The Return of the Abyss

I said my grievances to the night sky before my attention returned to the situation at hand, 'I'm in the middle of the jungle, outside of campus, with a high-status individual's dead body near me, not to mention someone who I can't dispose of easily knows about me and Pulchra's meeting... it's not an easy situation in the least.' I closed my eyes and entered deep thought.

I dwelled on this for about a minute, my mind racing passed every possibility in the blink of an eye. It was incredible to be able to finally think with a clear head again. With the combination of my scheming ability, my recent clarity, and the muscle power of this brain, I was able to come up with a solution that would not only get me out of the predicament but also allow for something much greater. But it was risky. I was banking on the fact that I haven't seen any evidence of investigation-type Fruits being used in the sect. Though, if they did have any of those, I would be screwed even if I didn't do anything.

I picked up the corpse on the ground, blood spilling onto me, and ran off in what looked like a random direction. The ground would absorb the blood, so I wasn't worried about that. I was only worried about making sure I found what I needed to find.

After running through the jungle for about 5 minutes, I came to a stop, 'It is here, that's good.'

In front of me was a boars nest. A giant one at that, probably containing around 150 boars, babies not included. I learned about this place while studying the surrounding flora, fauna, and geography, and it turned out to be useful.

I dropped Pulchra's corpse, picked up a rock, and threw it at one of the boars in the rear of the nest. The rock got its attention and it stared at me in anger before charging over. I observed its movements, noticing how it dodged every one of the numerous, and tall, yet skinny jungle trees. Just as it was about to charge right into me, I jumped over it. It was unable to stop its charge in time and ran right into a tree. The tree remained undamaged, but the boar didn't.

This would prove useful for the coming battle. While the boar was in its stupor, I threw a well-aimed punch on its spine, and thanks to the recent boosts in strength I got from working out and cultivating, I was able to break its neck. Even with the advantageous environment... fighting that many boars was still too dangerous. But I was on a time limit thanks to the watch guards that would be making their way through this area soon. It was a risk I had to take.

'In the end, they are just wild pigs and I have my Crossbow Bolt Fruit for emergencies... I should be fine.'

With that in mind, I ran into the boars' habitat with a powerful leap. I immediately ran into an unsuspecting boar, and, while it was off guard, killed it with a hit to the spine. The surrounding boars soon took notice of the intruder and rushed at me, but due to the multitude of trees in the area, they were unable to show the ferocity of their numbers. I would swerve myself through the trees, warding off any boars on my tail, and then kill the ones that stunned themselves.

If I did get caught in a pincer attack, I could just jump and they would stun each other, allowing for an easy kill. There was a time now and then when I would be caught in an unavoidable attack, 150 was a big number after all. But I had the Crossbow Bolt Fruit, an instant kill for these boars, so I was able to crawl myself out every time. It was only due to my lack of supply that I couldn't just drown them with bolts.

In about 20 minutes I was able to clear the settlement and proceeded to turn my attention to setting the stage. I carried the Genesis Essence leaking Pulchra into the center of the boars I had just massacred. I used my Crossbow Bolt Fruit and the Fruits that Pulchra gave me before to make fake killing blows on the boars so that it would look like we both struggled in a battle against them.

The next part was where the true danger was. I already made sure to tank some blows from the boars to look like I was hurt, but that wouldn't be enough. I took out the long boar fang that I used to dress up Pulchra's neck wound and stabbed myself with it.

Once in the calve, a shallow wound. Another hole in the thigh, getting a little deeper. But this was the kicker, A deep hole in my stomach. Deep enough to see some kind of organ on the inside.

Cough.

I coughed up blood, a result of my self-imposed injury. I could feel my fingernails grow cold, yet at the same time, my belly boiling. This was the familiar feeling of death. I turned to Pulchra who lay next to me and grabbed her hand.

'I hope this is convincing enough or else I might not wake back... up..." I slowly drifted to what seemed to be an eternal slumber as crimson blood pumped out of my stomach.

I lost consciousness while watching blood pool beneath me.

___________________________________________________________________________

The familiar feeling of a cushioned bed welcomed me as I woke up. I was just about to open my eyes by habit when I sensed multiple presences near me. With me out of my sleepy state of mind, I recalled the events that led up to me falling asleep and assessed the situation, 'This bed feels very similar to the one in the Medical Hall, so my plan must have worked. But it's even more important now that I follow that act with a convincing performance.'

I readied myself for the show, thankfully it would be the last one I needed to do in a long time. I quickly shot out of bed and entered a fighting stance before screaming, "Pulchra! Get down!" Just as I said these emotion-filled words, I suddenly looked around the room in a panic, "Wh-Where's Pulchra?!"

"You need to calm yourself Quis! You are in the Medical Hall right now, not in the jungle anymore." A familiar voice called out amidst my panic. It was this voice that seemed to wake me up and I took another look around the room. Surrounding me were two people: a Medical Hall intern, and Beulus.

