A door to a cell opened, making a loud scratching noise. You could hear the shackles of the chain between the guy's arm. Suddenly, loud footsteps approached from the dark. It was the man with the yellow robe, Cyrus.
"How's he holding up?"
Two of the soldiers guarding the door loosened their grip on their guns, letting Cyrus pass through. You could see Arthur, lying by the wall, looking all dry and poor. His clothes were ripped, with holes in the front and back. In front of him was a plate with dry food and a tiny cup of water.
"So Arthur, how's it feel to be on the losing side for once?" Cyrus chucked at Arthur, trying to provoke him.
Arthur spat on Cyrus, angering him.
"You know what? It feels good to keep toying with you even when I'm in shambles!" Arthur laughed, coughing up blood over the floor.
"Maybe this should remind you of something Arthur. Wayne."
"Ahh, maybe you should go check up on Wayne before you bring him up here." Arthur had a huge smirk on his face.
Cyrus's face lit up, rushing towards the lady, demanding her to check on Wayne.
"Open the hawk eye view!"
Cyrus held Mrs. Stone by her collar, tightly gripping it. Stone quickly pressed buttons on her keyboard, bringing up Wayne's POV on his situation right now.
"Shit, how did you know?!"
"Arthur." Cyrus put his hands on his hips, impressed and surprised at how Arthur knew about Wayne. Then he heard a voice coming from behind him...
"Cyrus, just remember, I'm always one step ahead of you!"
Cyrus smiled, remembering that Arthur wasn't your ordinary guy, he was a Neophyte.
Cyrus snapped out of silence, commanding everyone to prepare for the "Operation".
Cyrus pointed to a big red button, like the ones you'd see in a movie, but it was there.
"Are you sure about this sir? This could kill him."
"He can tank it, it's fine."
He commanded Lady Stone to the button. As she hesitated to press it, they got a warning on the screen. They saw Wayne about to get attacked by the soldiers, conducting thorns on their sword, making it extra sharp.
Cyrus rushed to the button, leaping forward and pressing it. At first, nothing happened, everything seemed normal, but then they saw a glowing light in Wayne's body. His whole body lit up in a black aura, consuming the screen.
They all covered their eyes, waiting for the process to complete.
Wayne saw the swords, quickly wrapping themselves in thorns, using the earth magic with their essence. Then suddenly, his body started glowing black. The immense brightness and pressure he experienced made him gray out, consumed by the darkness.
The soldiers attacking him quickly backed away, thinking that he was unleashing something. Wayne pictured something in his head. It was a black light, in the middle of his eyes. There was just darkness but in the center, there was a flame of darkness, like a soul. He got closer and closer to it, pulling him towards it.
"Is this a black hole?" Wayne started to see past images of someone else. He couldn't see his face, as it was covered in a hood, but he was fighting demons and dragons with his sword. His head started pounding with pain. And then it happened...
It felt like his head exploded, and then there he was. He could see Thorne and the soldiers, holding their spears, aiming at him.
There was complete silence for a few seconds, but then...
"What are you fools doing, attack him." Thornes face turned serious, as he tied up his long, silky brown hair into a bun. His sharp brown eyes glared at Wayne, catching Wayne off guard, as the soldiers rushed at Wayne.
The thorned spears were right in Wayne's eyes, but then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Wayne ripped through the ropes his hands were stuck to and caught the spears with both his hands, puncturing his skin with the thorns.
Everyone was surprised, even Wayne, but Mr. Thorne wasn't.
"It's just as I thought so." His face had a huge smirk. "He just experienced his Ascension!"
"What just happened? My body suddenly moved on its own, and now I'm holding two spears with both of my hands." Wayne was shocked, just like everyone else, but his eyes were glowing with fire and rage.
Then he heard a voice from his head...
"Wayne, you have to kill him no matter what. He knows the truth about you. This wasn't supposed to happen. Follow The Path and... Kill him."
Wayne whispered to himself, talking to Lady Stone inside his head, "But he's way stronger than me. There's just no way I'll be able to defeat him."
"Well then hope that you're able to I guess."
"Wayne, The Project: Era Guild authorizes you to exterminate Mr. Thorne.
No emotion. No regrets.
We present to you... Phase Zero."
The voice cut off, creating an eerie silence around the atmosphere.
"Wayne... you just experienced an Ascension, the process of your body developing your Essence. Essence is the source of your magical and physical powers in this world. First, you'll start to feel pain near your chest, but that's just your body adapting to this new energy source. Then you'll start to feel stronger, quicker, and focused... the powers of essence. But to develop your magic, you need to train your body and your essence. You'll start to notice that your powers are growing faster than ever. So, Wayne, I'll let you go, but show me you're worth living in this world." Thorne gets off his chair, putting on his dark green coat.
Wayne suddenly snaps both the spears with his hand, scaring off the soldiers. His eyes glowed with a black hue, striking everyone in the room. Wayne stood up from his chair, and he looked down on the floor for a few seconds, then suddenly looked at Thorne.
"Thanks for the offer Thorne, but I'm done playing the weak and nice guy. It's time I pick up the pace. You say my body needs to adapt huh... but the thing is... I already adapted."
Wayne put his hand on the floor, and sprung right at Thorne, using his right leg to kick him right in the face. But swiftly, Thorne caught his leg, squeezing it hard, almost breaking Wayne's bone.
"Pathetic! Even with the power you just got, you're still weak!"
Thorne does a hand signal, making the earth below them rise up, launching Wayne in the air. He collided with the roof, breaking it all. The tower of rock keeps sending him upwards. Suddenly, he sees Thorne in the air, flying in the air with him.
He grabs Wayne's arm, yeeting him back to the ground. Wayne soars through the sky, getting a glimpse of all of Gloomsbury. Wayne quickly focused back on himself, grabbing the edge of a rooftop, saving himself, but badly injuring the palm. He turns back and sees a big circle, flying towards him.
"Shit, I need to find a way to counter that earth magic."
Wayne swung towards another rooftop, running swiftly away from Thorne, gaining distance from him. But Thorne always finds ways to counter Wayne, so he uses his magic, picking up rocks from the ground on Gloomsbury, chucking them at Wayne.
"Wish I had my sword now."
Wayne suddenly backflips over the rocks, dodging all of them. He landed and rushed straight toward Thorne.
"If I can't win without using my weapons or magic, guess I just have to use my surroundings!"
Wayne uses his feet, kicking off the brown roof tiles on the rooftop, using them to launch them at Thorne, kicking them at him one by one.
"Tsk. Well, you're very annoying." Thorne gets irritated at all the tiles hurdling at him, using his magic to deflect them away from him.
"Even though I almost broke his foot, he's able to run at great speeds. Must be the power of his new essence."
Everyone in Gloomsbury evacuated cause of all the collisions and collapses, running outside the zone, and watching the battle from afar. Wayne started picking up the pace, kicking off more and more of the roof tiles. But...
That was just a distraction. While Thorne was clearing up all the tiles with his earth magic, Wayne slipped from the side, surprising him from behind.
Wayne double-kicked Thorne in the back, weakening him and his earth magic.
"Interesting. He's quickly improving his physical stats every second of the fight." Thorne put on a menacing smile on his face. He started laughing facing backwards from Wayne.
"But you don't understand, do you? You're not fighting a man—you're fighting a monster, and monsters don't stop until they've ripped everything apart... Wayne!!!"