Untimely Tragedy

"Fuck," Maxwell whispered loudly as he shut his eyes. His expression crumpled as he brought his hands to his abdomen. However, both he and Simon knew there was nothing he could do to avoid the blow.

Kang!

The knife, instead of piercing the soft flesh coating Maxwell's stomach, collided with another metal, creating a beautiful melody. A soft cry resounded through Bryxton Tower as Simon's right hand was sliced, landing on the ground a few feet away from the rest of his body with a loud thud.

Simon's eyes were filled to the brim with fear as he gazed into the cyan eyes that always gave him chills. As the eyes reverted to their original color, warm liquid leaked from Simon's pants as he collapsed.

Blood sprayed from the wound, but no one dared to approach the body at this point in time. They all gazed at the boy who had just appeared out of thin air.

"Alex!" Maxwell called out the person's name as he turned around, but his expression became grim as he gazed at Alex. "H–How?"

Maxwell's voice sounded croaky as if he had witnessed something unimaginable. His eyebrows shot up as he stared at the figure of the boy he admired. The previously stunning appearance of Alex now seemed haggard and disheveled even from a homeless person's perspective.

His body was lathered in dust, while dirt and grime stuck to his clothes. His face was nigh unrecognizable, as one could see several spots that seemed to contain blood in them.

Moreover, his left arm had turned completely black with vibrant, red veins popping out. It was as if the arm had been burnt.

"Don't ask," Alex shrugged the matter off as if it were unimportant. As he walked forward, Maxwell noticed that a strange power revolved around Alex's left arm, as if it were bull, waiting to be unleashed upon its victims.

It was as if the arm possessed a consciousness separate from that of Alex.

"Why did he attack you?" Alex asked as he bent over, examining Simon's body with an indifferent expression. "He seemed like a good kid, but I guess not."

Maxwell was stumped when Alex referred to Simon, who was older than the former, as a kid. However, he decided to ignore it, as many things about Alex were strange.

"It's because my powers went out of control when Eugene mentioned that you had disappeared, causing me to try to choke him to death," Maxwell relayed the entire scene in a monotonous tone. Alex raised an eyebrow at Maxwell's brutal honesty, and so did Eugene and Sarah.

"That's… all right, so what does it have to do with him attacking you?"

"I became exhausted after unconsciously using my powers," Maxwell stated. "And, I believe he found me to be an unstable and dangerous person, which prompted him to attack me."

Alex nodded as he straightened his back. "Well, there's no way to heal him now unless we gather several Stones of Soma. And for that, we'll need to exit Bryxton Tower, which is not possible at the moment. "

"So we just let him die?" Sarah raised her voice, unable to accept the fact that Simon was going to die.

"Do you have a better idea?" Alex snapped as he turned his head towards the girl. "I thought you'd have gotten used to death by now, but I guess not."

His words caused fumes to emerge from Sarah's ears, but she had no justification to refute his words. Eugene, having recovered from his ill state of mind, nodded with a grim expression as he stared one last time at his former companion's corpse.

Alex's words were true. Death was common and inevitable. They had to adjust to survive.

"First, tell me what happened to you!" Maxwell persisted in a childish tone, pouting innocently.

"Did I not tell you not to ask?" Alex replied in a dangerous tone dripping with malice, causing Maxwell to swallow his words instantly. "The only thing I can tell you is that I'm more powerful than I used to be."

Eugene and Sarah swallowed their saliva as fear was instantly instilled into their hearts. If Alex was as strong as they had witnessed back in the forest, imagining how powerful he would now be was preposterous. His power was unimaginable.

"How's Eric doing?" Alex asked, returning to his previous, calm tone. "Did he start adapting to the new world, yet?"

Maxwell nodded slightly as he turned around to stare at Eric, who slept under a thin blanket made out of a stack of several jackets. His peaceful expression brought pain to Eugene and Sarah's hearts as they felt pity for a person so innocent to have been dragged into such a world.

However, Alex, who knew of the future, and Maxwell, who knew of Eric's true power and personality, felt no sympathy whatsoever. Instead, they felt a sensation of excitement as they wondered what heights the man could reach.

"What happened to him?" Alex asked as he narrowed his eyes. Something had changed about the man, and while his appearance seemed the same as it had before, the air around him had changed.

"He awakened his powers," Maxwell muttered, causing Alex's eyebrows to shoot up.

"He did, huh?"

"Necromancy, I believe."

Alex's eyes widened profusely as he processed the words Maxwell had uttered. Necromancy was a power that defied the heavens, and the deities themselves. It surpassed the laws of the world, working against it to summon those who had crossed the yellow river.

If Eric had gained such a power, he would soon be a force to be reckoned with, regardless of if he received proper training in other fields. The number of necromancers in Telos Dou Dromou did not exceed twenty, and most of them hid due to the slight chance of being struck by the legendary divine retribution.

Eric had gained tremendous power, but in return, he would have to sacrifice the simple joys of his life.

"So, I assume Eric's awakening is what got you through the dungeon?" Alex asked. "And, did he use the corpses of your teammates to summon the undead?"

"Yeah," Maxwell sighed as he explained the situation. "He killed our teammates and then summoned them as skeletons to defeat the creature we were facing. He almost killed me, too, and would have, if not for the flash of light that brought us here."

"His awakening was much like yours," Alex commented, to which Maxwell nodded.

As an awkward silence descended atop the room filled with corpses and blood, a floating creature appeared from thin air, shocking Eugene, Sarah, and Maxwell.

[Hello!]

The djinn, also known as Kyl, greeted with a bright smile. This time, however, he displayed fangs which were hidden in their last meeting.

[It seems you've conquered your dungeons! I've received the two dungeon cores, which will be used for the next trial. Hmmm, it seems you have gained a mysterious new power, Alex Horatius. Neither I nor my master, whose memories I have inherited, have ever seen that kind of transformation before. It makes me jealous.]

As Kyl shamelessly drooled over Alex's left arm, the latter directed a cold stare, to which the former could only respond by coughing awkwardly.

[I see that you do not want to discuss this subject. Anyway, you all have fifteen days until the start of the next trial, and eight to nine days until the end of this one. Go out and explore, adventurers!]

Alex scoffed inwardly as Kyl posed as if it were a mountain climber. The other watched with great interest and nodded when Kyl mentioned that they were free to exit the tower.

"Now, we can save Simon!" Sarah announced, a smile blossoming on her pretty face. However, Kyl was quick in shutting down her hopes.

[Uh, that filthy human over there has already died.]

Silence.