Enter The <Abyss>

It was like a dating jp game. Reylese was the teacher route, naturally due to the wide chasm between teacher and student, romance was difficult but not Impossible, he could rush it but he'd take the graduation route as it was safer with less variables. Like the Great God of Conquest, Kasturagi Keima, he'd have to play the game to a script.

Life flowed on, he was finally 12, a milestone at the very least, 13 was next, but for now the 12 year old him had done it. He'd mastered all forms of Ling Tai Chi to proficiency, mastering all forms separately would take decades, so the commonly sought route was to master the concept of hardness and softness while switching between forms at the right moment, and being able to perform the forms. In a way, there was no true master of tai chi.

If Tai chi was a stream, masters were droplets fused within and apprentices were unmoving pebbles, unqualified to join the force of nature, he'd gained the qualification to pursue true tai chi to step through the door as his teacher and his teacher's teacher.

"This is merely the beginning, I haven't finished my path, neither did my master, we are mere mortals and tai chi encompasses nature itself, I long for the day that a Ling Tai Chi practitioner truly grasps true Tai Chi. As that is something incomprehensible for me, my master before death called it, The True Balance."

"He was in an epiphany right before death, because of death, he saw a glimpse, perhaps I will as well. Sigh. Hahaha hahahahahha, I finally passed down the arts , it doesn't die with me, now I can finally rest"

The atmosphere changed- no it was, subtly changing for a while now, since a few days prior, like a shut slightly turning on the wide expanse of the sea, such a small gradual process of change.

Hm. Vicente was unperturbed at his accomplishments he was just doing it for fun but he accepted he was now a master of tai chi, his face underwent a great change upon slowly comprehending something from the old man's words.

Despite his recent mental freedom and hence laziness in the mental component- he still did his Tai Chi training- He'd become a creature of habit with no deviation in his life as of late. Nonetheless, years were wisdom, he understood a lot from mood and body language and his added time with the old coot.

"Geezer, you couldn't be....dying?"

"Hohoho, I knew you'd catch on, you were always sharp. A little too sharp and mature. Nonetheless, It's time for your graduation ceremony."

"?"

"(Inhales)...Fight me to the death with Tai Chi, This is the final lock to the door of Tai Chi which encompasses the living and the dead. This is your rite. This is the aggregate, the true, Ling Tai Chi of the Demon Forms. Use them to kill me."

His teacher grew serious, far from his usual nagging easy going self. Vicente grew silent, scenes of his tone with the old man all these years flashed. Becoming tears that trickled down his face, this was the first time he cried upon coming to this world.

"As you wish... Thank you, master"

The old man's eyes widened before smiling,

"I knew you'd understand. Refusing would be an insult to my life, to my masters life and all our predecessors. But you brat, it took me on my deathbed for you to call me master hahaha, this life was.... not bad."

"Let's begin , my worthy disciple"

"Yes, goodbye ...my irritating master"

'Am I cruel to just go along with it..... I've always been this sort of person sigh..... anime and such changed me, I now adore not the heroes but villains as they relate more to me. The normal thing to do would be to not listen to him due to my love, haaah, What the Hell, it's his last wish, I wasn't normal in the head to begin with'

'Time to give him a the twilight of ages, you cold cold sonufapeach.'

***********************

Vicente felt part of him disappear with his master. He'd jokingly told him how he wanted his body to be taken care of in a session years ago. It was only now, he realized that he wasn't just yapping off his mouth. He made the arrangements and got himself some wine to wash away even just a bit, of the sorrow birthed within his heart.

He wondered if this was really a heaven, but having such a person in his life despite them leaving, was truly.... heaven. He wanted to be embraced as he embraced someone right now, he thought of Elizabeth but Reylese was who he went to in the end. She'd followed him, joked with him, lived with him.... all these years.

With his new found value of Time, he wanted to enjoy his 'time' even more now. He called Figh who was surprisingly crying as well, his own tears had yet to stop as well.

He tapped on the big guy.

"You're sad too huh. But he's gone now. We can only honour his memory by moving forward. "

He took a deep breath.

"Let's go"

Unlike the usual, he didn't jump on Figh but ran himself, he ran as fast as his could carry him, to his room in the hotel, but he was at a precipice in the wild now, his jet was naturally near by but he just wanted to run, to run all the back on foot. Naturally, that was impractical so a few hours later when his feelings stilled, he called his pilot who picked him up a few miles away.

Looking at the sun, his years seemed to play out in it's radiant rainbow ring. He returned home with heavy footsteps.

"Reylese. Reylese. Victoria!"

He called and called but silence was all that answered. He scoured the entire room before noticing the hotel was empty.

It couldn't be.

An uncomfortable thought crossed his mind, it wasn't death but....

He reviewed the entire hotels cameras as well as his suites.

"..."

