The air on the second floor was heavier, the Qi thicker. Even though it looked identical to the first floor in terms of aesthetics, it was an entirely different place.
The land was less barren, and a few landmarks were dropped here and there. Kyle could even see some trees in the distance.
Looking at the skies that bore the same red color. It made Kyle wonder if the sky was even real in the first place.
Like, how did the whole concept of floors work? Where the floors just stacked on top of each other in the middle of space?
'If anything, this is all so fascinating...' He thought.
"Same thing as last time, Kyle, do as you please, this whole floor should be an easy one for you," Nuna spoke while still hanging onto him.
"Alright..." Kyle cleared his throat. He was holding his sword in his left hand since Nuna was holding onto his right.
Kyle was right-handed, and every single time he fought, he wielded his sword with his right hand.
Though he had thought about training his left hand to be ambidextrous, all for the dream of being able to duel wield his one-handed longswords.
This was extremely difficult to achieve, though. It would take time and dedication. So that went straight onto his bucket list of things to do.
They began walking hand in hand around the floor.
Inevitably, they encountered their first beast, except it was no beast. They spotted the abomination from afar, feeding on what looked like another beast.
Its ghastly form moved with every crunching, wet chew, the sound a slow, rhythmic gnawing that made Adrien's skin crawl.
Chomp.Crunch.Gluuurk.
The sounds echoed louder in the unnatural stillness. Each bite stretched on too long, as if the creature was savouring the meat of its feast.
"A wraith?" Nuna frowned. She had never heard of a wraith being found on the second floor before.
What was so different this time? Wraiths were uncommon creatures.
The wraith was humanoid in shape, but its frame appeared to be made of pure darkness, rippling and shifting like liquid night.
The edges of its form shifted in silence as if breathed into motion by some unseen wind. It had hands, but no feet were visible underneath.
It floated gently up in the air, held up by corrupted Qi, the dark robes adorning it spectral, and wisping about, as if born of the shadows themselves.
The chewing sounds stopped.
It turned, its form looking up at them with an eerie gaze. Where once there had been eyes, now only a pair of hollow, dark abysses stared blankly.
The wraith regarded them for a moment longer, its form undulating like smoke. Then it let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a hiss.
"Hooooooooooooooooooooooo....!"
The wraith's voice was like the whisper of wind, chilling and ethereal. The most basic way Kyle would describe a wraith, when asked, was: 'A Ghost.'
"Hooooooooooooooooo....!"
Kyle shivered involuntarily, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
He couldn't shake the feeling that the creature's gaze pierced straight into his soul, seeing things no mortal should behold.
"Hooooooooooooooooo....!"
The wraith let out another haunting moan, its breath cold against their skin, even from a distance.
It suddenly moved, floating towards them quickly.
Its long, shadowy fingers reached out, as if trying to grasp them, but Kyle and Nuna quickly dodged aside, moving with preternatural speed.
Kyle got himself into position, and then he gauged its strength.
"!!!"
'Early stage of the foundation establishment realm!?'
He looked towards Nuna with a lot of questions on his mind. He did not know if she could see it too.
Clearly, things had gone wrong. This creature was not supposed to be here.
"Nuna, it's at the early stage of the foundation establishment realm." He spoke out to her.
"I know, this is the weakest class of wraiths; there are no weaker ones." She responded.
"Really?" 'Oh yeah.'
"You can take care of it. Let's see how you handle opponents much stronger than you. You probably won't be able to finish it off, so I'll intervene if things get dangerous."
She backed off, leaping back in one stride and leaving Kyle to face the wraith alone. He only nodded in response, shifting his stance.
He stepped forward slowly, gauging its reaction.
Suddenly, it let out a long, inhuman screech that tore through the silence like shattered glass.
SKREEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!
The force of it rattled Kyle's ears, but he stood his ground.
Without wasting another second, the Wraith lunged, its limbs elongating unnaturally as it soared across the sky in a blur of darkness.
Kyle's body responded before he thought.
He rolled sideways, the Wraith's claws missing him by inches and carving a furrow in the earth.
Spinning upright, Kyle gathered Qi into his core, letting the energy flow surge to his limbs.
He had yet to use any Qi or techniques in any of his encounters, simply because he didn't need to.
