Planet Deroxa, Elrod Household.
"What are you watching?" Delly, Zack's older sister, asked while looking at Elana, who was looking at the holographic screen on the living room wall.
"Those look like the Seven Reapers. Why didn't you tell me they were live streaming?" Ana suddenly asked after appearing behind Delly and startling her.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Delly let out a deep and exhausting breath.
After regaining her breath, Delly finally asked-
"Who are the seven reapers? Are they some big shot adventurers?"
"No. They are pretty weak. Right now, they are walking toward the area of the first floor's boss. I believe they are fighting the goblin general this time since the second and third floors have the goblin chief and hobgoblin." Elana explained without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Really? Why are you watching them when they are so weak?" Delly asked.
While Delly was Elana's best friend, she sometimes found it hard to understand her behaviors. Elana could sometimes be the most predictable person in the world or the most unpredictable person in the world. It is what made her such a fearsome opponent while also making it hard for her to find friends she could connect with.
However, since Delly was a daughter of the Glade family and also the same age as Elana, they became good friends over the years.
Yet, despite their closeness, there was a lot that Delly didn't know about, and it seemed like TV shows that Elana liked were just another thing Delly had no idea about.
"I mean, it's nice to see someone weak for a change. Secondly, they are prodigies that started entering dungeons a few months ago. More than half of them are first commandments, and even then, they are pretty strong for their commandment. They only started coming to the labyrinth recently." Elana explained before describing all the members to Ana and Delly, despite Ana already knowing all of them
"Who are the rest then?" Delly pointed
"Well, most of them are newbies."Elana shrugged.
"Newbies, huh... That one with a mask is fighting pretty well, though. And he is pretty attractive too." Delly snickered.
"Stop ogling him. Anyway, I think his name is Null or something. What a crappy name." Elana sneered.
"Ogling? You are one to speak." Ana let out a soft chuckle; however, before Elana could retort, Delly suddenly pointed toward the TV and exclaimed-
"Masked guy and the boy from the starforger clan are leaving the formation. I think they're running away." Delly laughed.
"I don't think so..." Ana narrowed her eyes, and when her words reached the girl's ears, they also saw something on the screen.
"Wait, isn't that a goblin chief?" Elana exclaimed.
"I think it is..." Delly muttered.
"Holy crap the comments are going crazy! Did you see what happen with the seven reapers?" Zack asked as he descended the stairs.
"Yeah, we are watching it right now." Ana replied.
"Do you think they will send a squad to save them?" Delly asked.
"Maybe, but you know how the labyrinth is. Unless you go with a complete newcomer, you start on the floor you finished on. Its hard to find that many newcomers nowadays. You just gotta hope that there are still people on the first floor." Ana frowned.
"Hey guys, that aside, doesn't that masked dude look like Lloyd?" Zack asked while everyone else's eyes brightened in both horror and realization.
They all looked at the screen simultaneously, yet after seeing Null kick an early first commandment goblin into a tree, they all shook their heads and felt the urge to slap themselves for thinking about something stupid.
***
???, Labyrinth 1st floor.
"Who knew goblins had elemental abilities too..." Null scratched his chin in interest.
"They don't... Only hobgoblins do." Transcendent gnashed his teeth in frustration.
"I see... Then how should we-" Null words halted as his instincts kicked in, and he quickly moved to the side.
*Boom*
An enormous fist slammed down on the ground, creating a small crater.
Null and Transcendent quickly retreated a few steps back, now surrounded by a ring of flames.
*Roar*
The goblin chief let out another roar, this time accompanied by a hurricane-force wind that sent Null and Transcendent flying away.
Null crashed into the trunk of a large tree, while Transcendent crashed into the trunk of a slightly smaller tree.
*Cough*
Transcendent coughed up a mouthful of blood while Null felt several cracks slowly crawl up his back and reach the sides of his neck. He was very close to being knocked out unconscious, but he kept himself awake despite not having any adrenaline to wake him up
*Boom*
A bright light began to shine on the duo as the goblin chief approached them.
'This is bad...' Null thought.
'We're going to die...' Transcendent thought.
However, instead of panicking, both of their minds ran at 100 miles an hour, trying to figure out a solution on how to not be incinerated by the incoming fireball.
"Trans! Wall!" Null roared, and Transcendent knew exactly what to do.
Despite his body begging him to sit down and rest, Transcendent ignored the pain coming from coursing through his body and quickly shouted-
"Creation: Steel wall!"
Out of seemingly thin air, a powerful steel wall formed in less than a second, and despite it being 2-meters thick, the steel wall began to melt, and within seconds, it had become molten steel.
However, a few seconds was more than enough time for both Null and Transcendent to move out of harm's way and allow the fireball to pass them.
The fireball collided with the wall of molten steel, instantly vaporizing it and continuing onward, eventually disappearing into the horizon.
Null and Transcendent both breathed a sigh of relief, now that they had bought themselves some time.
"Null! You okay?" Transcendent asked as he approached Null.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a few bruises and some cracked ribs. You?" Null lied as he stood up.
"I'll be fine. Just some bruises." Transcendent smiled.
"We need to find a way to kill this thing. Even if we can hold out for a while, we can't keep this up forever." Null sighed.
