"The 'goddess' of this world." I repeated after her, staring blankly at Echidna. "Just to be clear...you're talking about Tenebi, right?"

Echidna tilted her head, humming unsurely. "So that's what they refer to themselves as now, then? In any case...yes, I am referring to 'Tenebi'."

I slammed my hand down onto the table, though Echidna didn't flinch at all. "Listen here...I risked my life to get here. I almost died out there, just trying to defeat a single F-rank dungeon's worth of monsters. Do you understand that? F-rank! And then, when I finally arrive, ready to use 'that' to kill you, you show up and tell me to kill god, out of nowhere?! I get that you're a god, but aren't you a little too detached?"

"No..." Echidna lowered her teacup for once, her shadowed face raising slightly. She was meeting my gaze. "I would argue that I know you...or at the very least, your potential, much better than you are currently capable of. And considering your special qualities, you may be even better suited to this request, than most." 

I was baffled by her response. It would've been one thing if she was just an insane demon, spouting nonsensical words. However, the clarity in her voice, and the sureness of her tone...

I really didn't have that much time to think over this.

Whatever she had planned, the time I had been allotted to kill her would certainly soon run out. I wasn't really sure of anything anymore. My foundation of knowledge about the game, 'Treasure Quest', and the world it was created in, was being shaken to the very core, shattering like glass.

"...you can't possibly think I could do that right now. Not that I even want to. It's just...stupid!" 

She chuckled, her laughter sounding like it was coming from all directions at once. "Of course you can't. Although you are quite impressive when it comes to combat...frankly, it's been a bit hard to believe that I'm dealing with a child. I'm sure those monsters had similar thoughts." Echidna slowly stood up, with the table in front of us, disappearing.

I followed suit, and the chairs disappeared, too. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I already knew where this was going.

"However, I have already staked my life on your development." She folded her arms, and that powerful aura once again coiled around her. It was slightly less intense though, and it felt as if it were weakening every second. "I shall have you do the same. I didn't come here to impede your original goal, after all."

I stared her down, taking a deep breath.

Echidna didn't seem like she was evil. Controlling, maybe manipulative...but she was not a mindless force of nature. Perhaps within every named demon, there was an ego like this. A god from a world I couldn't fathom. Forcibly sealed and twisted into a form they couldn't escape.

But if so, why did she emerge now? Why did she seem so keen on me? And why even bother asking me to do something as ridiculous as killing a god, when she knew I wouldn't accept?

In this world, I was just an Extra. An existence not even meant to be acknowledged. So then, why...why was this even happening right now? I still didn't even have the time to fully process it, and I wouldn't.

"I can already tell that you're thinking some useless thoughts." Echidna smirked, her words immediately bringing me back to my senses. "No matter. Let me phrase it like this...I will have you understand your true potential. Right here, and now." 

And then, she appeared in front of me, her fist held back for a punch that I couldn't have possibly prepared for.

"Or you will lose this life that you so desperately cling to. Ah, and by the way..."

Her smile lowered, dropping into a malicious frown.

"Don't even think of using 'that' cheap imitation. I'll kill you the moment that you attempt it."

"Aurum!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Two voices consistently shouted over the chaos and pandemonium currently besieging the town of Aureal. Through the streets moved a silver blur, followed by a shining, golden streak. In their wake they left the corpses of monsters, and safe, but bewildered citizens.

The combination of Aurum and Aria was incredibly efficient. So much so, that Arianwen had ended up leaving behind her Elite unit, commanding them to deal with securing the perimeter around the village, in case of further ambush. 

Master and Student worked together in synchronicity like one only could after intimately fighting together for years - Aurum was one of the very few people still alive who learned exactly how her master's Treasure and sword-style functioned, and she was able to fight accordingly.

Arianwen couldn't help but stare up at Aurum, who was flying above her in intermittent bursts, a look of focus on her face that she was not used to seeing there.

Although Aurum knew Arianwen well enough to get her signals and moves, she had never been good at fighting in groups. Admittedly, even Arianwen couldn't refine that aspect of her student.

Aurum could be respectful towards others, but in the end, she was a dragon. Every time she tried to sync up with Aria whenever she was taken on missions, her instincts would get in the way. She was prideful, didn't follow orders, and was far too overconfident for her own good.

Arianwen didn't chastise her for this, though. She knew as best as anyone else - a dragon's pride was not easily controlled, and their loyalty was nearly impossible to gain. It would've been wasted effort, she thought.

However, she seemed now to have gotten rid of that weakness entirely, without any guidance. 

Not to mention, she had refined her usage of her Treasure, and seemed much more adept at her usage of it...it was obvious that she was pushing herself to keep up, but she hadn't run out of stamina like she would have, in the past.

