Chương 84: Book 1, Chapter 84: Abyss

Down and down they walked into the depths, Rin's blade carving deep, wavy curls into the wall to keep them anchored in place amongst the endless spirals. The strange lightlessness of this realm was ever-apparent, almost crushing in its own way. Logically, Rin knew it made it easier to see, but her instincts screamed that something was wrong every time she glanced towards a corner where a shadow should live.

It reminded her of a still and silent forest, the song of birds and insects alike quieted by the presence of some terrifying predator. Glancing over her shoulder, she looked to Yosuke, making sure that the undead wasn't far behind her. The corpse-swordsman 'met' her gaze as best he could with no eyes and nodded. He held his pair of blades, still slick with blackened ichor from the slaughter above, in an almost casual stance, although as a fellow expert, Rin could see the hidden tension in his every step.

She opened her mouth, about to ask if he had sensed anything, before shutting it and huffing in annoyance. How troublesome it was that he couldn't speak; when it came to a fight, as the Nameless surely wouldn't leave their treasures unguarded, she could warn him if he were getting outflanked, but he was unable to extend her the same courtesy. Turning back around, their march into the depths continued, and Rin was starting to doubt herself. Down and down they went. How deep did this nest go?

Had she misunderstood the mechanics at play and the Greater Nameless found a way to entrap them in an eternal loop despite her best efforts? Her heart dropped, but she continued regardless. She hoped Sensei was alright. Lady Yuki had seemed so terribly worried about him, about how he might not be himself when they next saw him. The thought of anyone being able to break someone so strong and bearing such an indomitable spirit with casual ease was as foreign to her as walking outside to a green sky.

If the worst came to pass, if she had to fight him… Well, even if she wasn't immediately crushed by a man who doubtlessly had decades or centuries more experience than her, she questioned if her will would be strong enough to strike out at one so kind. Rin wished a thousand misfortunes on Yuki's 'sister' for forcing them into such dire straits, but she dared not speak her venom aloud, lest the nogitsune somehow hear.

If she were even half the kitsune that Yuki was, Rin doubted her chances in an honourable fight, even with Yosuke's backing. She just needed to have faith in her sensei and Lady Yuki. The two of them were much more powerful than her and Yosuke; with luck, their foes would be too distracted to react to Rin's part in their daring plan before it was too late. All at once, the air twisted. Where there had once been an inoffensive mustiness permeating the tunnel, there was suddenly the heavy scent of damp coin.

Below it, an undercurrent of faint decay, reminding Rin of the time she had spotted the carcass of a whale upon the shore when she was seven. It was fresh when she first saw it, near where her family's ship was moored during a voyage to give offerings to their patron. In her youth, she had mistaken it for sleeping and believed the whale must have gotten tired of all the swimming and needed a break, although she had never asked the caretakers her father assigned to her.

The following days, as the colossal beast slowly putrefied and scavengers emerged from every nook and cranny to tear chunks from its form in a great feast, were enlightening. Shaking herself from her reverie, Rin narrowed her eyes, gripping her blade tightly. It was a good thing it was made of such fine materials; otherwise, she would have feared her strength would split the handle in twain.

"Stay on guard. We approach the stench of decay and money," Rin gravely whispered, unsure if her companion still had a sense of smell. The stench only grew stronger as they descended, clinging to Rin's nostrils like it was desperate to be noticed. Yet, even though the rot grew more apparent, it didn't become much more pungent. Whatever she was sensing was fresh, without the time to fester into something worse. Down. Down. Then, after they rounded one last curve, they beheld an ocean.

Stretching out into the distance before them was a solid sheet of twisted, blackened limbs, forming dunes and valleys of bodies. They were frozen in waves upon an abyssal sea, thick fog smothering the spaces between them in an unnatural haze. Rin dropped into a ready stance, holding her blade out as if to cut the tide should it crash upon her. But no grim tide of beasts rushed out to meet her. At first, she suspected that they were sleeping, but nothing but the grave and stone was so still.

