With what little strength he had left in his tiring body, held tightly by the unforgiving frost of the abyss, he held his arm up high, pointing towards the distant gateway.

‘C’mon…!’ He urged.

To his surprise, embers were breathed into the lightless domain, bringing a newborn radiance. The fickle sparks swirled, intertwining before bursting into a tangible shape: a blazing chain that launched itself up, flinging one end through the exit.

‘--I did it! It’s anchored! Now…I just gotta pull myself out,’ he thought.

It was easier said than done, as the bitter elements of the abyss made his body sluggish, losing most sensation as he shivered. Still, he forced himself to grip onto the chain, pulling himself up its length. One tug at a time, he brought himself up inch by inch.

Every movement he did made him want to naturally draw breath, his lungs aching within his body.

‘…Breathe. I want to breathe…I need to breathe,’ he yearned.

It felt as though countless hands tugged at his legs and clawed at his waist, attempting to pull him down. All he could see was the chain, glowing with orange embers that floated off of the steel.

It was his single anchor; a lifeline he clung to as he tugged himself up, placing one hand above the other repeatedly before—

“Pyuh—!!”

He rose from the dark gateway, immediately drawing a breath into his lungs as he found himself back into his house. As he crawled out as if leaving the depths of a lake, he gasped for air, shivering as the sensation of frost stabbed beneath his skin.

“…Brr…” His teeth chattered as he instinctively hugged his own body, feeling the coldness course through his veins like shavings of ice.

The puddle of darkness squeezed itself shut, shrinking away as did the chain, which crumbled to dust against the young man’s fingertips.

‘The chain…I think I remember now. Part of it. These chains…it’s how I lived,’ he thought.

Though the revelation was short lived as the pressing danger to him was quick to show itself to him once again.

A scraping met his ears, dragging against the floorboards with a grating crescendo. He rolled to the side, feeling a sharp wind pass straight by him. A gash in the wood appeared, as if a blade had been dragged across it.

Before his eyes, a shadow dashed by; it was the elusive assassin, no doubt, like a phantom in the night. Yet to pick himself up, he rolled over in succession as another attack came from the killer, feeling the impact stab into the floorboards behind him before jumping up to his feet.

‘I need to–’ He thought.

Though just as he got back up, he felt like shrinking away as he was rushed by the dark-clad figure, who dashed towards him like a tar-painted arrow. He stumbled back, wildly swinging his dagger in front of himself in an attempt to fight back.

By some miracle, he managed to deflect the incoming strike, though at the cost of his own weapon being flung from his grip.

‘Shit—‘ He thought.

As the face of darkness stared back at him, revealing their blade’s killing edge, his mind leapt to his options: dodging? Impossible. The assassin was too close and even swifter than himself; in the state his body was in, Levin would likely only hurt him more than it would help.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Chains!” Bastian yelled, closing his eyes as he held his hands together, interlocking his own fingers.

[Chains of Suffering: Vines of Steel]

As he spread his hands apart, links of the chains formed by embers connected between his fingers, acting as a web of steel. The assassin’s abyssal dagger pierced against the split-second defense, being caught in the abundance of chains.

‘It worked?’ Bastian thought as sweat slid down his cheek, surprised he was still alive.

Though as he lost focus for just a moment, the chains that locked the assassin’s blade in place suddenly vanished, dissipating into embers.

Left perplexed by what just happened, he watched the silent assassin flip back, merging into the darkness once again.

“No, you don’t–!” Bastian called out, squeezing the snow-white gemstone he had been holding before tossing it towards the lively shadows.

It was the only possible counter he could think of: a burst of light to overwhelm the curtain of darkness. The burst of light felt as though ethereal daggers pierced into his eyes, refusing to shy away from the radiant flash as he dashed across the room.

As planned, or rather, hoped, the shadows retreated, revealing the black-clad slayer.

‘I need to end this—now,’ he thought.

His boots swiftly slid across the floorboards as he met the assassin halfway. As the professional killer approached him, a blade forged of darkness manifested in their grip, primed for the adventurer’s flesh.

On the flip side. Bastian was without a weapon of his own, yet blindly charged forward, within striking distance before—

SWING

The assassin swept the sharp edge at the young man’s throat, yet found no flesh on the other end. Bastian had let himself fall, rather than ducking down, he completely allowed his legs to buckle to drop down even faster, even more unpredictable.

‘—There,’ he thought.

It felt as if time slowed with the proper route to victory found like the glow of a torch in the darkness. He turned his gaze to the other side of the room, to the glint of silver beneath the wooden stand—his dagger.

Placing full trust in his newfound Blessing, he flicked his wrist in the direction of his dropped weapon, feeling the warmth transmit throughout his body, flowing down his forearm and through his fingertips.

Embers flourished as a chain sprouted from what was odd nothing, shooting itself like a fishing rod flung into a lake.

‘C’mon!’ He thought.

In that precious second that determined the outcome of the life-or-death encounter, all hope laid upon the accuracy of the launched chain. He could feel the faint breath of the wordless assassin exhale, close enough that its warmth pressed against his skin as they both seemed to watch for the chain.

It felt like an extension of his own body; a limb of burning metal that twitched like a muscle, slipping beneath the stand. In a single motion, by what could only be deemed as the favor of fate, the chain links wrapped around the handle of the dagger.

“Hraah!” He grunted, tugging the chain back as he turned his shoulder, flinging it back his way.

The wordless killer spun around, using a backhanded strike as the tip of the abyssal blade aimed itself between the young man’s eyes. There wasn’t a second to waste; all in that perfect moment, did it all come together.

Greeting his fingers was the weight of his dagger, reeled in by the chains as he gripped it tightly, thrusting it forward without any hesitation.

SQUELCH

It was pushed through the adam’s apple of the assassin, piercing skin, flesh, and all. Only by a hair’s length away did he avoid the seasoned slayer’s blade, having tilted his head as it sat just beside his skin.

“...Hah…Hah…”

He stood there for a moment with his eyes widened by the deed he had just done, looking at the fully-covered figure in front of him. Though he couldn’t see their face, he could feel the life leaving them as crimson fluid slid over the length of his dagger.

There wasn’t a single sound made from the silent assassin even still, only the sound of their blood dripping onto the floorboards as he slid his blade out. All he could do was watch as the wordless figure fell facedown into the ground, limp like a sack of potatoes.

“...Huh?”

A small exhale of shock came as he witnessed black bubbles pop and expand as a puddle of darkness formed beneath the felled assassin. Like a piece of meat dropped into a pot of stew, the person he slew sank away into the nebulous shadows.

The overwhelming darkness finally retreated, though the veil of dusk didn’t afford much light anyway.

“Didja see that, Uncle…I got him,” Bastian mumbled to himself, holding his wounded shoulder as he caught his breath.