Azaroth couldn't say the exact time it took. Hours? Minutes? He couldn't tell. All he knew was that it took a long time, and his legs had started to cramp before he stood up.
He stretched, feeling the essence in him. His Chaos Core was full, and he could feel his strength had increased. With his mind, he grabbed some energy from his core and brought it outside.
The essence, when it came out, was like smoke billowing from his back. The color was that of his core—deep black and red.
Azaroth frowned. "Kael Hound's energy came out as red."
He shrugged and directed it to cover his hand. The black-red essence moved from his back and slid over his right hand from elbow to fingers. Azaroth stretched his hand, watching as the essence rippled and slid back into place.
He jabbed the air, and the essence drifted away from his hand. "I can't fight like this. The essence is not staying in place."
Then he thought about it. This was his energy; he should be able to control it. Azaroth imagined the essence compressing on his hand, and it shrank to almost unnoticeable.
He clenched and unclenched his fist. The energy stayed firmly. Azaroth turned and punched the wall beside him; it sounded like two stones striking each other, and dust rained down.
"Surprising. The energy even protected my hand from pain." Azaroth looked at his hand.
Then an idea occurred to him. "Shouldn't I be able to cover my weapon with this energy?"
He picked up his sword and imagined his energy covering it. The energy drifted toward the sword, and immediately it touched the metal part, it started whining.
The metal groaned as if it was under extreme pressure. Azaroth quickly withdrew the energy toward his hand. "It seems the blade cannot handle it. A shame."
"Now to see the leg." Azaroth mentally tried to bring another thread of essence out to cover his leg, but a sudden pain in his head stopped him. A headache bloomed, and he hissed. "So I can only handle one hand for now. Is it because I am not a full Initiate?"
Azaroth manifested it back to his right hand and picked up his sword. He couldn't even feel the energy on his hand, but the steady low vibration of power coming from his core to his hand was a constant reminder.
He walked around his hiding spot and looked at the bones covering the ground. "How will I pass and not alert the creatures?"
Azaroth had no idea how many creatures were in there, and he only had his sword to depend on. His energy-covered hand couldn't do much help... Azaroth paused.
"I can put the energy on my left hand and defend with it." He manifested it on his left hand and paused at the first step onto the floor of bones.
Azaroth started walking. He would put his toes first and create a bone-free ground. He started walking toward the biggest entrance, fast.
Once he got there, he bent low and continued walking. The creatures must be sleeping because he heard no sound coming from the tunnel. He was surprised that it was a little dark here. Everywhere had been relatively light; why now?
Maybe that was why he didn't spot it until he stepped on something wet. A dead green creature. The creature's head had been ripped clean off from the mouth.
Azaroth jumped back, sword up and tense. Nothing moved. He smelled it then—the thick stench of the monster's blood.
Azaroth narrowed his eyes. Monsters' corpses littered the tunnel leading to the lair, and he cursed. "Who killed my essence? It better not be those brats."
Then Azaroth shook his head and whispered. "It can't be them. None of them have this kind of explosive power. Not this brute, casual strength."
Whatever had passed through here had been strong enough to rip the green creatures in two. Azaroth clenched his hand on his sword as emotion filled him.
Azaroth was surprised. He hadn't felt anything since he had been captured, but right now, he felt excitement.
This is it, he thought as he made his way deeper, stepping on monsters' blood. This is why I want power—to fight and kill things powerful. To hunt as his father hadn't.
The lair was a big stone chamber with skeletons and rotting flesh. Food, Azaroth thought. The green monsters had kept the rotting flesh as food, probably those who died among them.
The bulk of the slaughter had happened here. Ripped apart with a casual brutality that made Azaroth's red eyes shine.
The smell of blood and the monsters' waste was too strong, but Azaroth paid it no mind as his red eyes flickered around.
His eyes caught the fast movement of metal, and he dodged just in time. The force of it sent him staggering.
Something grunted deeply in annoyance; its meat hadn't just died with one swing.
The creature was the bigger, stronger version of the green creatures. It was easily three times their size, with longer fangs and claws.
The first thing that surprised Azaroth was that it wore tattered remains of a training uniform with the Inferno Legion crest on its groin area. The second was that it carried a huge axe in its right hand.
"You must not be a monster of this crest," Azaroth said. Low monsters were not smart enough to use weapons or cover themselves. He watched as the monster tensed, its muscles bunching together. "How did you get here, big lad?"
It snarled and jumped, swinging its weapon with such force Azaroth knew it would cut him in two if it hit him and break his weapon if they collided head-on.
Azaroth went down very low and came up with a swing; his blade bit into the monster's hand and stuck.
Shit, he thought. The muscles were stronger than they looked.
The monster stared at Azaroth as he tried to remove his sword, then it slapped him with its left hand.