Heretics of the Pit

'The heirrrr.'

'The final pieceeee.'

The voices of a thousand souls overlapped in Fayden's mind, he could barely make out the words themselves. He thought he could faintly hear his grandfather calling out to him.

'Awakennnn.'

"...ayden! Wake up brat!"

'Father!'

Yes, he could definitely hear them now. But as he became more aware of his surroundings so did he become aware of his body.

He felt the new power literally flow through his veins, he felt its dual aspects synchronising nigh perfectly with his nacht core. This was no coincidence. His eyes fluttered open.

Two pools of golden ichor in an endless sea of vast nothingness, it exceedingly faded to give rise to Fayden's true eyes.

He groaned, silencing the two voices calling for him, he was awake now they could stop. It then hit him like a truck where he was and why he had arrived there.

He jumped up in a swift motion, but the glint that called him earlier did not call him now. He realized he was in front of a pedestal.

He remembered seeing the sword, walking towards it in a trance and grabbing it before everything went black.

"I cannot be sure, but from where I stood, it looked like the sword merged with you." Virion answered his unasked question.

'It did, I can feel a foreign power through our bond.'

"If that's the case…" Fayden raised an arm, the gold and the black flashing through his veins and into his hand.

The sword was mostly black, the few parts which were gold seemed…regal almost. The gold made up the pommel and extended halfway through the handle. The crossguard was shaped in a similar manner with the gold projecting out on either side, though more on one than the other. A wreath of inky blackness flowed out of it, giving what would usually be a one-handed sword the look of a greatsword.

"It's surprisingly light." Fayden commented, swinging the blade around. An arc of crescent energy left its edge, the black laced with gold cutting through the hardened stone of the cave like butter.

"Yeah, let's not do that again." Virion ushered him out, seeing that he was fine now, and into the carriage. There was still one more thing to do before he could leave.

.

.

.

"What do you mean I have to take a companion?" Fayden protested even inside the carriage.

"It is to ease your parents' minds." Virion reasoned, he didn't like this himself.

"...didn't I literally stay in the wild for two years before this?" Fayden deadpanned, he had no need of a chaperone.

"Which is exactly why they are hesitant to let you leave again."

"...Touchè. But can I not just lie and go alone?"

Virion shook his head, "Trust me, they would know. Besides you've met her family, it won't be all bad."

Fayden slumped down, there was no more convincing his grandfather.

The Grephins, Fayden had met them purely on formality. It hadn't been long since he had been informed of the Lances, as a necessity he had met the two families with the most promising candidates.

Unfortunately the position of the Lances had been vacant for a while, both of them having died or suffered critical injuries in the Human-Elf war.

After all, who better to be the former prince's companion than a Lance candidate?

2 Years Later

Fayden Eralith POV :

High Silver. That was all the progress I had made with my core since my awakening all those years ago. The same as my current companion.

Aya Grephin was…shall we say an eccentric individual. For the lack of a better term one would describe her as the "Ara Ara Onee-san" trope that originated in the eastern half of the old world.

I would like to say I was completely immune to her shenanigans but she had the habit of surprising me every once in a while.

A few days back, I slipped while bathing in a stream. Aya, in all her wisdom, decided it was fit to barge in to check on me, naked as the day she was born.

I had of course Void Stepped behind a rock, tactfully hiding my…'little brother,' but I had a feeling she knew. I'm still a man okay?

…

Puberty is a bitch.

Of course, that didnt stop her from teasing me to oblivion about it.

"For the last time, you startled me."

"Oh? So you were thinking about someone before I went in?" She bent down, needlessly flashing her 'assets.'

"No." I refused to humour her.

"Just admit you were aro-"

A chunk of carriage-sized ice managed to shut her up.

"Do you need help sheathing that sword?" Her suggestive voice returned a dozenfold.

I paused, "You realize how that sounds right?"

"Do you?"

"....No."

"Was that a hint of hesitation?"

"Go away!"

"It's quite above average if that's what you're worried about."

I felt my face burn in embarrassment, "Out!"

Her cackles haunted me everytime I bathed after that.

.

.

.

Twelve years. That's how long it had been since I had awakened as a mage. It's also the amount of time it took for me to reach the high-silver core stage.

Even Aya, who had around the same amount of time as me, only reached the mid-silver stage. I took some pride in that.

In the two years of adventuring, we had conquered dozens of dungeons alone, some called us madmen for always going solo. Even Note, which was really Arthur in disguise, thought it to be absurd.

Oh well, they're not the ones with power rivaling a Lance candidate.

Speaking of Lance candidates, my companion had been especially quiet all morning. This either meant a series of well planned 'coincidences' which usually leads to me in precarious positions for her to tease about or something serious had happened.

"Fayden," she called, her voice having lost its usual seductive edge.

