Lich

"The hell are you doing?! You could've killed the prince, you bastard!" one of the royal guards roared, glaring at Amon with anger yet not daring to act.

Amon shrugged it off, waving his hands as he retrieved his spears.

As the royal guards barked and shouted and the third prince took deep breaths, attempting to calm down, Awa chuckled, already used to this. Over the years, she'd noticed Amon had become more daring, which she found entertaining amidst the bleak dungeon.

Amato shook his head, sitting cross-legged as he sharpened his blades. They were about to face the last monster of this ruin, the most powerful one, yet Amon still found it necessary to play with the prince's feelings. He sighed, suppressing a chuckle.

"It's fine, Elise. He's just feeling a bit grumpy since our adventure is coming to an end," the third prince said, laughing and calming his guards. "We're all only a step away from the finish line. There's no need to sour the mood now. You'll have all the time in the world to scream at him outside, alright?"

Under the prince's charismatic words, Elise, the leader of the royal guard, calmed down and doused her anger. She glared at Amon, but he only stared back cluelessly. Their eyes locked for a few moments before she looked away and harrumphed.

They gathered around a campfire, each silently preparing for what was to come.

***

"What was your world like?"

Amon sighed. "Awa, I've already told you countless times—I'm not gonna give you weapons to tear me down. I don't want to talk about my past." He took a sip of his tea.

Awa pouted. "Why do you assume I'd use it against you? After all these years, you still don't trust us?! How are we supposed to be a team if we don't know anything about each other!" she exclaimed.

Amon shot her a glance and slightly smiled, shocking everyone present. Silence reigned as they stared at Amon, who remained unbothered, continuing to sip his tea by the fire.

Noticing the building tension, Amato looked at Amon with complicated emotions, but before he could speak, Amon did.

"You say that, yet you haven't shared anything about yourself or asked anyone else here about their past. Quite cunning, eh?"

Awa was taken aback.

"But it's fine. You don't need to know who I once was to appreciate who I am now. My past doesn't matter. It's exactly what it is—the past. We've worked well together for ten years. Knowing my parents' names won't magically help us."

He stood up as the third prince laughed, amused by Awa's embarrassment. This happened nearly every time they sat around the fire.

"Good night."

***

They stood before the gate, geared up and ready. The third prince, at the helm of the group, bore a serious expression. He looked back, his gaze panning across his twelve royal guards and three 'fingers,' as he called them.

Seeing the determination in their eyes, he nodded and opened the gate, not needing Awa's help this time.

[Open!]

WHOOSH!

The grand black gates opened, releasing wild gusts of wind and atmospheric aether, along with a cloud of dust that engulfed them.

***

When the dust cleared, the interior was revealed: a simple yet grand hall, void of anything except three floating skulls with green flames in their eye sockets. Above, a white sphere illuminated the skulls with multicolored light.

HUM! PAH!

Instantly, they were forced to their knees, a terrifying aether pressure slamming into them.

"Argh…!"

They struggled to breathe as their dominion over aether was stripped away and their visions blurred. Amon, the least affected, felt his body go numb under the pressure, spitting out blood.

'This is just… its aether pressure…?'

After a certain level of power was attained, one could exert an aura called aether pressure, reflecting the amount of aether marks one had created and one's stage of power.

It was like planets and their gravitational pull—more exaggerated, affecting mind, body, and aether.

Amon had never experienced such a level of pressure, even when he first met the third prince. Now, in front of mere skulls, he felt more helpless than ever.

'Shit….'

Suddenly, the gates began to close, sucking them into the hall where the pressure was even more pronounced.

BANG!

The gates slammed shut, and torches lit by dark green flames appeared around the hall.

<Floor Zero of the Ruins has been cleared. Defeat Lich Pestilence to enter True Death.>

The three skulls began to move, rotating around each other as more aether gathered. Their shapes blurred until they crashed into each other and fused.

WHOOSH!

A wave of darkness erupted from the hall's floor, heading toward the newly formed black skull, covered in golden runes. The darkness solidified, forming a grand skeleton of dark flames upon which the black skull sat. Green flames lit the eye sockets, and the aether pressure increased tenfold.

"ARGHH!"

Amato screamed in pain, driven into the floor as if a planet had been dropped on him. His bones cracked, muscles tore, and organs squashed under the Lich's pressure. But in the next instant, the pressure vanished, and the Lich's gaze locked onto them.

"So you seek the legacy of his highness…" she spoke slowly, her voice feminine yet eerie, akin to a fusion of twelve demons' roars. "Are you worthy? To sit on the throne of life and death, wielding my father's legacy—are your shoulders broad enough to carry such a burden?"

From the ground, thousands of skeletons arose, and a scythe of golden fire formed in her hand.

"Are you worthy of the crown that once equaled the very gods?!"