Aether trailed back until his feet met the end of the mountain, almost accidentally falling off. He looked behind him at the giant fall. He hadn’t tested if he could fall, and neither did he want to know.

Trying to counter attack, Aether tried dashing forward, but as he was about to do so, the tip of a blade met his neck, and made him stop.

"Was this enough to feed your hunger? I’m quite bored with fighting."

Aether sighed, raising his arms in defeat. He couldn’t believe he had lost so easily. He hadn’t expected the blade to be so good at wielding itself; it was a surprise, and not really a good one.

"It’s good enough, thanks." He said, letting Voidpiercer go back into his marks, seeing that he was defenseless, the blade started to lower its weapon...

But Aether wasn’t done. Seeing this, he quickly grabbed its hand and kicked it away, trying to land a punch to its face, but the blade caught it in the air.

It let out a small giggle, looking at him. "I should have expected that, I know you’re better than all, I guess it just never crossed my mind you had the gut to try and trick me.

Aether laughed. "And why is that, you think I’m scared of you-" But before he could finish,h the blade’s grip intensified, before using his foot to sweep him off the ground and fall, only to be caught in the air because of its grip.

"Admit defeat." The blade said, in a serious tone, that.

Aether glanced up at it. "I said it was enough, didn’t I? Why do I need to yield? It’s the same thing."

The blade shook its head. "No, I want to hear you say those words, since I know you won’t stop until you say it word by word."

Aether gritted his teeth; the blade knew him too well. He knew that, but to think that it would know even this.

He sighed. "Fine, you win."

And yet, it wasn’t happy.

"You really are a stubborn one." Suddenly, it let go of his hand, which surprised him, yet as he was falling, he pushed him off the edge of the summit with his foot.

’Shit.’

Aether said, swinging his arms around to grab on to something, and for the first time in his life, he really had grabbed on to something.

Pulling himself up slowly, he looked at Voidpiercer. "You really are merciless. Fine, I admit defeat. Are you happy?"

The blade smiled as it nodded.

’Bastard.’

When he had challenged Voidpiercer to a fight, he hadn’t expected the blade to be this good at using himself; he was outmatched in every department: speed, strength, precision. He was just better at everything.

Seven rounds, that was how long they had been going for, and they all ended before even one minute passed. It was crazy how much better he was. I mean, he was supposed to already have mastered his style, and yet he stood no chance against Voidpiercer, who used the same style as him.

...

Though this was a good thing.

It almost excited him. In this world, you couldn’t feel pain, after all, it was just his imagination, the Voidpiercer world, not the real one. So he could practice as much as he would like without getting injured, and he wasn’t fighting someone weaker than him, but rather someone who destroyed him.

Fighting someone that you can’t even touch always makes you stronger.

It makes you have to be at your best constantly, until you get better, and your best gets higher and higher in power.

"I should probably get back, it has been a while. Lucien and Kade have probably finished their training."

The blade nodded, letting its weapon evaporate in the air, just like a normal Reader dismissed their weapon.

"You know, you could also try to train with, even if you don’t have a Will, Eden is still there."

Aether tilted his head, surprised that Voidpiercer was telling him this.

"But I have already mastered the skill and evolved it to times, to a point not even the Abyss reached, I don’t think that I can improve anymore."

Voidpiercer rolled its eyes, mocking him for his overconfidence, even now, after he got badly beaten.

"There isn’t a limit on how much a skill can evolve. Plus, you mastered the skill, but your awareness isn’t the best still, you could try to improve it."

Aether had wanted to say something, but then he remembered how he couldn’t see the small lizard in the mountains before; what if there were more monsters like that, stronger, and that even he couldn’t see. Voidpiercer was right, after all; if he wasn’t training with the blade, he could train Eden, he wasn’t doing anything else.

After all, he still had no idea how to escape, so waiting was the second-best thing, and the second most reasonable solution.

Running a hand through his hair, Aether sighed. "Fine, I’ll see what I can do."

...

Yet before he left, there was still a thing he wanted to ask, something that wasn’t related to fighting, or getting stronger, but rather... the past of the Abyss.

"I wonder, if I were to get the real Voidpiercer, what would happen with the marks? Would I get some more, overlapping these ones?"

Voidpiercer was shocked by the sudden question, but then broke out in a deep laugh that made him slightly uncomfortable. Why had he found it so funny? It was concerning.

"Well, let’s say you won’t have to worry about something like that. There will only be one mark."

Aether’s eyes widened. "Are you saying that I will have to let go of you when I get the actual blade?"

Voidpiercer tilted its head, confused. "When did I say that? No, you won’t have to do that. You won’t have to decide to keep one and release the other, or something stupid like that."

Aether sighed, relieved.

"For now, you should just focus on Aether Moirai actually being the first to get his hand on the blade and not someone else."

"Wait, are you trying to say that someone else is also trying to get the blade-"

Suddenly, the world around him starts to crumble.

"Alright its time to say goodbye." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Wait!" Aether extended his arm in front of him, trying to call out to the blade, but it was too late; the real world was already manifesting around him.

But before he was fully out of its world, he heard Voidpiercer say one more thing.

"Freedom is great, but don’t get desperate in trying to achieve it; you might regret doing so. Beware not to trick yourself.

Remember who you are; your identity means more than any freedom."

...

Aether stood dumb founded on his bed, staring at a wall.

’What has just happened?’

So suddenly it could say things, but before, when he tried asking it about stuff, it said that its owner didn’t allow it to talk, who even was that guy, wasn’t he its owner, it was his blade after all.

And just what was it trying to say with him focusing on being the first to get ahold of the blade? If there were really others who were trying to get the blade, it would make sense. It was a powerful blade, but it was also Abyss-related. Not only did a few know about it, but he would have thought it was the opposite, that those who knew would try to someone fnd a way to get rid of it.

And just what the heck was that at the end?

What was it trying to say...

Why did it suddenly speak of freedom? It wasn’t even what he was after at the moment; he wanted to get stronger... so he could try and get Riven and the other back, so why would he be desperate for it?

And even if he was, what could he even do so bad that he would regret it later, kill somebody? But then how would that be tricking himself? It just didn’t make any sense.

And the last line, it was the most confusing; he knew who he was. Everyone knew who they were.

How could somebody just forget themselves? And of course, identity matters more than freedom, but he just didn’t understand what it meant. Was it trying to say he was going to have to go under another identity to get his freedom? He could act as Elpis, so was that what he meant, that he was going to spend too much time as his old friend, and forget about who he was?

’That... is just stupid!’

How could something like that even happen? It wasn’t like he had someone near him at every second, so he could just go back to himself when he was alone. Plus, he doubted he would ever do something like that.

Why would he run away from something he tried fighting for before?

It made no sense, but if this wasn’t what it was talking about, then what...

Aether sighed, but then he heard footsteps heading towards the dungeon.