Shadow of the Abyss

Stationed over his body, wagging her hips like a pup, Talia tilted her head. "Master…" She gave his cheek a poke. "Master…. Master, you got to wake up."

"What are you doing?" Nia responded, walking in, carrying her spear on her shoulders.

Talia practically jumped to her feet. "N-N-Nia! You scared me! This Spirit Domain or Manipulation thing is crazy. Being able to hide oneself is scary."

Only now realizing that she was instinctually masking her aura with her Spirit, Nia scratched her cheek, recalling the matter of her master's battle with Iliana. The change they had all experienced through that formless connection had evolved their state of awareness and skill to a level they would have never obtained on their own.

"I get that, but what are you doing?"

"Trying to wake master up!" Talia mused, hopping down from the bed. She glided over to her sister. "Master needs to play with Talia."

"... You know you're not a child, right?"

"I know. But what's so fun being an adult? That shit is so depressing." she said, glancing back to her master, recalling the years of torment she'd faced. It had all been so strange. Thinking back on it now. Olivia was now dead.

Killed by her hands. Now… only Mother and Father were left.

She grinned.

"I hear that," Nia agreed, glancing at Talia, somehow finding something that the two shared in common. Of all the Pale Knights, Talia had been the least like in her opinion. She was bloodthirsty, shameless, lacking honor in even the most basic of things. The only difference between a common demon and Talia was perhaps her many years of morality. And even that was failing her now.

Talia's hand brushed the tips of her Prince's hair. She heard rainfall then, saw the arcs of lightning shriek across the skies, and felt the hum of thunder shake the walls. Still, the Prince did not wake. His breath was even.

"WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!" She screamed in his ear like a banshee's wail. Her voice rumbled high and low through the empty halls.

Altair's eyes snapped open then. A hint of panic in his chest.

"Ah! That worked!"

"You crazy bitch!"

Notifications came across the Prince's eyes then like an endless string of words.

[Ding]

[Baptism of Blood has Tempered your existence]

Name: Altair Blackwood

Mana Circle: [Third Circle 99% —> Forth Circle 1%]

Class: [Prince of the Vale II Lv 75 → 1]

Strength: 301 → 601

Dexterity: 311 → 611

Constitution: 332 → 632

Wisdom: 348 → 648

Charisma: 300 → 600

Mana: 200 → 250

[Third Class Obtained]

Prince of The Vale II

Attributes: [+3 Wis], [+3 Cha], [+3 Con] [+2 Dex], [+1 Str] Per Level Up

Compulsion [D]

-Proficiency: 12%

Spirit Domain [F]

-Range: 35m

-Proficiency: 53%

Sword of the Vale [F]

-Proficiency: 0.4 % → 15%

-Sword Limit: 2

Dual Cultivation [E]

-Proficiency: 42%

Desolate Abyss [F]

-Multiplier: 2x → 2.5x

-Proficiency: 50%

Enigmatic Step [D] → Desolate Decent [F]

-Proficiency: 14% → 87%

Eye of Sacrilege [C → B]

-Proficiency: 1% → 8%

Fallen Necromancy [D]

-Proficiency: 1.2% → 12%

Soul Storage: 100/100

Foresight [F] → [E]

-Proficiency: 87% → 57%

Grave of Night [D] → [C]

-Proficiency: 99.999% → 1%

Hands of Nirvana [D] —> Hands of the Incubus [F]

-Proficiency: 97% → 0%

Hellish Rebuke [F]

-Proficiency: 4% → 97%

Infernal Bane [D]

-Proficiency: 0.01% → 56%

-Effect: Madness

Infernal Lightning [D]

-Proficiency: 0.5% → 78%

Rune Work [F] →[E]

-Proficiency: 37% —> 11%

Sovergins Gale [F] → [E]

-[10m ] → [20m]

-Proficiency: 97% → 0%

Vale Manipulation [ E] → [D]

-Proficiency: 97% → 0%

Mana Manipulation [C]

-Proficiency: 14% → 31%

Ninth Form, Aeron [D → C]

-Proficiency: 80% → 0%

-Baptism of Blood: Obtained

Soul of the Indomitable [D → C]

-Proficiency: 34% → 14%

Primal Instincts [F] → [E]

-Proficiency: 87% → 57%

[Ding]

[Authority has reached the second level. Secondary access to the System Store is now available.]

[Vale AI is now available.]

[DING]

[Sword of the Abyss (SSS)]

Type: Abyssal Aura

Effect 1: All proficiency increases by 2x.