I gulped nervously and asked Beulus with a shaky voice, my eyes screaming panic, "Hey, Beulus, where's Pulchra? I need to see her immediately, she's alright isn't she?" Beulus returned my question with a sad-filled sigh as he looked me in the eyes, "I will say this bluntly, not because I want you to hurt Quis, but because I am your friend." As he said this my pupils contracted in disbelief. Even though he hadn't said it yet, I understood well what he was going to say next, "Quis... Pulchra is... she's dead."

He braced himself, as if expecting an outburst to occur, but nothing of the sort happened. He opened his eyes in confusion, but when he saw my face, he understood why there wasn't an outburst. My mouth was slightly open and my arms were so loose, you would think they might fall off at any moment. But my eyes, oh, my eyes said it all. They were eyes of complete and utter despair. Eyes so devoid of hope you could even compare it to the abyss. An abyss one couldn't escape from.

I, without saying a word, walked toward the door leading out of the room. As I opened it and was about to leave, Beulus said with a clogged voice, "Before you go Quis, just know that the dean has requested your presence, and it would be best to not delay... Also... if you're feeling up to it, no, as my disciple I expect to see you tonight at the bar. So... come and have a drink with me, alright?"

I didn't look behind and instead continued to walk out of the building, not bothering to respond to Beulus.

I left the Medical Hall, also leaving Beulus behind. It was easy to fool him, but the dean might prove more difficult. I prepared myself for an intense interrogation and made my way to the Cultivation School, making sure to keep the act up even when I thought no one was acting. It would be pure stupidity to assume I couldn't be discovered just because it didn't look like anyone was near me.

I depressingly sighed as I contemplated how I would deal with Convir, 'I hope he doesn't have any investigation-type Fruits.'

___________________________________________________________________________

I slowly opened the double doors leading into the dean's office. As I walked into the room silently, the sight of Convir sitting behind a desk greeted me. The man had the same devious smile he always wore, though it was even more exaggerated because of the sunlight leaking from the window behind him. He point to the chair in front of him and motioned for me to sit down. Ignoring my want to look around the room more, I emotionlessly walked to the seat before sitting down. I didn't look at Convir, the table-top being more interesting to my eyes.

He tapped his fingers on the desk in a sophisticated manner and, without caring for my despondent attitude, said, "So, Quis. I heard you and Pulchra were caught up in quite a predicament the other night. Do you know what happened?"

I slowly nodded my head.

"Then please, tell me your side of the story."

I slowly shook my head.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed, "I figured this might happen... Listen, Quis, I honestly don't think you're to blame for this. But I still need your side of the story. Let me tell you something that I probably shouldn't. This sect doesn't have anyone with good investigation Fruits for this kind of work. Instead, we have to enlist the help of another sect for this type of work, the Fortune Nine Sect to be more specific. But for their help to be any good, we need more accounts. I have a suspicion that this incident wasn't coincidental and instead was a setup. So, for the sake of getting revenge for your lost love, please tell me your side of the story."

'I can't say no to that, my current character wouldn't allow it. This is the same as digging my own grave, but I have to if I don't want to be left dead on the surface instead.'

My eyes brighten just a little at Convir's words. I managed to scrap the words together and with a coarse voice said, "I-I was enacting a plan that I had set in motion since the morning of the incident...'

I told him everything. From Capcis' involvement at the beginning, all the way to when Pulchra confessed her love. Of course, the story shifted a little after that, "Right as she said those words, I could hear bushes rustling, which was strange as it was a windless night. It wasn't until after the boars charged at us that we found that the place where Pulchra planned to... confess to me, was right next to the aggressive boars' nest. As for after that..." I put my hand over my mouth as though the thought disgusted my very core, "I would rather not go into detail about that."

As I ended my story, so did the sound of ink being spread on paper. The dean looked at me, and without much care for my sob story said, "I thank you Quis. I will be keeping you informed on the matter with the Fortune Nine Sect, so stay tuned for that."

I had already reached the door and was about to leave when the dean said something that caught my attention, "It may be a bit insensitive, but it's still an important question. Quis, what do you plan to do now."

My body stopped moving, and I turned around to meet his eyes for the first time this meeting. You could tell just by looking at me the intensive thoughts going through my head, and the battle for supremacy between multiple new principles I could take. After a couple of seconds passed, my body stopped spasming as one philosophy took the crown.

My eyes closed as I accepted this new change, and they opened anew. They weren't depressed like they were earlier, instead, they were empty. Devoid of all besides the bottomless, abyss-like ocean color that they took on. These eyes threatened to suck in everything they saw and never let go. These eyes were the eyes, not of a broken man, but the eyes of a man who was so broken, nothing could get through any longer.

These eyes... were the eyes that belonged only to me.

It was with these eyes I stared deeply at Convir before calmly stating, "The answer to that is quite simple."

I paused, the intense dullness of my eyes increasing; causing the dean to show some semblance of uneasiness. And with the tense of absolute silence, I said:

"I will cultivate."