Two months later
'This is it,' Lucien peeked out from his hiding spot. 'Today is the day.'
A distance away, a golden bat was perched atop the corpse of a giant bear. It's elongated maw ripping into the profane flesh and gorging on its blood. Its wide wings were lined with an array of spikes that threatened to impale anyone who came too close to them.
That was his latest target, a Fallen abomination. Lucien couldn't really tell what its class was, but he could wager a guess. And if he was right, it was a Demon.
This…was dangerous. Fighting a fallen demon alone was a death sentence, even for an awakened demon like him.
Of course, he wasn't planning to fight it head-on; that would be stupid. He had spent the past few days preparing for this confrontation. The bear was simply there to lure it in, and it had succeeded magnificently.
The part of the cavern they were in was perhaps the narrowest, which was still wide enough for a hundred people to pass through. But it wasn't very tall. In fact, the ceiling was only a couple meters high.
Reaching out, Lucien grabbed a string that was nearly imperceptible to the naked eye and poured a sliver of his essence into it. The tiny bolt of electricity travelled up the web to the mechanism above, which groaned as it began moving.
Alarmed, the bat stopped tearing at the flesh of its prey and looked up. Only for a giant iron spiderweb to fall and wrap itself around it.
Taken by surprise, the creature struggled against it, trying to spread its wings but failing. The web was made of iron after all. Still, it wouldn't hold for long, not with a Fallen Demon fighting against it. Lucien had to be fast.
Fortunately for him, speed was his specialty. With a flash of purple, Lucien disappeared from view.
Lucien had intended to stab it through its beady black eyes and pour a river of lightning directly into its brain. But the monster had other plans.
Raising its head high, it screeched a silent wail. Only it wasn't so silent. The shockwave of sound tore through the webbing, freeing the bat, and continued outwards.
Cursing under his breath, Lucien diverted from his path at the last minute and dove behind a boulder. The shockwave shattered the boulder and threw Lucien into a wall. In the next moment, the bat was upon him, talons raised high, ready to tear him into ribbons.
Lucien's mind split into two, one inside his soul sea, and one outside. He watched as the wicked, sharp talon slowly descended upon him. There was nowhere to escape to; the colossal wings of the fallen had blocked off the sides, and his back was against the wall.
That left only one way out: through.
Gritting his teeth, he poured his essence into the blade and dove towards the creature, sliding through the gap between its legs. At the same time, he raised the storm blade up, tearing through the underbelly of the creature.
The abomination screeched in pain, this time audibly. Even then, it would've ruptured Lucien's eardrums had he not sealed them off with spiderweb. He had seen how the creature hunted its prey. Screeching so loud that their ears began bleeding, and while they were disoriented, it would descend from the skies and crush them under its weight.
So, he had made the decision to deafen himself. Was it dangerous to fight a Fallen abomination while handicapping yourself? Yes. But it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.
The storm blade had cut deeply into its flesh, drawing deep yellow blood, but it had not gone deep enough to hit any vital organs. The bat was still very alive and very furious. Turning around, it bared its fangs, ready to unleash another shockwave, but Lucien was no longer there. Only a thin purple trail leading towards one of the exits. Seething with uncontrollable rage, it screeched loudly and leapt after him.
Lucien winced as he ran; the iron spider's webs were not great insulators, and while they got the job done, it still hurt. Behind him, the abominable bat had taken to the air, gliding after him.
This scene was oddly familiar.
The tunnel ended in a dead end, opening up into a wide chasm with no visible end. Lucien barely managed to stop himself before he ran off the edge. Behind him, the monster was getting closer. He was trapped once again.
The golden bat landed right in front of him, a glint of satisfaction in its eyes. Its prey had nowhere to go, and it knew it. Slowly, it walked forward. It was going to relish devouring him.
Lucien gulped and walked backwards, dragging his feet on the ground. There wasn't a lot of space atop the cliff, and he was getting closer to the edge. Then, his leg caught on something, a wire, and a soft click resounded through the empty chasm.
That was his cue. Lucien ducked just as something flew past his head. The bat's eyes widened in surprise, and it tried to move away, but it was too slow.
A massive stone javelin soared through the air and struck the creature, digging into its golden flesh. Pushed back by the sheer force of the projectile, the bat lost its balance and toppled down.
That wouldn't kill it, Lucien could still sense its bioelectricity, but it was weakened. There was one more step left in his plan.
Before the creature could get back up, Lucien scrambled to climb atop it. The javelin had hit its chest, and very likely pierced its heart, but Lucien wasn't sure that would kill it. It was a Fallen Demon after all, and it took a lot to kill one of them.
Standing on its chest, he fished out the last storm shard in his possession. Without another awakened to help him, he couldn't really make any more. In fact, this was the last of the batch Nephis had helped him make. He had already used up the rest.
