After what felt like an eternity had passed he was able to connect with his reservoir. He panicked, even then his self only gathered for a moment dispersing afterward. Somewhere within him, he tried to gather himself into a single entity but the situation was only worsening.

It seemed to have taken another eternity for him to take out the Elixir of Soul from the storage.

A blurry shadow dropped in front of him, it was the elixir but his eyesight had weakened so much. He tried to reach towards it but his arms did not work. He nudged his body towards the bottle, inch by inch all while experiencing pain like he never had before. His body was moving on instincts, knowing the elixir would save it. 

His mind had become a complete mess when he took out the elixir and the situation only worsened as the time eclipsed.

The small distance stretched infinitely as he was mindlessly trying to reach it. When he could gather his mind he would push even harder despite his situation, covering a lot of distance but then his self would be torn apart. He wanted to be free from this state where he would slowly be ground into nothing. He could feel it happening and that made him only more desperate.

He dropped beside the solid black that was appearing in his vision, everything else too blurry to even make it out. He let his body fall towards the elixir, barely opening his mouth. His teeth clenched on it like there was no tomorrow. Now the broken body had fallen to the ground. He tried to get up, repeatedly, but with no success.

He crawled, colliding against something. He used it to lift his upper body. Opening the elixir with his mouth he drank it all in one sip.

The change was instantaneous. It was like he was living while being constantly torn apart from all sides, unable to think, unable to do anything as his self stopped working for the most part. Trembling overtook him just from the thought of that dreadful time, he never wanted to go even near it.

The relief was short-lived. His body was still completely broken and as he connected with the barrier for just an instant his worries seemed to be melting away as he felt the massive amount of energy in there. It was just for a moment though as he felt the ground shake again and a big chunk of energy was absorbed.

Restlessness swept his mind. He tried to take in a breath but was unable to do so. Then came the pain. It swept through his mind, destroying everything in its path. The self that had just healed was hammered by the pain that rushed from all over the body. He firmed his will. This pain was not new, he could bear through it. And bear though it, he did.

Within a blink, the Elixir of Body dropped in front of him and then again he went through another round of suffering to drink the elixir. His eyes closed as the first drop of elixir slid down his throat.

Like magic, the body, within a blink, mind back to its best state as grew muscles back. The broken bones jutting out of the flesh mended and went back in. Everything went back to how it was except the wound. He was examining his hands which were filled with scars, burns, and every possible injury.

A roar erupted, bringing his attention back to the fight. With his hearing and vision fully restored, only now did he understand the situation he was in. Not a single wound or even the slightest sign of effort. That bomb could take out multiple groups but here it had failed to even inflict skin wounds on the monster. His hair raising, his mind quickly created forth different ideas.

It tore off another massive piece of wood, its finger moving through the wood without resistance. The winds screamed as the massive block of wood moved through the air but as soon as it came into contact with the barrier it simply evaporated. From top to bottom, it was as though the monster was wielding butter instead of a dense block of wood that simply melted upon contact with heat.

Seeing it repeating without so much as looking out of breath he canceled all the plans that required any type of physical confrontation. He checked the barrier. It would hang on for now but at most a few more stikes, still he closed his eyes.

‘How do I even do anything to it. Oh merciful God, if I somehow get out alive I will–’

He exhaled a long breath and opened his eyes.

Spark, Cloak of Fire, and Incinerate. He had already failed with the Spark. The Cloak of Fire was defensive. Incinerate too did not have any visible effect. While he was thinking an idea suddenly came into his mind. 

It was insane, lunatic but it had the greatest chances of success. Though it was only a single opportunity he was sure of it having the highest chances of success. If he won it would matter little what condition his body was in. he worried little about the pain he was going to undergo through. It had been a long time since he stopped thinking about death because if it was his time of death nothing could save him but if there was life left nothing could take it away from him.

It took some time but when he was done his face supported a twisted grin. His head was bursting with pain as there was barely any energy left within his reserve. The barrier had dimmed significantly, its color nearly fading out as it became nearly impossible to distinguish it from its surroundings.

The monster stuck, its speed making it difficult for him to see its movement. As soon as he felt the barrier starting to break he ran, closing in. He barely avoided its knife-like fingers. Its head snapped towards him targetting his head. He jumped. It bit into his stomach and he laugh, hugged its neck, and pulled the trigger. Just before that, a much smaller size barrier appeared around his head just in time as it went flying while a massive blast melted everything in the vicinity.

