Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Clenching my head, charred and bald, pure untamed insanity clung to my brain as I howled, bearing the brunt of the laws of light, slashing at my soul and body. My eyes had long lost their light due to the tempering, and no matter what I did, I could not correctly heal in time. I was blind, but there was no world of darkness like I thought, only a blaring scarlet light searing my being.

It had been a thousand years.

111,990.8745 months.

365,000 days.

8,760,000 hours.

Holding on the best I could, I howled and roared till my blood boiled, and my heart burned with the sin of wrath, anger like no other flared to life as I fought to escape this accursed place. Yet no matter what I did, no matter how much I struggled, Zax would find a way to keep me trapped. I was like a rat lost in a maze.

Digging my fingers through my charred flesh, like I had done so many times, I did not feel the flow of blood race down my fingers, the icy sensation of an open wound cooling my blood, only a searing hell driving me to madness, the longer I remained. I don't know how I remained sane or why I held that privilege. But with each passing year, I would make progress to escape.

Maybe it was because I was getting stronger or the fact that I held a secret that not even Lilith nor Zax knew. My tarnished arm had a secret that was slowly helping—helping me evolve into something else. Each year to hide my progress from Zax, I would only devour a sliver of flames of hellfire; I couldn't care less what would happen. I needed to escape this place.

And I was going to. On the surface, it had only seemed like my arm had been Tarnished, but it was my blood, my adaptation, making it so that whatever my arm devoured allowed me to gain certain properties, but that was only half of it.

As I had been breaking down the flames of hellfire within my arm, I found that my soul was absorbing the very fundamentals of Heaven and Hell; their laws were slowly filling my brain and my Heavenly Qi. It was almost unrecognizable as my Qi now held the resilient nature of the flames of hellfire and a sliver of Almighty Essence.

I hadn't used this Tarnished Path of Abyssal Night, but the day was coming. The day I would rise like the fucking phoenix and rain hell over Zax.

Hope maybe for the foolish, but I had no problem being foolish. I was going to rise one day. My pride will not allow me to fall, not here.

So I counted and counted the coming years.

1100 Years!

1500 Years!

2000 Years!

2500 Years

3000 Years!

4000 Years!

Counting each year, followed by the months, days, hours, and finally the seconds, I found myself bellowing in laughter that chilled the core of my being; I could not even believe such a thing came from me. As a scarlet-black aura rippled off my body, blasting off the Flames of Hellfire from my flesh and bones.

Wrath poured like rain from my heart as I summoned the spear of Noctem in my tarnished arm. And at that moment, the Tarnished Path I held in me, that had been growing with each passing year, erupted, shattering the distance stars around the abyss.

Steam poured from my flesh; as I began for the first time regenerating, I turned to the sun glaring at me and roared.

"PERISH!!" I uttered with such dreadful hatred; Almighty Qi erupted alongside my Rule, and at my command, the sun trickled away like a gust of wind, leaving only small nodes of starlight that slowly faded off into the ether.

Darkness ensued, and for the first time in four thousand years: the pain had ended.

"I'm free," I muttered in disbelief. "Haha, I'm free."

"Are you?" Zax coldly said, sending a chill down my soul. "Oh, Arsene, it's as I said before, there will be no escape. I'm a being from a higher dimension. But thank you for showing me your secret. I had been wondering why you were so quiet."

"NO!" I howled with everything I had, clenching my fist; as a devouring power flared to life, tearing away the illusion.

"Oh yes, quite the little illusion, don't you think?" he amusingly said as a wave of torment returned, washing over me.

Brimstone filled my lips as the deadly realization filled me. "Hope is for the weak," I said aloud as my howls of anguish erupted, alongside the depraved laughter of Zax.

"The wisest thing you have ever said, boy. Welcome back to Hell. Your flames of hellfire are under my control, with the help of Izavith, Rule. There is no escape, my boy. But do keep trying. Show me that tenacity. Oh, and Izavith told me she has a surprise for you—a big one."

Clenching my fist, a slew of curses left my lips as I bellowed to the higher heavens; clenching my tarnished fist, I gave up on hiding my power and allowed my arm to devour the flames of hellfire that was now acting against me. I hadn't even known when I had lost control of such a thing, but it would have seemed like I had been under Zax's illusion ever since I entered this Hell.

"I'm going to have my revenge," I spat.

"It's as I said, I am here to temper the bitch out of you. I'm not here to admire your progress, nor am I here to serve your every whim; if you want power, take the torment like a man. Oh, and as punishment for disrupting my Kings trial, almost shattering the confines of what he made, I'm increasing the time to another thousand years. Be a good little dog next time."

Almighty essence clung to my pores as I looked past these hellish flames and glared with an iciness that made these flames less dreadful, "I'm coming, Zax. Time is what I have, these flames will lose their effect on me one day, and when that time comes, you will feel my—"

"Wrath?" he finished in an amused manner, "I shall await that day, Arsene Snow. I truly do await that day."