Zen simply stood his ground and the wave of crimson energy dispersed right in front of his face, disappearing into thin air.
He suddenly felt something and tried to move out of the way but was unable to dodge another energy wave from behind and was sent flying.
Zen did a quick aerial maneuver and landed on his feet.
He looked at his hand and noticed that the red crystalline substance was spreading like a disease the more he got attacked.
"I'm guessing you can already tell something is amiss. Usually you're meant to be quasi omnipotent in this realm, after all what sense would it make for you to not be in control of your own soul...at least to a degree"
Lilith suddenly saw something out of the corner of her eye and quickly dodged as a piece of the castle wall flew past her, only barely missing her.
Opening doors and shrinking rooms wasn't all he could do her.
"Yet for some reason, I can still land suprise attacks on you. I'm sure you've already felt that you've lost your telepathic link with the rest of the realm outside the castle, that's because slowly I'm already taking control. All i need to do is conquer and destroy the stronghold or core of your soul, which is this castle, and all will be done "
Lilith suddenly jumped as out of the ground beneath her appeared a spike, once again just barely missing her.
Zen could tell she was right. Usually whenever he came here he always felt like he could somehow tell what was going on even without seeing or hearing, he always felt at home here, but now....
Zen tried as hard as he could to see what was going on outside but it was all static.
Lilith still strangely calm despite already saying she would be less cocky ,and only attacking with her waves of energy looked at the strange designs and statues depicting horrendous demons and other inhuman creatures.
"Though I'm confused about why a child would come to here of all places.
Seeing that chucking pieces of the wall at her didn't work, Zen decided to change tactics as a sword appeared in his hand.
"Quiet" Zen said, though it was unknown whether he was answering her question or telling her to be quiet.
He charged towards Lilith, brandishing the blade and striking at her.
A pile of blood suddenly appeared next to her and formed itself into a spear which Lilith immediately used to counter his attack, thrusting forward and causing him to dodge and shift the floor to avoid the blow before immediately landing a solid slash on her abdomen .
Zen quickly took a few steps back to assess the effect of his attack but realized that she wasn't reaction in any way. He was about to pick up his sword and try again when he suddenly realized his entire right hand was now that blood colored crystal .
Zen suddenly felt the castle shake as the chaotic blood oceans crashed against the walls of the castle, doing some minimal damage which in turn affected Zen.
Zen looked at the castle that was slowly crumbling around him. It should have been more than strong enough to take this much damage.
"Looks like you've noticed. Listen, Zen, you can't win, and I'm not just being arrogant. What you don't know is that I'm not the only one that's trying to enter your mind. You've been holding it off longer than I expected, but eventually the trial must start"
Lilith sighed before continuing.
"You're probably guessing why I'm not attacking. The trial won't start until you're completely vulnerable, and in order to do that it must first make you as vulnerable as possible. It's pointless trying to resist even for me. The stone will weaken you, the trial will begin, and what you are at your weakest,then I will attack and destroy you in one fell swoop, although the soul realm would have sustaied heavy damage,there should still be more than enough left."
Zen suddenly grimaced as unbearable amounts of pain shot through his body,or whatever it was he was right now. It seemed like whatever Lilith was talking about was true and even happening currently.
Zen watched as it looked like this reality itself was being torn down. It wasn't just the walls of the castle, the very space it inhabited seemed to be getting torn down as an invading darkness entered. The intense damage to the realm was causing him massive amounts of damage already.
Lilith watched for a few seconds, expecting Zen to endure for a while but eventually buckle and yield just from the intense pain of getting his soul ripped, but was once again impressed when Zen stood his ground and even looked like he could still fight.
"I would wish you good luck, but there would be no point" Lilith said before disappearing into a crimson mist.
Zen looked around shakii, trying to think of something he could do, however he barely even knew what this place was,or how it worked , he had no idea what he could do to stop this.
Zen ran out of the crumbling castle as fast as he could, dodging falling pieces of the building while running as fast as he could despite the pain he was in.
As soon as he managed to get out, Zen was confrontes with the sight of the entire ocean having turned into blood, and the previous night sky had been replaced with an eerie crimson.
Darkness seeped in like some sort of virus from the tears in space and into the crumbling realm, and in a matter of minutes, darkness was all Zen could see surrounding him.
"You'll never catch me!"
Zen suddenly paused when he heard the familiar voice of a child. Out of instinct, he turned around and suddenly found himself in what looked like a hospital. He only managed to see a dark haired boy turning a corner while running like he was chasing someone.
You killed her. You killed them all, and you'll do it again.
Zen reflexively tried to chase after the boy, but after a single step, abandoned the idea and ran straight for the exit, not noticing his transformation.
He eventually made it to the exit and tried opening it but the door was jammed.
Zen tried pushing pulling, and was even about to try punching when he felt someone grab his shoulder.
Zen turned around to see a....strangely tall woman in a nurses uniform looking down at him while talking in the caring tone you'd expect from a nurse.
"Hey there little guy. What's wrong? Did you loose your mommy?"
Little guy?
Mommy?
Zen suddenly looked at himself and realized he had shrunk. Looking at his petite body and immature features, he couldn't be any older than ten years old.
Ten years old? But...but that's when it all happened.
With strength you wouldn't expect from a ten year old, Zen pushed away the nurse who was trying to take his hand, and immediately punched the door, breaking it down and running through without thinking
A blood mist suddenly appeared after he left, and out of it came Lilith.
"Strange" was all she said before walking through the door.
************
Neo looked around for his sister. He had lost her again. He was beginning to think she was doing this on purpose to mess with him, he definitely wouldn't put it past her.