"I know, but... What can we do? We don't have anything to counter fire magic." Transcendent sighed.
Just as Null was about to reply, they both heard a loud boom, and when they turned to look, they saw a large fireball hurtling toward them.
"Shit! Move!" Transcendent roared as he quickly moved to the side.
Null quickly followed suit and the duo narrowly avoided being hit by the fireball.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Transcendent roared in frustration.
However, instead of feeling anger or frustration, Null could not help but smile as he thought of what he would get when he finally killed the creature before them. Not only would there be a lot of loot to get, but there was a chance that he might get the fire ability the hobgoblin has.
'If I can get that ability, maybe I can learn how to use fire magic too.' Null mused.
However, before he could continue thinking, the duo heard another boom, and when they looked up, they saw another fireball hurtling toward them.
'This has to stop.' Null narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip around his blade, but instead of doing something potentially reckless, he moved out of the way as an idea popped into his mind.
"I need you to distract the Goblin chief for 7 seconds." Null asked while Transcendant frowned but still complied by nodding and creating a spear.
*Swoosh*
As a fireball came towards him, he hurtled it through the flames and towards the goblin chief's eye, and despite the goblin chief dodging, the spear still hit, yet not its intended target.
With its ear ripped cleanly off, the goblin let out a powerful earth-shaking roar that sounded throughout the forest and alerted the rest of the group of Null and Transcendent's location.
'Good... Going for the ear means that the goblin chief will have balancing issues, and I knew Transcendent knows that, so he will be trying to get the goblin chief to trip over and accidentally impale himself with something that just happened to be on the ground in that very moment.' Null concluded as the world around him began to turn black, white, and surprisingly, red. Only the color of blood could be seen, not the color of anything else, yet Null was not in the state of mind to question anything that was happening.
[4-Dimensional Thought]
He had one goal in mind, and despite it being more gruesome than anything he had ever done before, he was willing to go the extra mile to make sure he was the one who got the final hit.
3...
Everything for the last hit...
2...
Anything to get the power of flames.
1...
Null was now standing several meters behind the goblin chief as he watched it continuously attack transcendent with both flames and fists.
"YOU!" Null roared at the top of his lungs while slashing down, and due to the power behind it, an arch of wind pressure tore through the air and hit the goblin chief in the back, successfully grabbing its attention and almost tripping it over.
Without hesitation, the goblin threw a fire blast towards Null, one much stronger than the rest, yet it did not stop him from doing what he was planning.
"Hey! We heard the commotion." Damien stated as he and the rest of the team left the forest's shadows and entered the burning landscape.
Despite hearing the voices of Damien and the others, Null still waited... Waiting for the right moment... The moment the goblin makes the mistake of making eye contact with him.
He knew that a fire blast was coming toward him, but he didn't care.
He had one goal in mind and would do anything to complete it.
Every second felt like an eternity...
Yet he waited-
Until it finally happened.
[Void Gaze]
[Monarch's Aura]
[Shadow Enhancement]
*Boom*
*DOOM*
Dread.
Absolute Dread...
That was the best way to describe the feeling everyone felt despite it not being directed at them.
They all knelt even though they knew they didn't have to.
They knelt out of instinct, yet they did not dare stand up again when their knees touched the ground.
They knew they were outmatched, but their minds could not comprehend why.
It almost felt like they were in the presence of an absolute sovereign...
A ruler... the king of kings.
The moment Null made eye contact with the goblin, he released the full power of his killing intent that was thick enough to create a literal cloud created out of darkness, shadows, and mysterious purple energy that made it close to impossible to see from within it.
And the goblin chief had taken a direct hit...
'Their minds are so... Weak?' Null thought to himself with mockery in his voice.
However, he snapped out of his thoughts and tried to dodge the fire blade, yet it was too late.
*BOOM*
Before he could move out of the way, the fire blast erupted into a cyclone of flames that Null found himself trapped in. Yet, such a thing was a part of his plan...
He knew that it would go like this. In fact, he knew everything that would happen from the moment he saw the goblin chief for the first time... All of it was leading up to this. The final attack.
Closing his eyes, Null took a step forward, and the instant before his foot touched the ground, he felt the very world around him freeze.
Opening his eyes again, he no longer saw the blazing flames nor the molten magma he was standing on. Instead, he saw nothing but purple lines...
They looked like arcs of violet lightning going to several places, and for some reason, he felt like he had a connection to them... As if he touching them could grant his wish and complete his plan.
Without wasting another second, Null looked at all the arches of lightning and took a step forward, and within that moment, everything turned black.
Several seconds passed, and before he knew it, he found himself above one of the drone cameras, his foot slowly descending upon it to find a stable foothold.
[Void Step]
[The user of his ability can step into the void and reappear anywhere you can see within range. The user can use this ability once per minute as long as the user has enough mana to reuse this ability.]
Null narrowed his eyes as he saw the goblin chief that was regaining his senses.
His hand quickly moved to the base of his blade, using his finger to slowly trace it to the top of the blade as violet runes gradually etched themselves onto it.
When the final runes were created, the steel blade became pitch-black while the runes glowed even brighter.
'Time to end this.'
[Aspect of Void]
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