[39]

Maria frowned.

"It was my prey first!" A voice proclaimed, squirming with slight anger.

"Well then, maybe don't let it enter my area when I sleep next time and I maybe won't kill it so easily?" Another voice spoke out in an irritated and bored tone, as if wishing to shoo off the fly that was bugging him.

"What...who in the heck asked you to kill it huh!?! Didn't I say I needed no help and could handle it?!?" The first voice resounded once more...

Maria, although knowing the irritated voice was definitely male, could neither figure if this angered persona was male or female.

Along with Ais, she walked towards the edge of the cliff they had came across, coming closer to the source of such voices.

Finally, when she looked down to see the scene before her, her frown seemed to deepen slightly.

'The heck?' Was her first thought.

On one side; An average height individual that lacked any show of actual muscularity. He wore on him a dull and dirtied yellow shirt and blackened dirtied brown pants. On his neck was a type of black scarf that reached down to his chest and his back, and on his hands were fingerless blackened gloves that revealed his thinnish fingers. His long, soft, golden hair falling to his hips helping highlight his pale, light, skin tone. His expression one of nonchalance as if the world was endlessly boring before his pale azure eyes.

[Name: Endor Stelve

Strength: B

Speed: A

Mana: A

Skills: Explosion (A), Emperor's Will (Rising)

Overall: S]

[Explosion: With this Skill, one gains the ability to create explosions using your mana. Power of explosions is proportional to mana poured within and rank of mana.

Auxiliary: <Steel Skin>; your skin is as hard as steel, nothing can pierce through it without the command of mana. Only those who's mana rank are greater than your own can break through.]

[Emperor's Will: The words of an emperor is law. With your speech, based on the will of a person, you can force them to bend to your command.]

On the other side, two figures.

One; A lankly average height individual, leanly fit, and wearing an attire of all black: black cotton pants, black fingerless gloves, black shoes, black cloak. Save for his silver chest piece. He had a head of lusciously flowing black hair that reached towards his hips just the same as the last figure, a light skin tone, and dark purple eyes.

However, what was odd about this figure was his looks...

Maria furrowed her brows, she couldn't really tell if 'he' was indeed a he.

[Name: Alexis Greenhart

Strength: B

Speed: A+

Mana: B

Skills: Swordsmanship (???), Magic Blade Manifestation (U)

Overall: S]

[Magic Blade Manifestation: Within you lies a land covered in swords. With but a call, you may call upon these blades as you wish. With but a thought, you may enter into that realm as you wish, and drag a person's who's eyesight has locked with yours with you for even the briefest moments.]

"Even 'his' name could pertain to either boy or girl..." She couldn't help but mutter.

Shaking her head, she turned to glean at the figure behind that 'boy'.

A short stature, lean, and thin. Sapphire blue eyes that matched with her flowing honey blond hair that reached to the midpoint of her back.

A girl simply naturally floating atop an azure pillow, soundlessly and mindlessly asleep even to the disturbance of the other two...

Perfectly normal.

"Wait, what??" She asked herself.

"No no no no, that's not normal at all."

Maria squinted her golden laced eyes.

[Name: Isabella Pomme de Terre

Strength: F

Speed: F

Mana: F

Skills: Potato Touch (Rising), Float (S)

Overall: D]

[Potato Touch: Anything you come into contact with can be forced into a dreary and sleepy state.]

[Float: The ability to make yourself and anything in contact with you float.]

"My god..." She couldn't believe her eyes.

The skills of that girl!!!

'Both useless and powerful at the same time.' She lamented.

A sigh escaped her lips and she finally turned to see what the two 'boys' had been arguing about.

Behind them...was the visage of what appeared to be a green scaled bipedal lizard laying asleep. However, this lizard was big beyond reasoning and it obviously was not 'sleeping' but rather dead as could be.

"I brought it here! It should be fing mine!" Alexis spoke, stamping his or her foot onto the ground.

"I don't care though?" Endor simply tilted his head.

"I killed it, so it should naturally belong to me." He ended with a nodded grin.

Alexis gritted his/her teeth, "I am not leaving that prized beast."

"Oh?" Endor spoke.

"You want to fight against me?"

Alexis shook his/her head as a weapon gleamed onto his/her right hand...you know what let's just call him a he from now on, everyone already figured out he's a trap by now I hope...A blackened blade, straight and ending in a cross like handle. The entirety of the weapon seemed to have been made from the same metal, even the handle itself.

"A duel, the person that loses gives up the beast." He held his blade before him, sideways, as he spoke.

"Hmm," Endor thought briefly.

"Sure, seems fair." He finally shrugged.

The next moment, his expression changed into one of complete emotionlessness. Unlike Ais who seemed to be broken into this state, his seemed inborn.

Alexis's expression stiffened as a bad premonition welled from his depths.

'Shiet, Shiet, what have I gotten into!?!'

