Merlin and Nero rose almost simultaneously from their not-so-noble, but comfortable, earthen seats. They were both somewhat wary, as it wasn't very common for anything to move among the bushes.
"Maybe it's an animal," Nero said, pulling out one of his Poker cards, which he had previously tucked away in his grimy clothes.
"No, what you're saying isn't possible, 'cause normal animals can't live in an Aurora Concentration."
Nero nodded and began to approach the bushes, his hand ready to throw the poker card. But, suddenly, everything froze.
The air grew heavier, as if life had done something terrible to it, and even gravity seemed to intensify. Had the air become so angry?
Anyway...
Not a single living or dead being of any kind in all of Vickmolt, including the four zones and the wind catacombs. For about 150 kilometers.
But someone could move, someone with red eyes named Nero.
He turned to look at Merlin, but Merlin was nothing more than a statue of flesh, bones, organs, and skin. Nero recoiled in terror, in a pathetic attempt to save himself from any nonexistent attack.
A sound similar to a crow's croak echoed throughout the mushroom forest, though there was no reaction as everything was frozen. Nero felt something, or rather, someone, watching him. He turned in every direction, but couldn't find the source of the presence, and apparently didn't want to know.
The presence transformed into a seismic wave of death, so dense it would split any metal object in two. That deathly presence concentrated on Nero; he trembled with fear, pulling at his hair, his red eyes turning crimson and consumed by terror.
Nero's mind wandered between two frightening questions:
What's happening? What is looking at me?
Suddenly, a heavy sound hitting the ground echoed behind Nero.
Nero spun around and threw his card, which didn't even hit it. The red-eyed man opened his eyes and realized what was before him.
An enormous creature,—about 13 meters tall, with a long, skeletal dragon-like body, a head similar to that of a raven, rotten wings, and skin that looked like molten metat—was perched atop several mushroom trees. Pieces of its deformed beak dripped, as if rot had clung to it and refused to let go.
The terrifying creature's stomach was ripped open, allowing a purple liquid that resembled blood to drip onto the ground. Inside its stomach were the masses of souls screaming and begging for forgiveness, some even sticking their arms out in supplication.
It had purple eyes, eyes that stared at Nero with something indescribable. Then, the thing let out a gigantic shriek from its beak, which began to glow purple from within. Its strange, disgusting fur began to twitch, while the shriek slowly transformed into a terrifying laugh that nearly made Nero vomit.
"Hag... Hag... Hag... Hello, Wanderer..." Its voice, coming from who knows where, struck Nero's ears like a thunderclap.
Nero smiled, staring at the fearsome monster, though his eyes showed nothing but fear and a desperate desire to flee. But he knew that before he could run even five meters, he would be dead.
Oh, for the gods... what is this calamity! What do I do now?
"Hello..." his voice sounded somewhat muffled.
The thing began to approach Nero, revealing its entire body. Its claws ripped through the ground as it moved erratically, staring at Nero with purple liquid oozing from its beak.
"W-what are you? And what do you want with me?"
The creature glared blankly at Nero, its body contorting with each erratic movement.
"Hag... Hag... Hag... I am Abyssal Empress, the angel of death... And I want... some fun."
Nero felt a chill run down his spine to his toes. What terrified him most was hearing that sacred term used by something that seemed so cursed.
"Are you going to... kill me?"
Abyssal Empress let out deep, guttural laughs as it tore through the ground with its claws, but the worst part was its rotting wings and gaping stomach, which, with each laugh, burned the ground more and more with that disgusting purple liquid.
"Yes... I will kill you."
Nero froze, unsure what to do. After all, a Rank 11 was no match for a Rank 4-Angel.
The purple-eyed monster filled its mouth with purple acid and fired pressurized shots from its beak at Nero.
When the liquid hit Nero, a sound even more terrifying than the monster itself emanated.
"Error..."
The acid vanished, whatever had broken Abysal Empress healed, and Nero was whole again.
Abysal Empress glanced to her left, where Mistaker lay—leaning against a mushroom tree—looking at her with a mixture of disappointment and disgust.
"Well, well, well. But look at this horrifying sight..."
The once terrifying and all-powerful Abysal Empress knelt before Mistaker, though I think it was more of a bow.
These events unfolded before the eyes of a shocked Nero, who stared at Mistaker and then at Abysal Empress.
"Hello, Nero," Mistaker greeted him with a hurtful nonchalance. "Apologies for this giant cockroach, who can't obey a simple, and damned command." Mistaker's voice sounded colder than usual.
