In The Abyss As A Toon Character

Katley got closer, seemingly saying something about the aspect, but it appeared to be more words for herself, "I'm sorry... Eh, girl...? But you just happened to be in my way; I don't hold any grudges. Actually, you being an aspect would probably place us in a tight position in the near future... Want to blame something? Blame your bad luck or this damn system."

Dante's mind spun with confusion. Why was she doing this? Not a grudge? He had done nothing to deserve such cruelty. They had only exchanged words a few times, so why was he suffering now? Were aspects supposed to kill each other?

Katley's voice broke through his chaotic thoughts. "This is your last chance. This guy seems to be the last of your friends, and it looks like his value has increased now that everyone else is dead. What do you think?"

Without warning, she grabbed Daniel and, with terrifying ease, snapped Daniel's legs. The gut-wrenching crunch of bone echoed in Dante's ears, followed by Daniel's scream, a sound so raw and filled with agony that it seemed to pierce the very air around them. Katley pressed a sword to his throat as she issued her ultimatum. "I'm going to count to 60 in my mind. If you don't make a choice, then I'll do it for you."

"W-Wha--" Dante stammered, his voice trembling with fear. His fingers were shaken uncontrollably, trying to form a pen with his power to sign the paper. But he couldn't. His mind and body were falling apart, teetering on the edge of total collapse.

Kaiden softly said with a comforting and confident smile, "Just firm it, and both- No... every single one of us will be okay!" She accommodated her hair and threw a pen at the girl who barely managed to not physically and mentally break into the ground, "Have it,"

Dante's mind was a void, numb with despair; his blank eyes slowly focused on the pen, and his hand quivered as he reached for it, with slow, labored movement, like in an underwater situation. But before his fingers could close around it, a voice, strained with anger, cut through the fog, "Are you really gonna do that?"

Through the blur of his misery, Dante's head snapped up, his eyes widening in confusion as he heard a faint "Eh...?" slip from his lips. He turned to see Daniel, teeth clenched in pain from his shattered legs, yet there was a fierce determination in his eyes. "I'm sorry," Daniel rasped, his voice weak but unyielding. "But I can't watch such a pitiful display. Have you forgotten your words?"

Dante's soul clenched as he looked at Daniel, thinking, 'Why are you apologizing? It should have been me. I should've been stronger...' He frantically tried everything he could think of, but his body simply refused his commands.

"Don't make it so I died for nothing..." Daniel continued, his voice growing fainter. "And I have been saving this for a while... I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO!"

With a final, pained smile, Daniel quickly grabbed his sword, and the mental image of the sharp blade slicing through his skull appeared. Dante wanted to move and fix everything, but an invisible force held him back. Was it Katley's power or his own mind shackling him?

Katley's dismissive voice filled the air like a death knell, "Distance." In an instant, Daniel was beside her, with his hand restrained by an iron grip, preventing the fatal blow from piercing his skull. "Not so fast, buddy," she sneered, "you're one of my tickets to a deal."

But Daniel just laughed, leaving a sad, resigned sound. "Yeah, I knew this was going to happen... This was just a distraction to kill me with aura-" Before he could finish, blood began to stream from his nose and eyes. He collapsed with a sickening

*Thud*

His lifeless body smacked hard on the ground, and a gruesome pool of blood quickly formed around Daniel's lifeless form as his eyes continued wide open, and his mouth remained frozen in the middle of his final words, being a grim echo of life.

Kaiden's voice trembled with barely suppressed rage as she whispered a low, angry "Ha..." She quickly regained her composure and turned to Dante, who was now frozen in shock. "Don't worry," she said, with an eerily calm tone, "My ability is to erase concepts. I can bring him back..." Her mind raced, formulating a new plan in a heartbeat, "Heck, I can bring everyone back, but I need you to sign this paper. We have almost no time!"

But Dante didn't move. He didn't react. He just stood there, staring blankly at the gruesome scene before him, with his mind barely registering the atrocity that had unfolded.

Katley, sensing the need for more pressure, barked aggressively, "QUICK! Do you want all your friends to die!? Remember, when I came here, I just wanted to sign a contract." Her accusatory tone increased, "All this bloodshed, it's your fault!"

MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?MY FAULT? MY FAULT? MY FAULT?

"I'm willing to-" She corrected herself mid-motion after realizing something, "-But you can make amends, fix your errors," she thought as she yelled to Dante, 'Well I can technically bring back the dead but why should even I do it.'

Katley abruptly clapped her hands in front of Dante's face. "COME ON!" she sharply shouted, but the aspect of Aqarath remained in shock, unresponsive to the chaos around. Seeing this, Katley switched to Plan B and prepared for Plan C.

Katley's gaze darkened as she leaned in close, she looked directly and said with a low and dangerous voice, "Hey, what was his name... James? Haven't you realized..."

Dante's expressionless eyes shifted slightly, drawn by the sound of her voice of Katley.

Katley, with a voice dripping with venom, seized the moment to continue her rampage, "Where is he...? Oh, RIGHT! HE SOLD YOU OUT! And not only did he leave you, but he also betrayed you. How do you think I knew where you were? Who do you think he called whenever he opened the system?" She watched as each word hit Dante like a hammer, shattering what little remained of his spirit.

"He was never your friend," Katley continued, her voice almost mocking. "I just ordered him to follow you! Didn't you realize it? Something about him was always off, screaming danger! Yet you foolishly kept trying to befriend him."

Dante's heart sank further into despair, every word tearing at his soul. And Katley, sensing her victory, leaned face to face; her breath, hot and sickly sweet, brushed against his face as she whispered, "The world would spin with or without you. You're a waste of breath, a puppet without strings, dangling uselessly in the wind. So do me a favor and sign that paper so you can take that sweet break you deserve."

She watched with satisfaction at how Dante mechanically moved its hand. A smile curved her lips as she thought, 'I guess that will do.' She felt a twinge of pity at the sight of having completely mutilated this aspect's ability to think. Yes, It was a bit cruel, but so what? A dead body doesn't care about the wrongdoings done to it. And she was sure that out there, someone had done something worse.

...

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...

*DING*

The sudden sound snapped Katley out of her daydreaming. She turned to the left and saw the familiar blue screen of the system with a 'message pendant' notification.

Her expression shifted from satisfaction to irritation as she read it. Quickly, she typed a response, "Just finishing some business. I'll be there in a few minutes. Our target Is just a simple priestess, and I don't think my help is even needed there. I also still think it was quite overkill to get the entire team here."

"Mmh?!" Her tongue abruptly tasted something odd, a harsh metallic tang that swarmed her mouth. It tasted like bad plastic that, for some reason, wanted to taste sweet, but there was a thing that screamed to you that it was... "Artificial...? Where had I felt this taste?" she muttered to herself, frowning as the taste grew stronger.

...

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"Kaiden... Katley..."