Chapter 46 – Floor 100 – The Worst Ending

"N- Nillvia?" Clico dropped to his knees.

"Clico?" Nillvia hugged Clico. Although her face was still unclear to fully make out, Clico knew it was her.

For decades, he dreamed of this moment. For Nillvia, Clico entered Hell. His one and only love was now in his arms. Clutching her tightly, Clico didn't want this moment to end. After everything, he now saw her in this illusion. Even if she wasn't real, she was close enough to touch, yet she was so far away.

"How touching." Lavilin laughed. The gigantic tower behind Lavilin was strange. Air crackled around them. Even the very space around the tower distorted.

"I'll see you at the top, my friend." Lavilin turned around and entered the tower. Protruding into the empty void, the tower was the only thing on Floor 100.

"Clico, let go, it's time." Nillvia whispered as tears came down here face. Once they climbed the last trial, the tower, they will have conquered the dungeon. Clico didn't hear her though and wouldn't let go.

"Come on, it's time." Nillvia whispered as more tears came down her face.

"Let go. Let go. It's time. It's time to face him." Nillvia kept saying over and over again. Clico just held her tighter as more and more tears came down their faces.

"Don't speak. Just a little longer." Clico whispered back. In silence, the two embraced each other for an unreasonable amount of time. Eventually, Clico let go of her.

"Is it really you?" Clico asked.

"Of course it is, stupid!" Nillvia frowned at him but then couldn't help but laugh. This was still the Clico she knew and loved.

"Then, come on, let's go." Clico grabbed her hand, and together, they walked into the tower side by side.

Inside the tower, it was strange. One singular staircase led up to the top along the inside of the walls. The tower itself was hollow, but a bright light shone at the top in the distance.

"There are no monsters?" Clico wondered out loud.

"Hmm, I think we just have to go up the stairs?" Nillvia questioned.

"Stay on guard." Clico whispered, and the duo walked up the steps while holding hands.

Hours passed as they climbed the tower. Soon, the light of the top emerged. Time felt as if it stood still as they entered the glass floor of the pinnacle of the tower.

"What is this?" Clico gasped, but it was too late. Before he could process the top of the tower, Lavilin made his move.

Falling to the ground, Nillvia fell onto the glass. Blood drained from her body at surprising speeds and the glass was stained red.

"No. No!" Clico yelled and held her.

"Don't. Give. Up." Nillvia grunted out, but that was all she could manage. She was already dead.

"Hmm, that's it? After all we've gone through?" Lavilin sighed. Behind Lavilin, a figure sat on a lonely throne at the apex of the dungeon.

It was the Ruler of Hell.

"A disappointment. All of you." The deep voice of the First Deathless said with a dark sadness.

With a wave of his hand, Lavilin fell to the ground as well. Blood dripped from his face.

In his last moments, Lavilin looked up at Clico with great effort. Smiling at Clico, Lavilin took his last breath, sending chills down Clico's spine.

"You are not the one promised to me by The Demon." The Authority said in disappointment. His dark, rich voice echoed into the void. Clico held the corpse of Nillvia quietly. The air here was too hard to breathe. In fact, the spatial distortions were so bad, Clico couldn't even tell what the pinnacle of the 100th Floor looked like. It was suffocating.

"No matter. I'm free now." The Ruler of Hell stood up in casual triumph. The legends were true:

When Lavilin reached the epitome of the dungeon, he conquered it, freeing the Authority from his entrapment. However, it made no sense. Clico hadn't felt any aura, nor a battle take place as he climbed the tower.

Laughing with great delight and madness, The First Deathless waved his hand one last time. Clico felt his body go limp to the ground. It was all over.

"A new era approaches." The dark and shrouded figure of the First Deathless walked past him casually yet regally.

Clico cursed his own weakness. There was nothing to gather in terms of information here. The tower itself was just a figure piece and not even the real trial as far as he could tell. Clico knew that facing the Authority was the real trial. Whatever Lavilin did before Clico arrived fulfilled the strange conditions of conquering Hell, but it was unclear what the motives of the First Deathless or even Lavilin were, for that matter.

Was Lavilin working for or against the First Deathless? Nothing made any sense as his consciousness faded.

***

Floor 3.

Clico awoke from the illusion.

"I'm alive?" Clico grabbed his body in surprise. Unlike his other deaths in the imaginary realm, this one felt real. This death was the worst one. After everything 21 showed him, losing Nillvia was his worst ending.

"Hey, prophet. I thought that if you died in the illusions, you died in real life." The High Priest, Vladimir, protested. From Clico's reaction alone, it was obvious he had died. Although he and Ziphe had already died multiple times, this was the first time either Clico or Ziphe were physically shaken. Vladimir was referring the Third Floor's rules, but his illusions worked differently.

