In any case, Arthur had no time to hesitate at all. The shadowy entity had appeared at the cave entrance as a mass of moving darkness, larger than before and far more dense. Tendrils of shadow flowed from it continuously like tentacles, and everything these tentacles touched withered and decayed instantly. Even the rocks at the cave entrance had begun to collapse and crumble into gray dust.
"The power of decay..." Arthur whispered, realizing he had to avoid touching this entity at any cost. This wasn't just an ordinary fight; he had to battle the force of death itself, where a single touch could mean his dissolution and transformation into dust. Or at least, that's what Arthur believed might happen at present, since he ultimately had no idea about the limits or weaknesses of his enemy's power. Therefore, overestimating his opponent's strength rather than underestimating it was the most appropriate strategy for him.
So, with lightning speed, Arthur assessed and evaluated his surrounding environment, the clear water pool to his left, the solid rocky cave walls, and a ceiling full of cracks and hanging stones. These were all the weapons he possessed alongside his gun, his intelligence, and his etheric energy.
The entity rushed forward with terrifying speed, its shadowy tentacles extending toward Arthur. But Arthur had already moved, using his internal etheric energy to enhance his speed and agility to the maximum. He jumped away from the first tentacle and rolled behind one of the large rocks.
He heard the sound of the rock crumbling and decaying behind him within mere seconds. "I can't just hide; everything it touches decays."
Instead, Arthur raised his gun and fired a shot enhanced with etheric energy toward the ceiling directly above the entity. The bullet pierced the rock and caused a large piece of the ceiling to collapse. But the entity moved smoothly, its shadowy tentacles catching the falling rock and dissolving it into dust before it could reach it.
"It seems direct attacks won't work," Arthur thought as he jumped from place to place, dodging the deadly tentacles that pursued him. "I need to do something smarter than this."
But when he was looking at the clear water pool, and then at the shadowy entity that had begun moving slowly for some reason, a sudden idea struck him. He remembered that, according to what he had learned over the past few days, fluids, especially water, were excellent conductors of etheric energy. He had recently mastered the technique of etheric conduction through liquids, which was actually one of the basic applications he had already been trained in.
So Arthur ran toward the pool, with the shadowy entity behind him roaring in anger. When he reached the edge of the pool, he jumped high using all his internal etheric energy, crossing over the pool to land on the other side. But instead of landing, he had turned his body in the air and placed his hand in the water for just one moment.
He released all the accumulated etheric energy he had through the water. The brilliant purple-golden energy spread across the pool's surface like lightning, transforming the entire pool water into a conductive network of pure etheric energy.
So when the shadowy entity reached the pool's edge, pursuing Arthur, its dark black tentacles, which had extended to catch Arthur, accidentally touched the water charged with etheric energy. The result was immediate and stunning, as the water charged with Arthur's pure etheric energy collided with the decay force, creating an explosion of bright white light and thick smoke.
The shadowy entity began screaming and wailing from the terrible pain it felt, retreating away from the pool, as a large part of its dark, shadowy body began to dissipate and become less dense. But even so, Arthur was fully aware that this wouldn't stop it for long.
"This is amazing, very clever..." the girl whispered from behind him, her voice weaker than before. "But you need to be careful; it's learning."
And indeed, as soon as the girl finished her warning, the shadowy entity began to reshape itself, but this time it was more cautious. Instead of just rushing blindly toward Arthur, it began surrounding him from multiple directions, its tentacles extending carefully around the etheric water pool, testing each step before advancing.
Seeing this, Arthur realized he had to change his tactics once again. So he directed his gaze to the cracked ceiling, the scattered rock debris, and the sharp walls of the cave. He knew he had to use every element of his surroundings as intelligently as possible if he wanted to defeat the shadowy entity and survive.
So he raised his gun again, but this time he didn't aim it directly at the shadowy entity. Instead, he fired three consecutive shots toward sensitive points in the cave walls, toward the cracks he had noticed since the moment he first entered. With the etheric energy-enhanced bullets penetrating the weak rocks, large fissures began spreading across the walls.
"Is he really planning to bring down the ceiling on our heads...?" Her glowing eyes followed Arthur's every move with growing admiration, though a faint concern crept into her tone. "But… doesn't he care about what would happen to him if he were to do that?"
