Grade 5s were powerful, yes. And in numbers, there was basically zero chance of a typical Trancer surviving their trials.
Luca, though, had proven to be different.
It wasn't anything special, he just unravelled the creatures he fought, piece by piece until he understood their structure as a whole.
It was an adaptive trait from his years on the farm.
'Who would have thought it would be the key to my survival?' Luca spun and kicked the first Grade five with clenched muscles. His entire system went rigid as he groaned painfully.
The air shifted. A powerful gale of wind blasted as the Null Spawn was sent reeling back.
Immediately, Luca ran.
The new Spawns crashed into his former position. Their eyes were blood red with agitation.
Their roars caused the atmosphere to rattle as they pounced after him.
Luca didn't look back. No, he never did.
Since the third floor, he had realised his body had begun to adapt unnaturally to the waves of corruption. All Null Creatures gave off the same corrupted wavelength even without possessing a core.
That wavelength caused his skin to crawl and the ego that oozed out of him shivered when it was too close for comfort.
He didn't know it, but Luca was adapting to the changes that came with having an Ego Core in real time.
Just then, he crashed into the wall of the floor. A sudden quake spread through as jagged cracks snaked from the impact.
He held it firmly and blasted through the hallway.
Ego danced around him in a shadowy cloak.
The three Grade 5 appeared and their forms smashed consecutively into the wall. Each further spread the crack, and broke it in the process.
Their guttural screeches came next as they chased.
'Should I try collapsing the whole floor again?'
Luca thought as he formed the elongated Ego blade around both hands.
He jumped in the air and prepared to slice all around when his hair stood on end.
Luca's pupils constricted and darted to the left. Golden energy trailed its wake.
Before him stood one of the Spawns.
'Shit.'
The creature sent its fist brawling through the air and connected with Luca's side.
'They won't let me.' His face contorted between pain and shock before momentum swallowed him.
The air wheezed past his ears as he was sent flying through the air like a broken kite.
One wall after the other collided with his form before giving way for the boy to pass through.
The cement burst like confetti. Sand and debris poured like a fountain and Luca's bones rattled with each impact.
His entire system went haywire and he heaved greatly.
'Think!' Luca could still feel it. The Null Spawns were catching up.
Three from each side, running after his flying body in perfect synchrony.
The feeling startled him, but it acted as a reminder. A reminder that their job wasn't yet finished.
The final wall came caving in as his body sprawled over it. Cracks spiderwebbed across the impact as blood forced its way out of his mouth.
His arms screamed. His legs protested.
Blood dribbled down his entire form. Filling the floor beneath his feet with a crimson pool.
His eyes turned bloodshot, and his nose stung with the smell of iron.
Everything hurts all at once!
Yet, the boy was unnerving. His pupils darted from side to side as he bit on his lips.
Ego blasted and spikes formed.
'They don't have an obvious weakness. Most of their structural integrity and body composition make up for the far graver weaknesses of their lesser Grades.'
The walls in front of him shattered into pieces as the three Spawns emerged. Guttural screeches scratched his ears as their fists flew into the air towards him.
Black muscular tendons. A short stout tail. Broad figures. Powerful limbs.
Indeed, they possessed no weakness.
'So, I have to be sharper. Stronger.'
When weakness could not be found, there was only one option left– Overwhelming power.
Ego blasted once more. His skull crackled with intensity. A searing heat had begun to spread from his occipital down to his temporalis.
His ego core strained as everything poured out by his command.
Luca didn't believe in luck, nor coincidences.
Life was all about effort and reward. Cause and effect, but even that had failed him on more times than he could count.
Effort never truly meant rewards, and nature was not kind to anyone. It simply was!
So, at this moment, right this instance. As the creeping sensation of death dawned on him like the finality of a Judge's Anvil, Luca gave up on everything except one– himself.
The world crawled to a snail's pace in Luca's eyes.
He did not know it, but his hair had begun to shift. No longer was it hair, but a growing, wild golden flame.
It burned and it spread. His face was consumed by the flames and it burned mightily.
Fortunately for him, this wasn't flame, but his Ego.
His energy-giving form through his will.
Immediately, those spikes turned. They morphed into blades. Slim and sharp according to his desires.
About fifty of them projected out of his body.
Some protruded out of the walls of the building. A lot more extended by his sides and his front.
