He was losing grip on reality, his senses were disappearing as blood flowed out of his open chest. The echoing screams were dimming all around him, and even the cold feeling all over his body started to disappear. It was as if he was returning to the state of nothingness. Arin felt everything turn into nothingness.
“Madman!” The same authoritative voice screamed out from the depths once more. Its voice was much more vicious as it continued to roar out insults. “Lunatic! Psychopath! Barbaric! Fool!”
Arin’s senses started to return once more. There were no golden soldiers surrounding him this time nor was there a palace plated in full gold. It was still the ever-empty void all around him, except for one figure appearing in front of Arin.
“You treacherous bastard! How dare you kill me!” A slightly shimmering golden robe phased itself into view. Arin grasped his vision one more time as it finally returned. This golden robe seemed empty as if there wasn’t anyone wearing it. As Arin came closer, he could see a grey skeleton wearing these luxurious clothes, there were incomprehensible runes etched on his collar. Arin didn’t know what these words meant or how they could be pronounced yet it roughly translated as Kald’ish.
The skeleton seemed to have projected its voice from behind him, getting extremely angry after Arin read his name. “You lowlife! You don’t deserve to know my name! Rip out your eyes and I’ll forgive your sins! Consider this to be my mercy!”
“This… this doesn’t make sense.” Arin saw how rebellious Kald’ish was being. This didn’t align with his understanding, he should’ve already shown off his strength, albeit through underhanded means. “You shouldn’t be sentient. Are you?”
“What are you waiting for? Your sins only pile up from this point on! Blind yourself and you shall be forgiven. Do it before you regret it!” Kald’ish continued spouting his nonsense lines.
“I guess not.” Arin didn’t know how to continue from this point on. According to his father, the Fragment should be submissive to him by now since he already managed to surpass the Fragment’s will. “Then it could only mean one other thing. What will make me worthy to handle your power?”
“Hmph!” Kald’ish scoffed, furious that Arin could even utter such a thing. “You have no bearings of a monarch, you have no manners fit for nobility, and you are far too cruel to even let rule even for a single day. Giving you power is the same as subjecting everyone else to tragedy. As Emperor of the Great Kalsin Empire, it is both my responsibility and right to deny you power.”
“So… after all that you still won’t bow down?” Arin’s gaze turned vicious, this wasn’t what he expected to happen. Right now, the will of the Secret Fragment should be offering up its subservience until the status quo changes once more.
“You don’t even have an ounce of charisma! You lack the aptitude to be an emperor, you cannot use this Fragment.” Kald’ish finally explained. “To write with the Emperor’s Note is to write with your aura, I will not have my name tarnished by your hands. Leave.”
“I can’t use it because I’m not qualified. Then what can I do to be qualified?”
“Nothing! Never before have I seen someone like you, an empty husk that’s only filled with destruction and chaos. Even a beggar from the streets has more class than you, even a mass murderer has more eloquence than you, and the dog down the street can lead humanity better even at you at your best. Unhand me.” Kald’ish didn’t seem to be afraid, instead, he turned solemn. The tone in his voice made it clear that this was his final stance.
Arin clenched his fists and came in closer. “If you won’t listen then I’ll just have to make you.” Despite the raging bloodlust emanating from him, Kald’ish’s bones didn’t show any fear. He stood firm and rigid. One could see the old-aged fame he once had as if it was deeply engrained within him.
“I’d rather have my main legacy end here than let a monster like you roam free.” Kald’ish had empty sockets for eyes yet an ephemeral illusion made it seem as if he was firm in his decision. He quietly waited for Arin to walk up and hand ahold of his head.
“Long live the Great Kalsin Empire.”
Kald’ish’s skull was crushed, and fragmented into multiple pieces. The rest of his body fell down, letting it rest on the empty black void, slowly being consumed by it. As for Arin, his consciousness faded as it was replaced by a bright artificial light.
“I’m back?” Arin weakly said. His head immediately felt as if there were numerous hammers slamming down on it, each beat more painful than the last. He grabbed a hold of his head as he took in deep breaths, feeling the backlash in full.
“Just a headache? Not bad, I thought you’d pass out completely. That was a good session. We’ll pick it up after… Arin.” Kian was happily noting down Arin’s achievements, it was well above his expectations that he didn’t completely fall apart. But before he could completely congratulate him, he noticed that the Secret Fragment in his hands lost its hue, as if its spirit disappeared.