Naturally, the girl was unaware of what Arthur was thinking or intended to do, but Arthur was conscious of every move he made. As soon as he acted, he leapt toward the cracked wall, summoning his internal etheric energy to enhance his muscle strength, enabling him to climb with amazing speed, like a skilled lizard. Naturally, the shadowy entity wouldn't simply let Arthur do as he pleased, so it rushed after him, its black tentacles extending upward. However, Arthur managed to reach a rocky ledge halfway to the ceiling, advancing with calculated and swift steps.
Then, from his new position, he fired one powerful shot toward a critical, sensitive, weak point in the ceiling, which caused a large part of it to collapse, but not randomly. Arthur had actually calculated the angle and timing precisely, so the large rocks would fall in a specific path, a path that formed a temporary barrier between him and the entity, trapping the shadowy entity in a narrow corner of the cave for some time.
"Amazing..." the girl murmured, her voice growing weaker and weaker, but the tone of admiration remained clear. "He's fighting like a seasoned warrior, yet he's just a child. How can a child of his age have the mind to plan with such intelligence?"
But Arthur's joy didn't last long. He soon saw how the shadowy creature had begun melting the fallen rocks with its power of decay, and how the rocky barrier between them was disintegrating faster than he had expected. That left him with only a few minutes at most before the entity would be free again. And from the furious howling he was hearing, it was clear that the mysterious shadowy entity would be even angrier than it already was.
So he knew he had to act as quickly as possible and devise completely new plans and tactics. So he looked at his gun quickly to find he had only three bullets left. "Three bullets... they'll have to be enough," he muttered while carefully recalculating his options.
But before he could think more carefully, Arthur witnessed how the terrifying shadowy entity, with a terrifying roaring sound, had finally managed to completely dissolve the rocky barrier that had separated them, emerging from the narrow corner angrier than before. Its black tentacles were moving with extreme violence, and its shadowy body appeared larger and denser, as if its anger had fed its destructive power.
Arthur used his internal etheric energy to enhance his leg muscles and jump from the rocky ledge to another wall, using the art of structural enhancement to make his nails and fingertips strong enough to grip the smallest cracks in the rocky walls, while he moved like a human spider from wall to wall, dodging the deadly tentacles that pursued him relentlessly.
"I can't keep dodging like this forever," Arthur thought as he noticed how his etheric energy was gradually decreasing at a noticeable rate with each jump and each enhanced move he made. "I need to end this quickly."
He looked around carefully, assessing every element in the surrounding environment. There were fallen rock masses, the pool of water charged with his etheric energy, cracked walls, and an unstable ceiling. All of these were his real weapons now.
Arthur fired his first of the three remaining shots toward a large rocky mass hanging from the ceiling directly above the entity. The rock fell, but the entity easily avoided it, its tentacles dissolving it before it could reach it.
"The second bullet..." Arthur whispered as he aimed toward a weak point in the wall directly behind the entity. The etheric energy-enhanced bullet penetrated the wall and caused part of it to collapse, creating a cloud of dust and gravel that temporarily obscured the entity's vision. Arthur used this moment to jump toward the water pool again, using his inner etheric energy to enhance his speed to the maximum. But as if the shadowy entity had anticipated this tactic, its tentacles rushed toward him from multiple directions at the same time.
"The last bullet..." Arthur then pressed the trigger, firing the final round, which he directed neither toward the entity nor the surrounding environment, but toward the heart of the calm pool. "This is my last chance... if I fail, everything will end here." With that in mind, the enhanced bullet, charged with etheric energy, penetrated the surface of the pool and exploded in the depths like a grenade, sending a fountain of etheric-charged water rising high into the air.
Truth be told, this plan was actually extremely clever, but unfortunately, it was still far from being sufficient. The shadowy entity, which had learned from its previous experiences with the etheric energy-charged pool water, had avoided the flying etheric water and surrounded Arthur from all sides. Because of this, in a moment of absolute terror, Arthur found himself completely trapped, with the dark black tentacles approaching him from every direction, where there was no escape for him from the deadly decay and disintegration force.
