Ash felt the wind on his face as his flying devil gained more and more speed.
Lightning began to surround the crow's body, increasing its speed even further. As seconds turned into minutes, the speed of the descent was constant. Little by little, the lights in the depths became much larger and hotter until they were unbearable.
Ash felt his skin burning just from being near those flames.
The Black Steel Crow, sensing the flames, advanced even faster, seeking the safest space. It crossed at bullet speed, managing to pass through the space between two massive fireballs until it landed forcefully on the ground, generating a tremor.
Ash fell onto his back, face up, feeling relieved that he was still alive.
He had arrived at the Obsidian Tower that connected to the Ivory Tower located at the summit of the Chained Isles.
Strangely, the air on the island was warm. Ash assumed it was due to the remnants of the Sun God's divine power when he destroyed the kingdom of Hope.
Looking ahead, still lying down, he observed the enormous tower that rose in the darkness like an unsettling crack.
Although the Obsidian Tower was large, it wasn't as enormous as the Crimson Spire.
"They really had issues with size," Ash murmured to himself.
Every constructed building or ancient ruin shared a common characteristic: they had absurdly massive sizes, whether it was the Cathedral of the Dark City and its enormous wall, the Shining Castle, or the Crimson Spire—all of them were massive.
There was nothing he could see that was of normal size.
Getting to his feet, Ash observed the various ruins destroyed by time. Now they were nothing more than debris scattered everywhere.
Ash began walking toward the main tower. If he remembered correctly, the doors opened when some essence was infused into them. Since he was a sleeper and couldn't manipulate his essence, he would use his echo to do it for him.
Approaching the silent pagoda, he reached the imposing closed doors, covered in black soot.
"Use some essence and send it to the door," Ash asked his echo.
The devil looked at the door with some doubt, but followed the order.
Spreading its wings, it touched the black door and sent some essence.
At first, nothing happened.
Ash wondered if the door only responded to shadow essences.
Fortunately, his concerns were in vain. The doors opened, revealing their interior after thousands of years of being closed.
Ash observed the dark interior of the pagoda for a few moments before simply entering.
Advancing a dozen steps, he found himself inside a large corridor that seemed to surround the entire first level of the pagoda.
The hallway extended to both sides. In different locations, there were different doors leading to different rooms. In front of him was an elaborate wooden door decorated with strange engravings.
Behind those doors was the central hall.
Walking toward the doors, Ash opened them with ease.
Upon crossing the door, Ash's eyes widened.
Behind the door extended a spacious hall with an enormous ceiling. A dim blue light turned on in some lanterns, flooding the room with cold light.
The hall had several objects that caught his attention.
There was a stand of tools and blacksmith implements, all masterfully crafted in black obsidian and silver. A burned worktable with numerous soul fragments on its black surface. A stone wall with ancient runes carved into it that he couldn't read.
Here and there were numerous devices made of silver and steel, some of which resembled astronomical instruments. But also, apart from that, there were normal objects: tables, chairs, even something resembling a very long bed, large and wide enough for several people to sleep together.
Everything was impeccable, as if thousands of years hadn't passed, but merely instants.
"This must be Nether's room," Ash murmured, approaching the worktable and grabbing one of the soul fragments, pressing it firmly until it shattered.
He felt his soul core absorb the essence, gaining two fragments.
Smelling a pleasant aroma, Ash looked toward a nearby table where a served table was filled with delicious food.
Ash felt his stomach growl at the sight of the food.
Ignoring the objects completely, he walked toward the food table.
Grabbing a piece of bread, he brought it to his mouth, eating it and savoring the exquisite taste.
Grabbing one of the luxurious goblets, he filled it with wine and drank it in one sip. The wine was sweet and light, with a slight tingle in the throat.
A relaxed expression appeared on his face. He had spent his time depending on eating nightmare creature meat with a disgusting taste during his strange moments of lucidity while crossing the Hollow Mountains. Although he never felt full, since the meat simply disappeared in seconds.
His general diet had only been water.
A human being could last up to two weeks without eating or drinking. If they had a water source, they could last even a month, or so he had researched.
As a sleeper, his resistance and body were far superior to normal humans, which meant he could last between two and three months on just water.
Ash refilled the wine goblet. Taking one of the finely made dishes, he grabbed a piece of meat and began to eat, not caring if it had poison or not. He was simply hungry.