I don't understand anything... This was so fast, by the gods, I'm in shock. Did that damned thing want to kill me? Please, Mistaker, ¡I beg you to kill it!
"I won't."
Nero looked at him wearily.
"Reading my mind again?"
"It's a powerful ability. Who wouldn't use it?... And if you want this living excrement to die, become strong and kill it."
Abysal Empress raised those horrible eyes.
"Mistaker... My ////////// I—"
A red thread sliced Abysal Empress's eyes in two, an act to which she didn't react.
"how many times do I have to remind, you not to look at me when you ruin a comand? You almost killed Nero!" Mistaker turned to look at Nero and smiled. "See you later, Nero."
Everything went black in Nero's mind, and when he opened his eyes, he was next to Merlin, who was trying to wake him up.
"Idiot, you fainted. What happened?"
Nero shook his head as he looked at where Abysal Empress had appeared.
...
Somewhere in the world, time unknown.
Mistaker's POV:
Mistaker stared at Abysal Empress, who kept her head down. They were both in a place where only black, gray, and white existed.
"Explain yourself."
Abysal Empress tried to speak, but Mistaker severed one of her enormous legs with a thread.
"Quickly."
The terrified monster shrank into itself and began to speak.
"My Primordial, I-I was bored and I found that red-eyed man and I felt like killing him. I didn't know he was Nero, so—"
Mistaker cut off her other leg, causing Abysal Empress to let out a groan of pain, or something like a groan of pain.
"Liar, you know very well that no one can lie to me. Do you think you didn't hear yourself say 'Wanderer'? Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe you didn't know he was Nero?"
Abysal Empress's mysterious form compressed until she became a beautiful lady, only without legs.
"My primordial..."
Mistaker circled her and summoned a staff with which he forced Abysal Empress to vomit.
"You know? Even if you're an angel, but you're my most damned Apostle."
Abysal Empress hugged herself, fighting back tears.
"You're only good for being a couple of holes to play with, that's why the gods call you 'The Angelic bitch!', and I think that it's true."
Abysal could only cry silently.
"I think that's why Zephyr loves you so much, he says you're his favorite, that you just stay quiet and let him do whatever he wants, ha ha ha..."
Empress remembered her beloved Zephyr and could only begin to cry.
"I'll punish you... You won't be able to rank up until you kill Nero, but you can only kill Nero when he become an angel."
Abysal Empress stopped crying and began to laugh uncontrollably, her purple hair flying wildly.
"My Primordial... You knew I already had everything, that I sacrificed my body and dignity for every material, and now you tell me I have to wait?! What the hell! I need to wait a fucking Rank 11 child, who need to rise up to Rank 4, and then i can kill him!?"
Mistaker pointed at her.
"Don't speak to me like that, 'miss'."
"Damn it!" Abysal Empress burst into tears. "Why did I agree to be your Apostle?! You've only made me get raped!"
Mistaker kicked her in the stomach.
"That's all you're good for, to give away to others. Oh, and just so you know, your body is an incredible bargaining chip. All the deities in every pantheon want to take you to their beds, but I don't know what they see in you. You're just a worn-out doll... Besides, I kept my end of the bargain. You said you'd be my slave—my Apostle—if I killed him, and I did. But you, seems, you don't want to keep your end of the bargain."
Abysal Empress lunged at Mistaker with force, her legs now regenerated.
"Kill me! Kill me! Kill me!"
A fierce wind sliced through the air and sent Abyssal Empress flying.
"Keep your whore hands off my man," said a very feminine voice.
"Ugh... I hate when she calls me that"
A beautiful woman in a green dress with white embellishments appeared in the strange place, her emerald-green eyes shining with arrogance.
The air began to fill the room, so powerful that any non-divine being would be torn to pieces by such immense force.
Her body traveled through the strange place until it came to rest beside Mistaker.
"What did she do this time, Mistaker?"
Mistaker stood up, revealing that the girl before him was rather small.
"She tried to kill Nero, Destiny."
"I must be confused... Your Nero?"
Mistaker nodded. "My Nero."
Destiny's smile vanished. Then, she murmured A curse was cast upon her, and she said, "If you were the person you usually were, you would have killed her already. What stopped you?"
Mistaker straightened his elegant clothes. "That damned Adran wants to use her for several nights."
Destiny turned to Abyssal Empress.
"Doesn't it disgust you to have to sell your body? I know what you did to Zephyr. You're disgusting."
Then she turned back to Mistaker.
"They need you at the Pantheon... There was a problem."