Ziphe awoke at the same time as Clico and couldn't stop shaking. Uncontrollably, he fell to the ground and threw up. Tyermsy looked concerned.

"What happened to him?" She asked 21 in frustration.

"They saw a glimpse of the 100th Floor. The final Floor." 21 said mysteriously.

"Ziphe, are you okay?" Clico tried to help him up.

"How? How didn't you see it?" Ziphe's eyes were full of desperation. Whatever was shrouded at the top of the 100th Floor was something truly disturbing. Ziphe couldn't contain himself and looked at Clico like a monster. There was no way he didn't see!

"Clico's senses were being protected by the Authority. The Frist Deathless could tell at a glance that this Clico was not the real one supposed to be there." 21 explained.

"Why would he do that?" Ziphe kept hacking and throwing up out of sheer fear.

"Maybe he wants the real Clico to be there for real." 21 shrugged his shoulders cryptically. Even an illusionary Authority was that frightening. Ziphe didn't know how 21 simulated it, but what he saw on the final Floor exceeded his expectations.

"If that kid saw the truth, he would never be able to move past it." Ziphe weakly stood up. Knees shaking, Ziphe was visibly shaken to his very core. It was one thing to read about it in a prophetic book, but it was an entire thing altogether to see the truth of the dungeon firsthand.

21 ignored Ziphe.

"Clico, what do you think of the 100th Floor?" 21 asked emotionlessly.

"If Nillvia is there, I have to save her." Clico responded with determination.

"How selfish. After showing your comrades dying over and over again, you felt sad, but the true aura of desperation didn't come off of you until I showed your little girlfriend." 21 sighed, judging Clico's true motives with great scrutiny.

In the end, Clico cared more for his lover than his party. A selfish main character like this didn't deserve to conquer Hell. If only it were another…

"If only it were another, this would be more enjoyable." 21 sighed to himself.

"How beautiful." Tyermsy doted on Clico. She wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but the love Clico showed for his lover almost brought a tear to her eye. As a closeted romantic, Tyermsy secretly hoped someone would treat her like that one day.

"This is the end of my side trial. In a few moments, the rest of the party will have heard another brief speech from myself explaining how the Third-Floor works. Any last questions or remarks?" 21 asked the five lucid individuals. The Deities and Clico already knew about the Third Floor from prior conversations, so the explanation didn't really matter to them.

"Thank you for the entertainment, 21. I hope we can move past our past differences." The High Priest of the Void, Vladimir, said, referring to their scuffle regarding 21's Ranking of Heroes.

"Anytime, High Priest. Understand this: my ways are not conventional, and there may be more strange occurrences like this." 21 replied with a sadistic grin.

"I look forward to it." Vladimir laughed heartily. Anything that made the Deities like Ziphe and Tyermsy squirm like this was an interesting occurrence. As long as 21 didn't mess with him personally, he didn't blame 21 nor Ziphe for being too unprofessional in a crazy place like Hell.

"21, next time, just be straight forward with us. If you had explained what you wanted to do, you wouldn't have had to entrance the party. In fact, if you had just taken Clico and I aside, we would have both been willing to undergo your trial." Grand Councilman Ziphe lectured the prophet, who appeared uncomfortable.

"Yes, 21. There are times when being too unpredictable is unnecessary." Clico agreed. 21 was trying too hard to come off as unpredictable. His schemes and plots were sometimes sketchy and sometimes needed to be sprung suddenly to get his desired outcome, but other times, if he just showed better communication, his plans would go smoother.

"I'll take that into consideration. Sometimes, I get lost in my own plan." 21 admitted and apologized, bowing to them respectfully.

"Also, don't ever try to pull that kind of shit on me. I'll kill you where you stand." Tyermsy remarked with a glare.

21 shivered but quickly composed himself.

"I'll try to do the right thing." 21 looked back at Tyermsy with big eyes, not promising anything. Tyermsy couldn't believe his arrogance, but before she could speak, 21 waved the staff, and the scene returned to normal. 21 continued the imaginary speech as if nothing had happened.

"Congratulations everyone! We've made it to the Third Floor. According to the history from the previous expedition, the former Wizard King Locke saw visions of his dead daughter on the Third Floor. His party mates as well saw strange figures documented in the history book."

In the distance, a woman danced in the fog.

Clico realized that Eros had taken ahold of his true trial. Although he faced 21's version of the Third Floor, Eros still wanted to take him into a separate illusion.

In the distance, Nillvia danced in the fog.