I Only Want To Kill-Chapter 51: The Abyss (2)

Nadyr didn’t find success at the Steel Legion either. Instead, he was merely a pawn, a suicide soldier that is used for the most dangerous mission.

Excavating ancient technology, being the front man to test if any booby traps were hidden, and participating in any high-risk experiments as a lab rat. More and more tasks.

The type of tasks that rarely anyone could survive.

But Nadyr got out alive many, many times. Too many that even the Legion started to think he had some sort of hidden superpowers.

But they tested that too, and the result was always the same. He was merely a normal B-rank Speedster.

Each time he survived, Nadyr returned more broken.

His hardened soldier’s attitude was slowly getting ground down and replaced with fear and hesitation.

That was when he got the trauma and became a coward.

That was when his heart slowly got painted black.

Nadyr started to treat weaker Awakened like toys and cockroaches, losing all respect he had toward them like a human being.

But still, Blaze can’t find out the reason why Nadyr was able to survive.

He was always lucky enough to avoid a trap.

His injury was severe but could never kill him.

His entire platoon died in a mission, and he was the only survivor.

More and more miracles happened around Nadyr.

Then, Blaze looks deeper to find the cause of all this. The first mission Nadyr survived.

It took place in the fourth layer of the Void, the place where the name of it isn’t even public knowledge to the citizens of Ranas.

The Abyss.

It is a world of darkness, and rules of physics do not apply there.

Nadyr’s platoon had a total of twelve men, plus the captain, which is thirteen.

Their task was to infiltrate a ruinous temple.

There were monsters inside, those that are much more horrifying and deadly than the Hollows of the Mirror Layer.

They were killed even with all the equipment provided by the Steel Legion.

Their armor gave out. Their weapons broke.

Then, the rest happens in the blink of an eye. A swarm of bug-like monsters flooded them, and they all died there.

Including Nadyr. But there was someone else there. A presence of an indescribable being.

Nadyr’s soul starts to squirm.

The memory pauses itself. Images get twisted and broken down to pieces like a mirror. A high-pitched sound overwhelms Blaze’s ears.

Darkness takes over. It pours out from Nadyr’s soul and consumes Blaze whole.

He disappears from the real world.

Then, a man with a bunny mask stands in front of Blaze.

He, for some reason, has been pulled inside an unknown space without his knowledge.

Blaze didn’t even have time to react or fight back. The teleportation was instant, exactly like when he was pulled into the Void.

Blaze still has the appearance when wearing the Tattered Cloak. His face is covered by the white Tattered Mask, hiding his true identity.

The Lantern of the Damned is floating beside him, gently radiating yellow energy that pushes back the darkness exuded by the masked man.

Nothing else exists in this pocket space.

There is only Blaze, his items, the bunny man, and darkness.

"Oh! Someone tries to mess with my pet?"

The bunny man speaks. He wears a well-tailored black suit with a white shirt inside and a black tie around his neck.

His collar is pulled high, covering every part of his skin. He wears gloves and a gleaming black pair of shoes.

He is tall and skinny and has an elusive aura around him. It’s as if he is only a figure of your imagination.

The darkness lunges forward, trying to bury Blaze.

The Lantern shines brightly, pushing back the darkness with its yellow light.

For the first time in its existence, the Hidden Power Soul Flare comes into play and fulfills its purpose.

This darkness is not normal, it almost seems to be alive. It screams of pain when the light of souls touches it.

The Moonlight Karambit appears in Blaze’s hand. He calls forth his own darkness. A shadow sphere with a shade of purple seizes the space, fighting for its border with the pitch-black darkness outside.

"Another Abysser? Oh, mine!

Where are my manners..."

The bunny man bows deeply.

"Pardon my intrusion, my friend. I didn’t know you were one of us."

"Hmm!"

Blaze doesn’t say anything. He does not know where he is and how he came here.

For that reason, he rather stays silent. It is better to shut up when you do not have any cards to play.

"Are you still mad? Come on now. It was only my welcoming gift."

The bunny man keeps talking. The darkness outside tries to pierce into Blaze’s shadow sphere again.

Blaze’s Darkness vibrates lightly. It still holds on, but its power is obviously much weaker than whatever it is outside.

Its volume can be seen constricting due to the pressure of the bunny man’s darkness.

The black shadow extends out small, living tentacles that slowly penetrate inside Blaze’s sphere.

"Speak, my friend. Or your fragile Abyss sphere will break!"

"Hmm... How about this?"

The Tattered Mask lights up, this time a crimson shade fills the space.

Blaze’s eyes shine bloody red. The dark red energy of the Hidden Power Fear reaches out from under the Tattered Mask.

It fuses with the purple shades of Darkness.

Immediately, the darkness outside pulls back and retreats. Some of the tentacles wither instantly and turn to ash.

The bunny man hisses like a snake. His darkness returns to orbit around his body.

"Demon!"

He shouts and flies far away from Blaze.

The sphere of purple darkness enlarges and takes over half the volume of this illusion space.

"Who are you?!"

The bunny voice becomes low and antagonistic.

"What’s your name, Demon?"

Blaze doesn’t answer. He has no intention of doing so. The more the man misunderstands, the better it is for Blaze.

He lacks every piece of information about his current situation, so he can’t play by their rules. He needs to take the initiative and drive the conversation.

Blaze reaches out his hand, and the yellow soul of Nadyr shows up inside his palm.

"This is yours?"

Blaze’s voice is much more unsettling in this space, no less scary than the bunny man.

"Heh. Nadyr Brozovic. So you tried to inspect my experiment."

"Not your experiment. His soul is mine now."

Blaze says.

The bunny man spins his head and cracks his neck repeatedly.

"What’s your price?"

"Price? There is no price, I only take what I want. He is now mine.

Unless you have something else to say about it."

The dark red energy reaches out of the purple sphere and touches the black shadow of the bunny man.

It constricts one more time and does not dare to touch whatever energy the Tattered Mask is producing.

The bunny man growls, he opens his palm wide. A black symbol made out of energy flies out from Nadyr’s soul and into his hand. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Fine. But this is not the end, demon! I will take back what is mine... Eventually!"

The bunny man disappears, and the black shadow goes away with him.

Blaze feels the pull of the Void releasing, allowing him to travel back to the real world.

Blaze returns to his original spot, his body once again materializes under the sunlight.

He is still sitting on that same couch on the rooftop bar. Everything looks exactly the same, the corpse of Nadyr lies right beside him.

"What. The. Actual. Fuck?!" Blaze blurts out.