"The first void walker?" Lloyd asked with suspicion.
"Yes! The first void walker ever!" The woman boasted.
"You said your name is Eris?" Lloyd asked with now narrowed eyes.
"Yes! Yes! Look, you're getting it! If you had the mental state of those humans, you probably would have fainted by now hahaha!" Eris Laughed.
"Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, strife and chaos?" Lloyd sighed.
"Hey! What was with that disappointed sigh?!" Eris grumbled while crossing her arms.
"Nothing..."
"Nope! It was clearly something." She argued while pointing at Lloyd accusingly.
"Stop the act. I know fake when I see it." Lloyd sneered; however, instead of denying the accusation, her puffed cheeks quickly returned to normal while her energetic mood disappeared instantly, making it seem like it was never there in the first place.
It was as if Lloyd was looking at a totally different person as if she had just taken off her mask and shown her true colors.
"You're more impressive than I thought." She muttered under her breath before resting her face on her fist.
"Why did you bring me here? I'm assuming that you don't meet with all void walkers..." Lloyd took a step back and stared into Eris' now ice-cold violet eyes.
"I don't, but it has been quite a long time since someone had beaten the first stage in less than 5 void walks." She explained, her voice now monotone, almost as if conversing with Lloyd alone would have bored her to death.
"Okay? Then can I leave?" Lloyd let out an innocent smile that caused Eris to chuckle.
"Of course not. I want to see how good you are up close." She let out a grin that reached from ear to ear, making Lloyd almost see the devil behind her pearly white teeth.
"Actually, I'm good haha." Lloyd tried to argue while slowly retreating, a scene that Eris looked on at in amusement.
"Why not? It's a simple inspection." She laughed.
"Nope! There are laws against this, now you know!"
"Oh, really?" Eris asked with sincere curiosity in her eyes.
"Y-Yes!"
"Too bad, there are no laws like that in my realm." She shrugged and disappeared from where she stood, and before Lloyd could understand what had just happened, he watched as his perspective began to descend before two loud thuds reached his ears.
He could barely move his eyes, but when he did, the sight of a bleeding headless corpse entered his vision, followed by the scene of a black-haired beauty wiping the blood off her hands with a cloth that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
"What are you doing?" She asked while Lloyd's vision began to fade.
Was this the end of him?
Did he just live 8 days of his life on the edge of death at every moment, just for him to die to the likes of her?
'If I look at the bright side... I died to someone with power beyond human comprehension...' Lloyd tried to smile, but due to his brain slowly shutting down, the only thing he could do was allow his eyes to flicker in a final effort to live.
Yet it was all in vain... Or so he thought.
"Get up already."
*GASP*
Taking a deep yet quick breath in, Lloyd began to gasp to refill his brain with oxygen, yet after a few breaths, he realized that there was no need for such an effort.
"I-I'm alive?!" Lloyd roared out in happiness while touching every part of his neck to ensure it was still intact. He was still hyperventilating due to the stress and pain he felt after being literally decapitated, but it was nothing compared to the mental scar he had just gained.
"That was probably the closest you will ever come to death without actually dying. This will make your killing intent stronger, but you'll need a few days to recover properly." Eris explained, yet when hearing her voice, Lloyd felt nothing but seething rage bubble inside him, ready to burst at a moment's notice.
Killing intent gushed out of Lloyd's body like water through a floodgate. Of course, it was nowhere near powerful enough to penetrate the naturally dominant monarchical aura around Eris, yet it was just enough for it to grab her interest.
Her eyes slowly widened as she looked at the thick aura around Lloyd, yet after a few moments, she closed her eyes and let out a sincere smile.
*Boom*
On the other hand, Lloyd did not wait for another second as, within an instant, he catapulted himself into the air with his flames before pointing his hands at Eris.
"Incinerate!" He roared, and within an instant, blue and orange flames burst forward in a blinding array of colorful explosions.
However...
"I have to say..." A feminine voice entered Lloyd's ears, but that was to be expected. There was no way some normal flames would have the ability to even touch Eris in her own realm. However, Lloyd wasn't idle either.
Without wasting another second, he burst forward with a pitch black saber in his hand as several purple runes shone upon it.
*Boom*
'Sh*t!' Lloyd cursed when he saw that his kick had landed into the palm of her hand and had been completely nullified alongside his foot's mobility since it was stuck within a tight iron-clad grip.
