The sounds of steel gently grinding through stones echoed in the steel confines of Samael's room, along with the faint glow of blue hitting his face.

Each time he went to ingrain the runes, the more the hue glew bright, casting shadows upon the room.

With one final line, Samael put down the pen as he took a final look at his creation.

It was shit.

Samael sighed as he threw the rock away, the stone adding up to the pile of rubbish by the far side of his abode, forming a small mountain.

Runic imprinting was difficult, to say the least. He had to start grinding his gears by reading books after books pertaining to the art of running along with its principles and dozens of theories, most of which he doesn't even understand.

Fortunately, with the help of the Codex, Samael is somewhat able to understand the things the books he's reading are saying.

Runic imprinting is a whole process. He first begins by visualising the rune he wishes to print and begins carving upon his chosen material. The harder and rarer the object, the harder it is to inflict effects on.

Runic imprinting offers a variety of benefits, such as the ability to put elemental energy on an object that you may use to initiate elemental reactions or even flat-out absorb in case you need some for backup.

However, what he was attempting to learn is the art of weapons spirit. By waking up the weapon spirit of your blade, one is able to unlock it's full potential and allow it to manifest an ego and sentience. It is also the only way to understand and achieve blade unity, which Olaf has.

But it did bother Samael how the Grandmaster keeps saying he has not done it when he is able to manifest blade unity.

So he asked.

Apparently, Olaf was able to use blade unity not because he's achieved the art of weapon spirit but rather because he's had an enlightenment, one that allowed him to understand a portion of waking the weapon spirit.

However, even after so long, that fraction remained nothing but a mere fragment of the grand picture.

Samael has been burning away his time, understanding books after books as he kept on coming, trying to understand that which even Olaf couldn't.

It was demoralising. Why wouldn't it be? Olaf was a literal Grandmaster of forging and has been so for years, yet even he cannot make it past the solid wall blocking the path.

But Samael was not going to lose now. He has already made it so far just to drop everything and back away. Not to mention, things are moving now; he can feel it.

Although they were silent about it, the tension in the air was deafening. The wind had gotten freezing cold, and whispers of a great war plagued the continent.

He's seen it, even if they wanted to hide it. The engines of the forges here roar even at night, not stopping, unrelenting.

The amount of resource cargo entering and leaving at the same day had tripled since last week when he finally began his journey of rune smithing.

And most of their deliveries are weapons and armour.

Yes, war was upon them. What Icarius had feared is upon them.

With a month remaining in his stay here, Samael is running out of precious time, something that he cannot buy.

Gritting his teeth, Samael took another stone as he began to imprint upon it.

As the pen began to touch the stone, a faint glow illuminated the room in its brilliance, casting shadows upon the walls as the sound of humming echoed.

Little by little, Samael began to etch at the stone as he carved, slowly but surely.

Each grain of the stone, each corner, and each gap he made sure to take care of with extreme precision and carefulness.

Unfortunately, he once again failed.

The stone shattered into pieces as its dust fell down the floor, adding to the pile of shattered stones beneath his feet.

Wiping his hand with a cloth, Samael rose up as he began to make his way towards the training grounds.

His training with Mendez was going fairly well. He had made significant progress with his utilisation of his bloodlust.

Fortunately, if he can even call it lucky, is that he's already quite adept at using his killing intent.

Due to that, he is able to jump a few steps that he's already familiar with and use often.

The utilisation of one's killing intent is basically to use your bloodlust to gnaw away at your enemy's thinking, defence, and will, forcing them to be vulnerable. Pair that with the sentry's eyes, and you will create the final lesson, the kill path.

Upon arrival at the training grounds, Mendez stood there, waiting for Samael, along with Ajax sitting at the corner, sharpening his blade.

"You're finally here. I'm thinking you're ready?" Mendez asked.

"Yes," Samael said with a nod.

This past week, he's been able to complete all of Mendez's training with ease. To use your bloodlust... is quite simple.

Utilise your rage and killing intent.

Although simple by nature, many struggle to do this, as this would mean you'd need to harness anger at its purest form and control it instead of being controlled by it.

But Samael... He was able to generate rage with ease like no other, surprising Mendez and Ajax.

He did not know why, but perhaps it was not just him.

The Void and Crimson Raven were filled with unfiltered rage burning in their cores, hidden within Samael, waiting for a chance to break free of his shackles.

He simply allowed a little to seep out.

The only problem was controlling his rage, controlling that infernal anger, and not being devoured by it. That's the hard part.

Ever since he had felt anger, he knew in himself how easily consumed he is by his emotions, overwhelmed and always defeated by it.

He tried controlling it but to no avail.

Developments and acceptance for his powers had indeed helped significantly, but only to an extent. It was still there, lurking.

