The Last Circle-Chapter 14: Rift of Flame

Nameless looked up, taking notice of the frenzied sky splitting apart as it faded away. It was as though a ruinous flame had been extinguished. The dim purple of dusk replaced the fading fiery sky, filling his thoughts with a sense of dread, as darkness blanketed the land.

Floating high above, so much so that he had to strain his neck, he stared with squinted eyes—holding up a hand so as not to get blinded—at a bright and hazy white orb, no larger than a pebble he held in his hand. A thin halo of white radiated its pure and smoky light, encasing the bright orb, where white streaks flared in the cardinal directions.

The light was blinding, sparing him no more than a couple seconds to look before he'd feel his eyes burn, forcing him to shut them and look away.

'What is that?' he asked himself, slowly opening his eyes, making sure to not look up again. He shook his head, releasing himself from his disorientation as he looked at the panel displaying his achievement. 'Well, whatever... let's take a look at this uncovered secret.'

With a couple mental commands, he found himself directed back at the display that listed the titles of the secrets and who discovered them. So far, he'd been the only one to discover any secrets, which had him wondering how many more existed in the realm of Hell, as he read:

[Kill the Sky] Description: Slay a Weaver of the Sky from a vantage above its soaring wings. Discovered by Wretched Nameless One.

Nameless scratched at his sideburns, staring with raised brows and pursed lips at the text. 'A Weaver of the Sky? There's more of those things?'

He spent a few moments in silence dreading at the thought of possibly coming across another Weaver of the Sky. He may have been able to kill one, but the circumstances demanded to replicate it were nigh impossible to achieve. Besides, had it not been for the hellbound beast, he wouldn't even have the chance...

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'Oh, right...' Nameless looked down, watching the hellbound beast drag away the dim corpse of the Weaver of the Sky, before ravaging it further. 'That thing is still there.'

That was still a major issue for him. One problem was down, but he was certain that he had no chance of fleeing without the hellbound beast noticing him.

"Equip the Shard of Sin," he commanded the system, watching as the artifact ripped itself out of the ground and darted back up, returning to its original spot, floating behind him. "Now," he opened his inventory, "let's take a look at you."

A smirk flickered across his face, staring at the new artifact before pulling it out, mesmerized by the rippling panel that his hand was dug into. His hand gripped a long, soft, and black handle. His eyes lit up as he stared at a wide and black tsuba, followed by a red-orange and yellow blade. It was as though the frenzied sky had been encapsulated within, flickering its shiny fiery colours that filled him with a sense of hellish regality.

His ecstatic face slowly contorted into utter surprise, his standing brows drew together, his mouth agape, for the blade simply kept going, and whatever he had pulled out was already greater than his stature in length. The curved, single-edged blade kept extending until it reached about eight feet in length.

With a raised brow, he studied the blade, scrutinizing its every feature and paper-thin edge. Its beautiful and shifting colours had him thinking that the blade looked more like fancy decoration, but even so, he was in love with the weapon.

The inventory display experienced a chromatic aberration, displaying information regarding the artifact:

Item Name: [Rift of Flame]

Item Type: [Artifact (Secret, Weapon)]

Item Description: [An ancient and powerful blade that enslaves the soul of the long deceased Accursed Weaver of the Sky, letting the user wield the power of the mighty beast at will.

The Weaver of the Sky was a beast that some heretical jinns believed to be a deity, for the jinns were shaped in fire; made living by the fire. They believed it to be fire incarnate, and the fiery light of dawn on Earth to them was its sign, often instilling fear in their spiritual forms, forcing the heretics to lower themselves to the ground in reverence. They feared that just as they were created by the fire, so too would they be undone by the fire.

And so it was that, for their heresy, God destroyed them as they had predicted—casting them into Hell along with their false deity, left to burn for an eternity and drown in the starved flames.]

Item Effect — "Ruinous Flame": [Light ablaze by cutting oneself with the blade, granting oneself the power to send forth arcs of fire with every slash. When ablaze, the wielder can move like a flame dancing in the wind, allowing for increased maneuverability. This weapon can be dispelled and resummoned by simple mental commands.

"Follow your false gods into the fire! What a horrible fate you shall suffer for eternity!"]

Nameless shuddered at that last line, taking a step back as he felt goosebumps sprawl over his trembling body. The weapon he held was indeed powerful and worthy of being called a secret, but now that he knew more about it, he could only stare at the shifting colours with a conflict plaguing his mind as he went pale.

"I'm... I'm not going to be punished for using this sword, right?" he stammered, holding his chin as he pondered over it. "Besides, if I want to use the weapon's effect, I have to harm myself..."

Well, that was definitely a problem, but as far as he was concerned, none of that really mattered at the moment. All he needed to do was simply continue with his journey towards the towering black structure.

As such, the conflict in his mind was quickly dismissed with a shake of his head as he came up with the following reasons to not worry about it:

'Why would the system grant it to me if it increases my Sin? Truly, that would be unfair. Besides, it was merely a symbol of a past long forgotten, and perhaps before the creation of man... and I guess I'll find out with the item effect later on.'

Realizing this much, he ordered the long, curved sword to dispel itself, watching as the blade engulfed itself in a raging fire, before quickly fading away. He looked down, seeing that the hellbound beast was still at it with the Weaver of the Sky's corpse, before beginning with his descent.

Having carefully memorized the way he went up, Nameless had an easy time going down, though he was still deathly afraid of the tinniest slip, for the plunge was more than enough to leave him as a squashed bug, with blood and viscera splattering all over the place.

'Just don't think about it!' he yelled inwardly, realizing that he was the only source of his worries.

In no time, he found himself reaching the bottom, though he was still atop the pit where the greater hellbound beast feasted with its back turned towards him.

Nameless sighed, wiping a bead of sweat as he peered from behind the stacked pillars. 'At least it can't see me.'

But it was at moments like these where he wished he didn't say anything, even in his head, because all it took was a singular red eye on the beast's side to take notice of him. He was proving to himself that either he had the best of luck or the worst of luck; no in between, and right now, he was on the latter side.

Of course, that resulted in the hellbound beast roaring in pain, thanks to seeing Nameless's fiery eyes, before it turned around and revealed a face painted in ichor, along with its fangs dripping its drool mixed with it.

Nameless facepalmed, disappointed in himself for getting careless. Now the beast was running straight for him, but at least he had a weapon, and now was the best time to try it, for there was no outrunning this monster.

He swung his arm down, a flame combusting in his hand, and the Rift of Flame reappeared. Slowly, Nameless raised it to his forearm, wearing a snarl as he yelled:

"Time to die, beast!"