Cade exhaled slowly and tightened his grip around the Voidfang's hilt. Across from him, Maya crouched low, panting slightly. There were two Memories in her hands— a quillon dagger and a rondel dagger. Her gaze was locked onto him like a predator studying its prey. The gigantic skeleton of the ancient leviathan— the Bone Ridge— loomed to their side.
The two soulless Dreamers had sparred nearly every day for the past... well, Cade had even lost track of time after their ordeal with the Mawshade and the struggle against the horrors of the Dark Sea.
Cade had shifted the focus of Maya's training after witnessing her fight in front of the Mawshade's cavern. She had grown into a competent swordsman, no doubt— her form was solid, her reactions were quick, and her adaptability was impressive.
Yet, something always felt… missing.
Maya was an exceptional student. She absorbed his lessons like a sponge, adapted to every challenge he threw at her, and worked relentlessly to correct any flaw that he happened to point out.
But despite all that, whenever she wielded a sword, it never quite felt right.
At first, Cade had hesitated to say anything. He knew how much effort she poured into her training. Telling her outright that she wasn't meant to wield a sword— that the weapon itself didn't seem to belong in her hands— felt needlessly cruel.
But the more he watched her push herself, the clearer it became. He couldn't keep letting her fight against her own instincts. So, one day, instead of bluntly stating the truth, he decided to take a different approach. He simply asked her how she felt when she held a blade.
To his surprise, Maya admitted that something felt off whenever she wielded a sword. She wasn't blind to it— she just didn't known what to do about it. Then, with a small, almost sheepish shrug, she even confessed that she had been pushing herself so hard simply because he was putting so much effort into training her.
Cade had felt a wave of relief. He hadn't been imagining things. He told her that he had noticed the same thing— that a sword, while a powerful weapon, just didn't seem to fit her.
That had earned him a frown from the icy girl, of course. She obviously hadn't been thrilled to hear it. So, naturally, she'd asked her teacher what she was supposed to do now.
Fortunately, Cade had already thought this through. During their fight with the Shadecoils and the desperate battle against the Mawshade, Maya had been at her best in close-quarters combat, moving with instinctive grace rather than relying on raw strength. And when she'd hurled the Venom's Kiss with deadly precision— severing the stalactite and saving them both— it had cemented the realization.
She wasn't meant to keep enemies at bay with a sword. She was meant to be in the thick of it, weaving between attacks, striking with lethal precision.
She wasn't a duelist— she was a predator.
Adding to that was the fact that Cade had acquired the Dreadful Sorrow, an Awakened Memory of the Fourth Tier— a rondel dagger— just the day before. So, without any hesitation, he had transferred it to Maya, and told her to train with it instead of the Nightcarver.
To his pleasant surprise— and to Maya's own delight— she had adapted almost instantly. It was almost as if dual-wielding daggers had been second nature to her all along, a skill buried deep in her bones just waiting to be unearthed.
From that day forward, Cade had shifted her training entirely, focusing on the art of wielding daggers. And just like with the sword, Maya had absorbed his teachings at an alarming pace. But unlike the sword, the daggers had felt right in her hands.
Every lesson, every technique Cade had sucked out of his Attribute— she'd mastered them far faster than he had anticipated.
It was almost… unsettling. Combined with her Innate Ability, she had the makings of a true assassin— silent, swift, and deadly. If she wanted to, she could snuff out lives without anyone even realizing she was there.
Of course, Maya wasn't going to become an assassin.
At least I hope that's what happens...
In any case, right now, she stood before him, gripping the Venom's Kiss in one hand and the Dreadful Sorrow in the other. Her stance was sharp, balanced— daggers poised like fangs ready to strike.
Cade rolled his shoulders, flexing his grip around his short sword. They had just finished their first bout, but neither showed any sign of slowing.
The real fight was only beginning.
Maya moved.
Her feet barely seemed to touch the ground as she darted towards Cade. The Venom's Kiss slashed in a low arc, aimed at his ribs. Cade deflected it with ease, twisting the Voidfang to redirect the force, but even as he did, the stringed Dreadful Sorrow came whipping around toward his face.
The Dreadful Sorrow was very similar to the Prowling Thorn, which was an Awakened Memory of the Second Tier Sunny had managed to get during his stay in the Dark City. Of course, the Sorrow was a Memory two whole Tiers above the Thorn, which made it much more deadly.