"If you're ready, begin," Mendez said as he began to brace, something he himself doesn't do easily.

Samael's rage... was too strong. Strength even Mendez had not seen in all the years he's dabbled with the underworld.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

It was dangerous, even for him.

Samael nodded as he kneeled to the floor, allowing himself to be chained dozens of times in different locations of his body, securing him tightly to the floor.

Tugging at the solid chains, Samael took a deep breath.

Time to face his demons once more.

Closing his eyes, Samael's consciousness began to drift as his chest began to feel warmer by the second.

Samael's face began to furrow as the heat began to spike higher, eventually feeling like he was burning.

But Samael endured, not even showing hints of discomfort as he began to calm himself.

But that was only the start.

Before his eyes, the world around his consciousness shattered to pieces, shifting along with the sounds and scenery.

Opening his eyes, he gazed around as he clenched his jaw.

He was back here once more.

Then it came.

"Run! NOW!" a man roared as he clashed blades with a man adorned in a white robe laced in gold.

The man had black hair and black eyes; he wore a simple white tunic stained in blood, even resembling Samael's face slightly.

Samuel flinched as he felt tears trickle down his cheeks.

The man blocked and parried the attacks of the assailants as he took down one of them, only for another to replace him.

Samael's hands began to form a fist as he struggled to look beside him.

"Mom! What is happening? I'm scared!" A kid with black hair said as he tightly held to his mother, his cheeks glistening under his tears.

"Shh... Shh... It's okay... Everything will be okay." The woman enveloped the kid in her protective embrace as she caressed his hair.

Yes, he knew this one very well. It had haunted his dreams thousands of times.

"Where's father?" The kid asked.

"Y-your father... He will be back." The woman replied, her words stuck to her throat, as though a stone were lodged between them.

"For now, I need you to be a good boy and listen to me." Her grip tightened and her fingers quivered as she held the boy, inching her face close to his.

Soon, explosions thundered in the background as his mother hugged the kid.

"It will be okay," the woman whispered as she caressed the boy's head, for she knew this was their final talk.

Hearing the distant footsteps coming their way, Samael closed his eyes as the sound of blades clashing echoed.

Looking at his father, Samael watched him be impailed by steel blades, staining the ground with his blood.

Samael stared at the man for a long time as he heard the same line that shattered his heart again and again.

"Look at me! Look at me!" The woman pleaded, tears drenched her pale cheeks. "You have to run, okay? You run and don't look back. Promise me!"

Samael bit his lips as blood began to trail down his chin, staining his clothes as he closed his eyes.

As this nightmare played before his eyes, Samael could only listen and watch as his family was massacred once more.

Closing his eyes, Samael's nails dug at his palm as blood began to crawl down his palms.

"Is that it? You're just going to watch?"

Samael's eyes blasted open as he came face to face with his family's murderers, gathering around him as the man before him showed Samael his mother's severed head.

"Aren't you going to do something?"

Samael closed his eyes once more as he endured, blocking out all the noise and taunts they said when the man spoke once more.

"That's right, you're a coward in the end."

"Do you know what she said in her final moments?"

"Please don't kill me."

"Too bad, my hand slipped."

Samael's eyes flew open as he watched the men laugh hysterically, his ears ringing.

Meanwhile, Mendez's and Ajax's faces began to frown as they watched Samael's bloodlust begin to spike through the roof, his hands pulling at the shackles.

"Fuck," Mendez muttered as he prepared his sleeping poison.

Samael stared at the man for a long time, his mind blank.

The man came face to face with Samael as he spoke.

"That's right, she begged."

Onyx black smoke blazed out of Samael's face as Void matter devoured his body, forming a face with three eyes as he grabbed the man by the neck before completely deleting his body from existence.

Yet Samael's rage did not subside.

Meanwhile, Samuel's true body exploded and burst into flames like black smoke, engulfing him entirely as he began to tug at the shackles, swiftly shattering a few of them.

Mendez's face paled. "FUCK! AJAX!"

The two rushed to Samael as they attempted to sedate him.

But before they could reach him, Samael completely deleted the shackles before he vanished.

Mendez and Ajax halted their steps as they slowly looked beside them where Samael's figure stood.

He was devoured by Void matter, as if he had become formless and was merely mimicking the shape of a human.

He was darkness; he was the depths...

He was the Void.

Before they could move, Samael's fist smashed against their faces as the two were sent flying at the opposite ends of the room.

Back in his consciousness, Samael rampaged as he tore through one assassin at a time, tearing them limb from limb before completely eradicating them from reality.

He did not know what was happening.

He was angry—too angry.

