TBATE - To fulfill a promise

11. Malice

CHAPTER 11: Malice

ARTHUR LEYWIN

The dim light that hit me in my eye was barely recognized and perceived by my brain at how drained I was. My body felt hot, scorching even and I felt like a blanket of pain and torment over me. Within the maelstrom of chaotic mana, there was a source of otherworldly power flowing inside my body. The way the power known as aether flowed was like it was a second core, an aether core. But, with the neat trick I used from the aberrant creature I saw on the last floor, I was successfully able to create a source of power that resided in a different layer of reality without actually holding the burden. Kinda like my own dimensional-ring to store aether for me to use. I knew it would limit the usage of aether drastically, but it was far better than destroying my own body.

"Haha, you actually did it, you son of a bitch. You did it!" a muffled voice screamed at me. Even with the impaired hearing from the transformation, I recognized the owner of that voice instantly.

Testing it, I felt something completely wrong with it. Luckily, the mana core and aether core were not fighting against each other. "Not perfect as I hoped it would be. Could have been enhanced, but I'm glad that I didn't die." With heavy breaths, I was able to speak, being interrupted by my own blood-soaked coughs. With the state of my body, it was obvious I needed rest. Closing my eyes, there was peace found in my pained state.

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"So what exactly happened?" I asked the very bored Regis, after having to wait for me to be able to form my aether core and my recovery.

"Well, how do I say this? You kinda started to float, your right hand and left arm were glowing violently and it honestly looked like you would explode at any given moment... and you kinda did."

"I exploded?"

"Yeah. Your body was burning with purple flames before you dropped on the ground and I kinda thought you were dead for a day."

I didn't expect that so much time had passed when I was out. But with the mention of my mutated body parts, I tested it. Putting the focus on my right eye, I could see the very foundations of the world and aether. It was a bit comparable to realmheart but it filled my own understanding of aether and only connected it with the world through my vision. And with my left hand, I touched the particles with it, manipulating and moving them with force. The hand of aether kinda worked like a mediator from my aether core to my world.

"First Phase: Static Void"

Colors around us inverted as the flow of mana stilled. Regis and I retained our original color and weren't affected by the static world. The aether still in the chimera bodies had resisted my beast's will, but it was dead so it didn't matter anymore.

"Yeah, it feels better," Regis said, floating around. "At the fight inside the castle, I even felt that you had taken one step closer to death at aether arts. Now, that feeling is gone."

"You can sense that?" I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Somewhat? Mostly because it was also affecting me. I guess my life is tethered to you."

"You don't have to worry. I'm not that easy to kill."

"Yeah, because you are a goddamn cockroach."

"A cockroach who was successfully able to put those godly beings to shame."

A sudden intense colorful headache hit me as the control over the static world staggered. "Yeah, I shouldn't have abused my newly formed core."

"Anyway, we are done here. Let's move to whatever the door leads us to," Regis said. Spending days here in this zone filled with the stench of mutilated bodies, his impatience was understood. But before that, I wanted to do one thing before leaving. I doubt I will exit the ruins any time soon.