Asher's lips curled slightly. The crease on his eyebrows lightened. Heaving a sigh, he extended his hand forward before speaking.
"I think I know what sort of predicament I am in." A chuckle arose as the words left his mouth. The ripples on the blood-seeping dimension intensified.
"You were smarter than I expected." The shrill voice was piercing; each second he heard felt like an agony of a thousand years. Maintaining his facade, he started to shake his hand slightly.
"What are you doing?" The voice said with a hint of solemness that it had not shown to Asher the entire conversation.
Frankly speaking, he found it quite odd how he was going through such incidents that were hidden behind the veil of mysteries. But now, since he had gotten the gist of the situation or the tip of the iceberg, as a scholar persona would say.
A grin appeared on his face with a hint of amusement.
"You think you can fool me?" A silence echoed through the dimension that had followed the words that he spewed. From the very beginning, he felt the presence of two beings. However, only a single of them decided to show themselves.
'How foolish.' stupefied by the logic of these beings, he felt that there must be something going on behind the veil.
The dimension remained silent, with no trace of any voice whatsoever. Just as he thought he would not get a reply, a burst of maniacal laughter echoed through the realm.
'Am I done for?' He thought with a hint of cursing himself for selling the fact that he had figured out the identity of the voice just through the mere conversation he had with it. Shifting oddly, he remained in his place, his hand still extended.
'The moment I feel killing intent, I'll pull my blade out from the mysterious voice.' He concluded the possibilities of what was to happen next. After all, the might-be opponent was unknown.
'Still, even considering that I can use my fated signs. Will I still be able to fight toe to toe? The aura the voice emits is, if not least, suffocating. His sheer might makes the other godlike beings I met look like pathetic ants...'
'Indeed a befitting description for a Sovereign. The one working for Fate at that.'
As his thoughts came to an end, the maniacal laugh became vague, eventually fading away entirely. The ripples followed the interval of the laugh, fading away as well. The entire dimension became serene for a moment.
Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck straightened up severely in contrast to before. His eyes widened just as he felt someone approaching him from behind at an unfathomable speed.
'I can't dodge.' Stunned by the speed at which his might-be opponent was moving. A golden lightning cracked before a white blade with a gem-like golden hilt appeared in his extended hand.
"Fighting means death. I can't fight him right now." He concluded before bringing the extended arm behind his back.
Crack. Asher felt a force collide against his blade on the back. A rumble went through the dimension as blood started to flow from his eyes.
'My bon-' Before he could complete his thought, he heard a swish before feeling severe pain in his abdomen. A splatter echoed through the air, and a bloody aroma finally entered the world.
A pitch-black arm had pierced his abdomen to the fullest, eventually piercing its way up to his back.
"You should know that this world requires equal exchange. I gave you the information, and now I am merely receiving the payment." A hoarse, chilly voice entered his ears.
'Cra-p,' Asher stuttered in his thought when the pain increased abruptly. He gritted with bloodied teeth as he stared at the blurry man before him. In fact, it was not the man who was blurry, but it was his own vision.
The blurred man brought his face close to Asher's ear. His chilling, cold breath fell on him that would send any normal man insane.
"You can deal with Fate later. But first, you have to kill me." The voice suddenly felt even more shrill than before. If not for the fact that the arm was still pierced in his abdomen, he would tell the man the ways he would be tortured to death.
"G-o ahead," Asher muttered under his breath; his voice was hoarse, slowly losing its vitality. The blurred man, stunned, looked at him.
"If you fail to kill me today. I will kill you in the upcoming tomorrow." The words with a hoarse hue entered the blurred man's ears. Once again, he stared at the man before him.
Asher's eyes were bulging out with fury; his killing intent reeked through the entire dimension. Staining it with it.
Rage had gripped his heart, and so was the fulfillment of despair and desire to survive.
'Be rational. Ignore the pain.' He consoled himself as he stared at the blurred man before him. Twisting his wrist slightly, he tilted his white blade diagonally, bringing his thumb to the end of the hilt while shifting the rest of his fingers to the other side. The blurred man, completely oblivious, let out a shrill chuckle.
The chuckle had a maniacal tinge to it. It was overflowing with killing intent and in contrast to Asher's killing intent. The difference was akin to that of a mountain and a small hill, with the latter referencing Asher's intent to kill.
"Even in death, you humans have the courage to speak like-" Before he could complete his words, a white blade pierced the back of his throat until it appeared on the other side.
The blood-dimension suddenly became still, devoid of any ripples or any sound. A serenity overflowed it with a silence that seemed to be everlasting.
"You.. you." The blurred man had a horrifying expression of fear tinged with shock. His white pupilless eyes and his pitch-blade figure shifted oddly in agony. Immediately, he let go of Asher's pierced abdomen and detracted his hands to bring the blade out of his throat.
"Not so fast," Asher muttered before leaping forward; blood flowed like rivers from his abdomen as he did so. The blurred man's pupilless eyes followed his figure.
"In the game of chess, you can't be more vicious than me. Even if you are a Sovereign." Asher twisted the wrist that held the white blade. Swinging the corresponding arm, he allowed the blade to move horizontally, slicing the blurred man's throat from the back.
"You haven't killed me yet, you brat! This is just a portion of a spirit of mine. My real body is somewhere else. Just you wait!" A screech echoed after the words were spoken.
He immediately fell to the ground as he completed the entire action in less than a second. Raising his blade towards the decapitated head of the blurred man. He softly said.
"For I am the master of the void."