Devoid of any reasoning, Samael's real body acted as he did in the illusions, startling Ajax and Mendez as the two gritted their teeth, the taste of iron present in their mouths.

"To think a brat can make me bleed," Mendez said as he spat to the side.

This was too dangerous. Whatever was happening inside Samael's spiritual realm was causing his body to bypass its natural limit, causing intense damage to his body.

Mendez didn't even know it was a possibility until now. In the last few days they've been trying to overcome Samael's lack of control; they've only experienced minor issues such as fainting or misfires of abilities, never total possession.

But right now, no matter how much they wanted to help him, it was impossible. Looking at Samael... No, whatever that is, with Sentry's eyes, Mendez could only laugh wryly.

There was no opening.

Not a single one.

It was as if he was staring at something he could not comprehend. As if he were staring at... nothing.

Mendez shook his head as he tried to focus, but no matter how much he tried, the results were the same.

That isn't something human; that is something else.

Back in his inner world, Samael's eyes shifted towards another soldier as his figure blitzed through the man, causing his body to explode to pieces. In real life, he smashed through a wall, tearing it as the remains began to disintegrate rapidly.

"Fuck!" Mendez cussed. "We need to stop him or he'll tear this place apart!"

"If he doesn't tear himself first," Ajax said as he looked at the small glowing fractures in Samael's smoke-like form.

As Mendez and Ajax recovered and advanced, Samael in his inner world saw the two as more enemies approaching him and without hesitation blinked towards them.

Mendez's eyes widened as the moment his eyes blinked, Samael was gone and he was currently lying in a rubble of metal debris.

"This is insane," Mendez said as he held his bruised cheek and spit out a broken tooth. "Really fucking insane."

Rising up, Mendez's whole atmosphere shifted. He cannot take Samael lightly anymore; he was too dangerous; thus, he'll deal with him accordingly.

Taking out a dagger from his waist, Mendez wiped the blood from his lips.

Meanwhile, Ajax grunted as he rose up from the floor, his helmet shattered with half of his basically corroded.

But instead of going in blindly, tendrils of shadows began to extend from his back. It was time to fight seriously and show what he learnt from Mendez, but he never thought it would be this way.

Meanwhile, Samael kept rampaging all over the place as he had already ripped multiple dummies and movable walls in his rage.

Samael kept seeing nothing but the people who murdered his family, blinding him to everything else as he allowed himself to be free.

As he was approaching another sentry dummy, Samael's Void form's eyes furrowed as it weaved to the side, completely avoiding Mendez's surprise attack.

However, it didn't end there as Samael leaped in the air, avoiding the shadow tendrils attempting to pin him down.

But as he did, Mendez's own shadow caught him in the air as it held tight to his feet, but to the assassin's surprise, his shadow was simply erased the moment it touched Samael.

Before Mendez could react, Samael burst down as he sent Mendez flying with a knee before appearing inches from him and dragging him through the entire room.

Ajax followed hastily as he sent both his shadow spawns at Samael as well, attempting to take him down, but the Void simply opened its lips as a heavy commanding voice echoed.

"Kneel."

Ajax and his puppets smashed down knee first as they looked at a titanic white eye stare at them from above, causing their bodies to be paralysed in a form of fear they had not felt before.

The eye had a black sclera with radiant white pupils that seemed to contain countless swirling vortex, no, realities, and endless knowledge; it contained the truth.

Ajax began to bleed from his eyes as he couldn't take off his gaze from it; it was... dominating.

His shadows had begun to disperse as their bodies crumbled under the weight of the eyes power.

Meanwhile, Mendez could only stand there as Samael held his neck, choking him down the floor.

In Samael's world, he choked the very man who murdered his mother, his eyes blurry and unsure. But his will manifested and was rageful.

He was going to make them feel the amount of pain they caused him—all the years of loss and agony he had to endure in a cold prison cell.

At least he thought so. Not until she manifested.

Samael blinked twice as the figure he was choking had shifted to a familiar girl with those bright red eyes full of passion and ambition, dreams of exploring and going on an adventure.

"Lilith...?" Samael muttered, his voice dark and muffled.

Samael released his hand as Mendez was finally able to breathe.

"I-I didn't m-mea—"

Lilith caressed the boy's cheeks as she smiled.

Yes, she was always understanding and patient with him. Always so selfless.

Looking at his hands, Samael began to shake. Is this what he had become? A monster? Like them?

Standing up, the necklace in Samael's neck began to glow crimson, slowly snuffing out the anger he felt.

Looking back, Samael saw everything begin to crumble to pieces as he saw his reflection in the puddle of blood he had created, and for a brief second, he saw sadness in the eyes of the abyss.

This wasn't him.

This was never who he was.

Yes, it was time to wake up.