ground gets drowned out by an exploding abyssal. Dust and blood soar through the sky as they stain Jianyu's dress, again immediately evaporating. "Marko!" Jianyu looks up to the rooftop of the building where she stood earlier.

[Marko's Balance: 43 Souls]

"Yo!" A figure wrapped in a pitch-black cloth made itself apparent as it removed its cover, revealing a human man. "Check this puppy out." Marko shows off his brand-new weapon. A sniper rifle that had black camo patterned all over it. 

"Stealing is against Soulborne culture." Jianyu extends her arm out, holding her scythe up to the sky. A flash of light strikes her hand as the scythe vanishes into thin air. "You owe me 3 Souls. Two of that stage two and one for my scythe." 

"That is true if you didn't steal from other soulbornes too." Marko slides down the side of the building, landing on the ground. "I don't owe you jack shit." Marko snaps his finger and, in an act that was seemingly a magic trick, pulls out a 'Jack' card from between his fingers, passing it to Jianyu.

Jianyu doesn't take the card from Marko.

"I'm kidding." Marko shrugged his shoulder as he flipped the card over, revealing a 3 of hearts. Jianyu puts her hand over the card, forcing a dark essence to push itself out of the playing card and into her palm.

Three souls erupt from the card, embedding themselves deep into Jianyu's body. "I don't steal. I assist." Jianyu turns away, walking away from Marko. "I'm going to Zone Four. I need more souls to pay this month's rent." 

"Need help with that brokie?" Marko yawns as he places his sniper rifle butt end down to the ground, rifle pointing high to the sky. 

"Call me brokie one more time." Jianyu seemingly teleports next to Marko, a dagger to his throat. "I don't mind taking a clean soul today either."

"I'm only kidding," Marko said sarcastically. "We're soilbornes. We don't kill each other." 

"That is true if you didn't kill other soulbornes too." Jianyu looks back at Marko with a slight look before a dark veil surrounds Jiayu, wrapping her body with the same dust the abyssal exploded into. "Zone four." The veil disappears with Jianyu. 

"I should invest in apparition." Marko opens his skill tree, unveiling an extensive web of skills and abilities that he's invested in.

[Apparition: 25 Souls]

"I can always just walk." Marko closed the panel by clenching his hand, picking up his sniper rifle, and starting to walk toward zone four.