Garden Of The Abyss

The two horns it displayed were lances of their own, dyed with the blood of past warriors who had fallen to it.

Releasing forward with its sturdy legs propelling it, the minotaur charged forward with monstrous speed, shattering the stone where it stood.

"Dunkel: Shad—"

Before he could utter the incantation, the man-bull collided with him as he used his sword as a makeshift shield. The collision drove his own blade into his chest, cutting into his pec as he bit his own lip to hold the pain in during the struggle. Both horns were being held back only by the trembling grip he had on his sword, wrapping his leather-clad fingers tightly around the handle.

"...Araphel: Weaken!"

Shouting out the spell's call in desperation, a darkness coiled around the minotaur's body, settling onto its skin.

As the spell took hold of its target, the beast became noticeably weaker, making the battle between its horns and Ren's sword much closer than before.

—It still feels like I'm holding back a train, but it's manageable!

Using the little breathing room he managed to form by pushing the monster back slightly, Ren ducked to the side—causing the minotaur to crash into the wall. Its dense, blood-seeking horns pierced the damp stone, the impact vibrating through the entirety of the partition.

Preparing to follow up with a higher-density strike of his blade, his leg didn't move forward, causing him to nearly trip over.

"Huh?!"

Looking down, a black substance was wrapped around his shin, dissolving his gray trousers at the touch. The familiar wriggling and wreathing of the goo quickly brought him to an answer—turning his head to confirm it.

That same uncanny, pale face of an infant attached to a body of black sludge, with its arm outstretched like a rope around his leg.

—Shit! I didn't consider any others jumping in during this!

The minotaur had its death-antlers lodged into the stone still, shaking its head aggressively as it tried to pull itself loose, rumbling the wall it was attached to.

—It's not going to take long for that bull to get loose. I've got to handle this now.

"Dunkel: Piercer!"

A spear of darkness was shot towards the wailing creature of sludge, aimed directly for its face, only to be intercepted by a giant mouth opening up from its chest. The newly formed mouth swallowed up the black spear, releasing a fit of high-pitched laughter.

"Bad move—Araphel: Detonation!"

A slight glow made itself visible through the sludge-like body of the creature before an explosion erupted from within it, blowing apart its body as its baby face launched into the air.

As its grip on his leg loosened, Ren burst towards it before leaping into the air, taking a deep breath before he swiftly sent his blade cleanly through the unsettling core of the creature as it wailed out.

Interrupting his landing, the minotaur has already broken free—charging once again towards Ren with malicious intent.

"—!"

Through his shoulder, one of the horns pierced him. He became an ornament for the bull, being dragged through the air as it charged forward as he grabbed onto the dense bone in an attempt to set himself free.

Hooked into the air, hanging by his shoulder—even with the adrenaline of battle pumping through his veins, pain took no mercy on him. He attempted to fling a spell directly against the bull's scarred snout, only making it angrier before it slammed him against the grimy wall.

The impact traveled through his body, sending a sharp pain through his entire skeleton. As the minotaur pulled away, its ivory spike sliding out of his shoulder as a stream of blood shot out from the gaping hole left above his arm.

Flooding out, the crimson fluid that left his body began to come out in a dark, black as it squirted out from the wound. It didn't take long for his head felt as light as a feather, narrowly rolling to the side before the minotaur stomped his skull on with its massive, obsidian hoof.

Witnessing the weight and lower behind the attempted stomp sent a cold through his body.

—My brains would've been plastered on the wall if that kick landed.

As the minotaur turned to him with its bulging, crimson eyes, its teeth displaying past its black gums, he cast the spell out of desperation.

"Araphel: Blackout—!"

Releasing from his outstretched hand, the temporary darkness swallowed the room for a moment, devouring the senses of his opponent just in time.

Quickly, he stood himself up, nearly tripping over the puddle of blood that formed from the hole above his arm. Strength was rapidly fleeing from his body, unable to move his right arm anymore as blood dripped from his limp fingertips.

Raising Belus once more with only one hand, the room began to wobble, the floors shaking as if they were subtle waves flowing through water. It felt as if gravity itself was twirling around his body, giving him gentle pushes as if trying to knock him over.

