As the battle dragged on, Jin-Su and his allies found themselves locked in an unending cycle of survival and endurance, their movements heavy, voices strained, each step slower than the last. Hours slipped by, leaving each of them physically and mentally frayed. The abominations seemed to sense this fatigue, evolving, adapting to their strategies, and growing more resilient with every encounter. What had begun as an intense display of power was now a desperate struggle for each inch of ground, and the cost was evident on every weary face.
Kara was the first to falter, the bright polish of its scaled armor dulled by the dark, viscous blood coating it. Once an unbreakable shield, its scales were now marred with deep scratches and dents from hours of brutal combat. It had initially laughed off its injuries, claiming the pain made it stronger, but as the fight wore on, the strain showed. Kara's swings grew less precise, its form slowed, and its tail, once a deadly weapon, dragged slightly with each movement. Yet it continued to charge forward, slamming its greatsword down with whatever strength remained.
"Come on, is this all you have?" Kara snarled, breathing heavily, its voice raspy and worn. "I… I'm still standing, you wretched things!" Despite its defiant words, there was a tremor in its voice, and its usual cocky grin had faded, replaced by a look of grim determination. Each strike it delivered took a visible toll, and its powerful stance wavered under the constant barrage.
Aelis, once a flicker of lethal speed, was slowing as well. The elegant movements that had once allowed her to slice through thirty creatures in a single breath were now limited to groups of four or five. Her skin glistened with sweat and grime, her once-silver daggers darkened by the relentless bloodshed. She panted, her breaths shallow, and her gaze, once sharp and focused, was now clouded with exhaustion.
"Even shadows… get tired," she muttered under her breath, swiping a dagger across her brow. "But I'll… keep cutting you down." Her voice had a faint tremble, a reflection of her diminishing strength. She vanished into the fray, but the creatures' blood that clung to her armor left dark stains, her presence no longer the fleeting ghost it once was.
Althara's icy fury was waning as well. The snow and hail she summoned no longer roared with unrelenting power. Her once-imposing wall of ice had become a thin, fragile barrier that barely held back the creatures' relentless advance. The sharp, lethal shards she had conjured in the beginning had now diminished to mere snowflakes, their edges dulled, barely enough to scratch the abominations.
"Cold… should bite deeper," she whispered, her voice a hoarse murmur as she staggered. Yet, despite her waning power, her focus remained. Her violet eyes, once blazing with icy determination, were dull, and her breaths were shallow and labored.
Daemon, however, was a contrast to the others. The lighter side of him had nearly exhausted itself, unable to conjure any more protective wards or shields. His face was pale and drawn, eyes shadowed, yet the darker side seemed only to grow stronger with each passing moment. His twisted grin widened, relishing the chaos around him.
"Yes… more! Let them come!" he whispered darkly, his voice carrying an unhinged excitement. His shadows lashed out, sinking into the creatures, making them writhe in torment before they crumbled into ash. "Leave us… I tire of seeing your kind!" he snarled, his voice layered with disdain.
The lighter side of Daemon offered a hoarse whisper. "I...must generate power.." he said, his voice barely audible, each word a struggle. But the dark side scoffed, impatient and derisive. "No need, I will finish this, I will see it all!" His voice echoed in their minds, his presence a constant reminder of their own creeping madness as he tore into the abominations with a brutal satisfaction.
All the while, Jin-Su's summons began to lose their formidable strength. His spirit phoenix, once a blazing entity of silver-blue flames, now fluttered wearily, its feathers dimming, the flames barely a flicker. The massive wolf, scarred and worn, raised its head to the crimson sky, its howl a haunting farewell, filled with both defiance and sorrow, before it, too, faded into the void. The lion's mane, once a brilliant crown of fire, had faded to a dull ember, its once-proud roars reduced to quiet growls.
Jin-Su's own movements had lost their previous fluidity, his strikes still powerful but slower, more measured. His armor, now coated in a thick layer of dark ichor, was heavy with the stench of the creatures' blood, weighing him down. Each breath felt like a burden, each step a struggle. He could feel his mind fraying, the whispers of Nyarl'thagas creeping into the edges of his consciousness.
Nyarl'thagas watched them with an almost delighted amusement, the twisted mass of shadows pulsing with an insidious, mocking energy. Its monstrous form seemed to grow larger with each passing moment, its grotesque features contorting as if relishing their exhaustion.