Looking more closely, she saw that hardly a tenth of the limbs were still attached to their owners. Some were torn, some clearly severed. Some abdomens were split from the body, and others were seemingly sawn in two. A scant few almost seemed to have melted like snow in the summer sun, bodies blossoming into grim flowers of chitin and meat. What stood before her was once an army, one that might have once torn the region asunder in a storm of self-perpetuating expansion and looting.

Now, it was a sea of corpses, disassembled into neat parts to make sure none of them yet clung to life. Slowly, Rin lowered her blade, her heart slowing along with it. Only the heavens knew how many thousands of bodies were here, but, thankfully, they were nothing more than that.

"I believe we found where the ones that Lord Hall starved went," she quietly muttered to her companion. Had the beast at the head of the swarm lost control of its flock and been forced to cull them? It happened so quickly, too. Men could last weeks without food, days without water, but the spiders seemed to need riches like a mortal needed air. Now that she was looking more carefully, Rin could see Kiku's handiwork on some of the bodies, too. It seemed like she was forced to aid in the slaughter.

If the Nameless' number had found themselves cut from sustenance, they might have rushed to find value to feed themselves, which meant… Rin glanced into the distance, looking where the piles of corpses rose highest, near an opposite wall.

"I think I know where they keep their valuables," she said, gesturing where the piles rose to an apex.

"We head over, cut down whatever is guarding the hoard, and destroy as much as possible before they can react. Questions?" Her steely gaze met her companion, who straightened before nodding. At that, the two of them crept into the mist. Idly, Rin wondered where the fog could have come from, but no answer that came to mind felt satisfying. Maybe Nameless blood behaved strangely after their death? The piles of cold, stiff corpses loomed over them as they stepped only where the corpses were thinnest.

In some places, Rin and Yosuke could even touch the ground, but most of the time they had to step on at least one layer of thin legs and carapace. Now that she was closer, Rin couldn't help but notice just how small some of them were compared to others. Many were approaching the size of carts, or at least bears, but far too many were more akin to the size of a person, or particularly large dogs. Hatchlings, maybe?

It was hard for Rin to imagine Nameless being anything other than full-sized monsters tearing through the woods, looking for anything valuable to skitter back to their nest with. Did the Greater Nameless lay eggs, or did they just manifest somewhere in the depths of the caves when they had enough money to support new numbers? Maybe they hatched from the money pile itself, tiny limbs crawling out in a tide from below coins. Every possibility was more disturbing than the last.

Rin was glad that Yuki was going to crush this place into dust. Once, she thought that the Empire was too harsh on Unbound cultivating Nameless for materials, but now she feared that immediate execution wasn't enough. Crunch. Rin's eyes widened as she heard something break under the weight of something ahead. She brought her blade up, face contorting into an animalistic snarl. Of course the vault would have guards patrolling nearby rather than just guarding the entrance, even if she hadn't seen them!

They'd have to fight their way to the door. It'd delay them, but who knew for how long? There could be dozens or, heavens forbid, even more hidden nearby. Lady Yuki and Lord Hall would have to hold off a bit longer! Or would they? Rin thought back to the time Lord Hall had buried himself in forest debris in anticipation of the tax collectors.

It was just before she had seen the terrifying form of the Greater Nameless for the first time, and she remembered her incredulity as he explained the simple truths of the world. Hiding was beneath her, and suited an assassin rather than a proud Unbound, but, just as Lord Hall had asked not so long ago, what if she failed due to failing to seize every advantage she could? Could she live with herself?

Rin spun around and grabbed a rather surprised Yosuke by the collar before diving into a mountain of corpses, burying them both deep in the viscera of dozens of dead with a dull clatter. The black blood dripped in her hair. It got in her eyes. When she inhaled, she could taste the beginnings of rot from the vile liquid. Beside her, Yosuke twisted, trying to right himself, but before he could cause the pile to shift further, the dragon-blooded Unbound seized him by either shoulder, binding him in place.

"Be still!" she whisper-shouted.

"Something's coming!" Part of her wished that this strange realm had darkness. Abyssal blackness would have been preferable to seeing the grotesque, bulging intestines of one of those beasts draped across her companion's back mere inches away. Thankfully, Yosuke quickly calmed down, although the undead was still tense, as if he were about to spring into action. It wasn't a second too soon, either. As soon as he stilled, she heard the tick tick tick of eight long, sharp legs crawling across the corpses.