Were she someone who expressed herself better, she might have said aloud her pride for her student. However, there were things far more concerning than simply addressing her improvements.

Every time they stopped to save a citizen, Aurum would openly regard it with apathy. Though behind that mask, Aria could see the disgust lingering in her eyes. A disgust that had been there since almost five years ago - ever since that incident happened.

Arianwen ended up not having to be the one to raise the issue.

"Teacher."

"Mmm?" Aria sliced a Lesser Oni into incredibly small chunks nonchalantly while responding to her student.

"...why are we saving these guys? Ain't the more important thing to just kill the monsters? Honestly, I wouldn't want to waste another second on these pieces of crap." Aurum's words struck Arianwen with a heavy weight. "I'd rather try to look for Tommy...I still haven't seen him around anywhere."

The guard captain wanted to stop, but at that moment, the two of them barreled through another Lesser Oni, pulverizing it.

"Aurum...you really do care for Thomas, don't you?" After a while, that was what she decided to say. In response, Aurum turned red, her blush all too obvious.

"H-Huh?! Where the heck's that comin' from?! I-!"

"But because you do, you're blinded to lots of other things. In one way, it's precious loyalty. In another way, it can be dangerous." Arianwen's more serious tone silenced Aurum, whose expression changed to match. "Even though this village is my home, I'm not exactly fond of the people here. My mother died in a raid, and nobody came to save her. My father died saving people here, but nobody remembers him...this town is full of cruelty, because it experiences nothing but cruelty on a consistent basis."

The 'Town of Golden Beginnings"...in recent decades, it had become nothing but a meat wall for the Kingdom. An expendable living barricade, that stopped countless waves of monsters from surging in towards the capital city. 

In reality, it was a town of endings. A place people came when they were down on their luck, had nowhere left to turn...a place people came when they had no choice to. It was even the same for her, once the kingdom's greatest knight.

"You're like me, Aurum. You've always had trouble feeling anything except for the people you directly care for. But the people around you aren't like that." She narrowed her eyes, her voice faltering for a bit. "When he...was still here, he was a beacon of hope for everyone in Aureal. And everyone was sure that Thomas would be that next beacon for them. But he was born weak. Weaker than me or him. Some people even doubted he was our child."

The emotion faded away from Arianwen's voice, as she easily cut through a horde of Demonic Boars that had managed to cross her path.

"Then when that day came, everyone needed someone to blame. And Thomas was the only survivor. People are incredibly weak, Aurum. But when they share a common belief, they can become frighteningly strong. So they focused all of that hatred, all of that sadness onto Thomas. Even though he was just a child, he became their target of hatred." 

She stopped in place suddenly, her eyes narrowing on a piece of broken rubble, under which a person was trapped. Aurum now had a complicated expression on her, her body shivering with barely-restrained anger, yet her expression sporting a confused look.

This part of the story had never come to her. Now she understood it, why Thomas blamed himself so much in the past...

"I won't be like them." Arianwen said simply, while walking towards the pile of rubble. "Even if they're weak, even if they're ugly, even if they're quick to hatred and can't be reasoned with...it's my personal duty and philosophy to help those who are in need." She leaned down, easily picking the rubble up, and allowing a young man to run from underneath, towards the center of the town - the place where all rescued were to gather. 

Aurum was quiet for a while, processing her master's words...before lashing out immediately.

"Are-are you saying that I have some duty to help these guys? That I owe something to humans, just because they exist? Thomas...Tommy is the only reason I didn't try destroying this place, myself. You know that! You know!"

Arianwen met Aurum's verbal assault with her ever-blank stare. For once, that impassiveness was beginning to irritate Aurum. Then, she spoke.

"Then that's good. After all, you're not me, Aurum."

Her words were obvious, but Aurum's mind took that one sentence like she had never even heard of it before. Aria turned away from the ruined house and began to jog away, her gaze focused ever-forward.

"If there's one last lesson I'll give you about this, as your master...it's that you always need to decide for yourself, what you're going to feel, and what you're going to do. Not for Thomas' sake. Not for my sake. But for yours. Always. You'll always have to find your own answer, Aurum. No matter who you are."

With those poignant words, Aria departed, and Aurum followed behind, flapping her golden wings with far less power behind them. A creeping uncertainty began to fill her body, and she was tempted.

She looked back for a moment, seeing that same young man reunite with a group of people, happily. He had his own life...his own family and friends, perhaps. Perhaps he wasn't even one of the people involved in what had happened to her.

'I...don't know what to feel anymore.'

For the first time in her life, Aurum felt like even Thomas couldn't answer the questions rising in her mind. She wondered if Thomas even remembered...the day when they had first met.