This time, for once, his opponent was not weaker than he, but stronger. Holding back might get him killed.
He let the Qi flow freely into his Meridians, into his dantians, and around his body, empowering him.
While doing so, he invoked one of his movement techniques.
[Phantom Step: Astral veil]
He spoke the words out loud as he moved.
Whoosh!
The world blurred around him. His body vanished and reappeared a few feet behind the Wraith, his sword already mid-motion in a slash.
Fwoosh!
His slash landed square on top of the wraith.
'Got you!'
A wave of Satisfaction settled over him. It had gone easier than expected; maybe he was just too strong.
But then, his confidence was extinguished instantly. The impact he was waiting for never came.
His sword hit nothing but air; it phased right through the wraith, from the top of its form, appearing below.
No damage whatsoever.
"!!!"
"!!!"
Nuna and Kyle's eyes widened in surprise. Kyle darted back to make some distance, his sword in hand.
He looked towards Nuna.
She looked at him.
That was when he realised that they were both surprised for different reasons.
"Physical attacks do not work on wraiths, their forms are made from corrupted Qi, so you have to imbue your sword with Qi to actually land your attacks!"
She shouted to him.
Kyle's eyebrows twitched. To think he had made such a rookie mistake. He felt the urge to facepalm.
Nuna must have been so surprised at how stupid he looked. Regardless, there was no time to think about it, because the wraith was already coming at him.
It flung multiple tendrils of mist and darkness, part of its frame, at him.
He moved.
Kyle thrust out a palm.
[Cosmic Awareness: Temporal Pulse.]
A sphere of soft light erupted from his core, not an attack, but Qi perception.
For a moment, time slowed around him, and the world moved in slow motion. The trajectories of every mist tendril became visible, luminous threads outlining their future paths.
He stepped between them effortlessly, each movement precise, avoiding every strand with the ease of a seasoned duelist.
He darted towards it, putting his sword into position, while channeling a large amount of Qi into it.
The Wraith shrieked in frustration. Its frame flickered, vanishing into the shadows made by the landmarks.
Kyle instantly recognised what it was trying to do. He activated his perception on full throttle, as he tried to trace its movements
"There."
He dropped low, channelling a wave of Qi into his hand, and drove his palm into the ground with great force.
Qi surged from his palm into the earth, spiking upward in a jagged arc of blue-white energy.
SHRAAAAAK!
The Wraith screamed as the lance impaled its shoulder, pinning it mid-transition.
Now fully revealed, the creature's true form trembled, its limbs shivering like smoke caught in a storm.
Kyle didn't give it the chance to recover. He drew his Qi inward, compressing it into a singular point.
Qi and will entwined.
[Void: Collapse.]
A miniature black hole formed at his fingertips, small but devastating. Even the corrupted Qi around them was being sucked into the small black hole at a steady rate.
He hurled it with precision at the creature, and it slammed into the Wraith's core.
Thoooom!
The air pulsed once, inward, and then twice, outward.
With a violent implosion, the creature convulsed and folded inward, devoured by its own condensed shadow.
For a few heartbeats, nothing remained.
Shhhhhhh!!!
Then, with a faint hiss of dark mist, the Night Wraith crumbled into dust.
Only its robes remained, an eerie garment of deep black silk interwoven with shadowy runes that pulsed faintly with residual Qi.
Kyle stepped forward and picked them up.
Despite their ominous appearance, they felt strangely cold and dry, enchanted, likely bound to the Wraith's form in life and now released in death.
A suitable trophy. And proof of the kill.
He exhaled slowly.
The silence lifted.
"Not bad," he murmured, his eyes glinting with the thrill of victory. He sighed softly. That looked like an easy fight, but unfortunately, the thrill got to him.
He had used some of the most powerful abilities in his arsenal, though sparingly. They took up a large chunk of his Qi for a few uses!
He was almost spent.
'This is so tiring!' But he was not complaining. Rather, he was smiling.
"I could get used to fighting like this. It's thrilling."
He could not explain the feeling he got each time he utilised an art. It felt oddly ethereal. A year ago, he could not have guessed that this is what his life would become.
On the other hand, it felt like danger was lurking in every corner. And on the other hand, he had access to power and abilities he would have never thought possible.
With that, he turned back to look at the lone spectator. His beloved.