Chapter 14: Whispers of the Abyss

The wind howled through the ruins, a ghostly lament that carried the weight of untold horrors. The shattered remains of an ancient bridge stretched beneath Adrian's feet, its crumbling stones offering little security over the endless void below. Shadows churned within the abyss, restless and shifting as if alive.

He tightened his grip on the Eclipse Blade.

The Nightmare Realm was changing again.

This time, Adrian wasn't merely reacting to its horrors. He was beginning to understand them.

His battle with the Sentinel had been more than just survival—it had been a revelation. A trial by fire that had pushed him beyond his limits, forcing him to grasp something deeper. In that moment, instinct had given way to something more refined.

A technique had emerged, not from mindless struggle, but from the very essence of battle itself.

Skybound Edict.

The name resonated in his mind—not as a memory, but as an undeniable truth. A sword art that cut through more than just flesh, a strike that carved into the very flow of battle.

His body ached from the wounds of his previous fight, but the realm gave him no time to recover.

Because it was watching him.

Again.

A whisper brushed against his senses.

Not a sound carried by the wind, nor an echo from the ruins.

This came from deeper.

Older.

Something in the abyss had awakened.

A chill crawled up his spine.

The void below stirred.

Darkness coiled like a living entity, its inky tendrils twisting upward, dragging something into reality. A shape flickered in and out of existence—a form not bound by the constraints of flesh. Hollow eyes glowed with a violet hunger, and abyssal tendrils extended from shifting limbs, twisting into grotesque, blade-like appendages.

A Wraith.

Not like the mindless husks he had fought before.

This one watched him.

It understood him.

And it wasn't alone.

One by one, they emerged from the abyss, clawing their way into existence. A dozen, then two dozen. Each radiating a presence more solid, more purposeful than the last.

Adrian's pulse quickened.

The Nightmare Realm wasn't just sending another wave of enemies.

It was testing him.

The Wraiths did not attack immediately. Instead, they circled him in unnatural patterns, their bodies flickering between forms. Their movements were deliberate. Coordinated.

They were forming a pattern.

A formation.

His grip on the Eclipse Blade tightened.

If they completed whatever they were weaving—

No.

He wouldn't stand idle and let the abyss dictate his fate.

The first Wraith lunged.

A flicker of darkness. A blade of abyssal energy streaking toward him.

Adrian moved.

Instinct sharpened by battle drove his body into action. His sword flashed, intercepting the attack in a precise counter. The clash of forces sent a ripple through the air, and the Wraith reeled back, its form unraveling momentarily.

The others reacted.

As one, they struck.

Tendrils lashed out. Claws of void-energy carved through the ruins. The ground trembled beneath the force of their combined assault.

Adrian stepped forward.

Eclipse Pulse.

A surge of energy rippled through him. The Eclipse Blade vibrated with power as the skill activated, expanding outward in a wave of shadowy force. The pulse emanated from him, sweeping through the Wraiths in an instant.

For a moment, time itself seemed to slow.

The pulse cut through the darkness, slicing through the Wraiths' forms with an almost disorienting clarity. Their bodies faltered, the unnatural force of the pulse disturbing their very essence. The tendrils, the claws, the shadows—everything was momentarily halted, frozen in the energy's wake.

One by one, the Wraiths staggered back, their forms destabilizing, as though the pulse had unbalanced the very fabric of their existence.

Adrian didn't hesitate. He pressed the advantage.

Skybound Edict.

His blade moved with the grace of a storm, slicing through the nearest Wraith. The creature was cleaved cleanly in half, its energy dissipating into the void as the pulse's lingering force fractured its cohesion.

Then another Wraith came, but this time, it was different. It adapted.

The remaining Wraiths no longer moved in unison. They split apart, weaving through the air in erratic, unpredictable patterns. Their eyes burned with the knowledge that they could not be stopped by a single pulse.

Adrian exhaled, narrowing his focus.

Good.

If they could adapt—so could he.

The next Wraith lunged, but Adrian was already moving. He anticipated its approach, and with a single motion, he stepped aside, his blade flashing once more.

Another Wraith fell.

Then another.

Each strike was faster, more precise, powered by the clarity that came from understanding his enemies' every move. His muscles burned, but the fatigue was drowned by a deeper, unyielding resolve.

Pain was nothing.

Fatigue was irrelevant.

Only the blade mattered.

The last Wraith morphed, twisting into something monstrous in a final act of defiance.

It lashed out with abyssal tendrils, its form expanding into a mass of writhing shadows.

Adrian met it head-on.

One decisive motion—

The blade moved faster than before.

Sharper than before.

The Wraith let out a soundless scream—

Then it was gone.

Silence settled over the ruins.

Adrian exhaled, his breath steady despite the toll on his body. The Nightmare Realm had withdrawn.

For now.

A flicker of light appeared in his vision.

The realization settled in.

This was only the beginning.

He had taken the first step.

But there was so much more to learn.

More techniques to master.

More battles to fight.

And the Nightmare Realm wasn't done with him yet.

Slowly, he sheathed his sword.

His body demanded rest.

But his mind—

It was already looking ahead.

He turned from the abyss, stepping deeper into the ruins.

And as he did, the whispers of the Nightmare Realm faded into silence.

For now.