Partway

Kyren poured magic into the scythe, a black fog enveloped the weapon. As the monster charged in, he swung the curved blade. The nails were cut clean off, then the cutting path connected to its torso, separating the monster in half.

The ghoul collapsed and skidded on the ground from its own inertia, then laid motionless. Kyren threw the weapon, which flew off and decapitated the ghoul, the blade plunged deep into the hard floor.

"Don't let your guard down," Dracuella reminded inside his mind.

"I know." Kyren extended his hand and the scythe flew back to its owner.

The shadow wavered, then silhouettes walked out from the dark. More ghouls.

Kyren frowned. There were more than he had expected, more than twenty. The hulking, twisted figures surrounded him and Nora. Some of them were marked with numbers, some were not.

Kyren stood close to Nora, lowered his posture, watching for the first attack. In the current situation, he had no choice but to be in the defensive position.

A ghoul shot forwards, extending its tentacles like hungry snakes, aiming at his back. Kyren was quick enough to swipe the blade behind, slicing the creepy moving tobes, but not quick enough to retrieve the scythe in time as the other monsters charged in, hungry for a bite.

If there was a weakness to his weapon, that would be its weight. Without experience with wielding such a heavy weapon, Kyren could not deal with so many enemies at once. He jumped back towards his scythe to bring it close to his body, blocking the nails attempting to scratch his face off.

Without leaving a second the group of ghouls to catch up, Kyren kicked the monster off and made a wide swipe. Two of the closest ghouls had their legs cut off, but were still alive and kicking, crawling with their tentacles and hands. Kyren took another step back, only to realize that the ghouls noticed Nora lying on the floor, their attention drawn to her.

Kyren acted without a second of delay, throwing the scythe at the ghouls walking towards the girl. The blade gleamed with black fog and decapitated the monsters before turning in midair like a boomerang, coming back to its owner.

The boy was not in a position to wait for it to come back as nails and tentacles were coming nonstop. Kyren took out a parchment and poured magic into it. As the magic circle materialized, a spherical shield appeared, taking on a black hue. Metallic noises rang continually as the ghouls wore down the shield with their freakish brute strength.

Much as he hoped the shield could withstand until his weapon came back, it crumbled after less than a second. Kyren raised his arms, focusing magic into them. The moment the shield shattered, he sidestepped and managed to dodge most of the attacks. Still, three deep gashes appeared on his arms, dripping with red blood. Underneath the redness was white bones. Kyren lost feelings in his arm, his fists were weak.

He tried to heal them with the same method as before, but his arms could not change into the shadow blade.

"Hold the scythe, it will heal you," a voice said in his mind.

Kyren commanded the weapon to fall in his hands. The next instance, the gashes started to close, his skin became intact again, leaving not even a scar.

The healing ability was a pleasant surprise, but if he could not break out of the encirclement, sooner or later he would be a tasty treat for those creatures.

Suddenly, he realized that the voice just now did not sound like Dracuella. Yet, it was still familiar.

"Thought you're dead." Kyren smirked.

"I was ready for my eternal resting, but seeing your ass getting handed made me crawl out of my grave," Riley mocked, "Nora will have her dream broken if she sees you like this."

"Shut up," the boy said with a huff.

A chuckle came back.

"No time to batter. Listen, you have my memory, and that includes every single spell that I have memorized for years. Use them."

His attention was drawn to what Riley had just informed, making him a beat slower to dodge an incoming slash. Most of the attack's damage was blocked by the body of the scythe, apart from a few of his fingers that were sliced off, which quickly grew back. There was no wound, yet the pain still annoyed him. The boy frowned at Riley.

"I don't have any of those memories"

Riley clicked her tongue.

"Wimpy. You really are helpless, aren't you?"

Suddenly, Kyren felt his mind slipping. Images of piles of books and strange symbols overlapped with his vision.

"Hey, not now!" he yelled as his focus was forcefully dragged away, even though right now it required full concentration just to defend from the group of ghouls.

Nails and tentacles intervened, filling his sight as Kyren pushed his mobility to the max, trying to dodge as much as possible. Scratches and tears stacked on his body. The scythe prevented the wounds from settling, but the pain was putting a toll on his mind.

"Done," Riley's voice sounded, then Kyren felt strength left his body. As his forehead knocked hard against the ground, the over ten remaining monsters got a hold of the boy. One grabbed his arm, one bit into his hand, one twisted its tentacles around his neck, others fought each other for the rest of the prey. Sounds of the trapped souls howling on their heads added madness to the carnage.

Before the human body was torn apart between the monsters, the skin turned black, the limbs lost their shapes and the torso turned into a fume of black smoke. A distance away, the fume of black smoke rose from the ground, forming a figure.

Kyren materialized, the same as the before, except for the grey eyes that had turned completely black. As the ghoul recovered from their momentary confusion and located their prey again, Kyren turned his wrist, forming a magic circle in his palm, from which black smokes flowed out, becoming another Kyren, holding an identical scythe.

Against the soul trappers of five times the number, the two shadows took turns to defend and attack, mowing down body parts one by one. Tentacles got a hold of the body of the scythe, the blade of the other cut off the dark tubes, then blocked a slash from two ghouls. The Kyren from behind made a cut upwards, making four bone-thin arms falling on the ground.

As the blade was approaching one of the crippled ghoul's head, all of its mouth opened wide. Both Kyrens jumped back, only to see all of the remaining ghouls widen all of their mouths. Then came the shrieks.

Rock crumbled. The transparent air became wavy, debris floated as if the space was occupied by ghosts. Kyren released the double body spell and constructed a different magic circle on his palm. Black smoke crawled out and possessed one of the decapitated heads, which then flew to his side in a blink of an eye. The mouths of the separated head created an equally powerful shockwave. As a consequence of outputting a shriek that matched over ten others, the head exploded just in a few seconds. However, it completed its job.

