Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Resting Noctem over the baron ground, I watched as a dark light shimmered around the blade’s edge, throbbing with my heartbeat.

Ba-thump*Ba-thump*Ba-thump*Ba-thump*

Endlessly it hammered away, throbbing with a rich exuberance. My heart continued to beat. And yet, despite such an organ missing from my body. I could still feel its beat in my chest. I could still feel it pushing blood throughout my body.

End knelt down, summoning a large bag of transcendent treasure known only to the abyss, and laid it near the tip of the spear: “Don’t waste our efforts: This will put us back a few thousand years.” He coldly said, eyeing the sack with a grieving expression.

Crossing my legs, I nodded in recognition. I don’t know what it was, but I liked End. He was always so quiet. Rarely did he express emotion, but he was one of the few Abyssal Generals I saw Lilith with the most, aside from Vita.

He was loyal to a fault. I want him on my side.

“How are the slaves and so one?” I asked, directing my question to Izavith.

“Ready. I’ll summon one as soon as I sense or see you ready to faint.” She said, folding her arms over one another. Her gaze fixed on me. “Zariel is also on standby.”

Now first… lets better fuse my heart into the Spear of Noctem. When Hephaestus forged my sword, god blessed his soul. I’m sure there should have been a level of failure, especially regarding all the other ingredients that cost him his life.

That was also in the Fourth Heaven, and while my spear has evolved since then, the fundamentals remain the same.

Trailing my finger over the stem of my spear, azure light bled from my palm, seeping into the spear of darkness that devoured it without forethought. Darkness slowly began to spill out of my spear as echoes of my heart began to fade into the ether, leaving nothing but a deadly silence.

I watched with utter fascination as the Spear of Noctem began to tremble. And slowly, against my reasoning, the spear began to shrink, or rather it began to dissolve before my very eyes as if met with utter destruction.

‘End… look at the Abyssal Laws, there dying. No… He’s eating them.” I heard Izavith say, but I could not speak my mind as I focused on the object hovering off the barren ground. It no longer appeared as a spear but a shard, dark as the deepest night.

I see… so this was the final forge of the fusion. It still works for me, but I wonder if Hephaestus stopped himself from fusion my heart and spear to such a degree. After all, at the time, I needed a weapon, not a shard. I should consult a blacksmith. But as it stands, I’m perfectly fine. My power hasn’t eaten away at my Breath. Thats good. But I can’t be reckless.

As it stands at this exact moment, my heart is now represented by this black shard.

End quickly unpacked the items ranging from bones, weapons, diamonds, rings, and more out as he looked at me. ” Careful, one mistake and these items will exterminate you.”

‘That’s the Ring of Renru, the Abyssal Lord of Reincarnation… he gave you that?” Izavith stated in surprise.

“Gave?” End scrunched his brow. ” I didn’t ask. I tore it off his finger. When he didn’t notice my gaze.’

… This man is a menace, lol. I like that.

“Sweet baby Abyss!” Izavith lamented, shaking her head. “I’ll take care of Renru. I just hope all these items aren’t from—”

End looked the other way, the tips of his ears a light shade of red.

LOL!!!!!!

NOO! Focus, Arsene! Focus.

Lifting the ring with Astral Force, I pulled it towards the Shard and began the fusion. But as the azure light of fusion swelled around the Ring of Renru. I felt resistance for the first time. The resistance wasn’t great, but it was building the longer the Azrue Light Broke down both the shard and the Ring of Renru.

Pressure began to wane over my head like the Blade of Damocles as sweat began to slither down my chin, drenching my robes when a gut-wrenching pain roiled through my bones and flesh, as it began to crack and burn.

The pain was blinding, but my focus did not wain, not even when I noticed space around me beginning to break and wither before my very eyes, twisting into dead laws. Blood quickly fell from my eyes as a zone of destruction began to expand from the center of my being toward each end of my room.

Hours of unimaginable pain stabbed at my soul, but I could only grit my teeth and hold out until the fusion was complete. 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝑚

Twelve days later, at the dawn of night, when all four walls of my room were nothing more than rubble and ash, did my fusion become successful. I found myself collapsed in a pool of my blood, over ninety percent of my Hive Mind in a state of utter destruction.

“Izavith now!” End shouted, just as sweet Oblivion called my name. “Arsene, focus! Her Majesty has commanded me to tell you to use your Breath. Hurry!”

Lost and confused as to where I was, surrounded by a fog of disorienting light blazing like flames. A gentle warmth wrapped itself around me, seeping into my broken flesh.

“Arsene!!!! Can you hear me!”

“I… like Pandas… And bitches.” I absentmindedly replied, trying to get a hold of myself.

“Fucking A,” cursed Izavith. “Get it together. You goddamn idiot.”

‘Heal soul…” I muttered, pushing out a sliver of ‘Breath of Heaven’ deep into my soul to help mend my wounds. But with each blinking of my eye, I saw the moon’s and sun’s positioning change.

Counting it as the days passed, an entire year flashed through my eyes before my conscious state became focused, my insides in a strange state of destruction. I had wanted to ask throughout last year, but none of my wounds had healed. And while I did want to ask, the moment my soul was stabilized, it would make more sense to heal my physical injuries, but neither Vita nor End did so.

I stared up at her bewitching expression, wet with sweat. Her arms wrapped around my head. As I lay on her thigh, I smiled. ” Is that concern I see?”

“Your up!” She yelped, pushing me off and causing my head to hit the pavement.

Massaging my skull, she ruthlessly tossed away; I felt an oncoming headache and lamented at my luck: ” Tell me what happened, and who the hell is Renru, whose ring almost killed me!”

Izavith stared at me, her gaze swaying to End and back to me: ” He’s an Abyssal General focusing on Reincarnation, Death, Pain, and Sacrifice.”