Chapter 17: Path to Ascension

Time moved quickly, and before Vesper knew it, Casper had to leave. They exchanged goodbyes, and as soon as Casper walked out the door, both Father and Lyric came home. Vesper was about to greet them when he noticed that Lyric looked completely drained. His little brother, usually full of energy, barely had the strength to say hello.

"Hi, Father. Hey, bud," Vesper said, directing his attention to Lyric. "What's going on? You seem really down today."

Lyric mumbled something under his breath. "It's nothing, Ves," he said, not making eye contact. His voice was low, and he walked straight past Vesper and inside the house. It was clear something was bothering him.

Confused, Vesper turned to his father. "What's up with him?" he asked.

Father smiled, a soft look of understanding on his face. He motioned to a nearby bench, signaling that they should sit and talk. "He's embarrassed, that's all," Father said gently.

Once they were seated, Vesper asked again, "What happened?"

Father let out a small laugh. "It's really nothing serious. He just didn't do as well as he thought he would on that test he was bragging about last week."

Hearing that, Vesper couldn't help but laugh along with him. "Oh man, has my little brother gotten that full of himself?" His laughter grew until his eyes watered.

Father chuckled too, but he quickly added, "Don't tease him too much about it, alright? He's taking the results harder than I expected. He thought he was going to ace it."

"Don't worry, Father, I won't," Vesper promised, still smiling as he wiped a tear from his eye.

They both headed inside to eat. As they walked into the kitchen, they found Lyric already sitting at the table, hungrily eating his food. He was clearly upset, but food seemed to be doing the trick of making him feel a little better.

"Hey bud, slow down a bit. You'll choke if you eat that fast," Vesper said, patting his brother on the back.

Lyric only nodded, taking smaller bites as he continued to eat. Once they finished dinner, Father and Lyric headed off to their respective rooms, but Vesper felt restless. The sparring session with Casper had sparked something in him, a realization that he couldn't quite shake.

"I need to work on my defense," Vesper mumbled to himself. Instead of going to bed, he headed to the small gym they had in the house. There, he lay down for a moment, replaying the spar in his head.

Casper was quick, more agile than Vesper expected. While Vesper was fast in his own right, especially compared to normal humans, he realized his speed wasn't enough. Without his Skill, he wasn't fast enough to keep up with stronger opponents. And even if he was fast, speed alone wouldn't be enough to take down the larger monsters in the Abyss. He lacked the defensive strength to survive a serious fight against monsters stronger than Category 2.

Vesper closed his eyes, mentally walking through every step he had taken during the spar. He tried to imagine what he could have done differently—how he could have moved his sword, where his feet should have been, and how his body should have shifted. His fighting style was more grounded, solid and steady, but his skills were built for someone who fought like an assassin—swift, precise, and deadly.

A thought began to form in his mind.

"What if I combined them?" he whispered to himself. "What if I used my Phantom mark along with my usual sword style? And if I activated my Phantom blades at the same time, I'd have both speed and precision. It could be the deadliest style I could come up with."

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. It was a great idea in theory. However, there was a problem. The Phantom mark gave him an incredible boost in speed, but it was almost too much. Vesper could barely control it. He wasn't skilled enough yet to handle that kind of speed and still perform his sword techniques properly.

But he wasn't discouraged. If anything, the challenge only made him more determined. For the next two hours, Vesper trained tirelessly, activating his Phantom mark and practicing his sword stances and dances. He focused on controlling the mark, trying to harness the speed rather than letting it overwhelm him.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quite there yet. The speed was still too much, and he found himself making mistakes more often than he liked. But Vesper didn't lose hope. He knew that mastering the Phantom mark would take time, and he was ready to put in the effort.

After two hours of intense training, he finally decided to call it a night. "I need rest if I want to train properly tomorrow," he said to himself, wiping the sweat from his face before heading to his room. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light, his body exhausted from the day's work.

The next morning, Vesper woke up a bit later than usual. After a quick breakfast, he saw his father walking Lyric to school. He waved to them as they left, feeling a bit behind on his day's schedule. He needed to catch up on his training.

As he prepared for another day in the gym, his Mother walked in, holding something small in her hand.

"Hey, Ves," she said with a warm smile. "Getting ready for training?"

"Yeah, Mother. Is something up?" Vesper asked, noticing the small chip in her hand.

"I thought this might help you with your training. It's a recording of some of the first Awakened in the Valoris family. I think you'll find it useful," she said, handing him the chip.

"Thanks, Mother," Vesper replied, taking the chip. "I'll give it a listen."

"Be careful during your training, Ves," she said with a smile before leaving him alone in the gym.

Vesper inserted the chip into the computer and began his workout. The recording played in the background as he trained, filling the room with voices from the past, telling the story of the Valoris family.

As he worked through his sword stances, the recording detailed how the Valoris family had first Awakened. While the Abyss on started infecting people about thirty years ago, they had already made a name for themselves by defeating powerful monsters, including those in the dangerous Category 6 and Category 7 only while being an Awakened but it took them three long years to defeat each one. 

The recording then shifted focus to something that caught Vesper's attention: the next stage of power beyond Awakening, known as becoming a Demi-Human.

The voice on the recording explained how people with innate talent would be chosen by the Abyss. Once chosen, they had to pass a trial to become Awakened, but that was only the beginning. Those who wanted to continue their ascent could challenge a second trial.

This trial was different from the first. The person would be transported to a new world, a world that wasn't real in the traditional sense. It was a construct of the Abyss, created specifically to test the challenger's skill and intelligence. Every trial was unique, requiring the challenger to solve a problem or complete a task that hadn't been done by those who came before.

What made this trial even more difficult was the fact that those who had completed similar trials before were none other than the Celestials themselves. The recording suggested that Celestials had once been human, just like Vesper, and that they had become celestials by completing the trials. If someone successfully completed the second trial, they would ascend and become a Demi-Human, a being much stronger than a regular Awakened.

However, the recording revealed that very few had managed to reach this stage. In fact, fewer than ten thousand people in history had become Demi-Humans. But even this was not the final stage of power.

To take the next step, a person had to be chosen by the Abyss once again. If chosen, they would face a third trial. In the Valoris family, only three people had ever been selected for this trial, and of those three, only two had completed it.

Those who succeeded in the third trial were known as Ascended. Their powers far surpassed those of Demi-Humans, and the details of how they completed their trials were closely guarded secrets, known only to the main branch of the family.

As the recording ended, Vesper felt a sense of wonder and determination. The path to ascension was long and difficult, but now he had a more understanding of what lay ahead. For now, his focus would be on mastering the Phantom mark and refining his combat skills, but in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to challenge the Abyss and ascend beyond his current limits.

"I'll get there one day," Vesper whispered to himself. "But first, I have to master the Phantom mark."

And with that thought, he continued his training, pushing himself harder with each swing of his sword.