Lucas ran his fingers through a marbled gravestone which read, 'Here lies Elizabeth Arialla Gravar, devout wife and a kind person.'
The gravestone was a cubically cut stone which extended into a blooming flower. Was it cheesy? Yes, but did he care? No.
"This should be the only place where the entrance to the trial is. Now, how the fuck can I enter?" Lucas muttered with a questioning gaze.
"Oo! Oo! I know! I know! Maybe try open sesame or abra kadabra." Belphegor commented with a grin.
"Yeah good idea, while I try that. I should also probably open my phone and call the heroes about the demon in my soul." He warned with a smile.
That shut him up, 'Now, the password, preferably without sass this time.' Lucas thought, as he spent a few minutes wandering around the gravestone.
"Open sesame! Abra kadabra!" Lucas yelled softly. After a few minutes of circling the gravestone, he was losing his mind.
"Did you actually try that? Damn you really are desperate!" Bellie cackled softly, his voice low.
Lucas ignored him and let out a small sigh before leaning against the stone, 'Let's see, a person would normally set their password to something that's close to them. Since it's a memorial for his wife, it'll be something close to her.
'Something like their wedding day, or their date of proposal.' Lucas said, deep in thought.
"The problem is….I don't know any of that!" Lucas muttered with disappointment.
He shifted in his seat as he sighed deeply, Lucas looked around before resting his head against the large flower.
Lucas blinked, his expression changed slightly as a smirk appeared on his face. "Or sometimes it just might be flowers." Lucas paused before declaring quietly, "Chrysanthemum."
A few seconds passed as Lucas stared in shock, "Isn't this the part where something ope—nss!"
Lucas yelled loudly as the stone he was leaning against opened, plunging him inside.
"..."
Lucas plummeted downward, the rush of air pulling at his clothes and hair as if the earth itself wanted to gobble him up.
Lucas flailed helplessly until something unseen caught him—hard. His body hit solid ground with a loud thud that rattled through his bones. He groaned, sprawled out like a broken starfish.
"Ow… ten out of ten landing. Nailed it," he muttered dryly, face half buried in the impossibly smooth stone floor.
Silence engulfed him. The room was unusually quiet, nothing was this quiet, except when your girl was trying a pregnancy test.
"I can't see a damn—"
Click.
A sound rang out in the distance, sharp and deliberate. Immediately, faint lines of light spread across the floor beneath him.
The darkness peeled away slowly, one by one, torches along the massive walls burst into flame, filling the room in waves of golden firelight.
Lucas stood, tilting his head back as his eyes widened. He wasn't in a "room." He was in a cavernous hall.
Suddenly, just as the darkness was about to fade, it melted into each other, taking shape. Soon, a formless shadow stood up, his fingers stretched, as he summoned a wave of darkness which took shape into a longsword.
"Oh you're in some deep shit, this some anime shit Lucas. Better get your ass outta here." Bellie said with awe, glancing at the shadow cladded warrior.
"Don't I know it. Now, weapon." Lucas commanded, as a sleek black coloured handle odachi manifested into his hands—one of Belphegor's many powers—transmuting his body.
The shadow waited, the second Lucas raised his blade, the shadow lunged forward. The shadow arched one of his hands forward, while simultaneously piercing his weapon through the air.
Lucas didn't panic, he was a warrior too, a warrior who had trained for four years. If he faltered or even lost now, it was better to give up.
He parried the shadow's longsword and weaved in, spinning softly, he danced around his blade and cut through to the arm that was arched forward.
But, surprisingly, nothing happened.
'Whaat?!' Lucas asked, mystified.
That was a direct hit, he had seen the blade pass through, how could the shadow avoid the attack.
But the shadow didn't wait for Lucas to regain his composure, he twisted his wrist and brought the blade back in an arc as Lucas's eyes widened.
This was a battlefield! Not a children's playdate, it wasn't the time to be getting distracted.
Lucas bent down, leveraging his own body, the slash came unimpeded but Lucas jumped back, gracefully avoiding the blow.
But the formless shadow didn't leave him without any parting gifts, he raised his leg and gave a crushing kick to Lucas's stomach just before he fled, sending him crashing.
Lucas stood up, the taste of metal lingering in his mouth. 'My attack couldn't have been avoided like that, I definitely saw my blade pass through…'
Lucas questioned. His eyesight was quite remarkable, he trusted his sight more than his sanity. If he saw his blade pass through, then it must've passed through.
"Oh no way I'm dealing with that type of power." Lucas cursed under his breath, but he still had his doubts on whether it was that power.
Before long, the shadow stopped circling Lucas as they met each other's gazes.
Lucas suddenly jumped forward, his legs propelling him forward. He brought his odachi down, the sinister odachi growling, as the shadow used his own blade to parry the attack, causing sparks of flames to jump out.
Lucas didn't let go easily, his leg bent before he twisted into a roundhouse kick.
The shadow bent down, avoiding the blow. He then twisted his sword to the sharper side before he swung up, in an effort to bisect Lucas who rolled over him.
Lucas didn't waste a moment and thrust his katana forward, caught in such an awkward position the shadow was helpless, awaiting his death.
But once again, his sword passed through his body, but Lucas didn't feel the normal feeling of slicing through flesh, no this was different.
Lucas narrowed his eyes, before he jumped back, deciding to retreat.
His suspicions were spot on, the shadow faltered for a moment before standing up, unhurt.
Lucas clicked his tongue and cursed, "Damnation! Intangibility huh? What a troublesome ability."
"You're in trouble now, Lucas boy." A voice resounded in his mind as his odachi softly pulsed.
"Don't worry, I'm a genius, every skill has its weakness and I can find his weakness. I've trained for four straight years, if I can't even do this. Then I should just kill myself now." Lucas consoled Belphegor while he parried one of the shadow's attacks.
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A/N - How are you liking it so far? Lemme know if there's something lacking. Anyways do comment more and donate some powerstones too.