Growing up, Artorias had always dismissed the thought of becoming an Ascended.
In a world ruled by the strong and a hierarchy controlled by nobility. He had been happy to spend the rest of his life being a third son in a Great House with no responsibilities.
His older brother and sister were already prominent Grade 4 and 5 Ascended respectively, they would bring enough glory and prestige to the family name without needing his assistance.
After all, why risk his one and only life when he didn't gain anything of value for following in their footsteps?
Unfortunately for Artorias, his decision ceased to exist when his father had seen a potential too great to ignore.
Artorias hadn't seen what potential his father had been rambling on about until very recently. It made him feel dirty at just the thought of agreeing with the blasted fool, but even he wasn't blind to his own progress.
With three Impetus Talents, a hardened body and his deadly mind, Artorias had become what every Ascended strived to be.
It grated at him, that he had become so good at the one thing he never wished to be, but he endured it all the same.
Right now, really wasn't the time to be thinking about such things either…
Dancing through the eight-legged abominations pointed limbs, he moved at speeds it couldn't keep up with, a blur of black that it struggled to strike with every powerful thrust.
With his enhanced senses allowing him to hear the muscles in its limbs tensing and feel the subtle shifts of air parting with every motion, he was given a sort of precognition.
When he combined that with the speed granted to him by his inner lightning, he could safely avoid anything the abomination could throw at him.
Appearing before the arachnid's malformed face, he grinned at its ten eyes, spinning to stare at him. Faster than it could react, he let the shadows swallow him whole.
He glanced at the realm of shadows as he passed through, his eyes sparking with the same gold as the lightning bolt embedded in its infinite vastness, before his vision cleared a moment later.
Appearing from a shadow above the alleyway he and the abomination had been fighting in, his eyes began to tear up on reflex as he began to freefall, a wild grin on his face as the wind whipped through his hair.
Pulling on the Spirit Essence stored inside of his Soul Core, he enhanced his body with enough of it so that he wouldn't die from the fall.
His longsword gleamed as he fell, its sharp end pointed directly towards the arachnid's bulbous head.
Its entire body shook as he landed, a loud startled squeak echoing through the darkness around them, as the blade in his hands pierced through fleshy skin and hardened cartilage.
A tremor rocking the ground as the force generated by both the fall and his own enhanced strength pushed it into the ground, shaking the ruined buildings around them.
It shook beneath him for a minute, before its entire body went slack and it fell dead.
Taking a deep breath through his nose, he couldn't stop the smirk which bloomed on his face at the rush of emotions and sensations he could feel.
'What a rush!' He couldn't help but let out a gleeful laugh, the sound echoing through the alleyway.
Unfortunately, it didn't last for long.
The familiar sensation of his emotions drifting off beyond his reach overtook him a moment later, leaving him to take greedy breaths of air. His body shook as he soon began to feel the hollowness take root again.
"Damn it!" he pulled on the anger inside of him willingly, letting the heat consume his body as he wretched his blade out of the dead arachnid's body and tore through its body.
Soon enough, blood covered every part of the alleyway, from the ground to the walls. Artorias stood on the dismantled abomination taking heavy breaths with not a single drop of blood on him.
The anger finally subsided but didn't go far from his reach. He would gladly push it away for just a chance to feel his other emotions.
Flicking his longsword of any remaining blood, he pushed it into its scabbard and jumped off the abominations mangled corpse. Sighting to himself, and ignoring the shaking of his hands, he made his way out to the open street.
Originally his plan had been to further ascend a grade before he faced the chimera. But with him progressively getting closer to the Eastern Garrison and his soul going through its own change, that plan no longer seemed feasible.
As for the change to his soul, well, after killing three, now four, Fallen Spawn at the Rank of Monster, with no visible progress, he had dived into his soul.
The first thing he had noticed was the size of his Soul Core, it was noticeably smaller than before. Initially he had been worried, until he took a moment to use his head and think.
He had come to a singular conclusion.
Absorbing both the Impetus Talents of Solthia and Seirios had been a large boon, but as always, nature had to balance the scales of every living thing, and as such, it had made the required amount of Spirit Energy he would need to also increase.
Whilst it did seem like a fair trade off at first glance, he also had to consider the future. With his talents being limited right now, having variety over strength was objectively the better choice.
But the further he rose through the ascension process, the more he would have to work in comparison to the other Ascended he was competing against. This was also without considering the very likely possibility that he would absorb more talent along the way.
All in all, this would make the climb to the peak of the mountain much steeper, but in a way, also more rewarding.
Sometimes he hated how nature had to balance everything in the world.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he heard the large steps of an abomination getting closer. Pulling his longsword out again, he readied himself.
This would be a long night, but it would be worth it.
He would do anything to get rid of this blistering anger in his chest.