....
"Next"
Lucien stepped forward, sparing Arthur one last look before going up to meet the instructor.
Arthur gave him a lazy wave as he went, looking completely disinterested after watching the spectacle happen and fail a few dozen times.
Lucien stepped forward without hesitation, his expression as unreadable as ever.
"I've said it a couple of times already, do you still need me to repeat it?"
The instructor's voice was laced with a hint of annoyance.
"I know."
The instructor strapped the cystalline tubes to his hands and feet before starting up the machine.
The machine pulsed.
Lucien's closed his eyes to focus.
And the world around him vanished.
By the time Lucien opened his eyes, he was no longer in the hall.
Instead, Lucien found himself in a cavern filled with shallow blood.
Waking up in a new place, he was not the least bit surprised. After all, he already had an idea of where he was.
The air was thick here, though, that was for sure.
It took him a minute of walking to come across what he was looking for.
The pathway opened up to a large corridor.
Skulls and bones were scattered in piles all around, the walls had were strange grotesque abominations that seemed sewn into them, there were even decomposing corpses on the ground.
In the center of it all, there was a pile of bones, on which a person sat.
"Welcome...." A voice resounded in the otherwise empty space, "to my humble abode."
The owner of the voice looked exactly like Lucien, except for his crimson red eyes
"How did you manage all this inside me?"
Lucien questioned, taking another quick glance around him.
"Don't ask."
Lucien stood still, unfazed by the answer.
"Since you don't want any idle chatter I'll get straight to the point. Tell me everything you know about the True Soul Weapons."
The demon chuckled, letting out an amused laugh.
"Straight to business, fine. True Soul Weapons are the ultimate reflection of your essence."
"Just that?"
Lucien asked, noticing that the demon was seemingly done.
"Yes, just that."
"For a demon that claims to be alive since the beginning of the world, your knowledge of True Soul Weapons seem abysmal."
The demon laughed again.
"Why would I waste my time explaining every small detail to someone whom I'm going to kill later on? That's all I'll tell you, be greatful."
Lucien wasn't deterred by its tone.
"Then what about how it's formed?"
"It is influenced by a lot of things in one split-second scenario, they force the ultimate reflection of your essence out of your body, forcing it to give form outside the body."
"Like what?"
Lucien was genuinely just trying to know what he was feeling.
"Adrenaline."
It began.
"You said a lot of things."
"Rage."
It added.
"And?"
Lucien asked.
At that, the demon grinned widely.
"I'm under no obligations to tell you. Move on to your next question."
Dealing with this felt like dealing with Arthur for some reason.
"What happens if you fail to manifest your True Soul Weapon, what happens to the reflection of your essence?"
Lucien asked.
"It doesn't come back, if that's what you're asking."
Lucien couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"And where is the ultimate reflection of my essence now?"
"I ate it."
Lucien let out another sigh, he already knew where this was going when he started asking these questions.
He could already tell that the demon had done something to him that would prevent him from ever awakening his True Soul Weapon.
Why? He didn't know, maybe it was just one of it's whims.
How? He just knew, it was like a gut feeling.
"Does the reflection of my essence have anything to do with my.... strength?"
Lucien asked.
"Yes, it affects your strength by at least 30%, but you shouldn't worry about that, I ate the reflection the moment you awakened."
"I see."
Lucien murmured.
"Can you spit out the reflection of my essence?"
He asked his final question.
The wicked grin that had been plastered on the demon's face changed, a frown.
"No, not a chance."
Then, it continued, adjusting on it's pile of bones.
"Ever since you've got here you've been asking a single question after the other, I of course, answered them all." It said, the aura around it becoming thicker. "Ever time I answered a question, I did you a favor. Don't you think that it's too much to ask me to spit out your reflection of your essence?"
Lucien kept quiet.
"Or wait...."
It's grin returned.
"Kill Arthur-"
"Forget it."
Lucien shook his head.
"Handing over my dead body to you doesn't seem like a good idea."
The demon simply shrugged.
Lucien began walking away. His meeting with the demon had been uneventful and only gave him a little to know.
"....Or wait, I have another proposition."
"What is it?"
Lucien asked without looking back.
"Land one hit on me. Not just touch me once, with anything. Just one. And I'll spit out the reflection of your essence."
The boy slowly turned to face the demon.
"That's all?"
"Yes."
Lucien dashed forward in an explosive burst.
The sound of water splashing resounded in the empty space as he lunged.
"If you didn't think about freedom all the time, you'd have realized there was a better approach to this."
The demon mocked.
Its crimson eyes narrowed at Lucien's figure, then it swiped its hand at the air.
-Crack!
A violent motion split through the cavern.
Lucien's body tripped over nothing, falling lifelessly onto the ground.
His head was neatly cut into half, with the other half splattered on the wall like a grotesque decoration.
"You lost."
The demon murmured, raising a finger up to meet a splash of blood that had managed to meet it.
The blood made contact.
It knew what it was instantly, blood infused with Lucien's essence.
"No, you win."
It corrected itself.
"But, if you wanted the reflection.... you should have made a pact first."