An Intense Confrontation

Six people facing each other was in a standstill, with an intense gloomy atmosphere brewing between them. On one side was Lloyd alone, being pierced by interrogating and hostile stares from the five people. On the other side was Luna, Shane, Ray, Stanley, and Klaudia who acted cautiously upon seeing Lloyd whose appearance had somehow became different from the Lloyd who was with them just a few hours ago.

"Are you really Lloyd?" Klaudia broke the silence and asked worriedly.

"What are you talking about? I was just gone for a few hours and now you doubt me?" The expression in his face became cold.

"But..."

"But what?" 

She looked like she had something she wanted to say but was hesitating to speak out. Lloyd became a little impatient but still waited for her to finish.

"Your soul... why do you have corrupted soul cores?"

Upon finishing what she said, the others paled as if they had received a horrifying revelation. Shane, who had stepped in front of Klaudia, drew his sword and pointed it at Lloyd.

"Stand back, Lady Klaudia! That thing is not a human anymore. He became already became a hellspawn and it should be our duty to put an end to his suffering." He grimly said out loud enough for Lloyd to hear which made him looked at Shane with a sardonic smile.

"Oh, wow! Your hypocrisy really knows no bounds, Shane Crestfall. Not even I could compare to your shamelessness. Are all families in the capital of Asteria all like you?" He shook his head in contempt which made Shane angry.

"Shut up, you filthy abomination! You are just someone who was once human that has now become a hellspawn. And it is my duty to eradicate vermin like you."

"Ha! Bold words for someone who is weak. What makes you so sure that I am a hellspawn that is mimicking the life of a person named Lloyd? And what makes you so confident that you could actually kill me?" 

"I dare you to say that again!" Completely provoked by Lloyd's sarcastic remarks, Shane disappeared and suddenly appeared in Lloyd's back, already aiming to severe his head with his talwar. 

Unfortunately for him, Lloyd anticipated where he was going to strike and simply blocked the talwar with a single swing from the his wraithslayer without even batting an eye or facing his assailant. Shane, shocked to the core by Lloyd's unbelievable speed and strength, was sent flying towards the walls of the ruins. He got slammed so hard to the cold, dirty concrete and coughed up lots of blood.

"So fast!" Stanley shockingly exclaimed. 

"How did he become so strong in just a few hours?" Ray followed, doubts filling his mind.

Shane struggled to get up from the ground and couldn't understand how he was sent flying away violently by a mere Jian sword. His eyes had so much hatred in it as he glared at Lloyd who was standing a few meters far away from him with an indifferent expression.

"Bastard... You weren't this strong a while ago. You've been corrupted and turned into a hellspawn all along! You are an enemy of humanity!" 

"Isn't there anything else you can say? I'm getting tired of your nonsense."

Lloyd had enough of him and decided to end the match by now. However, unbeknownst to him, this guy still had something else on his sleeves. His eyes narrowed when Shane suddenly grinned evilly as he shouted at the beautiful girl with jet-black hair who was observing their battle just now.

"Luna Reinford! Can you see it now? This guy was way too weak since the beginning of the trial but he then suddenly became so strong. What else is a better explanation than gaining more power after getting his soul corrupted? You can't change that fact. Better join forces with me or you'll regret it if he becomes more powerful in the future and also eliminate you!" 

Lloyd stared at Luna's expression, looking for a confirmation that she would become his enemy. As much as possible, he didn't to become enemies with Luna. He owed her a favor for teaching him how to fight and he also felt that it wasn't that bad to have company in his journey once in a while, except for the wretched Shane. 

"Are you also going to doubt me and become my enemy?" He asked her directly, getting impatient from her unnerving silence.

He couldn't see her expression because it was being hidden by the shadows looming over her face which was produced by the faint light of the torch they had. She was also slightly looking downwards. After a few seconds of silence, she finally lifted up her face, and calmly approached Lloyd.

"Hah! Serves you right, you poor–"

Shane was still laughing and gloating as he thought he would finally see Lloyd's demise at the hands of Luna, but she just stood in front of him without drawing her sword. Lloyd clearly saw her eyes which was kind of burning in a fiery blaze out of excitement.

"Can I trust you?"

Not only were the other people shocked at her question, but Lloyd was also dumbfounded.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't care what you have become. But I need you…" She paused in her sudden declaration which made Lloyd flustered and blushing. Was this girl crazy? She won't be doing a love confession to him, would she?

"I need your power and I need more allies… in order to achieve my goals. I need absolute strength." Her wild emotions with a mixture of passion, hatred, determination, and seriousness clearly reflected in her eyes.

"O-oh, so that's what you mean." His flustered heart finally calmed down. "It's up to you if you want to trust me or not. However, I could only say that I am me and will always be me."

"Good."

She nodded and finally they made a deal. He won't become enemies with this girl. He could only thank the gods silently for not giving him another difficult adversary to face. Thus, he sighed and smiled secretly. However, someone was gritting his teeth in anger and wasn't the least bit happy of their sudden joining of forces.