Effect 2: Will of the Abyss

Effect 3: Ashen Blood [New]

Effect 4: Sealed

Effect 5: Sealed

Effect 6: Sealed

Effect 7: Sealed

Effect 8: Sealed

Effect 9: Sealed

Description: Broken is the King, who stands before the Abyssal Night. Through Despair, the Sword of the Abyss shall appear.

Fallen Moon Imperfection

Type: Vale Physique

Effect 1: Almighty Resistance

Effect 2: Vale Qi

Effect 3: Valemorph [New]

Effect 4: Sealed

Effect 5: Sealed

Effect 6: Sealed

Effect 7: Sealed

Effect 8: Sealed

Effect 9: Sealed

He hadn't felt it when he first woke, hadn't felt anything but the feeble weakness of his spirit weighing him down, robbing him of sensation. The beat of the heart against his chest stirred the winds around him, almost like it was breathing Mana.

Badump! Badump! Badump! Badump!

Shaken to his core, he clutched his chest, feeling something different… something monstrous growing within his body.

Three Full Circles blazed from above his head like a crown, turning to embers as he made it to his feet. He covered his lips, struggling to hold back his laughter, struggling to manage, but before he could, a roar of laughter tore itself from the back of his throat towards the realm.

So crazed it echoed, Talia, the one who embodied madness to her core, the one who accepted madness as her companion, took a step back in fear, sensing a formless danger against her chest.

She grinned, falling to her knees alongside Nia in respect.

"We greet you, Master," they said in unison.

Their bodies stiffened when they felt their master's intent shift from himself and onto them. They felt naked before his eyes. Stripped of all their dignity in an instant that perhaps lasted hours in their minds. The intensity of it all layered them in sweat before Nia forced the words out.

"Master? What is your command?"

Altair gestured for them to rise said, "Blood… I need blood," As the dry itch returned stronger than ever.

"I shall bring—"

Before Talia could finish, Altair's mind flashed through all one hundred of his shadows; he vanished with Sovereign's Gale and arrived just outside a jail cell with a man being peeled alive by his shadow, making sure to scorch all parts taken off.

He was howling when he entered through the doors, halting the torment led by Kirr.

At the sight of the Master, they fell to a knee. Altair ignored them, finding his gaze focused on the pool of blood on the ground.

Altair gulped but quickly shook his head. His sense of pride refused to bend like a depraved fiend who'd had no control. Still, the sensation remain… the writhing hunger that demanded blood. It was growing, feeding the primordial desire in his mind.

He was better than that. 'I was better than that,' he told himself, gritting his teeth, trying to deny himself.

[Your strength has Increased by 1]

"Is this the man Nia stabbed in the throat?" He asked, once again feeling a sense of pride swelter in his chest that his knights defended him so well. He glanced down at his palm to the scar that remained and felt all the more proud.

[Your strength has Increased by 1]

'What a monstrously mad ability this Baptism of Blood is,' he cursed, a little unsettled by the idea that despite his control… no matter what he did, these emotions would never fade but rise until something in him broke.

"Yes, my Lord," Said Kirr. "But we've not been able to extract anything from him."

"I see. Then give him to Talia. I'm sure she'll have enjoyed her new toy." he commanded, not putting much thought into the matter. He'd had no intention of relinquishing one of his shadows in order to retrieve his assassin's story.

Not until he got a fundamental grasp of his mentality.

Dreadful premonition had warned him, and in an instance of reflection, he agreed to follow his instincts.

"Where is Ren?"

"She—"

"Here! Sup Art! Missed me! I heard you just woke up!" Ren exclaimed, propping her head up from behind the threshold to the cellar doors. "How have you been?" she skipped in, circling her man with great interest, noticing the pale countenance. He looked as though he hadn't eaten in days.

Worse, there was something feral about him. Something wicked. "When Nia told me you woke up, I sprinted over. Are you alright?"

Altair bore a shrewd grin. "And if there was something wrong?"

Ren bonked him on the head, placed a hand on her hip, and snorted all cutely. "Then I'll help you, silly." she froze then, noticing the outline of his manhood begin to writhe against his britches. And felt the desire of her Prince ooze from out of his eyes with an intensity that made her legs weak.

'That's good to hear." He slid a finger down her cheeks, down between her bosom, felt the natural response of her dry heaving, and smiled a wicked smile. "Good indeed."

"W-W-W-We… don't have enough time."

"Time?"

"We have a few more minutes before—"

In a naked blur, Altair had placed Reina into his arms, arriving once more in his chamber. He tossed her onto the bed, undoing the laces of his britches.

"Let's worry about them when they're on our front doors. Right now. You are all mine."

Reina Blackwood swallowed hard.