Agnox was not doing great. His mind was strained as he continued to try and grasp what he was shown. At first, there was nothing for him as he looked up at the Axiom Map. Just when he was about to give up, a symbol on the far side resonated with him.

At first, Agnox assumed it was fire or maybe heat. But that wasn’t it. And that was his problem. He couldn’t grasp the Axiom, and that was slowing him down.

An Axiom Map from what Agnox recalled, was meant to show someone an inkling of an idea. It was up to the cultivator to grasp a glint of truth from it.

Agnox has never discovered an Axiom before. He never thought he could. His entire life, he thought he was nothing more than an expendable asset. Mathew has pushed him further than his previous two masters ever had.

Now, he was being pushed further. Agnox wanted to mentally curse at Mathew, ever since coming into this place, they’ve been going from one event to another. He just wanted to rest.

Yet, the possible chance that he could get an Axiom was too enticing. If he succeeded, instead of cursing Mathew, he would thank him once again.

More ideas of fire and what was related to it continued to flash across his mind. Each of them were wrong. Every time he failed, a wave of pain came across him. “This is what happens when someone messes up. Too many failures, and you just fry your brain.” Agnox needed to be careful.

Agnox took a deep breath. He could sense something else was going on at this point. Muffled sounds echoed around him. How he wished he could turn around, but that feeling left as soon as it came.

His vision returned to the symbol. It was weak. Small. Almost on the brink of death. Yet it wasn’t related to death. There was a light. The first words to a novel. It was the beginning of something.

Warmth came from the symbol, hence why Agnox kept relating it to fire. All his life he grew up in high temperature environments. Fire and Decay were staple elements for Infernal creatures. Even Murthos was building up an Axiom related to fire, but leaned into the mental side of things heavily.

That’s when Agnox realized something important. This symbol was not mental, nor related to the soul. It was physical.

Instantly Agnox felt closer to the symbol. It resonated with him. This was his first Axiom. The beginning of an overwhelming power he will use. His goal was to become Mathew’s sword, but also more than that.

Just because his life was tied to Mathew’s did not mean he was a slave to him. Mathew gave him freedom to grow so long as it was in a positive manner. Mathew didn’t force him to fight upfront with a sword every fight, only when it made sense.

Mathew never made him do menial chores. Mathew never trained without doing so with him. Never was Agnox put into a situation he absolutely loathed. There was a controlled freedom. Like the light of a torch. Or perhaps the fire in an oven.

There it is again, the relation to fire. Yet it wasn’t a fire. Smaller than that. It was the spark that created a raging inferno.

Just like Agnox, this symbol was a new beginning. It came from another. An echo of what it once was. Yet, with care, it can grow. Mathew took in Agnox, gave him a technical third chance to become something great.

Agnox took a deep breath in as he became enlightened. The very understanding of the cosmos for an instant became clear. Then just as quickly it vanished. Inside of him, a flame ignited.

----------------------------------------

Mathew had yet to take his eyes off the four intruders. For the past three hours, he has been thinking of what to do with them. On one hand, he wanted to put them in their place.

Not only had they threatened him, but it seemed like trouble in the future. Once already letting people live has bit him in the ass.

He couldn’t risk another contract. If these four tried to fight back, he had no clue if he could withstand it.

Regardless of what he did, he couldn’t act now. He needed to wait for Agnox. Roughly half an hour ago, he felt a shift in his soul.

A faint pain was coming from his damaged soul, yet he kept a straight face. In a fight, he wouldn’t be able to put his all into it. Mathew was lucky the pain wasn’t as bad as it ever had been.

Just a subtle pressure. One thing Mathew was sure of, was that it was because of Agnox. The room started to grow warm from the air growing stale and the several bodies. Mathew didn’t consider air running out in this tiny room, but that was becoming apparent.

Already the four on the other side were growing antsy. “What is taking them so long?” Marcus asked as he continued to play around with his hammer.

Mathew didn’t respond. Nobody did.