"Luna Reinford! What the hell are you trying to do?!" Shane shouted at her.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, seemingly mocking at his outbursts.

"Sorry, but I will go with him from now on. Klaudia as well. As for the other two, you can decide for yourselves if you want to go with us or with Shane." She plainly replied without a hint of emotion to her voice.

Ray and Stanley were tempted to join them. Luna was a great boon to the team as she could decimate her foes with ease, making their journey safe and easy. They would also have a higher chance of surviving just being near them. Klaudia was another great factor that could potentially lead them to their guaranteed survival. The girl had an astounding ability that could detect enemies and potential danger from a few kilometers away. She was an irreplaceable team member of the cohort and they both knew that plenty of people would fight to the death for her services.

Unfortunately, Shane was like their master. As they have also come from some less prominent families in the capital of Asteria, they could not easily ignore the powers of the young masters of some greater families such as the Crestfalls. Although they couldn't compare to the four great families in Asteria, the Crestfalls were still above in terms of status with them.

They looked towards in Shane, only to see that he was glaring daggers at the both of them too. They gulped as they got caught between a rock and a hard place.

"You two are thinking of joining them, huh? You want to betray me!" Shane voiced out coldly which made them shiver.

"N-no, it's not like—" Ray wanted to explain and deny it, but he cut them off harshly.

"Fine! You damn trashes can lump together. I will make sure you regret it one day. You too, Luna Reinford!"

Upon finishing his ranting, he turned back without saying another word again. The only people left in the room were the five of them. Ray and Stanley sighed and approached Lloyd who was surprised at their decision.

"How come you two didn't go with him? Aren't you afraid of me?"

"It's not like that. We're still doubtful and afraid. However, if Lady Luna could trust you, then surely both of us can trust her decision, right?" Ray explained.

"Well… if you put it that way, then it makes sense." Lloyd agreed.

"Anyway, both of us are actually not too friendly with Shane. We're just forced to team up with him since he had a higher status than both of us. You probably know how the prominent family system of the capital works, right? Commoners like us have no other choice but to go along with these rich kids in order to survive."

A glimmer of sadness could be seen in his eyes. Lloyd could understand his circumstances. It must be hard for him too. Nevertheless, he still had no right to butt in. Lloyd was just someone from the outskirts and he couldn't care less how these families would act out. He shook his head and cleared out his thoughts. He remembered something that he should tell them.

"By the way, I think there is something I must tell you."

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"That thing called the accursed wraith? I killed it."

"What?!" Ray and Stanley shockingly asked while Klaudia gasped in awe.

"How?"

"Uh… It was quite a hard battle. I had to craft a random weapon in order to fight the plaguebearers in the corridor where we parted ways shortly after I got into an argument with Shane. Fortunately, I was able to craft this weapon."

Lloyd waved the Jian sword with a faint pale glow swirling around the blade.

"This thing is called the Sanctified Wraithslayer. It has the ability to heavily damage undead hellspawns as well as attack incorporeal beings. It also has an active ability of ignoring the physical body and damage directly the target's soul." He ended his long explanation. Luna just nodded while the others examined the blade.

"I see. How did your soul become corrupted?"

"Sorry… I can't fully explain it. But my soul wasn't corrupted." He paused as he tried to carefully think about how to explain it to them without revealing too much of his newly found secrets.

"It was like this. I actually died after succumbing from the wounds I had received from the accursed wraith. Something mysterious happened while my body was situated to a strange runic circle in this room and then… here I am, fully alive and recovered. Moreover, I had received second awakening, which was the receiving of a corrupted soul and another innate ability. That is why I look like this."

They eyed him and found that he still looked exactly the same in the face, with the exception of his red, glowing eyes and his originally dark hair had mutated into ash colored hair. His body was still the same short stature, but he didn't look malnourished anymore. It was like he had developed a slender but strong physique even without the bulging ugly-looking muscles like the ones they saw in most heavyweight fighters. Being an aspirant has its wonderful benefits, after all.

"So that's how it went. Let's just say that I had survived and became stronger after the fight."

"Oh, I see…" Upon coming to understanding his situation, Klaudia had a guilty looked as she bowed down and apologized to Lloyd. "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"It's fine. It says in my title anyway that I'll initially be hated by everyone until I can prove myself to be trustworthy. So, maybe if ever we could return to Asteria, I might not be able to stay in the city anymore."

A bitter smile escaped from his lips. He already knew it would happen the moment he goes back to their real world. Unlike the five of them, there was no guarantee the others would also trust them. It would already be a miracle if he wouldn't be hunted by lots of aspirants who were stronger than them and immediately end his life.

"Save it for when we can finally get out of this trial. We'll think about it when the time comes. For now, let's just focus on getting stronger and surviving."

"Right." All of them agreed and they prepared to head out to the stairs at the end of the ritual room where it led to the up, towards the higher ground and then outside the crypt. They could finally get out of the crypt and once again venture the hellish barren grounds of the Vyris Deadlands.