Within those eyes that looked at him, he saw the figure of someone towering over him.

Only a single word escaped Endor's lips as he looked into the gleaming purple eyes of Alexis.

"Kneel."

Alexis felt his body moving on its own. As if brought forth by something clearly greater than he himself.

"Ugh." His body moved to kneel on its own, his head rising to look up as he inched closer towards the ground.

Staring into the azure eyes of Endor, it seemed to him as if a giant figure was looking down upon him and stepping onto him with power far greater than himself.

His body followed in a natural descent...

However...

"Never!"

His legs shuddered to keep himself from fully kneeling.

"I do not lose without even so much as swinging my blade!!"

His right hand quivered with his weapon, grasping its might tighter in a dead grip.

"Or my name isn't Alexis!"

Endor frowned...

"Your will is quite strong indeed," He grinned.

"But are you sure you won't lose without swinging your blade?"

Endor grasped the boy's head.

"Huh..." Alex was bewildered for a moment.

Endor tapped his leg.

Boom

A small explosion boomed beneath Alexis's feet and he couldn't help but look down...

"..."

The ground crumbled as Alexis found himself fall within.

Alex's first words...

"Hot hot hot hot!!"

"Let me out, please!!!" His expression looked like he would cry at any moment as he continued to squirm about within the earth.

And for a good reason too.

This was the 2nd floor of ASTO's Dungeon, it was extremely hot underground and was definitely not a place anyone should stay within for long.

At that moment...

The eyes of the floating girl opened to reveal pure crystal clear eyes. She lightly shifted about on the massive pillow the size of her body before finally yawning to hug the pillow as she floated straightly.

"Huh?"

"Alex...why are you in the ground?" She tilted her head as she looked down at the boy before her, blinking her large eyes.

"Pomme!" Alexis expression brightened at the figure finally awakening.

However, it dimmed momentarily after, "I woke you up didn't I..."

He realized what he had done.

"Hmm?" Pomme looked puzzled.

"Ah," She finally understood and smiled brightly.

"No, it's alright." A yawn escaped her lips, "Being awake once in a while is good too."

"Oh?" Endor took a slight interest in the floating girl before him.

"Little loli, is he your guardian?" He pointed towards Alexis.

"..." Alex

"..." Maria

[...] Mar

"..." Ais

"Yo...yo...you..." Pomme stumbled in words.

"You?" Endor asked.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!"

There seemed to be the low visage of the girl's body giving off a radiant light...

"Hmm?" Endor tilted his head lightly.

And, without knowing fully why, all the current occupants of the area felt as if it would be a danger to them all if she was ticked off.

"Pomme! Pomme! Calm down!" Alexis quickly yelled to quall her

He was the only one knowing the true nature of the girl and he was definitely not in a bid to watch her simply release the Soul Lock she had placed onto herself. If she were to do so...

Gulp

He couldn't help but shiver at that thought.

Thankfully, or rather maybe due to tiredness, Isabella Pomme de merely yawned lightly, a burst of white light wistfully escaping her lips for a splitting moment.

"Okay Alex," She gently floated over to the boy still stuck at the ground and placed her hand onto his head.

"You should get out now, right?" She lightly patted him twice.

Without a word, Alexis began his ascended float as his body naturally escaped the hole he had been crumbled into.

Maria watched all this antics in thought,

'It seems this girl isn't quite as simple as she looks.'

[Mhmm, she seems to have a Soul Lock placed onto her by her own will just the same as your guard there.]

'Huh?'

[In due time.]

'...' Maria frowned.

"..." Ais stood stoically silent.

Watching as Alex fully landed onto the ground, Pomme nodded in a low yawn and spoke.

"I will go back to sleep then."

She waited for no one as her eyes closed and she collapsed onto that pillow once more. And thus, she began her floating dream. She was atop the clouds, angelic wings escaping from her back as she watched the world in only slight interest—nothing more.

A smile placed onto her face as mummer escaped her lips, "Home."

Alexis watched this action of hers and smiled wearily. Finally, he turned towards Endor and coughed.

The sword in his hand disappeared as he momentarily and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, his long hair flurrying as his facial expression looked somewhat shy.

'...why does he remind me of a girl so much...' Endor thought.

Alexis finally bowed.

"You have won this duel."

He stood back up, smiling lightly.

"As per the terms, I will forfeit the right to the beast."

However, Endor simply smacked his lips in slight annoyance.

"Whatever, I guess I will get going then." He spun around.

"Maybe something within that darkness over there can capture my interest."

His hand placed behind his head as he began to walk...towards the area of eternal darkness that stuck out as if a sore thumb within the massive flaming 3rd floor of ASTO'S Dungeon. Even darker and eerier than the already darkened night, as if specifically carved out as such.

Alexis was momentarily dumbfounded.

"Don't you want it anymore!?!" He yelled out.

