Ruins (Part 4) - Breaking Point

"In the face of overwhelming darkness, it is our inner light that becomes our most powerful weapon."

(With Eva and Nect...)

Eva and Nect walked side by side, their clothes drenched in blood of the monsters they had slaughtered.

The only sound resounding in the empty hallways was the quiet footsteps of the girls, echoing off the stone walls.

Their breaths were steady, their eyes filled with determination.

The air was thick with a pungent smell of blood, shadows moving around screaming of danger.

"We need to get out," Eva whispered, her voice cautious as she scanned the incoming corridor.

Nect nodded in agreement, her senses heightening as she stared towards the hallway, which seemed unnatural to her.

Suddenly, a low growl echoed through the hallway, reverberating in the silence within the stone walls.

Eva and Nect came to a stop, their senses on high alert, their eyes scanning their environment.

From the darkness emerged humanoid creatures, their skin pale and grey, their eyes glowing with a malicious and bloodthirsty light.

These were called ghouls, they were experimented on my the ones who lived in these ruins and were turned to this monstrosity.

Their claws clicked on the floor as the stammered closer, their teeth clattering against each other.

The girls readied themselves for battle, getting into practiced stances.

One ghoul launched at Eva, it's claws aimed at her throat.

She sidestepped and slashed its neck, the ice cutting clean through its flesh, a squishy sound emanating as the slash cut into its body.

As the ghoul fell, another one took its place.

Eva, not expecting this, was unable to defend herself in time, the ghoul swiping its claws at her legs, pulling one out from the knee.

Eva stumbled and fell onto the ground, her expression pained. "Nect, I–" she managed to say, before she fell flat on the ground, unconscious due to blood loss.

Nect was panicked, her breathing heavy as she realized that both hers and Eva's safety was in her own hands now.

She didn't have any weapon, so she put up her fists, standing between the ghouls and Eva.

Hesitation passed through the minds of the ghouls, their instincts noticing the amount of mana Nect possessed.

But, their bloodlust overshadowed this threat. They rushed towards Nect, their claws ready to pierce into her flesh.

Nect danced through the flurry of ghouls, killing them using her strongest blows.

Even though she had practiced quite a bit with Sukuna, she lacked practical experience.

Since she had never been in a real battle of life and death, panic was getting into her head, her movements becoming clumsy.

The ghouls were overwhelming in number, no matter how many she killed, they just seemed to keep coming.

One ghoul managed to swipe at her arm, creating a deep wound which started to bleed profusely.

The pain shot through her, tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

"Why always me?" She muttered, her voice weak, as multiple ghouls jumped towards her at the same time.

Something snapped in her mind as memories of her past began to replay themselves.

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"Nect, get me some water," a harsh voice commanded.

Nect, a small girl with fearful eyes, wearing nothing but a tattered dress, hurried to obey, bringing a cup of water to her father, who took it without a word of thanks.

Nect's parent's were unloving and cruel, treating her more like a servant than a child.

Nect, in her childhood days, was good at nothing, finding it difficult to understand even elementary concepts.

Her mana hadn't awakened yet, if it had, then there was no doubt that her parents would treat her like a fairy.

She was forced to do all the chores, enduring constant verbal and physical abuse, while her parents sat drinking all day.

"You're worthless, I wish you hadn't been born," her mother would often say, her voice dripping with contempt.

These words would scar her heart deeply, and she would cry in the corner for hours every day.

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"You think we can eat on these?" Nect's mother shouted as she threw the poorly washed plate away.

She pulled Nect towards herself, picking her up by the hair.

She extended her hand to the side, her expression one of pure anger.

She swiped her hand, the air whooshing as her palm connected with her cheek, the loud sound of a slap echoing in the house.

The sound of soft sobs came out from Nect's mouth as she fell onto the floor, the carpet getting wet by her tears.

She did the rest of the chores that day in tears, stifling her sobs.

That evening, her father came in with a sinister-looking man, his eyes glinting with a malicious light.

They spoke in hushed tone, the man glancing at Nect from time to time.

A chill ran down her spine, sensing that something terrible was about to happen.

"Nect, come here," her father called. She obeyed, her heart pounding in her chest.

The man grabbed her arm roughly, examining her as if she were a piece of livestock. "She'll do," he said with a twisted smile.

Before she knew it, she was being dragged away, sold to the man for a handful of money. Her parents didn't even look at her as she was taken, their expressions indifferent.

She was dragged into a dark facility, the thick smell of chemicals flowing in the air.

As she was dragged into a little room, her ears were filled with pained cries of children, as if they were going through the worst torture of their lives.

The man pushed her into a small room and into the bed, the man getting dangerously close as he held a sharp injection in his hands.

"No, please!" Nect screamed, trying to get out of his hold, her voice filled with desperation.

But, the man's grip was too strong, she had no ability to resist.

