Chapter 29. Abyss

In front of me are a massive pitch-black gate that is 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide impeded in the side of a mountain. This was honestly a strange sight to me because there hasn't been any sign of advanced architecture throughout the wildlands like in Mistral only small to medium size settlements at most. As I inspected the gate the material is giving off a strange reaction to my sonar plus the architectural style of the gate isn't native to Anima or anywhere that I know of from what I can see. I tried to open the gate to see what's behind it, but it wouldn't even budge even when I used my summons to open it. After an hour or 2 of trying to open it, I decide to just blast it open with some explosives because I've gotten inquisitive about what's behind it because even my sonar can't detect what's behind it. I set the explosives along one side of the gate in hopes of minimizing the damage to it and what it's hiding behind it, after finishing setting the charges I went behind a rock to protect myself from the blast without using up my aura. I pressed the detonation button, the explosion went off and after a couple of moments waiting for the dust to clear the earth under my feet shook and I then heard a low but thunderous roar.

I looked at the source of the roar from behind the rock and saw that the gate was no longer pitch black but had pieces of white sticking out with yellow-orange eyes, it was then I realized that was no gate but a Grimm. I have never even heard of a Grimm even remotely similar to this one before me because unlike other Grimm's that take the forms of animals or monsters this one had the shape of an inanimate object different from a Geist that possesses inorganic matter. What happened next filled with nightmares for weeks, it opened. Pure darkness erupted from the gate like Grimm and then other Grimm of various kinds from Beowolfs to Nevermores and everything in between started to walk out of it but they were different from the ones I know they all had similar bone-like masks with at least 3 pairs of eyes. I drew my new greatsword Unsung ready to cut them down and they all went into a frenzied state trying to tear me to pieces. I hacked and slashed my way through them trying to reach the gate to destroy it but with every Grimm, I kill 2 more takes its place, I steadily made my way to the gate.

As finally made it to the gate I made Unsung vibrate at high speeds and slashed at the gate like Grimm only for my sword to bounce off it like it had a force field. I continuously hacked at it but to no avail not even putting a scratch on it all the while dealing with the Grimm that surrounded me. Seeing this is getting me nowhere I decided to go into the massive Grimm to see if I can kill it from the inside, the more I pushed forward the more aggressive the Grimm became till darkness filled my vision on entering the gate. I used my sonar to try and find my way around but I get no reaction whats so ever, then the darkness showed burning yellow-orange eyes all around me from the top to the bottom. I then realize I was literally in the belly of the beast, as I fought against the surrounding darkness my aura continued to get lower and lower even with magic helping me recover my aura. My stamina started to wane as well both physically and mentally I cursed my stupidity for thinking entering the Grimm to kill it was a good idea.

As I grew tired I noticed something else happening to me my soul was being drained somehow I started to really wonder what the heck this creature of Grimm is. I try to turn around and leave but found that there was no exit, with me getting weaker with each passing minute I decide to do a desperate gamble. I mixed the last bit of my magic with Echo Tremor to create one last massive shock wave with every bit of aura I have left, this either kills the Grimm or I die here like a fool. As I filled Unsung with vibrations making it groan the blade started to crack under the pressure of my magic enhanced semblance. I slashed forward, firing off my shock wave which sent me flying with a loud boom then my mind faded to black.

(Timeskip)

I woke with my body aching all over which probably means that I'm still alive, as I try to get up I had to grit my teeth to bear the pain. Currently, I only have enough magic for one spell and my aura is partially refilled, I checked my surrounding to see myself in a massive cave to which I'm guessing that strange Grimm formed. I then saw my poor sword Unsung in pieces which made me depressed because I had it for less than a week and it's already broken. After sighing, I went to gather the pieces it didn't take me long, once I got them all I noticed that it still retained its soul and aura but not for long. Rather than repair it with magic I decided to try and gather its aura and soul then make it into a solid matter, it worked thankfully and the result was a small mostly clear crystal that had a light gray color.

With this, I'm out of magic next I try to summon a smaller version of that gate like Grimm to see if I really killed it. After a moment the Grimm appeared before me and I tried to figure out its abilities which were creating those other Grimm but in smaller numbers, a force field that covers it which makes it a useful shield, and lastly that soul-draining or rather aura draining ability that will definitely be useful in the future. Once I was done poking and prodding my new summon I noticed that something happen to both my semblances first Echo Tremor became far more versatile like creating vibrations at a distance which I couldn't do before because my vibrations come from my aura so long-distance control shouldn't be possible at all. My Glyphs, however, I can no longer use the other abilities of them aside from summoning which was both worrying and interesting. Feeling tired I entered my travel bag to sleep thinking that I have a lot of experimenting to do later with the possibility of modifying semblances with magic.