The purple crystal in his hand shuddered as he poured more of his essence into it, supercharging it. Over the last few months, Lucien had found a use for these things. While making them, Lucien had been careful to pour only a cores worth of storm essence inside it, any more and it wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Back then, he had been unwilling to try to experiment further, not knowing what would happen. But now? Now, he was desperate, and desperation was often labelled as the father of innovation.
Holding the core in his arm, Lucien poured another cores worth of essence into it. By now, the crystal was shaking uncontrollably, unable to hold the energy anymore. It was about to give in.
At the same time, the bat finally regained enough of its consciousness to notice him. A flash of hatred passed through its eyes, and it opened its mouth to let out a screech. In that moment, Lucien dropped the core into the monster's waiting maw and ran.
Using all of his storm to enhance his speed, he ran into the tunnel, breaking the speed of sound. Not a moment too soon, the world behind him exploded in a cacophony of lightning, and the spell softly whispered to him.
[You have killed a Fallen Demon: Apramana Bat]
[Your Spirit surges brighter]
Two things happened after that. A strange jolt ran through his mask, and something in his vision shifted. He couldn't tell what, because in the very next moment, a handful of storm fragments entered his core, filling it to the brim.
Lucien couldn't summon his runes at the moment, but he could imagine his counter read [3000/3000] now.
[Your storm is breaking through its limit.]
[Your spirit is defying the world.]
Lucien's soul began to radiate a familiar heat once more.
[Your storm is at its zenith.]
Something inside of him exploded, drowning his whole being with indescribable suffering. All of a sudden, his aspect shut down, and he began rapidly decelerating. The momentum carried him forward a little bit more, and his body was unceremoniously dumped beside the corpse of the bear.
His memories disappeared in a shower of sparks, leaving his twitching form defenceless. A shadow fell over him, and the ground he was on shifted.
Lucien couldn't care less at that moment, he was too busy enduring the pain of forming a soul core. It was his third time forming a new storm core, and it still didn't get any easier. Humans were never meant to have more than one core after all.
Eventually, the pain passed, leaving him feeling strangely refreshed. He wasted no time to summon his runes.
Name: Lucien
True Name: Hour of Calamity
Rank: Awakened
Class: Devil
Storm Cores: [4/7]
Storm Fragments: [3/4000]
A grin slowly crept up his face, he was a devil now. The months of constant hunting had finally paid off. To think he had only awakened his third core a few months ago.
More importantly, the counter for Nightveil should've been filled after that. He was only missing 2 observations before fighting the Apramana Bat. And that strange jolt he felt after killing it must have come from that.
Glancing at his runes again, he focused on the memory.
Memory: Nightveil
Memory Rank: Divine
Memory Tier: VI
Memory Type: Tool
Enchantments: [Eyes of the Beholder], [Fountain of Knowledge] [???] [Visor of the Underworld] [Soulbound Relic]
The memory had a new enchantment now, the one he had been waiting for three months now. [Soulbound Relic]
When he focused on the enchantment, the description just said:
[Bind the relic?]
Of course, he was going to bind it. Was that even a question? This was his one ticket out of the mountains.
Lucien merely had to think that thought for the spell to take it as a confirmation. The mast materialized over his face instantly, and a jolt passed through it. Then another. And then another.
Pretty soon, the mask was spasming, almost as if it were coming alive. The dark fabric rippled and squirmed on his face. But that wasn't even the worst part.
Thousands of tiny needles suddenly pierced into his face, tearing through his skin and flesh. For the second time that day, an indescribable pain suddenly assaulted Lucien. He screamed as his very being was remade. His body went limp and fell onto the cold stone, his mind drowning in the endless torrent of torturous, excruciating, harrowing suffering.
It wasn't a physical pain, nor was it coming from the soul. It was something else, something that made his head feel like it was full of thousands of tiny blades. His mind was caving under the pain; he could vaguely feel something warm flow down his face.
'Somebody….help…me..'
He wanted the suffering to end, no matter the cost. Even if it meant killing him. His mind split into two. Two streams of thought filled with nothing but pain. Then those two split again. Two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen. His mind was breaking, shattering into a million tiny pieces, each one afflicted with terrible pain. Pain so deep, it scarred his very being.
It was unlike any other pain he had experienced before. Worse than the pain of forming a core, worse than daring to look at the visage of a daemon. This was…wrong on so many levels. He felt like he was being unmade and remade, again and again, all in the span of a second.
Or was it a year?
Time had long lost all of its meaning. There was only an endless river of everlasting pain.
Then, after an eternity of suffering, the pain stopped abruptly. Lucien was left gasping and whimpering on the cold stone floor. The memory of the pain still haunting him.
And then that memory was gone too. And the spell whispered:
[Your memory has been destroyed.]
[You have acquired a new attribute.]
[One of your attributes has ev-ev-evol-]