The only sound that could be heard was the clinking of cutlery against the plate.
After finishing a third of all the food, Ash burped loudly, ignoring the look his echo gave him.
Getting to his feet, Ash explored the great hall more slowly, examining each object carefully.
After a few minutes, he had finished exploring.
Walking toward the great bed, he lay down on it, feeling its softness.
Discarding the heavier sections of his armor, he stayed with a simple white cloth outfit.
When his head rested on the pillow, he felt himself falling asleep instantly.
---
Ash was awakened by the sound of something falling.
Opening his eyes, he heard a creak before falling flat on his face, rolling on the floor.
Getting to his feet, he watched as the bed completely collapsed. The vestibule was now plunged into darkness.
Looking toward the table where the food had been, he saw a disappointing sight: everything was now nothing more than dust.
The delicious food had disappeared.
"I expected it, but it's painful to see such delicious food simply vanish," Ash murmured.
He stretched, letting out a yawn. Judging by the amount of decay, he calculated he had slept for an entire day.
Observing his echo, he noticed the body was lying on the floor in a corner.
Seeing that he was already awake, the crow stood up and walked toward him.
Having nothing else to explore, Ash decided to go to his main objective: the underground level of the pagoda.
Descending a spiral staircase for a while, he finally reached a gigantic hall.
Inside the hall, Ash smiled at what he saw.
He observed hundreds and hundreds of puppets piled one on top of another. Some were oversized, others were unrecognizable due to time.
Some still remained complete, and others were halfway assembled.
They all had the same face, attempting to capture the image of the Storm Goddess.
Ash invoked his Storage Memory, beginning to store the puppets that were in better condition or halfway completed.
Likewise, he took complete limbs, storing them, and joints. In general, he took everything that seemed useful to be used by him.
After taking everything he considered useful, he decided to ascend to the second level of the pagoda.
Upon climbing to the second level, he felt his instinct scream at him to stay away from that place.
Sighing, Ash went up to the second floor of the pagoda.
Like the underground floor, the second floor consisted of a single room. There was no light, leaving everything in darkness. In the center, carved into the obsidian floor, there was a brazier, and inside it was something strange.
A kind of black flesh spread toward the floor, corrupting it.
Looking beyond the corruption toward the brazier, Ash saw what he was looking for.
It was an enormous human-like arm. It was long, with seven fingers, and each finger grew a sharp claw.
Despite its corrupted state, the arm had been cleanly severed with a single cut.
That arm was none other than Weaver's corrupted arm itself.
"Well, I can wait a while," he murmured, leaning against the wall, watching the corrupted mass.
The minutes passed slowly. Ash watched indifferently as the mass of flesh began to change color, turning gray and lifeless, slowly receding.
At some point, Ash simply sat outside the room, fiddling with one of the puppets' arms to see how they were constructed.
After a few hours, the second floor was finally free of corruption. The enormous brazier was empty, only leaving behind a small piece of white bone, which he took and stored in his Storage Memory.
With his work done, he went up to the third floor.
After climbing the stairs to the third floor, he reached a much smaller room in the pagoda.
In the chamber, there were porcelain arms floating in the air like a haunting garden.
The arms were disassembled in varying degrees. Some were in separate sections at different angles, others were halfway disassembled, and others were simply taken apart piece by piece, showing each mobile component in a surprising degree of complexity. The arms were woven with patterns of diamond threads.
Ash advanced through the garden of arms, taking and storing some to study when he had time.
Arriving at a table, he saw several spools of diamond thread, as well as a long, thin needle that emitted a faint, weak glow.
Taking the spools of diamond thread and the needle, he stored them along with the rest.
Ash had nothing more to look for here.
The fourth floor was a statue of the Storm Goddess that he couldn't take with him. The fifth was a rune room with a map of the dream realm. The sixth was empty, connected to the seventh to go to the Ivory Island.
Ash turned around, returning the way he had come.
After leaving the Ebony Tower, he left the doors open.
Looking at the balls of divine flames, he sighed.
He didn't even need to look at his echo to feel the angry look directed at him.
"Come on, crow. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner you can rest," Ash said, climbing onto his echo's back.
The Black Steel Crow spread its wings and, moments later, they were flying at sonic speed, crossing through the same crack they used to escape the Flaming Hell.