As he started falling he could finally see the scar that was now down there. The fire was spreading vigorously, the white flames showing no sign of stopping.

Finally, the massive body standing in the center of the blast fell, its upper body completely blasted apart.

***

Points: 2775

Purchase:

Skills
Elixirs

Skills:

Inferno
Cost: 1,215

Elixirs:

Elixir of Body
Cost: 150
Cost: 300
Elixir of Soul
Cost: 150
Cost: 300

On reflex, he bought the spell, and then the next one showed up, as he calculated, all the points he had earned until now were not enough to buy it. He shifted his focus upon the elixirs. Only a moment ago had he understood their true worth, it had allowed him to prevail where his death was certain.

Using up all his points he purchased the elixirs, 7 Elixirs of Body and 3 Elixirs of Soul. He felt safer as he saw the elixirs disappearing within the storage. The difficulty had been increasingly steeply so now that he had so many of them at his disposal a boulder was lifted from his chest.

Having finished the shopping he turned his focus upon his body. Opening his arms wide he spun, his speed increasing and there he confirmed it. His vision was crips no blurring even when he was at a very high speed while his sense of balance was not disturbed even once during the process. Once he stopped he felt nearly no visual dissonance. He clenched his fist and threw a jab with full force. Again he felt much stronger. After performing a thorough checkup he turned inwards.

A gasp escaped his mouth. His reservoir was now much, much larger than before. It contained so much energy, if he went by his senses then it was nearly 5 times more expansive than before. A rush of happiness cycled through his body and with child-like excitement he went into the corner. Closing his eyes he tried connecting with the Inferno’s spell module. 

It was a completely different world. He could pick out some pieces that he had become familiar with but this was again completely alien. His senses traversed through the alien world, hoping that the stuff that he had learned within the remaining spell was located in the same place. Nothing. It was completely different. Still, it did not mean all his effort was lost because what he had learned till now, he could see was present everywhere his eyes went.

Closed eyes, his hands spread in front of him as he cast the spell. He waited and then a feeling rushed into his eye. He closed his eyes and then thrust his palms forwards. The whole room died in red and the torrent of fire collided with the wall and then spread across the walls. Like always the room was unharmed. This trait made it difficult to discern the true power of the spells. Still, the visuals as the fires spread to nearly all 4 parts of the room told his its power was ofay.

Done with everything, he offered prayer to God thanking him for taking him out alive. He grinned, thinking of the psychopathic stunt he had performed. Carving the Incinerate spell upon his body, filling it with all the energy he had remaining. It was idiotic and he would have died if it did not work.

“But it did work.”

It felt weird as he heard his own voice after a long time. He did not recognize it. Thinking that he should talk out loud sometimes lest he forgets his voice he drifted into dreams.

***

He stretched and warmed up. Again he offered the prayer and then closed his eyes and went through the door.

Two massive gates were fitted on the opposite ends. One of them had the usual colorful portal but the other, he had his eyes fixed upon it. His eyes narrowed and then slowly widened as he made out the structure in the yellowish moonlight.

Laughter burst out of his mouth, he jumped around, unable to express himself, so he started spinning. He let go of all restrictions and the wind screamed as it was cut apart. Despite the intense speed, his vision was stable, everything was clear, not a hit of blurriness. He jumped up and down, shouting out loud but the tingling that was spreading all over his body showed no time to stop.

After he calmed down, he looked at the portal waiting to see if there were any other patrols on the walls. He waited and waited but no one came so he too stepped into the portal. He became stunned, despite the night and the little moonlight the circular wall was crisp in his eyes. He looked backward at the towering black tower. Then he looked at the moon. Tears flowed out without him knowing when.

Alarm!!!

He was pushed out of his state. An alarm started ringing. His head turned left and right looking for someone but his eyes came upon the camera. It was easily visible, the red light from its front visibly now that it had rotated right at him. He ran and jumped, crossing the wall. Mid-air he rotated, pinpointing his location. As he thought about it his memories opened as the map of the prison revealed itself to his mind. It had been nearly a decade since he had seen it but now it was as though he was looking at it after a few days of dedicated effort to memorize it. 

The noise was picked up by his ears, barks of dogs, and the policemen accompanying them. He did not wait to run into the shadows to hide. Jumping from one patch of darkness to another, avoiding coming across anyone he was nearly out.