Through a pinhole gap in the pile, she saw the beast approach, emerging from the mist like dead wood emerging from the water in front of a ship. It was larger than an average Nameless, although still nowhere near the sheer size of the Greater Nameless itself, and bore a steadfast demeanour as it unhaltingly marched across the broken bodies of its family—or did it only see them as competitors?

It showed not a trace of care as it trampled the bodies, splitting a particularly small example of its kind in two with a single, blade-like limb. It didn't even break stride as it continued between the piles with the near-silent tapping of far too many feet. Closer, closer, closer… It passed right in front of them before, suddenly stopping, turning its maddened many-eyed gaze towards their hiding spot. Rin grimaced, bracing herself against an abdomen behind her, getting ready to use it as a springboard.

Could it smell them, or perhaps the value of her blade? As long as the beast only suspected and didn't know, perhaps she could kill it before… This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Before she could ruminate further, the beast turned away and continued on its patrol without a strike or cry of alarm. She dared not move until well after she heard the shadowy monster's steps fade away.

Rin let out a breath she didn't know that she was holding as the sentry continued past them without a single shriek or alarm. Her heart was beating so quickly; she didn't have the constitution for stealth; she would have been less worried charging at five of them at once to take their heads! Breaking from her fugue, Rin carefully pulled herself from the pile before offering a hand to Yosuke, which he thankfully took.

Rin tried to ignore the feeling of his dead, spongy flesh squishing under her grasp as she extracted him in turn, ensuring that the pile wouldn't collapse behind them and draw the patrolling guard back to their location.

"My apologies," she muttered, surreptitiously glancing over her shoulder towards where the Nameless was headed.

"I would have explained myself if we had time." In response, Yosuke brushed himself off with what she imagined was a wince before shooting her a slow and awkward… What did Lord Hall call that? A thumbs-up? Coordinating with someone who couldn't speak was truly annoying. She hoped that her sensei had a plan to fix Yosuke's voice and let the man talk for himself should they ever need to fight side by side again.

They continued, creeping between the corpses like rats on a great battlefield, occasionally diving under more detritus to save themselves from discovery. It was good that Rin was already long used to the sight of corpses both mundane and magical; she could only imagine the weight this would place on a less hardy mind. Where did they get the resources to support this many Nameless to begin with? She was no expert, but she found it hard to believe that so many could be created from the wealth of a single town.

Perhaps it didn't matter, and she had already seen enough of the disgusting spiders for a few centuries at least. The piles grew higher as they closed in on their target, and the skittering patrols became more and more frequent. Again and again, Rin and Yosuke had to escape into the corpses before a guard came around the corner of another heap, just barely having the time to get into cover before they were found.

Moments felt like hours as they were forced to cower away from foes that didn't know that they passed within mere arm lengths. Yet, their progress could not be stopped, only slowed. It was a small mercy that the patrols weren't more dense; the curious nature of space in this place had probably deluded the Greater Nameless into thinking the vile heart of its empire was safe from all but the most powerful. Poking her head around the corner, Rin saw their destination at long last.

Four massive spiders stood guard in front of a large slab of chitinous material that acted as a vault door. The four guards standing attentively on the sides were again far larger than a normal Nameless, and Rin wondered if they were just older and stronger or more intelligent, like their master. They were intelligent enough to keep the corpse piles well away from the door, at least, so there was no chance that they could use the bodies as cover to get close.

The walls above were far too smooth to climb silently, as well. She could see no path forward beside violence. Pulling back, she glanced over her shoulder to Yosuke, fire fighting in her eyes.

"Four of the large guard spiders by a vault gate, two on either side. No cover. Are you ready?" The only response she got was the man rising into a stance with a small flourish, his blades flashing as he channelled the essence of emptiness itself into them. Rin nodded, a faint sheen of moisture forming around her sword in turn, and then the pair exploded into wordless motion. She did not call out who the Nameless faced, nor list her accomplishments, for that would imply that they were true foes.

