A ghastly skeleton resembling that of a woman, which was wearing a black, worn-out cloak and wielding a horrific scythe, was floating up in the air while circling around where Lloyd was standing, a few meters away from him. It was looking at him with a murderous stare that penetrated through his very being. He could feel the menacing aura it was giving off which made him flinch.
'Tsk! This thing is very strong.' He thought grimly as he realized that his chances of getting out unscathed was close to zero. He might even die if he tried to fight it. Left with no choice and no way to escape, he had decided to fight the accursed wraith.
He braved himself from its dreadful presence and raised his own battle stance which Luna had taught him. Those short lessons he had with her was very helpful since those strange battle styles she had engraved on his soul from the repetitive attempts of imitation and studying enabled him to fight using a sword.
"Come at me, you wretched hag!" He taunted at the angry wraith who was still not attacking him.
The wraith let out a horrifying battle cry that made his ears ringing. As soon as the screaming stopped, the wraith flew towards him and swung its pitch-black scythe that was aiming to dissect his body from his waistline. Lloyd's eyes narrowed as he intercepted the scythe with his Wraithslayer sword.
To his horror, the wraith was unbelievably strong as it sent him flying towards the wall and crashed against it. He coughed up blood as he tried to stand up. Fortunately, his bones were still intact but he could feel his arms going a little numb from the force received.
He cursed as he saw the wraith seemingly looking at him with disdain.
'Damn it. It's looking down on me!'
He wanted to curse more, but the wraith was already diving straight at him with its next attack. Not wanting to block it as it might shatter his bones if he tried to block it the second time, he tried to remember the technique Luna taught him.
'If you ever get attacked by a much more powerful force than you could ever block, learn how to parry by timing it and redirect the attack without suffering from the brunt of the impact.'
He waited for the perfect moment to redirect the incoming scythe. If he was too early, then he would miss his aim completely and the scythe would split his body in half. The same thing would also happen if he was a little too late to parry.
Upon seeing the scythe already very close to him, he found what he was waiting for and immediately slashed diagonally to intercept the wraith's weapon and hit the flat portion of the blade instead of meeting its very sharp blade. A loud clanging sound echoed throughout the whole ritual room, accompanied by sparks of light produced from the clashing of the two weapons.
The blade of the scythe was redirected a few inches away from Lloyd's shoulder while his Sanctified Wraithslayer didn't stop and continued moving towards the accursed wraith. The wraith tried to block it with its hand, but the sword was just like it was passing through air instead of cutting something. It severed the hand it completely, turning the sliced portion into sparks of light.
The wraith was dumbfounded as it stayed still while staring at its hand that was now gone. Lloyd thought it was an opportunity to end the wraith's life for good, but what he didn't expect was that the wraith let out a disconcerting, grating scream which made his ears bleed.
"Ah! Curses! Why are the hellspawns here so fond of ugly, noisy screams?"
He spat angrily as he covered his ears with his hands to lessen the ear-piercing screams of the mad wraith. A few seconds later, the wraith quieted down and with madness reflecting on its eyes, it suddenly flew towards Lloyd and threw out consecutive slashes using its scythe, with no intention of letting Lloyd have a breather. It finally snapped and lost all the reasoning left in its mind after losing an arm.
"Wait, wait, wait! I can't keep blocking this mad bastard!"
He cried out, barely blocking the powerful slashes produced by the scythe. To his dismay, he finally made a mistake. As the wraith kept on raining down slashes towards him, he wasn't able to properly block an attack that gutted him on the right side of his abdomen once again. That was also the same spot where the Ghoul bore through his flesh.
He screamed in agony as his flesh was being ripped apart by the scythe. It was so painful he almost lost his consciousness. He was flung a distance away and fell to the ground heavily. His breath became ragged and heavy while his side was bleeding profusely.
"I messed up…" He coughed up more blood, unable to get up. "Am I… going to die?"
Memories of his old life flashed back. He remembered the day when his mother had died. His father went mad and beat him constantly every single day, taking out all the frustrations he felt on Lloyd when he lost his wife. His father's life became so miserable. Lloyd's life was also equally miserable. He missed his mother a lot. But he knew the dead had no place here on their forsaken world and he should move on and instead focus in surviving and maybe… one day his life would have any meaning.
Days passed and his father went into further regression, until the day he was infected by the madness of the hellspawn disease and died with regrets. Lloyd was way too young back then and didn't understand what happened to people who died after while being infected by the apocalyptic disease. His father's corpse underwent significant changes as it mutated into an ugly-looking humanoid monster with pointed ears and sharp teeth.