“Arin, what happened?” Kian’s voice turned grim. It wasn’t out of fear or anything of the like, instead it leaned more out of curiosity. This was a familiar sight that he had seen numerous times before, so many times that he had grown numb to it. A Fragment that lost its vigor meant that the spirit inside the Fragment had died. Although not sentient, spirits were the wills that made Fragments work, using their mysterious ways to give objects power that they normally wouldn’t possess.
Arin clenched his teeth as he felt the pain slowly fade away. He was already weakened from earlier and now the mental fatigue made it really hard for him to continue. He pulled through everything and tried to explain what happened.
Kian patiently listened to Arin’s story. From the golden kingdom to every golden-plated soldier holding him steady, everything was completely normal. This was what usually happened though Arin was quite unfortunate since this Secret Fragment was a little more aggressive than others. This was an odd point but not completely improbable, just unlikely since the effects of the Secret Fragment were weaker than its grade.
As soon as Arin talked about Kald’ish, Kian’s expression turned really curious. He immediately had questions in his mind but he kept them to himself until Arin finished explaining. Arin told Kian everything, from how Kald’ish said he was unworthy to how willing he was to die for this.
“Son, do you know who the Greedy Emperor Kald’ish is?” Kian immediately continued since he already knew the answer to this question. “He was a man so great that he managed to amass wealth in the maze so high that he constructed his empire based on his wealth alone. His signature identifier is gold, if it's golden it was probably his. Quite the notorious emperor he was, though there was something else that people couldn’t mock him for. Do you want to guess?”
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“He governed his empire well.” Arin thought for a brief moment before speaking. This was the most likely answer that made him the emperor.
“That’s the logical conclusion yes, unfortunately that’s not the right answer. The correct answer is strength and wit.” Kian took Arin’s Secret Fragment from him and fiddled around with it. “He respected both strength and wit so much that he based everything on strength and wit, if you have the skill then take it. For someone to be coddled up and surrounded for safety isn’t something the Greedy Emperor Kald’ish would do. Do you understand now?”
“This isn’t that emperor’s Fragment. Then what is this?”
“Oh, on the contrary, it really is his. And, without a shred of doubt, everything that you learned about this Emperor’s Note is real, there is no falsehood. Its spirit is dead and all that’s left is the pen. Care to guess one more time?”
Arin recalled all the recent events until he recalled one last thing that he slowly glazed over. “Legacy. That was a trial for his legacy.”
“Bingo.” Kian fiddled around with the pen until he grabbed ahold of it as if he was trying to write. He exerted his own personal power into it to serve as fuel yet no matter how much he put it, it just devoured it not showing any kind of signs. “Yeah, as I expected, I can’t use it.”
Arin was about to reach out his hand as well when his father interrupted him too, “You can’t use it either so don’t get your hopes up. It’s only a piece of it and quite a small one too… Say what completion rate did you get in that Sephirah Trial?”
“I think it was 99%.”
Kian inserted a bit more power into it, “99%, huh.”
Kian fiddled with the pen even more and sighed, having no other choice but to give it up. He closed his eyes and entered the Fragment’s world. Finally, Arin could see what would happen if someone entered the Fragment. How would their bodies react while they were inside, he was curious to find out.
“Now, let’s-”
“As expected.” Arin was immediately cut off by his father. “It wants someone who fits the theme of this Secret Fragment, leadership. So as far as I’m concerned, this is useless now.”
Arin recovered his calm expression once more, he didn’t even get to realize what happened before his father immediately came out of it. “How long were you in there?”
“Long enough.” Kian eased out of the question before bringing up another topic. “So, do you still want this? It’s just a useless piece of junk right now. If you want, I could exchange it at the Federation for something more… functional.” Kian showed the nonfunctioning Secret Fragment to Arin.
“I’ll keep it.” Arin didn’t even hesitate. Saying so, he grabbed the Emperor’s Note from Kian’s hand. As far as he was concerned, this was enough for him. He didn’t want to rely on a Fragment to dominate, instead, he wanted to grow stronger by himself. Keeping something that’s as hard and tough as a Fragment, would let him be on equal grounds against someone else who has a non-combative Fragment.
Kian nodded, “Even though you can’t use its special ability, it should still be fine to continue on using it for physical reasons. It’s completely useless other than that. You can’t even control Malum.”
Arin kept the Emperor’s Note in his pocket, realizing that there was no point in trying to try and use it if his father said its special ability was gone. Putting his attention back on the lecture, he focused on the next bits of content that his father would teach him.
“The academy should be teaching this to you later on but a little taste wouldn’t hurt.” Kian lightly coughed and took out his hand. From his palm, the leather glove he had seemed to slightly shimmer as a black substance appeared from it. “This is Malum, the energy source of all Fragments, the sole reason why everything that happens inside the maze happens. No abnormality is too odd nor situation too improbable, everything is possible because of this.”
