Dead’s Whisper

As the fog faded Dead's Whisper came to their senses.

They saw a split Blissful Death laying next to the masked individual. Dead's Whisper grit their teeth. Lady Xenio had told them that they were most likely the weakest in the event. She hadn't invested much into them, planning to go all out for the next time.

Dead's Whisper found truth to this almost immediately, nearly all the opponents strength was suffocating. The exception was the masked one, but clearly that was wrong!

Dead's Whisper clenched their sword. We're they going to be sacrificed for the Royals? They didn't want to die!

Dead's Whisper immediately shouted, "I quit! I admit defeat, I give up! Just let me out of here!"

The Dukes stopped chatting amongst each other. One asked, "Marchioness Xenio, what do you say about this?"

Lady Xenio huffed, "Hmph, I can't use him for the next tournament. Why should I let him free? Just die for me, you already slandered my name."

The Duke spoke, "And so you have it, your request was denied."

'Denied? There wasn't anything about that! These scheming greedy Royals! Slandering your name?! Then you shouldn't have chosen me!'

Dead's Whisper was shaking from anger and fear, "I won't die for your petty games. . ."

His body relaxed and he looked into the sky, "Fine, you win. Sardon! You have my permission, do what you will! On the exception that you answer my wrath!"

"Bahahaha! Finally! It's good that you came to your senses! Worry not, with my strength the entire Abyss shall fall!"

A dark shadow descended upon Dead's Whisper, his body twitched violently before calming. An evil grin formed on his face as he examined his body, "Yes. . . this feels great! You truly have such a compatible body! Now... time to finish this. The competition for Duke? Phahaha! With a few years I shall regain my original strength. This shall suffice to complete this foolish competition."

Travis observed this, his mind began to work overtime trying to remember the name Sardon. It was familiar, something he remember being a part of. Yet the memory just wouldn't appear!

Sardon looked over to Travis, "You, I can't sense your strength. That mask, that mask shouldn't have that ability. Who tampered with it?"

Travis gripped his sword, the identity of Sardon will be put off for now. For now his elimination took priority.

Travis ran forward. Sardon saw this and mocked, "Coming straight for me? How arrogant! You're simply too immature to realize what you're facing!"

Travis approached and swung his sword, Sardon twirled his own sword and parried Travis' blow. A mocking smile appeared, "Too naive as well."

Travis recovered and quickly executed several forward stabs. Sardon blocked these all with no issue.

Sardon let an attack slide forward and he caught the blade. Examining it closely his grin disappeared, "This! This is my sword. Why did it choose you? You're unworthy of this blade! I shall take it from your hands!"

The sword turned into a mist and Travis punched towards Sardon's face. The latter jerked their head to the side and dodged. They kicked in frustration, sending Travis sliding back.

Sardon shouted, "Come back to me! We shall become one again! Let us show the world what we are capable of once again!"

The sword formed back into Travis hand. It remained still, failing to react to Sardon's voice.

Sardon spat in disgust, "So you're holding a grudge huh? Fine, I'll show you that your choice was a mistake."

Sardon focused on Travis now, "Allow me to show the true power of the Abyss Caller."

A dark energy coated Sardon's sword. Travis immediately recognized this skill, it was [Depth's Slash]!

Sardon swung the weapon and a large dark crescent attack formed. It was several times larger than Travis'.

Travis was forced to block the attack, struggling against the force from it. Yet as he did he was hit with a major sense of Déjà vu. He had faced this attack before, long ago.

His guildmates and himself were exploring the Abyss in search of equipment or items to strengthen their Guild. Eventually they stumbled across a boss named Sardon. The boss was terrifyingly strong, it eliminated the whole squad in less than a minute.

This was who Sardon was! The original wielder of Harbinger of the Abyss! Sardon died during a battle, but eventually reincarnated and fought against the Royals of the Abyss. To think that this was how!

Travis managed to break through Sardon's attack. He began to laugh at the irony. To think that out of everything he did, he would come across a situation like this!

Sardon was confused, "Have you gone insane?"

Travis took a deep breath, "Far from it!"

Boom-!