[System Alert: Abyssal Monarch Evolution, Possible. Will you ascend?]
[Yes/No.]
Jin-Su stared at the prompt, his heart pounding, the temptation gnawing at him. He could feel the Abyss calling, urging him to give in, to accept its power and transcend. The idea of harnessing that power, of becoming something greater, flickered before him, and for a moment, he considered it.
But as he looked at his allies—Althara, Aelis, Kara, Daemon—each of them battered and bloodied yet fighting, he found clarity. They had been fighting alongside him, enduring this hell together. He couldn't abandon them to become the very thing they were fighting against.
"Jin-Su!" Althara's voice was weak, but her eyes held a spark of defiance. "If… if you have a plan, do it now… we can't… hold this off forever."
The choice lingered, heavy with temptation. Jin-Su felt the power of the Abyss coursing through him, promising strength beyond mortal comprehension. But the cost…
Was he willing to sacrifice himself for victory?
Nyarl'thagas let out a deep, rumbling laugh, its voice echoing in Jin-Su's mind, a twisted melody of insanity and darkness.
The abominations closed in around them, and Nyarl'thagas raised its arm, a mass of darkness ready to crush them. The ground trembled, and the air filled with the scent of decay.
But as the System's prompt hovered before him, Jin-Su exhaled, a surge of cold clarity flooding his mind.
"System," he whispered, his voice resolute. "No."
The prompt vanished, and he felt the burden lift. He would not succumb to the Abyss. He would fight on his own terms, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
The sword pulsed in his hand, answering his resolve.
"...Refuse it? Think you can deny the our will?" it whispered, its voice layered and eerie. "To deny Us… is to deny you. Refuse now, but in time… you will remember."
As the relentless battle drew to its climax, Jin-Su felt the toll of countless wounds and ceaseless bloodshed weighing on him, each step slower than the last. His spirit summons—once blazing, indomitable forces—had dulled, their ethereal light flickering. The spirit phoenix let out a piercing, mournful cry, a final cascade of blue-silver fire rippling across its wings before it vanished into a wisp of smoke. The massive wolf, scarred and worn, raised its head to the crimson sky, its howl a haunting farewell, filled with both defiance and sorrow, before it, too, faded into the void. The lion, its once-fiery mane now a dim ember, gave a final, guttural roar, echoing through the battlefield like a heartbeat slowing, until it dissipated into silence.
[New Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Requiem – Sacrifice your life in order to empower yourself. Cause irreversible final strike, consuming the target's existence. Ends the Abyssal Requiem state.]
His fingers tightened on the hilt.
"A better sacrifice." he thought.
His decision, made.
"I'm sorry," Jin-Su said softly, glancing back at his weary allies. "This is the only way."
[System Alert: Abyssal Requiem activated.]
Jin-Su tightened his grip on his sword, knowing that he was about to make his last stand. Before him, Nyarl'thagas's form loomed larger, a colossal embodiment of the void's will, its many tendrils lashing out, warping reality with every movement. Yet for a brief moment, even the Eldritch Monarch turned its malevolent gaze downward, its shadowed form coiling with purpose. With a ferocious grace, it cut down several of its own twisted minions, carving through them as if clearing the way toward Jin-Su. Each strike of its shadowed limbs tore through the creatures with merciless precision, its presence, strangely, a reminder of the unstoppable force Jin-Su himself had sought to become.
At that moment, a cold voice rumbled through the battlefield, each word laced with an eerie, twisted certainty that wrapped itself around Jin-Su's mind like a dark shroud.
"Us... are never far. Us and you... were, are, and will always be… together." Nyarl'thagas's whispers crept into his consciousness, the words bending and shifting in his mind like echoes from a nightmare. "To deny Us… is to deny your own self. Refuse… but remember—Us will never leave you."
The creature's laughter resounded, low and haunting, twisting through Jin-Su's resolve, a reminder of the depths he had once been cast into. But Jin-Su shook off the creeping dread, his will hardening against Nyarl'thagas's cryptic warning. He had chosen his path, and there was no turning back.
As he surged forward, sword blazing with the dark flame of Abyssal Requiem, Daemon's voice broke through the chaos, sharp and urgent. "No! You fool!" Dark Daemon's eyes blazed with an intense, feverish gleam, his hand outstretched, shadows curling around his fingers as he lunged toward Jin-Su, his voice layered with desperation and fury. "You don't understand! This isn't your choice to make!"