“Malum… doesn’t that mean evil?” Arin pointed out.
“Exactly, it’s evil, this ‘evil’ is why we have to suffer. Holding out for hope in this godforsaken maze is dooming yourself. Though, I don’t think I’ll need to worry about you in this aspect.” Kian came over and rubbed Arin’s hair. He attempted to stop his hair from embarrassing him even further but he was far too weak. Arin was overwhelmed and was forced to take on this shame head-on.
Kian then covered his whole arm in Malum, creating a black shimmering sheen. “Everyone’s Malum is different. If I’d compare what Malum is to what you may understand then I’d say it’s your influence. The influence of your very self. Your ego, your will, your logic, your Malum will embody you. Some even say that for as long as your Malum exists, you would never die.”
The dark substance continued forming until Kian’s arms turned pitch black. He then immediately went over to a nearby tree above the mountain casually uprooted it and threw it inside the city, not caring what kind of consequences it may cause.
“As you can see, it’s simple, all it does is increase your personal strength. That’s the most straightforward and simple way to use it. The way everyone does it.” The pitch black substance then now started covering Kian’s entire body, enveloping his feet first.
“Though there’s something else you need to understand. Creativity is something you should think about.” Kian’s entire body was now covered in a black substance, turning into armor embroidered by more intricate details. Immediately, Kian jumped up and went for the uprooted tree he had thrown away earlier.
Arin was shocked, the crater his father made was quite gigantic with cobweb-like cracks covering the entire field. The amount of force he exerted was well above what he seemed like he could create. Kian’s speed was fast, insanely fast, so fast that he caught up to the tree he threw earlier and grabbed ahold of it.
Kian didn’t even need to speak to show off to his son. As soon as he grabbed it, he reached out his hand and gestured. Kian then immediately grabbed ahold of it and dangled in the air. His foot then tapped on empty air and it seemingly solidified as he started walking down.
Arin’s eyes were wide open in shock, his father was walking on air. From this one demonstration, Arin’s viewpoint on Fragments turned upside down. He had always thought that these gimmicks were just that, gimmicks. Due to this, he hadn’t thought about what he could do by pushing these gimmicks to the limits.
He understood that his father’s Mysterious Fragment could stop anything in its tracks if he touched it. This was essentially pushing that concept to the very limits. Kian was stopping the air molecules as he stepped on them, creating an artificial staircase that anyone could walk on. This was ludicrous, the ability to travel by air wasn’t something anyone inside the City of Sin could accomplish, even the Federation’s President couldn’t do so.
“Amazed?” Kian smugly took his time walking down. As soon as he stepped down, he could use his ability and solidify a space below him. He would then disperse the effect as soon as he no longer needed them to be stuck in place, consuming less of his Malum. After reaching the mountain top, he jumped off and stood in front of a very excited Arin.
“Sooner or later you’ll be able to do that. After a lot of practice and effort, you could do what I could with your Fragment. Though, you’ll need a new one for that. After all, without a Fragment, you won’t be able to control Malum at all.”
Arin’s expression was one of a fanatic, finally seeing a direct pathway to power made his blood boil. If his Secret Fragment actually worked then he would’ve been able to cultivate his power earlier.
“For the time being, all you need to know is that, the stronger your ego is, the greater influence you would have.”
Kian then continued on to explain the exact intricacies and methods of how one could use Malum. The complexity of how one’s Malum reacts with another person’s mind. Being able to exert their own desires upon others, even to the point that the person would lose themselves.
The greatest piece of information that Arin gathered from his father was that the influence that a person exerts on the world isn’t one-sided. As a person could change their surroundings, the world could also change them. As to whether this change was positive or not, it depended on how one viewed it.
The sheer density of his father’s influence made it easy for him to completely overwhelm his Mysterious Fragment’s will. Though this was the case, there was something odd about it, something Arin noticed about it.
“That armor… it feels off.” Arin pointed out something he noticed.
“This armor? It’s something you should remember. It’s what makes a Seal Solver stand out after all. We call it Manifestation. To manifest your Malum into a form of protection of sorts, to have your ego tangible.”
Seeing that his son was interested in how Malum operated, he started explaining.
“A Maze Solver is the most common profession in the city. As long as you have your wits about you, you can be one. A Bind Solver is the next tier in the profession, although it’s only a single level, it’s a gigantic cut-off as it requires them to own a Fragment. To become a Seal Solver, you need to have enough profession to be able to manifest your own armor.”