"Stop making a commotion," the man's deep and commanding voice reached her ears, which immediately made her stop resisting.

She felt that if she didn't obey, she would be killed right there and then.

The man put the injection into her arm, pouring a liquid into her body.

A piercing pain shot through Nect, her mouth opening to let out the loudest scream she could muster.

"AAAAAAAHHH!" The scream was filled with endless pain, she felt as if she was being crushed by tons of force.

The man's expression was indifferent as he walked out the door, locking it from the outside.

Nect's body convulsed on the floor, her screams of agony slowly subsiding.

After a few minutes of overwhelming pain, she passed out, her body laying unmoving on the dirty floor.

.

In the present, Nect's eyes shot open, she remembered the pain she had gone through in those years.

The friends she had made had all died, she had no one to rely on, but then came Sukuna, like a savior.

He could not shame his teachings by dying here.

"HAAAA!"

With a loud battle cry, she condensed her mana into her hand.

The mana concentration kept rising, a humming sound emanating from the top of her palm.

Until, the mana liquified, creating a drop of pure white liquid floating on top of her palm.

Mana liquification was a process that required immense energy and a huge amount of mana to do using extremely complicated machines.

But, Nect was able to physically do this due to her immense quantity of mana as well as due to her awakening.

The drop of mana divided into smaller droplets, each going towards a ghoul.

As soon as the droplet touched the bodies of the ghouls, they exploded into a massive quantity of mana, burning the monsters alive.

Loud shrieks filled the hallway as the ghouls were being burned alive.

Nect didn't let her guard down, and continued to manipulate the liquified mana, killing ghouls left and right.

As the last ghoul dropped to the ground, joining the corpses of its kin, Nect felt a surge of triumph, a smile gracing her face.

She slowly walked towards Eva, her body weak due to exertion.

Her wounds had stopped bleeding already.

Thinking that this place was unsafe to stay in, she carried Eva on her back, her steps slow yet steady.

Her newfound power and unwavering determination carried her through the dark and dangerous corridors.

.

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(POV: Ryomen Sukuna)

How do they even know my name? Do Souls have an inbuilt name or something? What is this, Death Note?

I walked to the center of the room, the walls shining due to the mana stones fixed onto them.

In the center of the room, there was a box.

I cautiously walked to the box, my senses alert. Sensing no danger from it, I opened its lid, only to find a perfectly spherical blue stone with a thread attached to it.

On the lid of the box was fixed a note, which read...

"Property of Ryomen Sukuna, the Amulet - Null."

My brows furrowed as I thought of this...how does this dungeon know my name?

Both in the sign and here, my exact name has been written, as if the ones who made these ruins expected me to come here.

I looked back at the item...it's name didn't give me too much information, 'Null' can mean a lot of things, after all.

Since it was supposed to be an amulet, I wore it around my neck, hiding the stone under my shirt.

I looked around the room and saw nothing but walls, so I headed for the door.

As I opened the door, the other side was dimly lit. It led me to a huge room with multiple pathways leading to more doors.

As I walked through, I tried to close the door behind me but grabbed nothing but air. The door had vanished. Weird, but okay.

In the middle of the room stood a ginormous statue, so I decided to check it out.

As I got closer, I noticed that the statue had my name on it.

There was something written in ancient language, but I could correctly make out my name from it.

I rubbed my chin as I thought of this. This was the third time my name was said in these ruins.

I decided to stop pondering on this fact.

The gems in the statue's eyes looked expensive, so naturally, I took them.

I wandered around for about two more hours before I came across an injured man lying unconscious on the floor with a giant spider next to him. The man had only one arm. Sad.

He was drenched in black goo oozing from the spider, which was really, REALLY gross. I turned him around and recognized him as Ryogaku.

Seeing that he was an important person, I used my Reverse Cursed Technique to try to heal him.

It wasn't too effective because of some mana interference, but I managed to heal most of his wounds, though I couldn't fully restore his arm.

I got him out of the goo and propped him up against the wall.

I walked to the spider and absorbed its soul, which was still lingering in its dead body, then I just walked away.

After wandering about for what seemed like an eternity, I was very thirsty, and had slowed down my pace to conserve energy.

The weight of the situation dawned on me, I was alone in these ruins, with no supplies.

There was water here and there, but I was not going to drink water I found in a thousand-year old ruin.

"One step at a time," I muttered to myself. "Let's get outta here."

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(Somewhere else in the Ruins...was Johan)

A bloody hand became visible as a boy crawled up from a deep hole, his clothes bloodied and his teeth completely red.

He had tears in his eyes, but wasn't stopping, staggering through the cold and dark hallways.

"I'm sorry Alexia," he muttered, almost sobbing, his voice weak. "I'm so sorry."

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2000 words :>

What do you think of this chapter?

GIMME POWER STONES :3