'I really want to see him right now...'

All she could do was hope that he was alright. As it was, neither of them had a clue to where he was, or if he was alright...

"-Ngh!"

One blow from Echidna was enough to nearly send me flying across the infinite space of her boss room. I could feel my bones rattling with just that single punch. I had just barely managed to raise my arms to guard, but they felt nearly useless.

This was the power of a Named Demon in the weakest, F-ranked dungeon. Now you see why the difficulty of this game was screwed, right? Especially without any Treasures.

'No, not a demon...a fallen goddess.'

That thought was far more terrifying. Did the damn System send me in here, knowing I'd have to face an impossible fight like this?

"Child..." Despite having nearly broken both my arms, she spoke with a serene voice. "You haven't truly been training your potential, have you?"

"What...do you mean?! I've been working pretty damn hard this month. I worked until I passed out, bled, and got wounds all over! I trudged through this dungeon on Stats alone! I didn't come here expecting to fight a full-power goddess!"

She chuckled, shaking her head at my aggressive rebuttal. "Well, this is far from my original, full power. A mere hint of it, really. But what's important isn't me. It's you. And that 'hard work' you've mentioned."

Echidna began to take slow steps towards me again, and I instinctively rose my guard, staring forward at her...but she had already disappeared.

"I created you. Not you, specifically, or 'humanity' as it is known now, but the race that you belong to. Or at the very least, the race that I believe you to."

Her words were sudden and quick, and I only noticed too late that her voice was coming from behind me. I felt something hard slam into my side, sending me rolling over the surface of the water.

"K-Kh..."

I was doubled over in pain, just conscious enough to hear Echidna continue talking.

"It is an oddity. One I'm grateful for, but still. Each and every one of my children were erased eons ago. Yet here you are now, with that 'hard work' doing nothing but increasing your strength a bit." 

Echidna stopped in place a few feet away from me, patiently waiting for me to get to my feet. Of course, I did. There was no way I was going to give up. 

If it was just pain, it wouldn't stop me. She'd have to break a few bones, and even then, I bet I'd keep moving. Determination was all that was driving me now, anyways.

"When I created your race, you were all special. Yes, I ensured that each of you had a 'Potential'. Some great destiny you all could live up to, if you were allowed the right amount of luck, and effort. Of course, the proper mindset was also important. What you are lacking is not the first two...but the last."

Suddenly, I felt myself being lifted off of the ground. The breath in my body suddenly felt faint - and I was struggling to breathe. Echidna was holding me by my neck, forcing me to look down into her still-veiled face.

The way she so effortlessly picked me up made me question why I was even trying to fight in the first place.

Did I really think I had a chance?

Did I really think, after all this time, that I could change just by trying hard enough?

That just entering a new world would mean I could just get away from who I once was?

My weak, pathetic self, too afraid to even engage in a world I couldn't understand. Too afraid to get close to people, out of danger of being hurt. Too afraid to admit that the world I created for myself with my own decisions was one I didn't even enjoy living.

"Use...less..."

I couldn't help but curse myself, even with the few breaths I could squeeze out.

"Useless...no, you aren't." She sighed, carelessly tossing me across the water. I rolled and rolled roughly, before eventually stopping, coughing while gasping air into my lungs. "Empty. That's the best word to describe you. You are the perfect 'Empty Vessel'. You lack any of the talent I would have usually granted to one of my children. You have no purpose. It's as if your very existence in this world is a superficial addition...an anomaly."

Her words, to me, seemed cruel and ruthless. I didn't even bother looking up to see her face, knowing it would've probably been twisted into some sadistic expression. Yet, her words that followed afterwards didn't match my imagination.

"So why can't you see it?" She said with confusion, her voice filled with a frustration I didn't understand. "Yes, you are empty. However, because you are an anomaly, someone that should not exist, you have it. Infinite possibilities. Possibilities that you should be able to see. That something that you don't even understand yet. That something even I can't grasp the full possibilities of."

She was speaking total nonsense...but I could tell she felt confidence in those nonsensical words.

"I will have you see it today." She spoke, with determination totally lost on me. "This final moment I've been granted...won't go to waste."

I nearly blacked out, as another of her punches dug deep into my stomach.

Somewhere, in-between barely retaining my consciousness...I noticed that the world around us was starting to darken. Breaking, apart, like it was falling apart at the seams.

If only...I could do something like that.

[Interference].

overclockedw

New chapter! I actually had this ready from last night, so I could've done a double post if I decided to pull an all-nighter editing, but I just decided to refine and release it today. Now, I'm on my way to a college mid-term, hope you guys enjoy!