The shockwave attack was neutralized, leaving the monsters frozen for a moment. And a moment was all it took.

Kyren blurred, then appeared behind the group of ghouls moments later, his scythe dripping with black blood. Then, all the heads fell down, making a unanimous thud, and the hulking figures collapsed at the same time.

As Kyren swung the weapon to get rid of the blood, a series of slow clapping was heard.

"It has been so long since I have been so surprised," came a raspy voice that Kyren thought he would never hear again.

A person walked out of the previously empty dark corner. He was more healthy than last time, the body was still thin, but not to the point of skin on bone like before. The giant tumor on the head had reduced to a barely noticeable bump.

Kyren took a glance at Nora, seeing that she was still asleep.

"Are you with the SPD?"

The man, who used to be the neighbor of the cell next to his, showed a smile, stretching the wrinkles on his senile face.

"It's understandable, your distrust towards the Department. But it was not always like this. At one time, it was the hope of humanity."

"Not anymore," said the boy.

The old man signed, "You are right. Years of trying to get rid of evil, they have been corrupted by the same thing they fight against . But I can guarantee that it is the safest place right now for the girl, the carrier of the golden fire."

Kyren remained silent, his eyes did not waver from the other person's gaze. Then, he asked, "What is your objective?"

The old man let his eyes wander, looking around the spacious floor.

"Do you know? This place is called the Black Hole by the Department, because no matter how many resources they pour into dealing with the Black Hole, it sucks in everything. In the end, they resorted to using extreme measures."

He paused, perhaps lost in reminiscence.

"This used to be a palace called the Castle of Immortality, home of the most powerful magician in the world. At the end of their life, the magician tried to find a way to achieve true immortality, to overcome death. His obsession gave birth to brutal, inhumane, even disgusting experiments. Still, he failed. The legacy he left behind wasn't knowledge, or libraries full of spells and magic circles, but a dungeon infested by his failed experiments. The monsters lost their master but still carried out their missions years after years. It became a self-sufficient butchering machine."

When the man turned towards Kyren again, his smile had vanished, replaced by a stern gaze.

"I want to avoid this tragedy, to make sure it will never happen again."

"What does this have anything to do with Nora?" Kyren inquired.

"Not her." The man pointed at Kyren. "You. Truthfully, I already had plans for the girl, but you have proven to be a much better variable to put a stop to the spreading degeneration in the magicians' society."

The man then turned his eyes to Nora.

"But she will not be uninvolved, it's too late for that. The golden fire is the ultimate prize that every faction, every powerhouse will fight to death for. She needs protection, a faction to lean on, else she will be shredded to pieces."

Kyren snickered, "You want me to leave her with you?"

He raised the scythe in a defensive stance.

The old man shook his head before conjuring a magic circle in his palm. Black smoke rose from Kyren's scythe, his hand ready to cast a counterspell.

Unexpectedly, from the old man's magic circle, a scroll materialized, which then floated towards Kyren. Unlike the previous parchments he had received from the old man, this one did not contain a spell, but resembled a contract.

"The Bond of Heart," the old man explained, "A contract that connects souls. If something ever happens to Nora, the same damage will be inflicted onto me. Would this be enough to convince you?"

Then, Kyren witnessed as the signature of the old man appeared on the blank line at the end of the contract.

"Ouroboros?" He read the name out loud.

The man tapped his temple.

"I've said before, haven't I? I have forgotten much of my life. That is the name given to me by my former master, as I was the closest to his vision."

Kyren took out the picture of the woman and child. However, now it was just a blank piece. He turned his gaze towards Ouroboros again. The gentle, unchanging gaze seemed to hide a universe of forbidden knowledge and rotten schemes.

"Dracuella," he thought to himself, to which an answer quickly came back.

"The contract can be trusted."

The contract could be trusted, but not the person.

Kyren casted his spell, infusing black smoke into Nora.

"A combination of forced teleportation, damage notification and healing," Ouroboros exclaimed, "quite an advanced technique for a beginner."

All of a sudden, Kyren swung the scythe, sending a line of crimson blood towards the old man. Ouroboros did not lose his composure, constructing a defensive spell within a second. However, to his astonishment, the spell was helplessly shattered.

The single strand of blood then exploded with spikes that impaled various body parts of the old man, one of which went through his forehead.

Lodged to the wall behind, Ouroboros blinked, otherwise motionless. As the blood receded, the old man was dropped on the floor like a broken puppet.

"If you don't keep your word, the rest of your long life will be nothing but agony," growled the boy.

At the end of his line of sight, Ouroboros was slowly standing up, the wounds healing at a visible rate. Accompanied by a slow laugh, the old man raised his question, "Was that the entity that had granted you power?"

Kyren remained silent.

"You have my words," Ouroboros patted dust off his clothes, "As long as I am breathing, nothing of harm will come to the little girl."

Kyren nodded as a sign of recognition. With nothing left to be done, he walked towards the girl, who was still in deep sleep despite having no injuries. The boy kneeled down beside her, running his fingers through her hair.

He engraved into his mind every detail of her face, the sounds of her breathing, the fragrance coming from her body, the feeling of her skin against his.

"You should go," the hoarse voice of the old man was heard from behind, "people from the Department will be here soon."

Without a word said, Kyren let black smoke enveloped his body. When the smoke cleared, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

Laughter then erupted. Ouroboros observed the sleeping girl for a long time.

"When the day of reunion comes, what would become of the two of you? Even I do not know what to expect."

He conjured a spell, creating a dome around him and Nora.

"But the world will surely rumble under your footsteps."

The two of them disappeared.

The End.