A healer did not let a parasite know who it faced before excising it. She rounded the corner first and let the storm raging inside her soul take the reins as she cut through the air itself with a single perfect strike, a crescent of water streaking forth before hardening into a blade of ice. It smashed into the face of the first Nameless, but, unfortunately, it merely broke upon its Aegis rather than cutting it in twain.

The monster still drawing breath was unfortunate, but she had expected it to be stronger than the ordinary ones. A chorus of cries echoed from the depths of the creature's throats as they registered that they were under attack, and the four surged to meet them in a storm of long, piercing limbs. Behind them, a reprise of answers rose from the corpse piles as the patrolling guards were alerted to the intruders by their comrades. They had a few moments before reinforcements arrived.

Before the four guards could meet them in melee, Yosuke sprang into action, cutting the air mere feet in front of them. Unlike Rin's own strike, there was no grand showing of raw strength, not even a visible projectile. Yet, it still landed, impacting the beast she had already weakened across the eyes. It had taken her some time to figure it out when she first saw his technique on the surface, but it was beautiful in its sheer simplicity. He used raw emptiness, pure and simple.

Yosuke created a construct of his own will to extend his blade, which would normally be a simple trick that had little utility against a peer that dealt little damage to an opponent's Aegis, but then in came the raw elemental emptiness he could output a startling amount of. By exploiting the give of their flesh in the split second before it crossed into being something that their Aegis needed to protect them from, he formed a wedge in their flesh.

Then, he emitted raw, barely refined emptiness into the space, forcing it to either side with supernatural force, less cutting and more tearing his foe at the seams. Against someone of a higher existence, the trick would be worthless, as they were worlds unto themselves, untouched by everything except what they wished to be. Against the Nameless, though? Every single one of the beast's eyes split in two in a spray of thick black, blinded on the spot as it let loose an unearthly shriek.

It was disabled, at the very least, flailing wildly as it tried to cut them to pieces, but they had already darted to the side. She would have preferred for its head to split in two, but at the very least, the beast was useless in the upcoming fight. Three left.

A dozen legs and half as many cleaver-like claws tried to cut them to ribbons as they finally entered melee, but both Rin and Yosuke were faster than the beasts by a league; the only thing that kept them competitive was the sheer amount of limbs they had at their disposal. They flowed between the strikes like a part of masters dancing between raindrops, deflecting the few strikes that could have landed upon their three blades. Ten, twenty, thirty blows evaded between heartbeats.

Five, ten, fifteen given in return, weakening their foes as they ruthlessly exploited every opportunity to break down their protections. The exchange wasn't entirely one-sided, though. By virtue of sheer number, the occasional blow slipped through their pair's guards, landing against their forms. Their Aegises took the blows, but every moment was a bit less energy they had, and every strike threatened to throw them out of position and pry them apart.

Rin sprang forth, diving under the beast after landing a trio of weaker blows upon its head to stun it, carving a deep groove through its carapace as she cut through its armour and into its flesh, lightning dancing along her blade as an old friend. As she reached the end, she drove the tip of her blade a hair deeper and let heaven's wrath free into the beast's flesh.

The creature's muscles tightened, forcefully contracting, and the sudden motion aggravated its newly open wound, carapace pulling to the side as its insides sloughed out like a split egg. Two. Screams echoed out not from their foes, but close behind, the piles behind them slowly coming to life as numerous forms crept over the piles, stalking over the corpses of their own blood. They were running out of time.

Rin had hoped that they could kill the four before they had help, but it seemed like she had underestimated them.

"Yosuke! Can you handle the two for a moment?" she called. The man responded by stabbing the one he was duelling through the leg, crippling the limb with a single blow before pivoting, drawing the healthy one between him and it, while also placing himself between it and the door. Perhaps she was a bit rough on him when they had first met.

Surging past Yosuke, she grabbed the colossal slab of chitin, fingers digging into the surface as she reinforced not only herself, but where she had gripped, so her new fingerholds didn't come apart. Sweat beading on her brow, Rin wrenched. The slab was perhaps twenty feet across, and was intended to be rolled aside by some hidden mechanism she didn't have time to find.