Travis took off, several blows were exchanged in seconds. Sparks flew, lighting the floor. The swinging of swords and clanging of metal vs metal was heard.

The two clashed weapons with even more strength. The force sent the two sliding back, making some distance between the two. Immediately they both raised their offhand.

Bwom~

Two beams shot forward, clashing into each other. There was a small struggle of strength, but Sardon's was far superior.

Travis saw that he would lose this contest and immediately activated [Truth Twofold: Existence]. He teleported behind Sardon, and swung towards their exposed back.

Sardon flipped the sword in their hand and blocked the blow, "Not bad."

Travis swung twice, each attack was blocked creating a metallic ringing sound along with sparks.

Sardon counter attacked, aiming for Travis' arm. This was dodged with a sidestep and followed with a stab towards Sardon's face.

Sardon's sword changed its position incredibly quick and let Travis' sword glide across. Sardon got close and kneed Travis' stomach. Travis recoiled from the strike, nearly vomiting.

Sardon's sword blurred and two cuts formed on Travis' chest. The force was immense and his armor wasn't able to prevent all the damage. He was sent sliding back from the attack, his chest bleeding from the strikes.

Before he even came to a stop he sent a dark crescent attack towards Sardon. This was met with the same attack, except Travis' was easily destroyed.

Travis did a vaulting maneuver over the incoming attack. As he did he sent three shurikens towards Sardon.

Sardon's blade twirled and the three shurikens were knocked away. The moment the third was, Travis appeared in front of Sardon his blade aiming for the neck.

Sardon attacked this, forcefully moving Travis' sword out of the way. Travis used this momentum to turn his body and kick Sardon's face.

Having landed a strike Travis rolled to recover and created some distance.

Sardon spat a bit of blood on the ground, "If I still had my original strength this battle wouldn't be as entertained."

Sardon was having different thoughts inside though, 'This guy, he's getting stronger.'

The skill [Averoth's Lust for Battle] had taken effect long ago, shortly after Blissful Death's. . . death.

Since he was still technically fighting against Dead's Whisper the timer hadn't reset. Thus the effect had taken place.

Travis was well aware of this, he believed that the battle would end before reaching the maximum strengthening effect!

Sardon cracked his neck, "I shall end this quick. This is an ability you haven't unlocked yet, I am confident in this fact."

Sardon raised his sword above him, "I call the Abyss, strengthen me with the infinite power that lies within your insurmountable depth."

Travis wasn't going to let Sardon chant whatever he desired, he immediately took off.

Yet the chant was short. Sardon easily finished before Travis could stop him, "[Abyssal Rampage]."

The Abyss seemed to be absorbed by Sardon. A dark cloak covered him, leaving nothing of his form to be seen. Sardon's voice could be heard, "A skill obtained uniquely by me, the Abyss powers me. Such strength cannot be contested."

Travis felt the strength physically, he didn't require any skills to guess. He was outmatched.

Travis closed his eyes, "To think I would have to use this so soon."

A pressure began to release from Travis. In just a moment it exploded, Sardon felt suffocated by it. His strength began to slowly fade, "This. . . what is this?!"

Meanwhile all the Royals were shocked upon seeing this, "A War Sight?? Lord Flinnder's champion has a War Sight?!"

The Dukes were pleasantly surprised, "What a twist! To have such a powerful War Sight, it seems that Marquees Flinnder's luck is in fact extraordinary."

"I sense that, it may even affect us? Even if a bit, how strong is this War Sight?"

Erupting Volcano's attention was drawn, "Oh? Perhaps something will provided me with some entertainment."

An eye cracked open, Flowing Petals watched Travis with a bit of interest, "Interesting. . ."

Travis had fully understood his War Sight during his training. It affected everyone except those he intentionally didn't want to. The strength of the effect was decided by three things, the mental status of the victim. The level of the victim, and the stats of the victim. If all three of these were lower than Travis' own, then the effect could essentially paralyze them. Even straight killing the victim.

Sardon most likely had all of this higher than Travis, so the effect wasn't nearly as strong. However Sardon in their current state was far weaker than the Royals, so Travis estimated that their strength was weakened around 20%.

Travis opened his eyes, the real fight starts now!