His only reply was a light shrug from the boy, who continued on much the same.

In the end, he simply shook his, head.

'That guy's one odd fellow.' He briefly thought before walking towards the giant corpse of the beast.

"<Ingris>." He called upon the name of his blade once more.

His mana revolved and entered into the weapon.

Zhich

Instantly, an azure aura coated the full blade in its might s it shown beautifully under the night sky.

His hand moved,

Two diagonal slashes flew.

"There." He sighed in relief.

His weapon disappeared as he looked towards the cross like wedge he had made within the skull of the beast, directly cutting through as if it were butter and crimson blood silently dripping out.

Finally,

Crunch

His hand directly broke through the weakened skull and came back out with a green demonic orb in toll.

"Hey." Suddenly, a voice caught his attention.

"Who!?" He swerved around.

"Wha-."

He couldn't help but look up towards that voice to see the figure of Maria and Ais floating down the cliff they had been situated within.

'Oh god, do I have to take care of two extra floaters now too?' He hurriedly thought.

The two silently jumped down the golden blades they stood upon, landing soundlessly against the floor as those mana blades turned back into mana.

"My name is Maria." Maria introduced right away.

"Ais." Ais simply nodded.

"Huh..." Alex thought a bit as the orb within his hand flashed away.

"My name is Alexis, please call me Alex, and this person floating behind me is my mast--ahem, just call her Isabella or Pomme." He smiled.

"Mhmm, Alex it is...and..." Maria's eyes traced over to the figure of the sleeping girl that seemed to always float just behind the boy, never leaving him for a moment.

"Pomme." She nodded.

Noticing her eyes, Alexis coughed lightly, "So...why did you introduce yourselves?"

"Oh, we just want a little information," Maria responded.

"LIke?"

"What's that area over there. You know, the one your friend went towards." Maria pointed sideways.

"Hmm..." Alex followed the direction.

An area of unending darkness where even the light of flames was completely cut off. The figure of Endor that had disappeared just moments ago was nowhere to be seen, seeming to have already blended in with that darkened abyss of a section. From where they stood, there was only a short, low, rocky plain to reaching it.

'If anything is going to house something as great as the Fire Temple, that area looks just about right.' This was the basic thinking of Maria Springfield.

"The Eternal Land of Frozen Shadows." The boy finally spoke up.

"A land of darkness and shadows as its name implies...a land of frigidness and iciness within the fiery blazing hell of this floor. There is a thought that a beast had caused the land to become like that...but..no one really knows. However, what is true is that the frozen lands did not originally exist within the 3rd floor of the dungeon and was only discovered about three months ago."

'Hmm, it does indeed sound like a place where something special would be.'

"Is it always in the same spot?" She raised a brow.

"No, nothing in this dungeon ever remains in the same spot for long. At the beginning of the 1st of every month, the entire dungeon layout always changes never having two of the same layout...ever. One day, you will simply find yourself walking within, and the next thing you know, your entire terrain has changed. This, is also the o key reason no maps of the dungeon are ever truly made...after all which has time to waste remapping every floor each month? Especially when each floor is as large as three countries piled upon each other?" Alex shook his head.

"Say...are you heading there right now?" He questioned back this time, raising his own brow.

"Maybe...we're not too sure just yet..." Maria replied.

"Hmm..." Alex looked at the two in silence.

"Wanna go with me?"

***

It was frigid.

Crunch

"Why the heck is it so goddamn cold..." The complaint of the trap rang, gritting his teeth, as his foot crunched against the snow below.

Well, at least what he assumed to be snow. After all, he couldn't so much as see to the ground, all he could see was just an inch or two before himself. Yet, even so, somehow, that sleeping figure of Pomme simply floated right behind him--god knows how she could keep up.

"Hmm?" Maria looked around and seemed to realize a point.

"What coldness??" She felt no such thing as 'coldness' per say.

Sure, it was definitely a bit 'cold' currently, but, to her, it felt like something even a child could handle? To her, who held a frown, the only true trouble was the current darkness that gave no visage towards anything.

"The heck?" Alex looked behind him, his entire body shivering as he continuously rubbed his hands to his sides.

"Don't tell me you two aren't cold one bit??" Although he could only make out a vague outline of their figure even when they were just a step away from him, he still managed to ask.

Maria merely shrugged. Her Radiant Armor glittering lightly even amidst the eternal darkness.

Ais spoke, "It's all within the mind."

She had experienced much more than simply the 'cold'.

"I CALL BULLSH*T!!!" Alex cursed as he took a forceful step forwards.

"..."

His leg found nothing to land upon.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"

He began a descent amidst the darkness.

And Pomme's figure floated right down, following him, after a low squirm of a mummer.

"..."

"..."

Maria and Ais stood speechless upon the narrow raven they had stopped upon.

A gaping abyss, even blacker than the already dark surroundings, swallowed their two companions whole.