Chapter 19-

As Q held a hand up to me and offered her deal, something felt missing from her offer.

"What about this?" I ask while holding my left arm out.

“What if I accept your offer? Krisyn offered to fix this if I came here. If I accept your offer, could you do something about this?"

I unwrap the Divine Cloth and show her the state of my arm.

Q glanced at it for a short moment, then she shook her head.

“Sorry, but that’s beyond my power. I could only offer a life of luxury until her mark reaches your heart and mind.”

When she called it a mark, that immediately caught my attention.

“Wait, you know what this is?!”

Q then placed her hands on her hips.

“I really don’t like saying her name... “

She then sighed.

“That’s the Mark of Krisyn, the Banished One.”

“What does it mean? Anything I should know about it?” I asked while wrapping the Divine Cloth on my arm.

“It depends on the person who receives it. Once the mark is placed on someone, it latches onto their body and soul. She had been using these marks to find people to come here and free her. In order to make those people come here, she made it so that the marks slowly kill the host. This way, they are forced to come here and attempt to free her.”

“So since I’m the only person that made it this far, you’re offering me this deal in order to keep me from continuing downward?”

“That’s correct. This would be in order to keep you from advancing further. Once you accept the deal, this floor would become a separate plane that you could enter freely and completely shut off from the rest of the dungeon.”

She then held out her sleeve again.

“An offer like this won’t happen again. So what will you choose, accept this deal or die?”

I thought about it for a while. Despite it being a good offer, I didn’t know how long I have in this world or when this mark would kill me.

“...”

“So, have you made your decision?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll take my chances heading down the dungeon?”

Once I gave my answer, Q then lowered her hand.

“I see… So that’s going to be your choice? Just know that if you choose that, I’m going to have to prevent you from going down.”

“Yeah, I know.” I say while taking a few steps back and getting ready for what’s next.

“Just know-”

Then Q got on all fours and something unexpected happened.

Her body began to shift and grow, while all of the water lilies from the fountain began to float above her.

In just a few seconds, she went from being the short cloaked feline, into a massive six-legged lioness.

Other than her massive size, there were other things that were different about her now.

She now had those water lilies attached to her back, while their roots have spread along her body and connects to an exposed heart in her chest. Her cloak that used to cover over her small form, is now hanging over her head like a grey veil and a crown of thorns is holding it in place.

“-that this was your choice.” She said while staring down at me.

I immediately readied the knife that she gave me.

“Have you forgotten something? Who was the one that gave you that?”

As soon as she said that, the knife burst into a cloud of bubbles and formed into one massive bubble. Next thing I know, I was trapped inside it.

“... Should’ve seen that coming?”

The bubble that I was in started floating away, carrying me away in it.

Q then swung one of her paws and sent the bubble flying.

The bubble flew out of the garden and into the swamp.

As it went bouncing around the trees, I was getting tossed around the bubble and couldn't grab onto something to stop it.

Once the bubble came to a stop, I was both bruised in many places and felt sick to my stomach.

"So that's how hamsters feel when you kick the hamster ball while they're inside?" I said while trying to stop the world from spinning.

Once I regained my senses, I could hear something big coming my way.

Knowing who it was, I immediately brought out the bone spear and twisted the handle to extend it into its javelin form. This made it reach both sides of the bubble and popped it.

I quickly got on my feet and readied myself.

Once Q kept out of the trees, I thrusted the javelin at her.

But she caught the tip of it with her teeth and bit it off, leaving me with only a long stick.

"Didn't you forget who gave you all of your little toys?!"

She then swiped me with one of her massive paws and sent me flying.

I then crashed into the murky waters of the swamp and it didn't help cushion the fall at all. It just felt like a massive slap to my back as I landed.

'I knew that deal was too good to be true. Nobody just offers free items without a catch.'

After I got up, I saw Q running at me. So I grabbed one of the stone knives on my belt and threw it at her. But all it did was bounce off of her.

"You can't hurt me with my own creations!" She shouted as she swiped two of her right paws at me.

I quickly kept back.

"Hey… shut up!" I said as I kept throwing more knives at her.

I kept jumping out of the way of her paws and threw knives at her whenever I could.

The only thing this did was annoy her.

I then tossed one of the knives and the handle hit one of her eyes.

"Ahhh, why you little!"

As that distracted her, I used the Toad Hook to grapple onto one of the tall trees and pulled my self up to it.

I then landed on one of it's branches and looked down at her.

"Dumb question, but is this part of the test?!"

I then jumped out of the way of a tree that was thrown at me.

"Yeah, that was a dumb thing to ask." I said as I kept swinging away from tree to tree.

I wasn't getting anywhere with hurting her, and all my weapons couldn't even scratch her. So I needed to think of something to win this fight.

But I was immediately brought out of my thoughts when I felt something hit me from the side and sent me crashing into a tree.

When I pulled myself from the tree, I looked to see what it was.

The roots on Q's back were swinging in the air, like living whips.

"You will not make a fool of me, little Toshio!"

I jumped out of the way as she sent two roots my way.

I barely ducked out of the way as they sliced through the tree that I crashed into. This caused a shower of splinters to fly everywhere.

'Could this day get any worse?!'

Then a familiar voice came to my head.

"Free yourself of the bracelet."

"Really, you want me to do that?!"

I then quickly ducked and jumped over two claw swipes from Q.

"It's necessary, if you plan to survive." Krisyn whispered inside my head.