--Ah...it's not the room. It's...my vision.

He didn't realize it until just then when crashed against the wall, his head took the brunt of the impact. Ren could feel the liquid flow from his scalp and into his hair, leaking down into his sclera as his vision was dyed in crimson.

--Am I going to fall again? Without so much as putting a scratch on this damned thing? Even if death is temporary, that pain--the pain of defeat sticks with me. I have to find her. I have to find her. I can't waste time like this.

Ren forced himself to stand up straight, sheathing his sword with one hand as the other still laid at his side, leaking blood onto the already dirty stone below.

--I may resurrect, but the same can't be said for this thing here, right? Any injuries it may sustain before my death... might just be permanent. Then even if it isn't now, even if victory isn't this time or the next, or a hundred tries from now--I can grasp it. I'll use it, both my life and the magic taught to me.

"Hear me...Daughter of Chaos, Mother of Dreams, Death, Fate...Day, Night...Destruction."

His eyelids became encumbered, desperately holding them open as he felt his knees wobble under his body as strength abandoned him in the loss of his own lively essence.

--Not yet...I can still...

Before the next part of the incantation could leave his lips, a stream of blood shot out from his throat and onto the ground below him. It felt as if his throat was tearing itself apart from the inside, the crimson tinge of the liquid shifting into a black as it spewed out from within himself.

--Poison…? Its horns…?

Brought down to his knees as his legs fell to null, his entire body coming over with shakes from the cold augury of death that overcame him. He became as pale as snow, his lips losing their color as they shifted to a pale blue, trembling as his own consciousness began to flicker.

Once again, the sight of the lumbering beast stepping towards him filled his blurred gaze.

"I'll be back...even if it takes...one more time...or a hundred--"

Before he could conjure the weak words from his body that were tearing itself apart from the inside, the minotaur raised its heavy hoof into the air before slamming it directly against the top of his head. A gut-wrenching crunch was both heard and felt, watching as a chunk of his own skull fell from his bashed head.

--Why...am I still conscious...or alive for that matter?

Even though he was conscious, he began to convulse from the brutal impact driven into his head. In his hazy, hindered thought--he came to the conclusion that this was the working of the unknown poison that lathered the bull's horns.

--Why? Why does something like this exist? Simply...to be cruel?

All he could do is watch from the corner of his eye as he laid against the cold stone below, shaking uncontrollably before the unforgiving monster dropped its instrument of agony in the form of a hoof down once more, shattering his knee as if it were a piece of chalk.

The pain wasn't dulled, if anything--it was heightened, yet he could not scream through his lungs which did not listen, nor his lips that had no strength to move.

--I want to scream. I want to yell out. I want to cry.

Another stomp to the same knee left it hanging by nothing more than a strand of tattered flesh from the knee down.

Every moment that passed, he questioned why he was still alive. He begged for his body to give out, or at the very least, for his consciousness to shut down. It had every opportunity to kill him in one blow--yet it didn't. The cruel beast held a smile across its scarred lips as it rained down upon him a shower of agony.

--Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Please, kill me. End it already. Just, end it.

He didn't keep track of time, only feeling as if he was stuck in an eternity of torment under the foot of the beast. The pain and heat were spread out throughout his body to the point that he couldn't even pinpoint what was left of himself.

Blood had completely dyed his sclera into bloodshot, only seeing black from the left side as he recalled the beast bringing its hoof down against that side of his head.

--"Why am I still alive?" I've lost count of how many times I asked that to myself now. I think...I'm starting to understand the nature of this trial. It isn't meant to nurture those seeking strength, elevating them into strong warriors.

It's a sick game. Whatever, or whoever created this trial wanted only to bring pain and despair to humans. No sane being could design something like this.

He questioned how he could even feel pain at this point, his nerves had to have been erased and turned into mush by the constant tramping brought down upon them. Watching as the wretched bull raised its leg into the air above him once more, its hoof had been completely soaked in crimson, with bits of skin and flesh hanging from the sides.

It was brought down directly atop his gaze--marking the end of that life as he swore to the gods that he would return the favor to the beast.