Amon floated in the abyss.
No sound.
No body.
No heartbeat.
Nothing.
This was the truth of the Black Stone.
Countless before him had reached this place, but none had returned whole.
The reason was simple.
When confronted with nothingness, most of the minds that got here shattered. To drift with no senses, no breath, no body, to go through death itself while being alive, was unbearable.
Most lose themselves either through the fear of death or madness.
That is why no one has ever pulled forth the Black Stone's full power.
"The Beastly Goblin Form wouldn't have been able to handle this. That's why I felt instinctive fear when holding the Black Stone as a Beastly Goblin. As an Elite Beastly Hobgoblin, I could handle it more easily." Amon muttered, staring straight into the darkness, into the nothingness.
For the first time, a wielder who isn't scared of death or of the nothingness has come into possession of the black stone.
He didn't fear it one bit.
"If the body is too weak to handle it, then the body changes into a zombie-like creature similar to the Corrupted Draconic Spawn. If the mind is too weak, then one goes Enraged. Amon can't truly and properly fear Death, because he has known it once already.
His grin spread in the dark.
"If both are too weak," He continued. " Then one becomes Corrupted, in both body and mind."
He wasn't floating anymore. No. He was standing. Standing in the middle of the nothingness. Standing on that shapeless nothingness.
"That's how it works,"
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn shuddered.
"Isn't it?"
Suddenly, Amon wasn't in the abyss. He was standing on scorched earth, standing right beside the Corrupted Draconic Spawn. Standing close enough to whisper in its ear.
SCREEEECH!
The monster shrieked, startled, stumbling back before its sharpened spiral tails lashed out.
The sharp, pointy tips of those tails moved straight towards Amon's chest when,
"Ha…"
Amon lifted a hand, palm towards the approaching attacks, and the tails froze in midair.
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn felt true fear for the first time.
Its tails, made of Corrupted Skin, quivered, before melting back into liquid strands that splattered uselessly onto the ground.
"Hm." Amon rotated his wrist so that the palm of his hand would face down. The black liquid trembled, bubbled, then obeyed. Quickly, it started rising up into the air, flowed upward, then downward into the back of his hand.
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn could feel it. Sense it. Smell it.
On the back of Amon's hand, the Black Stone was embedded, its surface visible and going through the skin.
It pulsed, and sucked the corrupting liquid in.
Amon stretched his neck. "You're pretty fucked now," He smirked. "Aren't you?"
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn's screech cracked into a whimper. Fear.
"Don't worry." Amon pointed past the monster. "Someone else has beef with you." He said, as a thunderous growl echoed.
BOOOOM!
The sphere of fire surrounding Akane exploded outward, flames spiraling high into the sky.
From the inferno, a figure stepped forward. Her eyes glowed red, pupils slit thin as blades. Her hair burned crimson and, behind her, swayed a second tail, woven of pure flame and Mana.
Amon's lips curled upward.
"Can you hear me, Akane?"
The ground beneath her cracked. And then she was gone.
She closed the distance in less than a blink.
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn lashed its spirals forward in desperation.
Amon swiftly positioned himself between the two. His arm shot out in the Corrupted Draconic Spawn's direction, intercepting and dissolving the Corrupted Skin into formless sludge.
'Hah.' Amon chuckled internally, noticing that Akane hadn't slowed down one bit.
She hadn't given the Corrupted Draconic Spawn's attack one thought, and hadn't even noticed Amon.
Her body flipped midair, tails slicing through smoke. She somersaulted over the monster's head, fire spiraling in her hands.
"Rrraaargh!!"
With both arms, she swung downward, unleashing claw-like arcs of fire that ripped through the monstrosity's back. Flesh burned, strands of corrupted skin snapped and curled away like melting leather.
The Corrupted Draconic Spawn howled. For the first time since its rebirth, its shriek was nothing but raw pain.
Akane landed lightly in the ash, fire licking around her body.
Her red eyes locked on the Corrupted Draconic Spawn, her slit pupils focused, and her two tails swaying with the wind.
"Attagirl." Amon tilted his head, grinning as the monster writhed and thrashed.
[Information has updated!]
[Name: Akane]
[True Species: Kitsune!]
[Potential: SSS!]