A poorly butchered wolf laid dead on the grounds of the forest. A gruesome sight for many. The poor thing didn't exactly get to rest in death, instead it would decompose as a rotting corpse while a man sitting at a campfire poorly cooked the meat from its poorly butchered body. Arthur took a big bite into the slightly undercooked wolf meat next to the fire. He almost coughed it up immediately after.
'Damn…this is a lot chewier than I thought…and gross…maybe I should learn to how to butcher things…'
Although the fact didn't exactly strike him at the moment. He had reluctantly forgotten to check the inside of the meat. And very well could have contracted some type of food poisoning. Although a man who was sheltered all of his life probably never even experienced the wonders of home cooking. He tore through the unholy slab of wolf meat before picking up the rest and putting it in his inventory. A truly primal being. He laid on the ground. He was slowly whisked off to sleep as he remained in the library of memories. He opened the book of draconic runes and began to understand the essence of destruction.
Destruction was the simplest of all the runes, but also the most intricate. Destruction was not only the essence of the black flames, but also its foundation. The black flames were in fact, not flames. It was simply destruction taken shape. Black flames could 'obliterate' things, depending on the strength of the user, apparently the black dragon had erased the identity of a person from the essence of the world itself. But of course, nobody knew who this person was. As they were simply erased from all forms of everything.
Arthur was able to weave destruction rather easily. Too easy. Almost. As it formed, the destruction rune slowly started to shift and turn. Before collapsing right before Arthur's eyes.
'Ah...I guess I was a fool to think just understanding emptiness would make this easier...'
The rune of destruction had sentience. The books read that the only reason the black dragon could even use it was because he had subdued the rune by force. And gained its allegiance through overwhelming strength.
'Hm, I might as well give up on this for now, I don't think such a beast will bow to me. Not at my current level at least.'
Although Arthur only had an awakened level mana core, he could assume his strength was ways past that. Just because of the white flames. As well as the weapons to his disposal, he had to admit he had gotten incredibly lucky. While he was in the library he summoned the sword of the abyssal oath from his inventory. The sleek obsidian blade was far too heavy for him to wield. It didn't really have anything special to it. It was just a sword. Arthur's weaponry was incredibly weak, the moonlight blade had its utility, but would be practically useless since he failed to comprehend the style that came with it. Though he had given up on that already.
By the time he had finished going through the rune of destruction, it had already been hours in the abyssal realm. Although the only star in the sky was a sun shrouded by darkness. His body and mind were no longer exhausted. He woke up feeling the dull grass against his back. The abyssal forest was oddly lifeless, sure there were plenty of creatures lurking around. But there wasn't a sign of a single ant, or a bug, not even a squirrel. It appears the only creatures that lurked in the abyss were more on the aggressive side. The forest was mostly littered with wolves and oddly large spiders he managed to avoid. He used the moonlight blade to illuminate his path as he walked through the dark forest, the dull grey sky didn't exactly help him navigate through the forest.
He had finally exited the forest after a few hours of walking. Originally the forest didn't seem all too big. But he had underestimated the scale of things in the abyss. As he exited the forest, he would usually expect to be hit with a ray of sunshine. But he was not. In fact, it may have gotten even darker. He sheathed the moonlight blade and made his way towards the obsidian city. The obsidian city was as black as can be. All of its buildings seemed to almost absorb any light around them. While a large tower connected to a stone platform stood near the cliffs. It shone radiant silver. The light it radiated clearly stood out amongst the dull abyss.
He arrived at the arch that made a pathway into the obsidian city and simply strolled on in. The city was as dull as the rest of the abyss. Even the people in it seemed to be colorless. Their dull gray skin wore grim frowns. They all wore almost the same clothes. Black dull robes that drooped down all the way to their shins. They all stared at him oddly. Arthur had noticed a while ago that his body and the things he brought from the mortal realm still had color in them. While everything he obtained and saw in the abyss didn't.
'I must be an outlier to them...they probably don't get visitors often.'
Suddenly a bell rung from the silver tower, and the people's frowns turned into ecstastic grins, they all ran out of their homes into the tower.
"Our saint!" "The Great War saint has arrived!" They shouted things like these over and over. Arthur swiftly followed to the tower. The towers doors opened and a man walked out. Covered in gleaming white armor, he too had color, like Arthur. The people shouted the words saint over and over again. The man's white armor reminded him of the true form of the abyss knight. He shone brightly like a star. As he walked out, the saints gaze almost instantly locked onto Arthur. And Arthur shuddered.
"Greetings! People of the obsidian city! It is I, Ajax! The appointed war saint of the goddess!"
The crowd of dull people cheered. It made Arthur a bit uncomfortable. The man was revered as a god by the people of the obsidian city. Most likely due to his heavenly figure, and his white armor, he was the fitting picture of a god. At least to a mortal. But after gaining deeper comprehension of the world. Arthur was able to simply ask the system.
'Just who the hell really is that?'
[Name: Ajax, surname unknown. Title: War Saint of the Abyss Core: Omega. Further information cannot be obtained at this time.]
Ajax jumped down from the stone platform the silver tower stood on, and made his way through the crowd. Eventually standing in front of Arthur.
"Now, how in the world did you get here, child?"