"Is this the end?" Arthur thought, his golden-amber eyes widening with terror. At this moment, he had practically exhausted all available options; his bullets had run out, and his gun was no longer of any use, while his meager reserves of etheric energy were about to be depleted. The continuous fighting, using the art of structural enhancement to strengthen his body with internal etheric force, in addition to activating his Spiritual awareness, Eyes of Truth, and mental enhancement to accelerate his thoughts and his mental and physical abilities to their maximum limits, had severely drained his strength and energy reserves.
But in that moment of absolute despair, when the shadowy entity's dark tentacles were just millimeters away from touching him and dissolving him into dust, something strange and unexpected began to happen. That's when Arthur began feeling a strange wave of energy flowing through his body, energy he had barely felt a few times, few enough to count on one hand, a unique energy coming from the depths of his soul and blood.
At that moment, it could be seen how Arthur's golden-amber eyes had begun glowing with a completely different light, a multicolored light dancing like the seven colors of the rainbow spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. All these colors intertwined and danced within his golden irises, and within the dancing colors appeared mysterious runic signs and symbols, rotating and moving as if alive, carved in the depths of his eyes with pure light and mystical power, like small stars revealing ancient secrets.
At that moment, Arthur realized purely instinctively that what was happening to him was the awakening of the dormant power within him, the power of his mystical eyes, the "Mystic Eyes of Absurdity." Instinctively, he knew the name of this power that had always remained latent within him, the embodiment of his golden blood.
With this instinctive realization came the insight and immediate knowledge of one of the abilities he had gained thanks to the power of these mystical eyes, "New Order," the ability to place whatever rules and orders he wanted on the very fabric of reality around him and impose his personal reality and will upon it, on living beings and inanimate objects alike, within a limited range. But with this knowledge came a clear warning in his mind, as if carved into the depths of his soul: he could only use two commands at a time, no more. Any attempt to exceed this limit would expose him to the danger of consuming his vitality and risking death, along with some other side effects that might prevent him from using this power freely in the foreseeable future.
With the shadowy entity's tentacles approaching him closer, Arthur screamed in a voice filled with strange power and authority, one that didn't belong to a boy his age.
"First Command: You, creature of shadows, are forbidden from using your decay and death power or any other type of mystical and supernatural powers you might have for two full minutes!"
As soon as he spoke, the echo of his words resonated through the cave with supernatural clarity, and the runic symbols in his eyes blazed with brighter light. The shadowy entity suddenly stopped, its tentacles trembling as if they had suddenly lost their deadly power.
"Second Command," Arthur raised his voice further, taking advantage of the golden moment now available to him, "all the water in this cave, move and strike this entity with maximum possible force!"
With that, the pool of water charged with his etheric energy suddenly exploded, as if a supernatural force was controlling it and bending it to its will. Massive waves of etheric energy-charged water rushed toward the shadowy entity from all directions, which was no longer able to use its decay power to defend itself because of the first command.
The collision was tremendous. The pure etheric energy-charged water struck the shadowy entity with devastating force, causing an explosion of brilliant white light that filled the entire cave.
The shadowy entity's wail rose to unbearable levels, and its dark body began dissipating and disintegrating gradually under the influence of the pure etheric energy it couldn't resist without its decay power.
But using the Mystical Eyes of Absurdity wasn't without a price. Arthur felt a wave of severe exhaustion strike him, and his eyes returned to their natural golden amber color, but with sharp pain piercing his head like sharp knives. He had fallen to his knees, panting heavily, and he realized instinctively how using this power might have left a permanent mark on him. He felt that part of his vitality had been drained and that a mysterious barrier had formed in his mind, which might prevent him from accessing this mystical power again easily.
"Little one!" the girl shouted in a weak voice, concern evident despite her deteriorating condition. "What did you do? That power... I've never seen anything this absurd before!"
Arthur looked at the place where the shadowy entity had been, to find it had completely disappeared, leaving behind only scattered particles of black dust and absolute silence.
"The Mystic Eyes of Absurdity, huh..." Arthur whispered to himself in an exhausted voice, wondering what this discovery about himself would mean for him and what consequences it would have for him in the future.
But before he could think about this matter any further, the world around him had begun turning black, and he completely lost consciousness. But before the last trace of his consciousness faded, Arthur glimpsed from the corner of his eyes the mysterious girl dragging herself toward him, screaming in a voice full of concern, "Little one."