Time continued to tick by. More ideas and plans came to Mathew’s mind. Yet he tossed them to the side. His ideas were becoming more outlandish and desperate. He couldn’t let his emotions get the better of him here.

Another hour went by, this time Sussie stood up with her gun. “That’s it. Time to blow our way out of here.”

Alice reached up and tried to pull Sussie back to the ground to sit. “Suz, sit down. You know you can’t destroy the walls. We tried that in our first one!”

“Well this one is different, and I’m tired of waiting!”

Mathew chuckled a bit. “You could always try and solve the puzzle yourself. Granted, out of us all here, I imagine you would take the longest.”

“What did you say?” She asked as she pointed her gun toward Mathew.

“I’m just saying you would take a long while to complete the puzzle. Why? You think you couldn’t?”

Her left eye twitched. Mathew could tell he was getting to her, but also that she was slow to realize what he was actually implying. That she was stupid and slow.

The gun started to power up, but Jimmy put a hand on her shoulder. “Sussie. Chill the fuck out. You acting out lets him win. We can deal with him later. If you kill him, that’s one less person to help us get out of here.”

Mathew just smiled and winked at Sussie. He wanted to antagonize her. The more emotionally involved she was, the less she would think things through. It was obvious the others didn’t want an altercation.

He chose not to push it much further. His goal was to keep her riled up, not get a real reaction from her. That would be later if needed.

Taking a glance at their prisoner, Mathew wondered why they had him. His thoughts were interrupted as his connection with Agnox started to burn him.

It took all his willpower to not visibly react, but Mathew did clench his hands. “Okay, a Fire Axiom probably. But why does it burn? Is this why Agnox never got an Axiom before? Because he would end up injuring his other masters?”

Yet, what he had with Agnox was different. Agnox was bound to him. That binding prevented him from harming Mathew. Agnox was simply a pet and slave to the previous two masters.

The burning started to fade away, albeit slowly. Mathew glanced at Agnox. The room was still getting warm, making him think it was more Agnox doing that than something else.

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A subtle shift in Agnox’s body and their connection was all Mathew needed to know. “The little guy did it.”

The stone door started to shift. Mathew was ready. In an instant he bolted forward with his body empowered with Bolster. Jeffery leapt forward as well, and everything started to move in slow motion.

Just as Mathew was within range to grab Agnox, the other four were all getting to their feet. Weapons were drawn. Either it was to defend themselves from Mathew, or to actually harm him.

Mathew unsummoned Agnox as he ran. It would take too long to grab him, and would end up slowing him down. By that point he was at the doorway. Through it he could see the exit.

Jeffery was right on his heels, and he heard the whirling sound of a gun being charged. Mathew for the first time, used his newest ability [Mana Shield]. He pumped it up heavily with mana, in case Sussie could use a powerful attack of some sort.

A blue pane of a glasslike material appeared behind Mathew about a foot in diameter. It was a perfect circle. Mathew wanted to use Enforce or Resistance with it, but he was more focused on escaping the Challenge.

Just as he predicted, a high powered shot collided with his shield. Mathew felt it shatter, but stopped the attack.

Mathew was through the portal and outside in an instant. As he did, he turned around summoning both his Wisps. Doozora’s rod appeared in his hand as Jeffery appeared next to him.

Mathew powered up his biggest [Mana Bolt] and infused it with Piercing. Marucs was the first one out and paused as soon as he saw Mathew.

“You four can stop right there.” Mathew said as Sussie came through, her gun raised. The other two appeared moments after. Mathew noticed they left their prisoner behind. “Idiots”

“Val! Don’t do this man.” Marcus pleaded, realizing the bolt was aimed at him. “We don’t want to hurt you. Dispel your magic, and let us talk this out.”

Mathew scoffed. “You four want something with me, nothing I want a part of.”

“Is this about the prisoner?” Alice asked.

“Technically. Not directly, it’s more how I felt like you wanted to imprison me too.”

