Public Release: March 2nd, 2019 - 5:00 pm EST

We were getting close. I didn’t need to waste mana on [Fae Energy Detect] to know. There were only a few turns and tunnels ahead before the exit. Even without my skill active I could envision it; i could remember it.

The exit to The Pass that I planned to use was blocked by a large boulder. I stopped in front of it and put one hand on the stone. I stood there for a few seconds, breathing heavy, and admiring the tactile feel of the rock. I moved my hand up and down, letting the small powders and pebbles roll along my palm. One breath. Two breaths. Three breaths.

My breathing calmed. I closed my eyes for a second.

“Here we go,” I said. Without much effort, I shoved the massive boulder to the left of the exit, rolling it out of the way.

A tremendous field of light appeared and I winced back a bit as my eyes adjusted. I had spent so long in low-light environments that seeing even low light pained me.

After the initial flaring and blurs, my vision returned. There, about 100 yards away from the exist, stood the Fae.

He looked and dressed like an older gentleman. His clothes were pristine. His black cloak covered his silken finery beneath, but the bright gold of his jewelry looked a wrong, almost mismatched.

Then again, who was I to complain about other people’s fashion tastes?

My Heaven Demon Garb expanded across my body, forming into armor and plate. It didn’t feel heavy or clunky, and it didn’t restrict my movements at all. I rotated my shoulders a bit at the cuff; everything seemed to work just fine.

I wasn’t certain why the Garb transformed in the first place, though. I didn’t make it do that…

“You have to kill him,” a familiar voice came from my own armor. “I can’t help you in person, but since I created your armor and weapon, I can help you through them for now.”

It was Nox’s voice. I shivered. I never considered that the weapon and armor that I so relied on, so loved, were creations of Nox. That thought slipped my mind entirely.

“Belial’s Blade and the Heaven Demon Garb will let you bridge the gap in this fight, but since your opponent is Argyle I doubt it’ll matter,” Nox continued, his voice echoing in my head, “Argyle has a terrible Diety Ranked Skill, a defensive one.”

“What does it do?” I asked.

“It makes it so no offensive technique, skill, or attack can harm him so long as it contains less Fae Energy than his barrier.”

My eyes went wide.

“I don’t even have Fae Energy…” I said.

“I know. That’s why you can’t win this fight. You just need to stall. If you can make this fight take at least three days, I can recover enough energy to kill him in one blow. Argyle is an idiot. He definitely didn’t send out any messages to the others. He wants your soul to himself…”

I shivered.

“That means we can turn the tables on him. With the defensive power of the Garb and Belial’s Blade, you can survive for three days, easily. Just don’t die. I need you to help me fight Samart in the future. If you die, I’ll kill everyone you've ever loved... No pressure.”

‘There it is,’ I thought. There was the Nox that I knew. I wondered why he let a Fae show up here, but I had forgotten an important detail. He told me before that transfering my soul to this world took a tremendous amount of energy…

Though I wondered about that, too. That didn’t sound quite right. Moving a soul didn’t take too much energy from me when I cut the ones trying to graft themselves onto me, earlier. That only took away a single level. Though, to be fair, I had no idea what kind of cost needed to be paid to move a soul like my own across worlds.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

I shook my head. I didn’t have time to think about that. I looked up, Nox’s words ringing in my mind, and I met the eyes of the Fae across from me.

I remembered, in my second meeting with Nox, that he told me about two of the other Fae, and he told me how the weakest was named Argyle.

It dawned on me that I was facing just the very weakest of the Fae, of my sworn enemies, and, yet, the weakest of the Fae had an aura so terrifying I’d have thrown up if I had any food left in me. My knees were shaking just ever-so-slightly.

“So, little Miss Tempered,” said Argyle as he sized me up. He started walking forward and his aura exploded with each step, his powers folding in on themselves, unraveling a tremendous destructive force underneath. He looked the part of a War God, like Ares himself from the Greek myths and legends. I could feel my scalp tingling. I could feel my chest tightening with each breath.