It rose up and looked at Lloyd with sinister eyes. Lloyd thought his father had been cured, but he looked so different than before he could barely recognize his face. Before he could even call him, his 'father' moved fast and strangled his weak neck with his powerful arms.
Lloyd slowly suffocated. He tried fighting back but to no avail. He thought he would die that time at the hands of his own father, but someone arrived at the scene and cut off the arms that had strangled him.
A beautiful woman with silver hair had saved him from his doom. His neck was freed from the gripping hands of his father by the aspirant who had just arrived. His father roared angrily and focused its attention on the new arrival, desperately struggling to get a hold on the aspirant but all his efforts went down the drain. Then, with just a wave her hand, countless air slashes came out and hacked Lloyd's father into pieces and he died horribly.
The woman walked towards Lloyd and crouched down to examine his condition. She then smiled and asked him.
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah." He answered.
He looked at his father's remains and tears leaked out from his eyes. He felt so miserable that he wanted to die. How was he going to live his life from now on? There was no one left who would take care of him. He had no other relatives and the people from the outer district are all selfish who only care for themselves. He was only a child; a weak and powerless child, with only death from starvation waiting for him.
The woman was a little bit rattled upon seeing him cry. She tried to calm him down and then she took out something from a ring that seemed to be a magical one that could store items. What she took out was a large amount of soul orbs with dim glows that were stored in a bag. She then gave it to him.
"I'm sorry for your loss. I can't help you in any way due to my circumstances… This is the only way I could compensate you." She said apologetically. Then she continued:
"If you ever feel like wanting to escape from your current situation, use it and survive. Once you reach the age of fifteen, go to the academy and enter the labyrinth of trials."
Then the woman sighed and left, leaving Lloyd all alone. He knew she would leave. She had no obligation to take care of him as she was only doing her job to slay the danger that had spawned in the world. It was already a stretch that she apologized to him and even compensated him. Lloyd knew what soul orbs are and its common functions in society. He thanked the woman silently as he wiped his tears. He was very determined to follow in that woman's footsteps in order for him to severe the ties he had with his miserable fate.
He worked hard, used cunning and deceitful methods like any weak person did in order to survive. He used the soul orbs wisely, only buying the things he needed and only ate when he felt that he couldn't endure the hunger any longer. He kept on repeating his daily routine until the day he finally reached the age of fifteen.
As for why the woman required him to be at least fifteen years old, that was the minimum age allowed to join the trials imposed by royal family in Asteria. And that's where he had decided to cast away his bleak future and went to the trials to find a better one.
That was where his memory ended. His eyes burned in determination as he remembered what he was fighting for.
"Damn you! I didn't come here… just to die."
He angrily said as he exerted his remaining strength to stand up and fight once again. He gripped at his Jian and used it as a leverage to support his wobbling legs. His ragged breathing made his voice hoarse when he tried to speak.
"I'll get up as many times as I have to… even if it means going to a deeper hell!" He screamed hysterically as his eyes emitted bloodlust which made the wraith flinch out of fear.
This time, he didn't wait for the accursed wraith to move. He quickly launched himself forward and slashed like a madman which was blocked by the scythe. However, he didn't stop there and continued making consecutive, connecting slashes, leaving no time for the wraith to counterattack.
He was coughing up blood and his side was also bleeding intensely from the wound he had received from the wraith's scythe. Even so, he didn't care at all. He lost all the doubts and fear he had in himself. All that was left was an absolute determination. He was hellbent on killing this wretched wraith.
'Faster!'
He kept on trying to increase his speed, ignoring the intense pain and weakening of his body.
'I need to go faster!'
His slash was becoming heavier and crazier while the wraith was at his mercy. Finally, he broke through its defense and was able to land a hit which cleaved its shoulder as the Sanctified Wraithslayer mercilessly delved deeper into its body. The wraith was wailing loudly as it cried in pain, horrors reflecting upon its eyes when its life was nearing its end.
"Die! Die! Die, you wretched hag! Just drop dead!"
Lloyd was grinning madly as he poured every ounce of his remaining strength in his sword for it to slice through the incorporeal body of the wraith while it was desperately trying to take down Lloyd together with him in a last gasp, but failed from doing so. The sword finally cut through, severing the wraith's body into half in a diagonal manner. Its body pieces disintegrated into sparks of light and its incessant screaming slowly faded away, filling the dark ritual room with silence once again.
Lloyd, having no strength left, dropped to the floor and his consciousness slowly slipped away. He had lost too much blood and his life was also nearing its end. His mana was also almost dried up so he had no way of casting last stand. Even if he did, he would only last for like a second only and then he would be dead.
"I guess… this is it."
He finally closed his eyes and his heartbeat slowed down until it stopped completely.