Ah, so it was the latter.

"Lemme guess, something's happened back in Zestier and they need you back?"

"Not exactly." She handed me the letter she had been reading. "It's more of a ceremony I need to attend."

"Ah," I breathed out, skimming through the contents of the letter, "do you remember what I told you about the artifacts?"

"That although they might be helpful now, they will only inhibit my progress in the long run?" She recited, still uncertain of my words. "I do not see why you're worried, the artifact will boost my core to the white stage, there's nothing to inhibit."

"That's what we think. Just because no one in history has gone beyond the white stage doesn't mean there's nothing after it."

'I believe there's a stage beyond white too.'

"And you believe I'll be the one to go beyond it when countless before me have failed."

I shrugged, "You have a lot of time to try. Besides, wouldn't you rather reach the pinnacle of your strength by your own self? After all, is it really you who reached the white core if you used an artifact to do so?"

Aya's protests died down after that.

"I'll…keep that in mind."

I nodded, "I'll see you during the ceremony then."

She shook her head, her predatory grin back on her face, "Try to control yourself while I'm gone~."

"I'm not the one who keeps making sexual innuendos around here." I yelled into the wind as Aya's form disappeared.

I could swear I heard her cackle one last time.

Zeke sighed, 'So, what's your plan this time?'

"Wha-?" I stopped mid sentence. "Sometimes I forget you can read my mind."

'Last time you got your ass beat on floor two.'

I rolled my eyes, "Just watch my back."

.

.

.

The Pit of Heresy felt a lot easier now—five years worth of progress tends to do that. The monsters which seemed like veteran adventurers earlier were nothing but D-Class fodder now.

'I for one am glad they didn't change the layout.'

"It's kinda hard to alter an entire cave system, Zeke. Especially one this intricate."

'Not if you're an earth mage.'

"You know I can't do that."

My earth magic had advanced from five years ago into something more usable, but if I were to alter the layout of this dungeon I would frankly collapse it with us in it.

'Eh, it won't be that bad.'

"I don't want to try."

We had already cleared floor three without much resistance; hell, I hadn't even gotten the chance to use my new sword.

But the next floor was where the imps got stronger, and I don't just mean physical strength. They became more organised, having lost their barbaric nature. They could take a lot more punishment and were a lot harder to hit.

A rock spike grew out of the ground in front of me as I began shaping it in the likeliness of a sword. Water circulated around it in high pressure. I grabbed the handle.

My body moved on its own, maneuvering out of the way of an imp's axe. My hand moved swiftly, separating the axe head from its shaft, and pierced the imp through its heart. Sneaky bastard.

Yanking his makeshift blade out of the imp, I continued forward. The layout of the floor had changed, it seemed only the first three floors held a similarity.

All that meant was that I'd get lost a few times before realizing the pattern of the floor, I moved on.

The next floor was where the fun really began. I could see the abundance of fire mana in the area, it meant one thing. There were magic users here.

And I was right, the imps in this floor were a lot more advanced. Leather armor gave them little protection, but it was a sign of intelligence. Their weapons had finally gone from bone to steel, and I couldn't say I liked it.

It only meant sharper blades, but the real threat was the magic. Some had their weapons coated in a thin layer of fire, and others conjured up fireballs and walls of fire. It seemed that even among monsters there were augmentors and conjurers.

The water around my blade started moving faster, my swings extinguishing their flames every time. And if I missed one, a wall of rock would rise, the flame charring the stone but failing to pierce through.

They came in phalanxes now, each group having conjurers at the back and augmentors forming a shield. They were eerily humanlike.

'This makes me wonder if we're in the right here. Are we just invading their realm and slaughtering their people?'

'It's better not to think about it Zeke.' I ducked under a spell, flicking my hand and bringing the ceiling down in a deadly rain of spikes. 'Maybe we are, but in the end they are just monsters and we're the hunters that cull these monsters.'

'It is not our duty to.'

'...Just watch my back okay?'

We cleared the rest of the floor without issue.

The imps changed fundamentally from then on. There were three main types, the large and bulky ones seemed to have exceptional physical strength, capable of grinding stone with their bare hands. The thin, almost lanky ones were fast enough to cross the sound barrier with ease, their attacks didn't hurt much, but they accumulated over time and they'd be sure to hit the exact same spot every time. The third was maybe the most dangerous kind. At a glance they looked normal, human even, but each had magic stronger than most yellow-core mages nowadays. They would spew out flames that melt even the walls of the dungeon, or thunder that pierced through my strongest defences.

It was a real pain to fight them, even with Zeke aiding me. I had to resort to using the first phase of my beast will to get through the floor.

I sighed deeply as I reached the stairway to the next floor, blissfully unaware of the twist it would bring, and I descended.