Prince of The Abyss

As the spear user approached, Aether steadied his footing. He didn't normally fight against this kind of weapon, so it was safe to say that he wasn't really used to it. But at the same time, that just didn't matter; he couldn't just cry about it; he had to adapt.

Plus, it wasn't his first time, so while he wasn't experienced, he still had a small fragment of it.

Stepping back, as the spear thrust forward, he noticed just how much slower he had gotten; he should have expected it, but it caught him off guard. He continued to step back as the spear user drove him further away from Elise, which was in no way to his liking.

Frowning, he shifted, trying to dodge by stepping to the side, but the man predicted it, scratching his stomach, as he moved out of the way at the last second.

Cursing under his breath, he lowered one of his shoulders and shifted his foot, tricking the man into thinking he was going to try again, and creating an opening. The moment his opponent's head turned ever so slightly, Aether dashed forward, pushing the spear away with his knee as he swung his blade, grazing the top of the man's head as he ducked at the last second, turning and slamming the side of the spear right into his leg, making him fall to the ground.

As he fell back, with his head towards the sky, he saw a hammer coming to crush his brains. Adrenaline rushed through his body, and while falling, he caught himself on his foot, pushing himself off it, just as the hammer flew down, just where his head was.

The hammer user was wide open, maybe even for a lethal attack, but there was just one problem: this wasn't a one versus one. Just as he was about to strike the man's head, the spear user thrust his weapon right into his chest, next to his shoulder.

Groaning in pain, he caught the spear with his bare hand. As he kept it in place, the spear user tried to take it out, watching as Aether lifted Raven up in the air, about to strike down onto him.

But as he was about to, the hammer user caught him by the shoulder, pushing him back, before hitting him with his weapon right in the stomach, making him roll onto the ground.

Aether gripped the grass as his vision slowly shook. He tried to push up, but as he did, he heard a scream in pain. As he was about to turn his head to see what was happening, he sensed the spear user attacking with Eden.

Lifting his head, he saw the tip heading right for him.

...

Groaning in pain, he caught the tip with his hand as it just pushed through it, coming out the other side; he was... in an unearthly amount of pain, but he hadn't done this for nothing. Forcing himself, he pushed off, slashing the man's head off with Raven paired with Abyssal matter at the edge.

As the man's body fell to the ground, the spear remained in his hand. Pushing it out, there was a hole in his hand, to the point that he could look right through it.

'Fucking shit...' His breath was heavy as he limped his way up to his feet, tilting his head out of the way of the hammer user's attack at the last second; his vision shook, tilting a lot more than it had, making him almost fall to the ground. Staggering, he summoned his chains, wrapping around the man's feet and arms. Using almost all his remaining strength, he held him in place as he dropped his hammer.

But the chains weren't going to hold long; they were already breaking. Summoning Voidpiercer, he thrust the blade right into the man's heart, as the armor on his back side had been torn up by Raven before, making it easy for Voidpiercer to get through.

The hammer user fell to the ground, marking his victory... but not their victory, only his...

He still had a battle to join.

Turning to Elise, he noticed the dagger user barely standing, his body full of cuts, to the point the mask had been completely torn off, and his face unrecognizable.

The others weren't that bad, but they weren't so great either; there was an axe user whose hands were already bloodied, barely able to hold his heavy weapon.

There was a rapier user who had one foot injured, making him much slower and reducing a lot of his efficiency. And the last, a mace user, looked to have one eye cut, making him able to see only with one eye.

...

But the bad part was that Elise didn't look to be in any better condition either; she was bleeding heavily. He also had cuts, but hers were much bigger, true, not as many, but still. He also noticed that she couldn't control or shape her petals that well, or use as many.

Meaning she was running out of essence.

He had to help her, but how... he was going to bleed to death himself if he didn't get help. Gravewalker was going to save him, but he was just going to die again afterward.

He bit his nails as he thought of something.

...

And he had an idea, one that he had never tried before, but had thought of before; he just wasn't sure it was worth it... since it limited a lot of his attacking. He was going to use all his remaining essence on stopping his bleeding with Abyssal matter.

Taking a deep breath, he made his manifestation climb up his body, all going to one of his wounds, and mimicking what was supposed to be there: veins, skin, muscle; it was something that he had never done before; it was also... a lot harder to do.

But it worked... they were just a lot weaker than normal, and were never going to last long enough. He needed to finish this fight now.

The only bad part was that while his bleeding had stopped, the pain was still there, taking a huge toll on him, but he was going to have to ignore it; if he didn't, they were never going to survive.

Gripping his blade, he dashed forward. Seeing him out of the corner of her eye, Elise opened a passage out of nowhere through her petals towards the dagger user, catching him off guard as Raven cut his neck, but the man had a tough neck; as the blade got stuck in, it made him wonder just how strong this guy was.

But at this point, he wasn't far from dying; he just needed to finish the job off, so he took the blade out slightly before swinging it back in, watching as it passed through much easier, almost like cutting butter.

This was the second time this happened, where Raven easily killed an opponent that was close to death... this had to be one of its abilities; it was the only thing that made sense... and he was definitely not saying no to it.

As the dagger user's body fell to the ground, he noticed the rapier coming for him, but as he did, petals raked his hand, making him let go of his blade, just as it was about to hit him. Taking advantage of this, Aether swung at his legs, cutting them while also making him fall to the ground.

The only bad part was that he couldn't use Voidpiercer, since he didn't have the essence to summon it, but a Bearer blade should be able to pierce just fine, even if not meant for it, right?

He thrust the blade right into the man's head, killing him.

The only bad part was that he was running out of time; his Abyssal matter was starting to fall.

Turning towards Elise, she had a smirk on her face as she blocked the attack of the mace user with her petals. Seeing this, he dashed into him, pushing him away into a tree, stepping onto his arm, before slashing his head off.

Aether turned back, giving the girl a thumbs-up. Seeing this, she nodded, smiling.

But...

...

While his vision was blurry, he could see another outline behind her with Eden. His eyes widened as he recognized it as the axe user.

He paled as he tried to dash forward, just as the man lifted his axe in the air. He reached out with his hand, trying to grab Elise's hand, and he did, rolling onto the ground with her in his arms.

He sighed in relief, lifting his head to look her in the eyes.

...

But he couldn't.

As her head was missing.

Aether froze, staring at the headless body, biting his lip hard. He looked back at the man, picking her head off the ground, laughing.

...But that was the last laugh he was going to have.

Pushing himself onto his feet, he moved through the pain, heading towards the man, who let go of Elise's head, swinging at him. In a state like this, he was moving way too fast, even though his body should never be able to do this.

As the axe passed by his neck, Aether kicked his foot, making him fall onto the ground, before getting on him and slashing him continuously until his body was nothing but a pool of blood.