"It's as I thought "

They vanished. Reylese, the hotels staff, everyone in the building, just vanished like air on the cameras. The mass disappearance plaguing this world arrived in his absence. Loneliness plagued his heart, First the geezer, now her. His heart fell full. He Sat in silence for the rest of the day and night.

He left to Greenwalk but upon entering, It was quiet, top quiet like his return to the hotel he ran to her house and checked the others as well but the entire Greenwalk community vanished. It occurred to him that Elizabeth and Even Reylese could've been away like him, but..... Reylese would never leave the hotel, without saying anything, she always said," I'll await your return bocchama".

Each and Every time, without failure. His heart sank again from his fleeting hope. There was a chance for Elizabeth but she was confirmed to be home from her teachers, the police and her other friends who lived outside the community, he'd met them a few times in the past apart from Paul, Cedric, Monique and them.

His heart felt even more full. He didn't know it was possible but here he was. He didn't scream. His tears stopped. He didn't take it out on a wall , he didn't run, he just sat for days with the occasional reminder of hunger, as he stared out at nature.

They weren't dead. That possibility was strong as this phenomenon occurred worldwide and continued, he didn't want to believe that they were randomly erased from existence so he believed they were somewhere. If this continued, he might meet them again.

He clenched his fist tightly, All he could do was prepare, prepare for the unknown. But it's not like there was not a single clue.

"Figh let's go"

"Figh"

He grunted his name in reply. They reviewed the news coverage, documentaries and camera footage.

Only their person and nothing else disappeared, people holding cups and such left the cups but carried the clothes they wore, it was likely that was the same in all instances, he could only prepare his body. Perhaps, earrings, spectacles and bio chips were allowed? If so, he had a plan.

The Ricteck Foundation, a company in this world in charge of identity chips, a genius scientist in their charge created the 'future' option on the chips inserting in the body. Naturally, unlike sci fi movies, everyone didn't have it, people were wary of putting a chip in their body, who could blame them.

The scientist created a way to imprint all the memories you had onto your chip, with additional info if necessary. The Bio mem machine was in charge of scanning your brain to output the info, sadly we weren't that future forward in this early going on mid 21st century, the machine couldn't read memories at all.

It only allowed you to document your own chosen selected memories in both writing an view. View wise meant you could see them again by thinking about it but this was only possible three times with current serum and technology, it wasn't even that vivid, the writing function was time consuming and tedious as well.

The machine didn't do all the work, you did. You had to actively think about what you wanted to remember, and it was like the early stage computer, huge, big as a room. Perhaps like a computer it'd evolve into a smaller version someday.

Nonetheless, Vicente used this function to code a glasses that was entirely composed of storing and displaying chosen info, he forgoed the View and stuck with write only, storing all the info he remembered from his previous world and this world, with a few added technical info. He integrated the new brontobyte chip.

Which was too big for a phone or laptop, he poured millions into getting it into a suitable state to use as a eye spectacle, the entire frame was a chip, it was modeled such, with a coating to protect the data and material themselves.

A fourth of his wealth, it didn't even faze him.

If his conjectures were right, his money here couldn't affect him wherever he ended up after disappearing. Spending more was good.

Only his body and person had any real value when he vanished. So he begun a set of even more rigorous training as his glasses and to be implanted bio chip was prepared. He went to Japan to learn Kendo while simultaneously practicing his Tai Chi.

***********************

Some days prior.

At the hotel.

Reylese sighed while watching the clouds. Her life now was peaceful but there was a part of her that wanted more each time she looked at her young lord. He'd grown up to become a devilishly handsome young man.

His beautifully sculpted hair curled chaotically on his head and a bit of his face. His amber eyes enchanted all who looked within them and his temperament slowly changed from that of an little adult to that of a laid back wise and rich tycoon. He changed so much so fast and he was almost taller than her now!

Slap. Her cheeks bounced.

"What am I doing, time to work, work"

After slapping her self she cleaned the already clean suite. But suddenly her world went dark.

Her senses went into a disarray from the sudden change in the environment. Shouts echoed from the surroundings.

"Where is this?"

"What the Hell, who's playing a prank!"

"I have work tonight Damn it!"

She was surrounded, no she was among a big group of people consisting of about 100 persons, who were in frightened and caught off guard by the sudden situation as was she. They were familiar to her as they too were from the hotel, the workers and some residents.

The surroundings looked like something out of an apocalypse movie, they were in familiar yet unfamiliar surroundings. The hotel was right there but it was covered in cracks and large vines. So was the road and everything else.

A small figure ripped open the void and appeared, spreading a still aura which calmed the crowd. It was then, that her whole world turned up side down.

A bored God who loved watching bloody battles the most created a new world to get rid of his boredom .

Fight and kill, a reward will be given .

If you are lazy, you will die .

The god named the bizarre world <Abyss> and started to slowly pour in the life forms he created .

<Otherworld>

A mid-way area that was created as the Abyss devours the other dimension .

The terrain and buildings were like reality but the contents weren't .