Unfortunately for the Nameless, she was far stronger than whatever meagre mechanism they could muster as she forced the dense slab aside with a series of loud cracks, crunching through hidden blockers as she pushed into a hidden groove, mist from the room rushing past her into the opening. Within the large room was a true hoard, far more than could have been plausibly extracted from the town.

Money was piled in a single great pile of gleaming coins far taller than her, and next to it were titanic piles of everything her mind could conjure. Metals. Tools. Books. Scrolls. Finely lacquered wood. Furniture. Even then, the room stretched far enough to make the accumulated wealth look almost small by comparison, having room for much growth under its high, arched roof. Where did it all come from? Then, at the core, she saw it.

Right next to the pile of coins upon its own carved pillar was a necklace with a chain lovingly crafted from platinum, bearing a fang that seemed to be carved from a black cloud. On instinct, she streaked forward, grabbing it from the pillar and channelled lightning into her blade as she considered where to start beyond removing the obviously valuable jewelry from the hoard. This… was more than expected. How was she going to destroy it all thoroughly and quickly? The books and scrolls were easy, but the metals?

She'd need time to melt them down, time that she didn't have, but— Rin looked at the fog flooding into the room, and an idea came to mind as she recalled her sensei scaring her senseless in the hallway of the ryokan.

"Hold them off a bit longer!" Rin called, shaping the lightning in her blade in a very particular, low-energy state as she began darting around the room.

"And try not to cause any sparks!" Yosuke, who had been forced back to the door by now four Nameless, would have doubtlessly had words for her, had he been able to talk. As she dashed, she cut water itself into two with unerring focus, splitting it into hydrogen and oxygen with her passage, the lighter gas rising high and getting caught by the roof. It was not enough. Somehow, Rin knew that her blade was working too slowly, even with her sprinting about to reach as much air as possible.

She pulled deeper, falling into her own soul as she channelled energy over her whole form as she carefully extended the effect past the edge of her blade, through the handle, and over her skin. She performed the sacred art of electrolysis with her whole body, moving at supernatural speeds, darting throughout the room as she converted as much as she could.

A curious lightheadedness overtook her, and she could feel herself verging on some greater truth about the storms, about herself, but it remained just barely out of reach. CLANG! Spinning her head over, she saw Yosuke tumbling back as a monster's blow crushed his guard and sent him flying, swords flying away from his grasp. Mid-flight, he recovered, drawing two more blades from his skull as he landed on one knee.

Still, a tide of a dozen monsters poured through the door, struggling to fit through as the tide was upon them properly. They couldn't beat that many. It was a good thing they didn't have to.

"Yosuke! We're done, get out of there!" she shouted, running to his side and pulling him to his feet. The man staggered but accepted, shaking off what might have been a concussion for a mortal within moments before following in her wake. The two surged towards the tide, and the beasts reared up, ready to crush them. Some webs flew past them, which they thankfully dodged, but they didn't stop. Instead, they leapt, arcing through the air as tonnes of monsters and web crushed where they had just been.

As one, they sailed through what little space remained in the door, and Rin spun in mid air, lightning encircling her blade as she prepared a much, much stronger bolt. With a stab, it flew from her blade, guided by a thin stream of moisture she hastily conjured. It wasn't as bright, nor as straight as one of John's mighty bolts, sure. It was, however, flying straight into a pocket of flammable gas. Everything went white, and she didn't even hear the explosion.

When she blinked the stars from her eyes, ears ringing like a struck bell, she found herself atop a collapsed pile of corpses. She tried to stagger to her feet, but before she could, she was offered a hand. It was Yosuke, leaning over her. Rin took it, and stumbled to her feet.

"Did we…" she began, trailing off. He merely pointed past her. She followed it. The vault was in ruins, a terrifying inferno issuing from its now half-collapsed entrance, the bodies piled near the door, too, having gone up like bonfires composed of dried kindling. Even more beautiful, though, were the surviving guards near the entrance. They were pale, paler than any Nameless she had ever seen. Much of the darkness had fled the shell; instead, it was a pale gray, like an abandoned exoskeleton.

As she watched, one of the three survivors reared up over another, which struggled to rise, and brought its claws down upon its head. Despite everything, a smile crept onto Rin's face.