Cade ducked. The icy blade of the Sorrow sliced through the air just inches from his cheek.
Maya pressed the attack. Before her first swing had even finished, she pivoted on her back foot, and brought the Venom's Kiss around in a tight, curved strike toward his side.
Cade blocked it again, but this time, she twisted her wrist, and locked his sword in place for a split second. That was all the time she needed to send the Sorrow swinging back toward his exposed back.
Cade spun away, barely avoiding the strike. A smirk tugged at his lips.
Clever, he thought to himself.
He countered with a quick thrust, testing her defenses. She dodged to the side, but he closed in. The Voidfang flicked out in sharp, precise cuts.
Maya backpedaled, deflecting where she could, avoiding where she couldn't. But he noticed something else— she wasn't trying to block him outright. Instead, she was almost guiding his blade, and manipulating the angles, so she could slip away unharmed.
And as quickly as she retreated, she struck almost twice as fast.
She stepped in suddenly. Maya feinted with her right hand, which was clutching the Venom's Kiss. But at the last moment, she snapped the Dreadful Sorrow forward.
This time, Cade had to react fast. He twisted his body, and raised his sword to intercept, but she yanked the string of the Sorrow mid-flight, altering its trajectory. The blade curved around his defense.
Cade's mind went blank as instinct took over.
His free hand snapped up in a sudden motion and he caught the invisible string of the Sorrow between his fingers, stopping the icy dagger just before it could strike home. He couldn't completely hold the [Battle Master] Attribute back, after all.
Maya's eyes widened in surprise. "Hey! That's cheating!" she complained.
"That was a nice trick, I'm not gonna lie," Cade said, flicking the string away. "If I hadn't known that the dagger was connected to a string, I'd have fallen for it. Still, in hindsight, it was kind of predictable. At least, for me."
"Predictable?" Maya huffed, pulling the dagger back with a sharp tug. "I almost got you."
"Almost," he agreed. "But you should've taken my knowledge with regards to your weapon into account."
Maya scoffed. "Yeah, yeah... I get it."
She grinned and lunged again. This time, she moved even faster. Her daggers were a blur of snow and ice. Cade deflected, sidestepped, countered. Their movements blended into a rhythmic dance— strike, block, evade, counter.
Maya twisted around him. The Sorrow flicked out at unpredictable angles. Cade parried and dodged. The Voidfang was a dark blur against the glint of frost. She was fast, fluid, and relentless. And despite himself, Cade found that he was enjoying this.
Still, he was holding back.
If he really wanted to win, he could easily have done so. After all, as good as Maya was, she was but a novice to combat. She would no doubt grow into a deadly warrior in the future, but that was still some time away.
Besides, Cade was a Monster, while Maya was a Beast. He was stronger, faster, and had the blessing of his Attribute. But that wasn't the point. The point was to test her, to push her, to force her to use every ounce of skill she had.
And she was doing just that.
Maya feinted left, spun low, and whipped the Sorrow upward. Cade tilted his head, and let the blade graze past his ear. At the same time, the Venom's Kiss came in high, aiming for his throat.
Cade's sword snapped up in a heartbeat, and stopped the strike cold. Which was ironic considering the blade of the Kiss was seemingly made of ice. For a moment, their weapons locked, and their eyes met over the crossed blades.
Maya smirked. "Holding back, aren't you?"
Cade chuckled. "What gave it away?"
She shoved off, and flipped the dagger in her hand before taking a step back. "Come on... stop treating me like a rookie."
Cade rolled his shoulders, and considered her words. Then, he adjusted his grip on the Voidfang, his smirk fading.
"Alright," he said, slightly more serious. "Try to keep up."
And with the barest tilt of his head, he moved.
***
A few days later, Cade sat in the vast spine tunnel of the ancient leviathan. It was afternoon time, and Cade was having lunch— a few strips of roasted meat seasoned with salt from the Dark Sea. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
Cade had decided to take a break from hunting today. He'd been killing so many Nightmare Creatures that it was becoming almost boring. Since he'd already had some food, Cade had decided to take a break today. He thought about the weeks following the adventure they'd undertaken to form his Monster Core.