"Stay out of this, Banished One!" Q shouted out.

"Wait, you could hear her too?!"

"Yes, all guardians could hear when she speaks. This let's us know when she is luring another marked host."

Then Krisyn continued speaking.

"No time to explain. Decision is yours…" Her voice whispered as it faded.

I was now thinking about what Krisyn said, while I was dodging each of Q's attacks.

Then one of Q's paws hit my side and sent me flying.

She then swung one of the roots and hit me square in the gut, sending me spiraling into the side of one of the giant alligators.

This made it upset and turned to look at Q.

It then charged at her and tried to bite at her, while I was on its back.

Q then got up on her hind legs and brought four of her paws onto the top of the alligator’s skull.

There was a loud crunch as the alligator’s head got caved inward and I was now facing face to face with Q again.

I quickly pulled out the tower shield and held it out in front of me, just before one of Q’s roots hit it.

The impact sent me crashing into another tree and left both of my hands tingling.

But once again, I slowly got up and used the shield to support myself.

“... why?” Q suddenly asked.

“Why what?” I asked.

“Why are you so desperate to keep traveling down? Even if you get past me, there’s still twenty-eight more floors to go.”

“I don't need you telling me what I can't do!"

I then start trying to remove the bracelet.

But for some strange reason, it won't come off of my arm.

"The purpose of that thing is to seal magical powers of any imprisoned magic user. It's not something that you could remove on demand."

Q then continued swiping her claws and root whips at me. I managed to dodge most of the strikes that were aimed at vital areas. But the longer this went on, the more cuts and bruises I was getting on my body.

Q then knocked the shield out of my hands.

I then pulled out the two bone machetes and attempted to slash at her. But unfortunately her root whips were faster, as one of them slammed into my gut and sent me flying again. This caused me to drop the two machetes.

Q just stepped on them and broke them, as she was now walking towards me.

Once again, I slowly got up.

“And you keep getting up again? Why?”

“Good question. I’ll let you know when I figure that out.” I said as I started gnawing on the bracelet, trying to get it off.

“You know that I keep knocking you down over and over. You can’t even use any form of magic with that thing on.”

Q then sent another root whip at me. But as soon as she did that, an idea flashed into my mind and I held my arms up to block.

Then there was a loud snapping sound and I was sent flying again.

As soon as I hit the ground, I looked up and saw Q with a surprised look on her face.

I traced her gaze down to the bracelet, which was broken on the ground between us.

“Even with that thing, there’s still one form of magic that I could use.” I said as I slowly got to my feet.

“Oh? What would that be?” she asked.

“I could control the element of ‘surprise’!” I shouted as I kicked some mud at her face.

The mud hit her square in the eyes and blinded her.

“Ahhh! Again with the eyes?!”

With this opening, I brought out my knife and dashed at Q.

She then sent several of the root whips aimed blindly at me.

Some of them grazed against me as I ran towards her, but something else was on my mind.

Something felt different in my body.

It felt like each cut and bruise on my body were on fire.

It felt similar to getting a papercut and pouring fresh lemon juice onto it. But the pain I was feeling felt like I just ran naked through a field of razor wire and jumped into a pool of lemon juice.

On top of that, there was another feeling that I had. And that was warmth.

It felt like my whole body was heating up and a sour feeling was building up in my stomach.

While I was dodging the root whips, I kept feeling like I needed to throw up and my vision was starting to get blurry.

But I still kept going and soon plunged my knife into the exposed heart on her chest.

As I did that, a black mark appeared in the spot where I plunged my knife into and spread across all of the roots on her body.

"..."

Q went silent for a few moments. She still had mud in her eyes and couldn't see, but she knew that she had lost.

“So… you decided to use her power.”

Blood started leaking from her mouth and fell on my shoulders.

"I only wish you luck. You're going to need it…"

As soon as she said that, she fell to her side with a loud thud.

“..."

I stood there in silence, as I dropped my knife and looked at Q’s lifeless body.

I then felt a sharp pain in my gut.

I looked down and saw that one of the roots had impaled through my stomach.

Then the pain of the root in my gut got accompanied with the return of the pain of Krisyn’s Mark on my arm.

I felt the sharp pain spread up my arm and clutched my arm as it started shaking.

"What's going on?"

"Something that needs to be done." Krisyn said in my head.

It felt like something was crawling inside my arm and making its way up.

"Am I dying?" I asked while falling to my knees.

"Probably?"

"What do you mean? Was this your plan from the start?" I said as I felt something coming up.

I then vomited out a black liquid and my vision started spinning.

"This was your decision when you kept denying what I'm offering. This is only the beginning. If you manage to survive this, then keep traveling down. Keep traveling down, keep slaying every hunter that comes after you, keep surviving, and keep making your way to me."

Some type of black liquid started running down my nose and eyes.

"Keep doing this and don't ever think about turning your back on me. Free me and I'll repay you with my gifts."

"What do you mean by...?" I asked as I tried standing up.

Then the world felt like it was spinning and it was hard to keep my balance.

Then the next thing I knew, I fell to the ground. Then Krisyn spoke one last time before I blacked out.

"Your fate that's sealed by blood, for work that cannot be left undone. Plunge yourself into the abyss depth, being grateful that I let you take another breath. Face yourself against any horror, for me who you'll adore. Follow my orders without shame, then be granted the honor of serving the Princess of Black Flame."

Then after that, my vision went black and my mind went blank.