“Fucking hell.” Alice groaned. “We won’t take you prisoner, but we do want to take you to our camp and boss.”

“Not a chance.” Mathew said. “You four walk that way, and don’t think about fucking with me.” Mathew nodded in a random direction with his head.

Mathew could see the four of them think it through. Sussie obviously wanted to shoot Mathew. The other three were leaning more on leaving.

“Go on, get out of here, before I kill Asian Jimmy first, then loud mouth Sussie.”

Sussie’s eyes went wide and Mathew smiled. “Got you.”

She fired. Mathew fired. Sussie missed. Mathew did not.

A bullet whizzed toward Mathew’s head, but was deflected by another [Mana Shield].

Sussie took Mathew’s strongest attack directly to the torso. A gaping hole was left inside her chest. She fell to her knees, then to her face, dead.

“What the fuck!” Jimmy exclaimed. All three of them were shocked by Mathew’s actions.

Mathew readied another attack. “She fired first. Last chance, you won’t get another.”

“You killed Sussie!” Alice screamed.

“I did.” Mathew acknowledged. “Like I said, you three get out of here, or you will end up like her. Trust me, you three can not take me on.”

“Who the fuck are you even? You killed her in a single attack! You are a tamer I thought!” Marcus asked.

“I’m many things. The most important is the fact I’m the guy you chose to fuck with, and lost.”

Mathew let them think the moment through. It was obvious they didn’t suspect Mathew to win, let alone kill one of them so easily. Mathew didn’t either if he was honest with himself. He was aiming to kill, but expected himself to also suffer an attack. Maybe these four were not as strong as he had hoped.

Marcus put a hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Let's go. He isn’t worth it anymore.”

Alice picked up her body and glared at Mathew. Then, all three of them walked off. Mathew kept his vision on Jimmy the most. Out of the four of them, he was the sleaziest.

They were soon too far away to see. Mathew didn't drop his guard yet however. He turned and started to move in the opposite direction. He traveled a few miles before he stopped and rested.

Agnox appeared, and looked up at Mathew. “I take it that something happened?”

“Some unexpected guests. I took care of it.” Mathew then smiled. “So, what did you get?”

Instead of saying, Agnox summoned a [Fire Bolt]. Mathew noticed it was a far stronger version. He threw it at a nearby tree, causing it to be engulfed in flames. Instead of dissipating instantly, embers remained for a little bit longer.

“The Axiom of Embers.”

Mathew smiled at his familiar. “Good job. What about rewards for completing the Challenge?”

Agnox blinked. “I didn’t even think of that.” He opened his menu, and his brow furrowed. “It’s something called [Dijo Fruit].

Mathew shrugged. “We can add it to the pile to examine once I set up that ritual for everything. Good work.”

What he wasn’t telling Agnox was that him acquiring an Axiom hurt. Whether that was from having a damaged soul and being connected, or just the fact he was his familiar was yet to be seen.

The pain was gone now. Mathew just hoped it wouldn’t happen again when he upgraded the Axiom, or get worse when he did.

“We need to start looking for a Floor Boss. Let’s go.”

Agnox nodded and followed Mathew. The rest of the day was filled with traveling, killing stray beasts, and two other encounters.

Both, surprisingly, were pleasant.

The first was a simple exchange of information. Challenge locations for challenge locations.

The second group was far friendlier. To Mathew’s surprise, he encountered another Hearth Crystal owner. After talking, Mathew discovered he wasn’t that far from Blue Oaks. His safe zone was in West Virginia, but out of everyone else Mathew had met, it was the closest. They added each other as allies, and also mentioned searching for a floor boss. Mathew informed them he had yet to encounter one, and soon they went their separate ways.

When Mathew established a camp, he was growing worried. He had yet to see what he was meant to kill to progress to the next floor. Either they were far rarer than he expected, or too many other groups had killed them.

Either way, tomorrow he won’t rest until he has discovered one.