This place had many beasts that roamed around due to the influence of the Abyss and there were people with powers who've came here before them that roamed around .

And this was where Victoria Reylese was at now.

Something fell from the sky.

The palm-sized fairy looked around at the surrounding people and said with a sweet voice.

"Hello everyone. I'm a helper here to help you get a quick progress.

As the fairy appeared and a weird aura spread out, the seemingly uncontrollable situation slowly died down.

The fairy was a very eye catching existence even in this abnormal place.

The smiling fairy looked around as the surroundings quieted down and opened its mouth.

"Firstly, I welcome your entrance to the Otherworld. You've now all been granted a wonderful chance."

"Wait. Wait. What do you mean? What's the Otherworld?"

The fairy stared at the student who threw the question for a while then it ignored him as it continued its story.

"In this place you are all granted infinite freedom. No matter what you do there is nobody to punish you. All the rules you've been following do not exist here."

"…"

"And that's not all. We can't call that a chance by itself. You all now don't have any physical limits of the past."

"What…?"

"You all can now become infinitely strong depending on what you do. Like a hero from a movie."

As the fairy looked at the confused people, its smile didn't disappear as it opened its mouth again.

"I will show you a quick demonstration. Since I came to hasten the progress."

The fairy pointed its finger at the student who talked to it first.

And then from the feeble and delicate fingers, a light beam came out and penetrated the guy's heart.

Puuuk

"Gu…puuuk."

"I don't like people who talk a lot."

And at that moment everyone realized.

That the new environment was not entirely favorable towards them.

"uuuuhp...ahhk… uhphup."

"Very good. Shall we continue?"

And then the fairy flew towards the guy's corpse.

And then something weird happened.

Above the guy's body, a translucent and shining symbol the size of a hand appeared.

The fairy grabbed the symbol and spoke.

"This is a <Rune>. Every living organism or anything else, if you kill it it will come out like this. Though what comes out is random."

The fairy, who said something frightening as if it was nothing, looked around as it continued its speech.

"Let's see. This improves the strength of one's muscles. Who… should I give this to?"

~~~~~~~~~

The demonic fairy killed soon after its appearance and forced them in the same space as some ugly green things.

The fairy told them that they could surpass their previous limits if they fought and gained runes, she wasn't quite believing but no matter how she pinched herself she didn't wake up. So she had no choice but to believe. Her only goal now was to pass this trial of their so she could return to her young lord.

Victoria was yet to be aware of the fact that, this was merely the beginning, of Hell.

She touched her ear, to view her stats.

[Victoria Reylese]

Strength: 8

Stamina: 8

She had no idea what the numbers signified in the truest sense like what '1' was. All she knew is that she must survive. Survive until the very end. She clenched her dagger and dashed toward the ugly green things.

Jeeeeekk!

Kueeeeeee!

Agawkkkk!

She fiercely clashed with them. Those behind we're hesitant but the goblins forced their hand anyway.

The fight ended after a while, with 100 versus 200, 68 survived. 50 escaped, and the remaining 50 fought against the 200 goblins. Including her there were 18 survivors.

She touched her ear after sitting down to catch, her breath, her lithe and graceful but sexy body was covered in cuts and bruises. There was even a big gash on her back from a goblins sneak attack but thankfully it wasn't too deep.

[Victoria Reylese]

Strength: 10

Stamina: 10

Perception: 10.1

Agility: 10.2

If a human was 1 rune. The a goblin was 0.1 rune. You had to kill ten to gain one full rune in a goblins case anyway perhaps other types were different like their own race but for her a goblin only gave a fixed 0.1. And that was exactly what she did. Did 18 people kill 200 goblins and gain 20 runes? No they didn't 50 people fought and killed goblins. Goblins killed them.

Survivors took the runes of those killed by goblins and generally got 1 rune. Some of which were also killed and dropped a rune which benefited someone else, a vicious cycle of plunder.

In the rush of battle, which was like a drug, they got caught up in the awesome power being provided by the runes they plundered from their foes and they got greedy seeing runes just lying on a corpse and felt their bodies automatically move.

Victoria was also a profiteer of such actions. She knew that she couldn't act saintly, nor was she in the first place. She had prior experience in such a strained environment and had the mindset of one who lived in such a situation, she dug it out from the locked box as she knew what must be done to see him again.

She had a cold icy unforgiving heart. And she was ruthless to the bone. Her true nature was locked in a box when the late madam's generosity saved her from the street, the persona cultivated to survive the streets went into slumber. The box was further nailed shut when the young lord was born. His beauty washed away all her sins but now, this place and shattered that box.

And the woman she once was became the person she is. She even personally killed a man who attempted to Rob her runes and took his runes with the dead man killed by goblins.

The injuries

Victoria coldly gazed at the fairy who had reappeared.

"Oh. The grades not all that bad here, a few fought and survived, hehe, time to kickstart this game, Are you all ready"

She cutely chuckled as she watched them gnash their teeth at her in anger.