The corrupted devil screeched a guttural, maddened sound that shattered the cave's stillness and lunged forward once more. Its movements had grown more desperate, more erratic, driven by the pain coursing through its severed limbs and the creeping realization that it had met a predator more cunning than itself.
This time, it attacked not just to kill, but to survive.
Its legs stabbed forward with murderous intent, each strike a blur of sharpened chitin and primal fury. The air hissed with its swipes, gusts of wind following every motion as it poured every last shred of strength into ending the battle in one swift flurry.
Hope stood still. He didn't move a muscle.
With a grace that seemed almost lazy, he twisted slightly to the left, letting the first strike miss him by a hair's breadth. The next claw came from above he ducked and spun, his cloak billowing around him like smoke. A final lunge came for his gut but Hope was already gone, stepping past the attack with fluid ease.
"Too slow."
The words barely left his lips before he countered. His sword came around in a wide, elegant arc, cutting through the space the spider had just occupied. The edge connected cleanly with its front leg, slicing deep. A spray of thick blood painted the cave floor as the creature stumbled back, shrieking in fury.
Hope dissolved into the darkness, his body folding into the smoke that clung to him like a second skin.
The cave grew still....
The corrupted devil twitched, its eyes scanning the darkness wildly. It sniffed, screeched, clawed the air.
Then...
Hope exploded from the darkness, his body low, sword angled up like a lightning bolt. The blade tore a gash across the spider's neck a deep one. It didn't cleave all the way through, but it came damn close. The creature reeled back, its shriek high-pitched and broken, nearly panicked.
Hope landed with one knee on the ground, sliding into a crouch. He slowly rose, resting the blade lazily across his shoulder. His mask adding to the terror around him. His head tilted to the side not like a fighter preparing to kill, but like a predator toying with its prey.
The corrupted devil paused. Its body was bleeding from multiple points now. Its movements sluggish. Its front legs trembled, dragging slightly. And something had changed in its posture the arrogance from earlier, the certainty that it would feast on this group and move on it was gone.
what a shame hope sighed slowly.....
It began to back away slowly, dragging its wounded frame toward the far edge of the cavern, claws scraping stone. Every instinct told it to run. To escape this masked shadow before it was too late.
But Hope didn't allow it.
He vanished again.
One second, he was standing still and silent.
The next, he reappeared behind the creature, silent as a whisper, the air warping faintly in his wake.
Hope raised the blade high. The silver steel caught the faintest sliver of light in the dark. It shimmered briefly, like a crescent moon in a night sky.
The corrupted devil tried to turn.
Too slow.
SWOOSH.
The blade fell clean and heavy.
The spider's head dropped from its shoulders, bouncing once, then rolling across the cave floor toward Hope. It stopped at his feet, its eyes still flickering dimly—refusing to fully die.
Hope stepped forward and, without ceremony, brought his foot down.
CRUNCH.
The head collapsed under his boot, a wet squelch echoing through the cave.
Then came the voice.
> "You have slain a Corrupted Devil..."
The voice of the Veil—ancient and cold—slid into his ears like silk soaked in ice.
> "You have received a Memory."
Memory Type: Odachi
Memory Rank: Ascended – Second Tier
Memory Description: With this Odachi, I shall cut down even knowledge..."
Hope blinked. Even if he hadn't gone to school, knowledge wasn't something tangible, how in the veil do you cut knowledge.... Isn't this discription too bold for an ascended weapon of the second tier?.
Behind the mask, his brows lifted in surprise.
He looked down at the corpse, then back at the fading motes of light drifting from the severed head.
That didn't make sense.
Corrupted devils weren't supposed to give out second-tier Ascended Memories. According to what was taught in the Veil Academy, only sacred beings didcreatures. Beings comparable to Ascended humans, trained masters, people of good legacy and and a sign of a better warrior
This spider? It was deadly, sure but not sacred.
Hope tilted his head again, this time thoughtful. "Well… maybe I'm lucky," he muttered.
He dismissed his current sword with a breath—black mist coiling around the steel and pulling it into his soul sea.
Then he raised a hand.
The newly acquired Memory responded to his will, and with a soft hum, the dark Odachi manifested before him.
Long. Curved. Its edge razor-sharp. The blade was ink black, darker than shadow itself, with an unsettling sheen like oil gliding over obsidian. Strange glyphs ran faintly along the spine, visible only at certain angles.
Hope gripped the hilt.
The weapon felt... right. Balanced, elegant, deadly. Like it had been waiting for him.
A slow smile spread beneath his mask.
"That's more like it."
He gave the blade a slow, experimental swing. The air hissed as it parted.
"Now I'll look cooler."
Hehehehe....