He became a ball of swords aimed with their sharp edges beyond. And his form warped through the air at his enemies.
Time resumed as Luca landed behind the agitated Grade 5s with a light thump.
His head still burned with the same golden authority.
[EGO SYNCHRONY (100%)]
[CONGRATULATIONS, LUCAMIR ELARIC FOR BECOMING THE FIRST TRUE EGOIST]
[THE 20 GODS OF THE ABYSS TURN TO FACE YOU]
[THE 21ST GOD SMILES AT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT]
[THE ABYSS STARES]
Lucamir heard these notifications, but he couldn't comprehend them.
He had turned around to face the Null Spawns, but the sight before him caused him to freeze.
The Null Spawns staggered on their feet as a low growl escaped their maws.
Their flesh slipped, inch by inch from their bodies and blood began to ooze out in trinkets.
The blades had done their work as they dripped with the black blood of their foes.
In a second, the three beasts' bodies burst out in a rain of flesh and blood. Collapsing onto the ground with loud thuds as the sight began to dawn on him.
Luca attempted to gulp. No, in fact, he intended to breathe.
'Wait?! What? He fell to his knees and grabbed his throat.
His hands attempted to reach for his face, but it simply phased through the energy.
He shivered in shock.
'I can't feel my face?!'
The thought sent a jolt of fear that began to spread through his body.
He rolled on the ground. Pulling his energy within as he did before.
It obeyed, but his head hadn't returned.
'No! No! No!'
He had done it. The Null Spawns were dead.
In fact, he had pulled a large amount of Ego to achieve it. An energy that was usually presented in small amounts to most Trancers, if any, at all.
It was a difficult win. He wasn't even certain he would have won it without this energy!
[THE DUNGEON TRIAL IS NOW OVER]
'Why should that matter?! End this thing already damn it!'
[TIME REMAINING 0:59]
A chime rang in the air.
Luca nearly doubled over.
'What?! Is this thing serious right now?!'
Suddenly, his vision that had been near perfect began to wither. Coloured vision turned to grey, and it felt like reality itself was peeling its form.
'NO!'
Luca rushed to his feet and staggered across the Hallway. His goal, obviously, the Elevator!
[PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE ELEVATOR TO END THE TRANCE BEFORE THE TIME RUNS OUT]
'This is crazy!' He had a hunch when he heard the elevator sound in the air. But the Trance really intended to mess with him till the very end.
'May as well call this a third trial!'
He ignored his thoughts and staggered around.
The further he went, the shorter his breath and the murkier his sight.
Soon, his ears began to ring. Then– silence.
Nothing registered as sound anymore, not even his thoughts!
His nose came next and finally, his eyes.
He groaned as he felt the wall the entire way.
Somehow, he had registered his environment during the fight and even before he lost his vision. After all, the image of the battlefield needed to be registered, just as necessarily as the Beasts he fought.
How else could he use the environment's advantages? Luckily or not, he had not needed to this time.
Time ticked as he paved his way. Kicking walls, and even his foot until finally, he felt it. The solid, metal wall. Immediately, he searched for the buttons.
Once he felt it, he tapped it and awaited the elevator doors to hum open.
[PLEASE FIND YOUR WAY TO THE ELEVATOR]
[5..]
Finally, the door opened and Luca quickly jumped inside.
The countdown froze and the elevator door hummed shut.
Slowly, everything began to fade. His vision returned. His sense of smell, touch and finally, his hearing.
The Ego around his face also receded as such.
The young boy could only sigh as he felt his face, finally.
'That was dangerous… wasn't that… what do they call it? An overload?'
When a low rank uses energy far beyond their control, it is possible to get physically and mentally burnt out.
'Though, I feel mine was a bit lenient.'
He shook his head as a visible image formed in his retina. One that caused his lips to curl into a smile.
[CONGRATULATIONS LUCAMIR ELARIC, ON BECOMING AN EGOIST]
[YOU WILL NOW BE TRANSPORTED TO YOUR THIRD EYE WHERE YOUR REWARDS WILL BE CALCULATED]
[INITIATING TRANCER TRANSFER TO THE REAL WORLD]
[SUCCESSFUL]
[NOW RETURNING HOME]
Lucamir sighed visibly. 'Finally.'