I threw Ignis at Anthrion, who ducked. I dove in for an uppercut. Its head snapped back, skyward. I retrieved Ignis from the wall it was anchored in.
It tried cleaving me, but I leapt back, yet the claws still reached me. Cutting my cheek. 'I need to be faster, damn it!'
I sprinted around, "Steel Veil!", and drove Ignis into its body. The blade scratched the surface, but didn't dig any deeper.
Anthrion turned around, launching its hand straight towards my head. I slipped as its claws cut out a few strands of my hair. With a quick jump, I landed straight on Anthrion's head, sending him crashing down onto the floor.
Anthrion struggled as it tried to find a way to escape. I pushed my leg even further on its head; it howled in pain, then I raised my blade, Ignis. Preparing for the last attack. And thrust Ignis into its spine.
Ending the wretch's bastardly life.
[The King of Insects has successfully been slain by Eraser, Horacio.]
[The ruler of Time smirks at Horacio.]
My eyes began closing, and every limb in my body felt numb. "It wouldn't hurt… if I… took a nap, right?" And my vision closed off.
***
Twigs snapped as the group of three walked onward. One paused, surveying their surroundings, "Hear that y'all?" asked the man.
"No, what are you hearing now?" inquired the girl.
"That rumble, of course!"
"Uhh, sorry, but your hearing is crap now, old man," said the boy.
"I. Am. Not. Old," the man responded as he gave the young boy a death stare.
"Would you two idiots just shut up, please. We've got company, nine o'clock."
"Ugh, we just dealt with a few already, why more right now?!!"
"Oh, you scared, Luca?" asked the boy as he peered over his shoulder.
"Please, as if I would be scared, Axel," responded Luca.
Axel prepared his sniper, but not just any sniper. A sniper built specifically to deal with Errors. "Get ready, Sum."
She yelled, "I TOLD YOU ALREADY, IT'S NOT SUM, IT'S SUMMER!"
He lay down, stomach facing the ground and aimed.
Then he pushed on the trigger. The bullet flew for its target, aimed right at the head, like an eagle diving for its next dinner. "Headshot." The head blew up into a spray of blood, erased from existence. Summer took out her daggers and went in for the next one, assisted by Luca with his sword.
Blood was spilt all over the ground after slaying the demonic beasts.
"That's all, I guess," stated Summer.
"Weird, why were there only two this time?" inquired Axel through the earpiece. Suddenly, Summer screamed. "What happened—" And that was it for Luca too; the Error had eaten them both.
Axel could only look in horror as his closest companions were transformed into mincemeat. His mouth suddenly flooded with the lunch they had. Axel put away his sniper and ran, ran as fast as he could.
Almost tripping over again and again.
"No, no, no, no, no. They couldn't have died, they couldn't have! Yeah, I bet they're shredding it from the inside out right now—" he paused, tears rolled down his cheeks.
"What's wrong with me?! They're dead, damn it all! That creature was a Wraith rank; they would've never survived it…"
Axel began walking onward, still crying. He walked, and walked and walked without stopping. After a few hours, he arrived at a pair of stone doors.
Axel pushed them open. Only to see a brutally destroyed throne room. Lying, face-first, all the way at the end of the room was the body of a man, and beside the man… an Error.
He walked on, towards the man. And touched his cold, pale cheeks before jumping back, as if he were a dog that might bite if touched too long. "He's knocked out, cold."
Axel brought the man onto his back.
***
I woke up to the scent of cooked meat. As I slowly rose from the comfy dirt bed, a voice squealed, "Ah, you're awake now! Perfect timing! Here, have dinner!" exclaimed a boy as he shoved a piece of meat into my mouth.
I gagged on the meat as I tried spitting it out, but the piece of meat muffled my cries, "Mmph!", which sounded more like me enjoying the food rather than refusing it.
I looked at the boy as I chewed the food, 'He looks younger than me. Blond hair, dark-brown eyes. He sure is a good-looker…'
I swallowed the meat, "You," I began while sucking my fingers clean, "what's your name?"
"I'm Axel! Your saviour!"
"My saviour now? Really? What did you save me from?"
"Uhm… Uhh…"
"Never mind that. How old are you anyway?"
"I'm ten!"
'Oh great, a child! Just what is a child doing here in this hell-hole?!'
"What are you doing here, kiddo? It's dangerous here!"
"I'm taking promotion exams! So you may not think it, but this is actually the second time I've come here—though… the Errors are much stronger now…" And he began weeping.
'Ugh, now he's having a mental breakdown? Some hero he is!'
"You alright, Axel? What happened?"
"I… lost my friends to an Error. Not just any normal Error… a Wraith rank Error! And when I was here… two years back, there wasn't a single Wraith rank."
'Oh. That's why he's crying…' I patted him on the back, "Don't worry, relax. I'm here!"
"Thank you…"
"Alright, now that we have that out of the way, tell me what I'm doing here, in the 'Doom-Pit'."
"Oh, so you're new, eh? Interesting. Okay, so first, what's your name?"
"Horacio's the name!"
"Okay, Horacio, so since you're a new guy, lemme break it short for you: I'm taking a 'promotion exam'. Each year, ten training members from the TLP are sent here so that the examiners can grade them. If your grade falls below 50% then you'll have to retake the exam next year. We call these 'promotion exams'—"
"So this is your promotion exam?"
"Yeah!"
"For recruits, this is called the 'acceptance exam'. Based on how well you do here, you'll be either killed here or you might join the academy…"
"I prefer the latter."
"So do I."
"Okay, so what do I do to complete the exam?"
"You just have to survive 14 hours, that's all."
"Oh, easy—"
"No, it's not easy, I just told you what happened with my group!"
"Okay, not easy."
"Oh yeah, speaking of which! How did you defeat that Error?!" he beamed as he leaned in closer.
"You really wanna know?"
"Yes, please!"
"I defeated it!" his face dropped, and a bored expression replaced the beaming face.
"That's not very descriptive…"
"Anyways, I'm feeling sleepy right now, lemme go to sleep—" But just as I was about to lie down again, Axel yelled. I turned around and saw an Error looming over the poor boy.
In a quick dash, I summoned Ignis, blocking the beast's slash.
"Ugh, God damn it, I can't ever just rest in peace!"