Cade and Maya's days at the Bone Ridge had slipped by so easily, so peacefully, that it almost felt unnatural.
At some point, Cade had even entertained the absurd thought that he had, in some way, fallen victim to the Soul Devourer's enthrallment even on the Bone Ridge. The notion unsettled him enough that he had immediately checked his Attributes, but to his relief, [Enthralled] was nowhere to be found.
It was just that, after obtaining the Mawshade's Echo and the Severance, survival had become… rather effortless.
No longer were they struggling against the tide of nightmares, scrambling for scraps of control. Well, that had never been the case, but living in the Dream Realm had become much easier than before. The difference was staggering. For the first time since stepping into this cursed existence, they actually had a moment to breathe.
Of course, that didn't mean that Cade had grown complacent. He had already wielded the Corrupted weapon on several occasions— most notably when he had slain his second Awakened Tyrant, and also an Awakened Devil.
The Awakened Devil, called the Nameless Dirgecaller, had given him the Dreadful Sorrow, which he'd transferred to Maya, while the Awakened Tyrant, known as the Graveborn Augur, had left behind a strange tool Memory:
Memory: [Hollow Testament].
Memory Rank: Awakened.
Memory Type: Tool.
Memory Description: [The Augur was a faceless oracle that appeared before great calamities, wearing a shifting mantle of shadows. To hear its prophecy was to invite doom.
This blackened ledger drips ink like ichor, its pages shifting between forgotten languages. It records the fate of those who have glimpsed its pages. It does not teach spells, neither does it empower— it merely remembers for those willing to barter.]
Cade hadn't been able to deduce what the Testament was supposed to do. He'd tried to experiment with it— summoning it during battle or when he was sitting around leisurely. But it had all been in vain.
The Testament was a seemingly useless book, created out of blackness that floated in the air beside Cade whenever he summoned it. No matter how hard Cade tried, he couldn't make out any writing on its blackened pages.
So, as to what its purpose was, Cade had no clue. And the cryptic description of the Spell had been no help at all.
The Graveborn Augur had been... a troublesome opponent, to say the least. It had assaulted Cade with an insidious mind-attack, but thankfully, Maya had been present by his side during that battle.
In the middle of the fight, she had transferred the Crown of Stillness to him. That Awakened charm of the fifth Tier was entirely useless to Maya, considering the fact that she was immune to mind attacks and the Crown offered a decent protection against them. So, after being augmented by his Darkness, it had proven to be more than effective against the Augur's relentless mental assault.
Shortly after that, Cade had dispatched the Tyrant with the Severance.
So far, the Severance showed no clear signs of bearing a curse, but even so, Cade remained cautious. There was something about it, something he couldn't quite place, that made him reluctant to hold it for too long. Maybe, it was the weapon's weird connection to the Demon of Fate.
The Severance had also proven to be far more versatile than Cade had initially anticipated.
The Corrupted weapon was a shape-shifter, capable of assuming the form of any weapon he could imagine. While he primarily used it as a blade, the knowledge that it wasn't bound to a single shape made it all the more dangerous.
More than that, it had a passive enchantment that enveloped a decent area around it in an oppressive weight where every creature was subjected to a harrowing mind-attack. Cade felt like he could control who it affected, but only after he became an Awakened and started interacting with soul essence... or whatever he was supposed to use instead, soulless as he was.
Still, for his current company, that was no problem. Because he, being the wielder of the weapon, was spared from the mind-attack and his companion was immune to them. So, the only victims of the attack would be their enemies. Which was great.
Also, Cade wasn't sure if it was an actual enchantment of the Memory or simply a trait unique to him as its wielder, but the Severance seemed to deal some kind of elemental darkness damage. At least, that's what Cade guessed it was.
He'd first noticed it during his initial uses of the weapon. Wherever the blade struck, an abyssal shadow spread from the wound. It seemed to cause extreme pain and excruciating suffering to its victim. The spreading darkness didn't stop unless the affected part was severed or until the entire body was devoured.
Cade had been quite unsettled after seeing it for the first time. It was... scary, to say the least. And more than a little repulsive.
Still, he wasn't going to complain.
