"Give up! Come see us, come into the darkness."

...

"Like hell."

Aether gripped his blade, thrusting it into the darkness, the blade piercing the air with its sharp tip, dividing it in two.

"Eighty-five..."

Until failure, that was his goal. How many days has it been until now? Sixty? He has stopped counting, since it reminded him of the agonizing days he has been going through until now. How much he has pushed his body to last five more seconds than before. It wasn't normal; it wasn't how building an immunity worked. And yet,

He didn't care.

There were times when he had almost passed out, and that would mean his death.

Yet, it was more important to build a tolerance, even more than his health. And it wasn't like it was the first time he had forced himself and his body, even if he had not wanted to do so; it wasn't for him to choose.

Sixty sorrowful days, where he had nothing but pain, but had it been worth it?

It had been, it was even more worth it than he had imagined. Not only could he resist with his marks hurting as much, but he even started to use his blade and fight. For five minutes after the poison was inflicted, he could still fight.

"Eighty-six..."

He had learn one important thing about souls, and soul attacks at that. He had been right, the soul is more vulnerable when the physical body is damaged. It makes you weaker, alongside your attacks. But most importantly, your mental health is greatly worsened.

He was used to it, so it wasn't such a grave danger to him. But for many, it is. That had been why The Ace had been so rageful after the poison; his mind was slowly breaking.

"Eighty-seven..."

It was also why the shadows were louder when the marks did their work.

"Eighty-eight..."

"Eighty-nine..."

"Ninty..."

...

"Ninty-one."

...

...

How much he enjoyed his time after enduring the darkness, stepping into the light had become his most pleasurable activity, well, actually crawling to the light, but the idea is there.

After such intense pain, it felt like a blessing from a god.

The light wasn't even healing, it was Praise. But he felt so grateful towards it.

He had no idea why the ruin was here. It had disappeared after he had gotten his sword, and yet, one had appeared at all the zones he had gotten, and they all looked the same.

There is also the fact that time somehow works inside it.

Before, while the zones belonged to the Knights, time didn't work, so why is that?

He had no idea.

...

...

While he has been training, Azel has put in a lot of work, making many wake up to reality. He was quite impressed by the work of the girl, as the number of his followers had grown five times bigger than it had been before. And that without him killing another Knight.

But that was going to change soon.

Very soon.

Five minutes was way more than enough, after all, he wasn't going to fight her head-on; he had a plan, one he was sure was going to work. And one that didn't require him to really fight. But it did have a condition.

"Surviving the poison."

Even if he could endure the pain of the marks, soon, the poison was going to get stronger and continue to do so until it killed him. And so even if he finished her off, he had to find a way to survive to tell the tale.

On how on earth he was going to do that. He had no idea; he was going to find that out on the way there.

"No going back now."

He sighed, gripping the hilt of his blade and stabbing his own leg.

...

"Damn, I'm scared..."

He couldn't feel the pain yet, maybe because he had hit a part quite far from the soul, or because he was used to it. But he was nervous; he knew that if he didn't find a way soon, he was going to die.

"Think, think!"

What are soul attacks? That was the question he started with.

"They are attacks similar to core attacks, or rather affinity attacks, but instead of trying to stop the affinity, they hurt the host, aka your soul. The other part of the core."

That part of the core is also weaker when the body is injured.

Soul attacks have to travel to the core to really do the damage, and they travel through the essence threads of the body. It was fair to say that in the poisoned state, they were similar to the essence.

...

"Shit."

It hadn't been long, and his body had already started to hurt. He could even see his essence turn black and travel through his body.

"I have to be faster..."

But wasn't that everything he knew about soul attacks? What else could he use?

He gripped his chest, cursing as his body became weaker.

"Soul attacks also damage your mental health. But it's not them that does it. It's the pain and voices too for me, that does it... How does that even help me?"

His knees were barely keeping him standing. The shadows were already coming to mock him, not scared of the light standing by his side. It also didn't make things better that to hear and talk to shadows, he had to use essence.

...

...

"Wait..."

If soul attacks were some sort of essence, or just that they traveled using them and the threads... if he emptied his essence, would that also get rid of the poison?

...

"Is there a reason not to try it? Fine, let's do this."

He threw the lanterns to the side, the light inside flickering slightly as it hit the ground. Seeing this, the shadows got closer, many of them, to the point that they covered him whole.

He cursed, as not only was the poison making him go through agonizing pain, but his marks didn't waste a second, not that his soul was weakened. No one could survive this; it was stupid. He had dug his own grave, and he had to go back into the light.

He started to fall, knowing there was no way to get to the light, not even by crawling there... so he was going to give it his all.

"Come here, all of you shitty shadows! I'll kill you all alongside your God!"

Many stopped to listen, some decided to continue walking, but most weren't going to let that go. If he had to say, there were around two hundred shadows all cursed him, mocking him, shouting insults.

But one was heard more than the others.

"Rat."

"Rat."

"Rat."

"Rat."

"Rat."

"Rat."

...

"No, I'm not a rat... I'm the King of Rats, you hear me!"

There was a long silence after his announcement, but it didn't last much, as the rage of the shadows continued. And he angered them even more by actually responding and arguing with them.

His essence was going away quite drastically, as a reader was never meant to do such a thing. And yet... the pain from it was getting weaker, and it couldn't be the one from his chains, that one was constant most of the time, increasing slightly from time to time, but it never got weaker.

He smiled.

"Glory to Praise, you useless monsters. No, I can't even call you monsters, you useless tricks. Do you like us that much? Find an identity for yourself, then talk to me!"

He was lucky that the shadows couldn't physically attack him, since if they could, he would have been a long time ago. But while the insults kept coming, there was one thing that kept him going: the pain was disappearing, slowly but surely.

But he was also on the last track; he had to anger them even more... but how?

"I wonder..."

Taking off his cloak, he revealed his marks, waving his arms around trying to attract the attention of all.

"Don't you guys see, I am your King! Bow down to me, and I'll consider letting you live. The Abyss will fall, and only those under me will live to see that day!"

The thing that angered them most was when he said something bad about the Forgotten; it was something he figured out recently, but was taken advantage of without wasting a breath. And it had worked; the pace of his essence dying was faster than ever,

...

It had taken him four minutes and fifty-nine seconds to completely empty his body of all its essence. But... it had worked. And yet... it had been for nothing, since he couldn't get to his lantern in time.

...

He was going to die from his marks.

...

"What a naive being you are... and yet I couldn't have picked a better vessel to pour all my power in."

He felt someone touch his cheek with their hand. Their touch was warm, calming... he couldn't even feel the pain anymore.

...

Whenever he opened his eyes, he found a being standing in front of him. Its body made out of nothing but light.

...

"Praise..."