Gritting his teeth, Lloyd manifested flames behind his other foot and used them as thrusters to let out a devastating kick.
*Thud*
Eris did not even bat an eye as she caught the other foot effortlessly.
Seeing this, Lloyd let out a devilish smile and, without any notice-
*BOOM*
Flames burst forth from the soles of his feat as the rest of his mana disappeared. The flames expanded, creating a beautiful flurry of enormous blue and orange fireballs rising from the ground in a spectacular fashion.
However, as the flames dispersed, the silhouette of two figures could be seen through the blaze.
"Good flames. That attack would have killed the average mid-stage first commandment." Eris complimented with his two hands still gripping tightly onto Lloyd's feet without letting go.
Despite that, she was spotless, without a single dust particle on her. It was as if she lived in a completely different realm, making her indestructible in the perspective of any mortal.
However, Lloyd was no mere mortal.
*Woosh*
Lloyd swung his blade in a horizontal arch aiming for Eris' neck, however-
*Clang*
Without exuding any signs of effort, Eris blocked Lloyd's blade with nothing but her finger.
"Hmmm. Aspect of Void? The ability to enchant anything you touch and make it a powerful weapon capable of easily killing anyone in your commandment... Well, that's the case for at least the first and second commandments. The power difference becomes quite large in the later commandmentsm." She chuckled while Lloyd gritted his teeth.
"It's a good ability to have early on, alongside that monarch's aura of yours." Eris nodded in apparent satisfaction.
"Monarchs... How do you know about-" Lloyd tried to ask, yet instead of hearing him out, Eris snapped his blade in half before digging half of it into his heart while slitting his throat with the other.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, yet Lloyd continued to suffer as he slowly drowned in his own blood, struggling to swallow and breathe until eventually.
*Thump-...*
His heart ceased to beat.
Without even giving Lloyd's corpse a second glance, Eris slowly walked toward her throne while contemplating on her encounter.
After finally sitting on her throne, Eris leaned back and let out a sigh while muttering-
"Uni... Just what are you thinking going around creating another of my kind..." Eris paused before a frown appeared on her face as she looked at the small star at the center of her palm flickering between ivory purple-
"A human at that..."
And crimson red.
***
*Gasp*
Laying in a puddle of his own sweat, Lloyd flung up and took in a cold breath.
'W-What happened... I-I don't remember...' Lloyd rubbed his temples as he tried to recall any memories of what happened after killing the alpha shadow wolf, yet despite how hard he tried, he always felt like he was just inches away from those memories without the capability of coming any closer.
As if coming closer would be detrimental to him, possibly even hurting him.
*Ding*
Suddenly, a low ring entered his ears, making him look at his watch, which looked like it had been blinking purple for quite a while now.
"Uhm, uh... Open message." Lloyd finally gasped out while trying to get his thoughts straight.
[Unread message: -
2 Changes have been made to your status screen]
"Uh... I don't know. Show me the changes then!" Lloyd grumbled.
[Name: Lloyd Elrod]
[Commandment: --- ]
[Race: Void Walker]
[Class: Walker of Voids]
[Talent: 2-Star]
[Affinity: Shadows]
[Passive Ability: Night Vision - Shadow Sustenance - Soundless Steps]
[Abilities: 4-Dimensional Thought - Shadow Enhancement- Shadow Claw - Shadow Movement - Flame Control - Presence Concealment - Shadow Clone]
[Passive Race Ability: Monarch's Aura, ???]
[Race Abilities: Aspect of Void - Void Channel - Void Gaze - Void Step]
For a moment, the streets outside seemed to have turned silent, as if the winds had stopped and the planet itself had stopped spinning.
Everything became silent as Lloyd's eyes widened as if they had suddenly become saucers.
"Oh... I see." Were the only words Lloyd could mutter, but who could blame him? He had never seen anyone have as many abilities as him in the same commandment.
Scrap that; only elites of the third commandment would have the number of abilities he does, yet he gained all of these abilities without even reaching the first commandment. What are the chances that he is that lucky?
As a war general from world war 4 had explained, "Lucky men are followed by a streak of misfortune, and those who have been followed by a streak of luck are bound to fall the hardest."
However, there was one problem...
Lloyd had no idea which category he belonged to.
Was it just dumb luck, or was it an elaborate chain of events that would eventually lead to his death?
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