The path he was taking suddenly beanched off in an unfamiliar manner until Neo finally found himself at a familiar building. A raggedy old house upon closer inspection didn't even look like a house, more like a shack.
Neo normally would have been displeased with the sight of the house but he didn't even think and simply ran in to see if he could find her.
"Iris? Iris! It's me,Neo. Where are you?" Neo called as he entered.
Immediately he got in,Neo was suprised to find the entire place having been destroyed. Sure it wasn't exactly neat when he left, but he had made sure to keep it as clean as possible, but looking around now at the place that looked like it had been destroyed intentionally, Neo couldn't help getting worried.
The orphanage. Remember you left her there.
Neo suddenly remembered.
"Yes that's true.... but wait a minute,why didn't i just go there directly? I don't think I'd forget something like that"
Not important. Go to her
Neo paused for a second this time. Something weird had been going on since he got to this place, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He was about to leave when he heard something drop onto the floor. He looked at the floor and realized it was his crystal. He looked at his pocket, confused about how it dropped, but just shrugged. He was about to pick it up when
Take it for yourself. Why should you be the one to suffer? All you have to do is take it and you'll become all powerful.
Neo paused and shook his head to get rid of those thoughts, but thought nothing of it. Somehow, he felt like he knew that he could use it now and the power would be instant, even though that wasn't how they generally worked.
He picked it up and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a voice he wished he'd never hear again.
"Well look who's back, it's Neo the peasant"
Neo immediately stopped and turned around to look at the very bane of his existence, and one of the people that had made it their mission to make his life as miserable as possible. Without thinking, he put the hand with the crystal behind him to hide it.
"J-jesse...w...what are you doing here?"
Neo asked already slightly backing away.
"Oh nothing much, just checking up on my favorite little friend" Jesse said, walking around like he owned the place.
"After all,i already have the little girl"
"What did you say?!" Neo yelled, already getting hostile.
"Whoa whoa. Calm down,i really shouldn't spoil the suprise, but what i will tell you is to hurry up,you wouldn't want to miss it"
Use the crystal,then kill him
Neo screamed, enraged and immediately tried to punch the arrogant twat in the face.
Jesse easily dodged and punched Neo's abdomen before kicking him to the ground.
"You useless brat actually dared to attack me? Looks like you really need to be reminded of your manners"
Jesse snapped his fingers and two other burly teenagers their age came out of nowhere and grabbed Neo by his arms and forced him to his knees.
Jesse arrogantly walked towards Neo who was gritting his teeth while on his knees and smiled like he was enjoying this.
Grabbing Neo by his hair, he spoke.
"The proper thing to do when you see me,is get on your knees and grovel"
He suddenly punched Neo's face.
"HOW"
He punched him again
"Many"
Again
"TIMES"
Again
"DO I"
again
"HAVE TO"
And again
"SAY IT?"
And again
Neo bit his lips, forcing himself to stay conscious. He had already spit up blood a few times by now.
Use the crystal. Kill the enemy. Save your sister. She'll understand.
"Now all you have to do is bow to me and beg like a good little slave and I'll consider letting you and that little bitch go"
Usually, this would be when Neo would beg for his life, but right now all he could think about was TEARING THIS SON OF A BITCH TO SHREDS "
Yes,tear him to shreds with the power of the crystal.
Neo's grip around the crystal suddenly tightebed. He suddenly felt inexplicably drawn to it, like it was the most beautiful and powerful thing in the world, like it could solve all his problems if he just.... wait what was he thinking? He couldn't do that!
Neo looked up at Jake and spat a mixture of blood and saliva at his face "Fuck you"
Jesse cleaned off the blood with his fingers and without thinking twice, stuck the finger in his mouth, licking it. A sadistic smile played on his lips as he seemed to gain some sick twisted pleasure and even get aroused from the act. He even grabbed Neo's face and licked off some more blood from his face,much to Neo's disgust.
"You know what? I'm actually glad you're back Neo. Now we can have just as much fun as before, maybe even more fun. We both know I'm the only one who's ever shown any interest in you Even your own parents didn't want you because they knew how much of a useless waste you would be . I'm the only one who wants you "
Neo just knelt there face down and listened
"Oh? You've gone quiet are you already broken?"
"Kill me, Jesse"
Jesse smiled and laughed wickedly
"Hahahaha, really? Is that it? The end to your resistance? Are you already surrendering?"
Neo paused momentarily before finishing.
"Because it's the only way you'll live to see the sunrise tomorrow "
Jesse nearly choked as he stopped laughing before snarling.
"Welcome back, Neo "
This time the voice in his mind seemed even louder than before.
USE THE CRYSTAL
Something suddenly stood out to Neo and snapped him out of it.
"Welcome back?"
What did he mean by that? He had lived here his entire life. He never went anywhere?
"Arrrgghh!!!"
Neo suddenly got a headache as strangely familiar and yet unfamiliar memories appeared in his mind.
The entire city suddenly started to tremble like it had been hit by a high magnitude earthquake.
"Shit!" Jesse snarled.
"Come find me as soon as you can Neo. You know who and i will be waiting"
Jesse suddenly kicked Neo in the head, causing him to black out "
.....
.....
.....
Neo opened his eyes shakily and saw a figure that looked like Jesse leaving the house.
He stood up as fast as he could, despite his splitting headache when he was stopped by someone.
Neo looked around and suddenly realized he was surrounded by multiple people, probably Jake's lackeys.
Neo backed down slowly. He couldn't fight this many people, not on his own.
«Alright Neo let's begin »
Neo suddenly heard a strangely familiar voice in his mind
The image of a blonde haired boy appeared in his mind before flickering out.
Neo was confused but didn't have time to ponder as he was being closed in on.