With the Severance in his hand, he was the apex predator in this entire region of the labyrinth. The Darkness damage and the ever-present mind-attack made for an insidious combination that ensured that anything caught in the Corrupted weapon's path met a swift and merciless end. Given its Rank and Tier, a single cut was often enough to send most of the creatures inhabiting the Crimson Labyrinth into an eternal death sleep.
Yet… Cade had never once tried augmenting it with his Darkness. Not because he lacked curiosity, but because the very thought unsettled him. The Severance was already too terrifying in its unaltered state. The idea of enhancing it further, of making it something even deadlier— he had no desire to find out what that would look like.
But then again, considering the horror it had come from, that much should have been obvious.
Still, no matter how powerful the Severance was, Cade refused to let it replace the Voidfang completely. That dark, double-edged short sword had been with him since the beginning. It had never failed him, never betrayed him. And in his hands, augmented by his Darkness, it was still more than strong enough to carve through anything that stood in his way.
Maya, herself, rarely left the ridge. Most of her time was spent honing her skill with the daggers, sparring with Cade, or watching the Mawshade roam the desolate expanse beyond the colossal bones, hunting for her. The abominations that prowled the area were little more than prey to the ice-clad Echo, their deaths yielding precious fragments for its owner.
Few creatures in the vicinity could stand against the Mawshade's might. It was too fast, too relentless, and far too deadly. As a result, Maya was only a hundred or so fragments away from saturating her Winter Core.
Meanwhile, Cade had made little progress in deciphering the Arcane Keystone. He had taken to summoning it every few days, studying the way it gleamed in his palm, waiting for some hidden revelation to present itself.
But much like Maya before him, he had quickly grown tired of the effort. The crystal remained as much a mystery as the day he had first held it.
Yet, despite the lingering uncertainties, life at the Bone Ridge was… good. Almost too good.
Well, for Cade, at least, it was.
Maya, however, had been distant.
It wasn't obvious— not at first. But over the past few days, Cade had noticed the small things. The way she hesitated before answering him. The way her usually sharp, focused gaze sometimes drifted off into nothingness. Like something was gnawing at her thoughts, weighing her down in a way that she didn't want to admit.
Even now, she sat atop one of the massive vertebrae of the ancient leviathan's spine, staring toward the distant Ashen Barrow. The wind ruffled her ashen hair, which had grown quite a bit. She remained motionless, her expression unreadable— forlorn, even.
Cade frowned. If he didn't know for certain that Maya was immune to mind attacks, he would have suspected she had fallen victim to one. This wasn't like her. She was rarely ever gloomy— and certainly never this gloomy.
Even if she didn't want to talk, Cade couldn't, in good conscience, leave her to suffer in solitude. He had been by her side through this hell for over a month— he had earned the right to ask.
So, he decided to exploit that right. Directly.
Without another thought, he breathed out a stream of Darkness. His body dissolved into the black mist and he willed himself forward. The black fog slithered between the gaps in the massive vertebrae, carrying him with them. Then, with a silent ripple, he reformed beside Maya, solidifying from the mist.
This facet of his Ability— driving the Darkness forward while being a part of it— still took a toll on him. Far more than he liked. But he was learning to endure it. Slowly, but surely.
Sitting down beside her, Cade started, "Hey, Maya."
She turned to him and smiled, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Hey..."
He hesitated. Should I just ask her? She wouldn't think I'm prying, would she?
But before he could decide, Maya spoke first. "Cade, there's something I need to tell you. Something that's been bothering me."
Cade let out a quiet sigh of relief. "Thank the Gods, you said it yourself. I was trying to figure out how to ask. You've been acting strange these past few days. Are you alright?"
Maya glanced at him, the worry in her expression unmistakable. That, too, was unlike her. "I'm fine. But I don't think everything else is."
Cade frowned. "What do you mean?"
She glanced back towards the Ashen Barrow. "It's those three. I think they're in trouble. Big trouble."
___________________________________________
Hiya, readers! Hope you're all doing great.
So? What'd you think about the weapon? Too powerful? Don't worry, I'll find a way to balance it. Well... not "balance" exactly, but I definitely won't let it become a generic power fantasy. You can leave that to me!
Anyway, if you have any thoughts about the stuff that's going on in here or in any other previous chapter, do let me know. Yeah, and feedback is crucial; helps me improve.
Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time... :]