But before he could reach Jin-Su, a shimmering barrier of light erupted between them, halting Daemon in his tracks. The lighter side of Daemon, his own face etched with quiet resolve, his body trembling from exhaustion yet standing firm, a protective wall raised with the last of his strength.
"Let him go," Daemon's lighter self whispered, his tone soft yet unwavering. His face was a mask of quiet acceptance, the determination in his eyes speaking volumes. "This is his path… one he has chosen freely." He turned his gaze to Jin-Su, a faint, almost imperceptible nod of understanding passing between them.
Daemon's darker side screamed, clawing at the barrier with desperate fury, his face twisted with rage and anguish. "You… weakling! You would stop your own self?! You know nothing of what lies beyond! I know nothing of what lies beyond!!"
But Daemon's lighter self only smiled, the faintest trace of peace crossing his face. "Some things… are meant to end."
With one last, defiant glare, Daemon's lighter side strengthened the barrier, his energy flickering, yet holding, a shimmering testament to Jin-Su's resolve and his own acceptance.
"NOOOOO."
As Jin-Su surged forward, his blade ablaze with the full, sacrificial power of Abyssal Requiem, Nyarl'thagas reared back, a twisted grin forming across its otherworldly face. It stood tall, shadowed tendrils coiling around it in an ominous display of power and for one brief moment, Jin-Su caught the flash of a sinister satisfaction in Nyarl'thagas's gaze, as though it was both expecting and welcoming his final act of defiance.
With a primal scream, Jin-Su drove his sword deep into Nyarl'thagas's heart, pouring every remaining ounce of his being into the strike. The Abyssal Requiem surged forth, a torrent of void energy consuming the Eldritch Monarch's essence. Reality itself trembled, fragments of time and space shattering and twisting as the power of the void tore Nyarl'thagas apart from within. The abominations surrounding them disintegrated, their forms crumbling into ash, the echoes of their screeches dissolving into silence.
Nyarl'thagas let out a final, ear-splitting wail, a cry that reverberated through every fiber of Jin-Su's soul. The monstrous entity's form unraveled, shadows peeling away like smoke in the wind. Its many eyes, once filled with an unnatural and piercing intelligence, dimmed and faded, yet as it dissolved, its final words slithered through Jin-Su's mind, lingering like a dark promise.
"Us will always wait," it murmured, the voice a mere whisper now, filled with a chilling, almost reverent calm. "Deny if you must… but us and you… are never separate. You will learn. We...will become."
The battlefield fell silent as Nyarl'thagas disintegrated completely, leaving only an empty void in its place. Jin-Su's vision blurred, his own body dissolving, the Abyssal Requiem exacting its ultimate price. They were in a lush green forest now. They had escaped from whatever hell it was. He felt his life slipping away, his existence fading as the dark energy consumed him. In his final moments, he glanced at his allies, each of them battered and bloodied yet standing. Their faces, etched with grief and understanding, they said things but he couldn't hear them. They watched him as he drifted into the abyss. They, too, understood the price he had paid.
As he began to disappear, Jin-Su felt a strange peace settle over him, a sense of finality that he hadn't experienced in lifetimes. His choice had been his own, his sacrifice unforced. And in that last heartbeat, he allowed himself a faint smile—a quiet, unspoken farewell.
But the void didn't claim him. In the darkness, something shifted, a force tugging him back, defying the finality he had accepted. The familiar chill of the Abyss crept over him, yet there was something different, a feeling of being drawn not toward the end, but toward a beginning.
[System Alert: Time Reversal in progress. The Abyss remains unaffected.]
His past rushed through him in vivid flashes—the betrayal, his descent into the Abyss, the agony and madness, and finally, his return to this battle. And then, impossibly, he was sent further back, to a time untouched by his fall, before the darkness had claimed him.
Jin-Su's eyes snapped open.
He stood in the grand hall of the Celestial Academy, sunlight streaming through the windows, casting warm beams on the polished marble floors beneath his feet. His hand instinctively reached for his sword—it was still there, humming faintly with the power of the Abyss. He looked around, heart pounding in his chest. He was back. Back before the betrayal, before the Abyss, before he had lost everything.
And as the weight of his power settled within him, he felt the presence of the void lingering in his soul, a silent reminder that he was never truly alone.
[System Alert: You have returned to the past. All stats, skills, and abilities retained.]