I was terrified, but, oddly, I had hope. I hated Nox to the bone, but at this moment his voice gave me strength. It grated me. I didn’t enjoy relying on my tormentor. Nox probably planned all of this to make me loyal to him. He probably set this whole situation up in the first place.

“Care to dance?” asked Argyle. He grinned a crooked smile. I finally noticed that, in his left hand, he was holding onto a bundle of powerful souls.

His smile widened when he followed my line of sight.

“Are you wondering about these?” He held up the bundle of wailing souls. I could see the flashes of memories from them, moments that defined their lives in vivid detail. Dreams of lovers, successes, and failures were swimming with them, as if their whole lives were made manifest and compressed into a single palm.

“Don’t fret. I just brought along a snack. I don’t want to get hungry while having my fun, after all,” said Argyle as he brought that bundle of souls up to his mouth.

“What?” I screamed, but it was too late. I couldn’t intervene in time if I tried. He bit down into the souls like they were an apple. I heard their wails and cries. Then, all at once, he shoved them all into his mouth. He chewed.

I couldn’t breathe.

I didn’t remember doing it, but I charged at him with my blade drawn. My throat burned and I realized it was because I was screaming. Everything was turning red around me.

[Combat State] was in overdrive.

On my first swing I activated the Master Class skill [True Strikes] alongside [Brutal Power]. My body and sword glowed. My blade danced forward on a wave of light.

Argyle didn’t move. He didn’t even block my attack. My sword hit him square in the chest and, for a brief moment, it felt like reality itself was broken.

I regained clarity and saw it. I saw my sword touching his clothes, caressing them gently. My attack didn’t even scratch him.

His smile turned into something more wicked, as if his lips were a barbed wire fence.

“It seems you don’t know how to use Fae Energy at all,” he said. “Well, it’s not like it matters. Even if you did you’re too low leveled. You see, little one, I have a Deity Class Skill called [Unbreakable].”

His condescending tone drove my rage further. [Combat State] trembled, as if it were holding back a terrible tide.

If a Deity Ranked Skill was blocking me, then what if I reacted with my own Deity Ranked Skills?

I roared and a flare of mana erupted from me. The world around us started to shake and shiver, as if everything was going to come down. My own voice was growing hoarse and my mana exploded within me like a bomb.

The sun dawned on land as [Heaven’s Downfall] appeared in the world. Blinding light flooded everything around me and I was alone in a world of white.

I grinned and wondered if the Fae was still wearing his smug grin…

“Yo.” He was still wearing his smug grin. His face appeared through the white curtain, still smiling, but this time less so.

“So,” he said, “That was one of Nox’s Deity Skills. It seems my worries weren’t grounded in reality after all. He really does just want to eat you.”

I felt a shiver go down my spine. “What are you talking about!” I barked back at him.

“Of course you don’t know," he said in a sing-song voice. "If you use a Deity Class Skill given to you by someone else, it aligns your mana with theirs. You have a terrible Chaos Element, so Nox probably couldn’t eat you even if he wanted to. By using the Deity Skills he gave you, you are slowly losing your original Element and moving towards something else instead. It’s corrupting your mind and soul with each cast. Eventually, it’ll change your soul enough that he can enjoy a well prepared gourmet meal~”

I opened my mouth to say something, to deny the words of the other Fae… But then I stopped myself. Why did I want to refute his words at all? I always thought Nox was a fucker, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he really was just prepping me like some goddamn meal.

“You seem like you need some convincing,” said Argyle. He looked like he was enjoying himself by tormenting me. “Try to feel your soul. You just used that skill, so the effects will be at their most prominent right now. You know how to sense Fae Energy now. Try it~”

I didn’t want to, but I couldn't help it. I looked inwards at myself using [Fae Energy Detect]. What I found made my blood run cold. A black parasite was gnawing away at my soul, digging into it like grubs into rotting meat. Nox’s aura was poisoning me.

I looked up and met Argyle’s expectant eyes. I tried to say something but no words came to me.

“There it is," he said, his voice cracking with glee. "There’s the despair I love the most. Now, little one, tell me your name. I always enjoyed having meals with proper names the most~”