Chapter 41: Kitsune Essence

The forest vanished behind the stone.

Eden remained standing for several seconds.

Then his legs gave out.

He dropped onto a nearby rock.

"Haa..."

He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.

His entire body was exhausted.

His Essence reserves were nearly empty.

His ribs still hurt from the injuries he’d suffered earlier.

And his heart was hammering against his chest.

"That..." Eden breathed.

He looked at the sealed door.

"...was way too close."

Ryuhei didn’t answer.

Eden looked up.

The masked man was standing directly in front of the door.

He simply stared at it.

His white mask reflected the faint glow of the runes.

Eden watched him for a moment.

"You know," he said between breaths, "most people would probably celebrate surviving something like that."

Nothing.

"Or at least say something."

Still nothing.

Eden sighed.

"Right. Forgot who I’m talking to."

Ryuhei reached into his robes.

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

A weapon?

Another strange artifact?

Instead, Ryuhei tossed something toward him.

Eden instinctively caught it.

A small bottle.

Pink.

He froze.

His exhausted expression disappeared.

His eyes widened.

"...No way."

He turned the bottle in his hand.

The liquid inside shimmered faintly.

He knew exactly what it was.

A Kitsune Essence Potion.

One of the rarest potions in the entire world.

Eden had seen them mentioned in auctions before.

Millions.

That was the starting point.

One bottle could cost an entire fortune.

And even money wasn’t enough to guarantee getting one.

Because the potion wasn’t produced by some laboratory.

It was made by a Kitsune.

A living Kitsune had to willingly give up a portion of their own Essence to create it.

That alone made production incredibly limited.

And Kitsunes weren’t creatures that appeared in Gates.

They were one of the rare species known to inhabit the Abyss without appearing in any Gates at all.

Which meant humanity couldn’t simply walk into a dungeon, hunt one down, and harvest their Essence.

They had to roam the abyss directly to find one.

A willing one.

Somehow convince it to cooperate.

And somehow bring the potion back to Earth.

The process was so rare that even most S-Ranks could go their entire lives without seeing one.

And the effect...

Eden stared at the bottle.

Four times.

For up to two weeks.

Four times the experience gain.

Even Eden, who had spent weeks throwing himself into Gates and risking his life for every bit of progress, understood how absurdly valuable this was.

He looked at Ryuhei.

"Where did you get this?"

No response.

"Ryuhei."

The masked man had already turned away.

Eden frowned.

"You can’t just give me something worth millions and walk away."

Ryuhei didn’t stop.

Eden stood.

"Seriously. Where did you get it?"

Ryuhei reached toward the sword at his side.

Eden’s expression changed.

The strange blade.

Until now, he hadn’t actually seen it unsheathed.

Ryuhei slowly drew it.

The blade itself looked unremarkable.

For one second.

Then Ryuhei swung.

Once.

The air split.

Eden’s eyes widened.

A thin black line appeared in space.

Ryuhei swung again.

The line widened.

Space itself tore open.

Beyond the rift was nothing Eden could properly understand.

It looked almost like a warped tunnel, darkness folding over itself in impossible directions.

A forced warp.

Eden stared.

’What the hell...?’

Ryuhei finally glanced over his shoulder.

"Grow stronger."

Eden frowned.

Ryuhei’s strange mask somehow seemed to smile.

"The lower realm is running out of time."

Eden’s expression hardened.

’...?’

Ryuhei stepped toward the rift.

"I’ll see you again."

He paused.

"In the Abyss."

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

"Wait—"

Ryuhei stepped through.

"Ryuhei!"

The masked man disappeared.

The rift remained open for another second before it collapsed.

The empty dungeon became silent again.

Eden stood there.

Alone.

He stared at the place where Ryuhei had disappeared.

"...What the hell was that?"

Eden looked down at the Kitsune Essence Potion still sitting in his hand.

His expression slowly became more serious.

’That guy knew more than he was letting on.’

That much was obvious.

He had appeared in the middle of a completely unknown region of the Abyss.

He knew about the Tomb.

He knew about the Rulers.

He had some kind of spatial ability capable of cutting through reality itself.

He possessed a Kitsune Essence Potion.

And now he’d told Eden to grow stronger.

As though Ryuhei expected Eden to become powerful enough to meet him again.

In the Abyss.

Then there was that phrase.

The lower realm.

Eden slowly looked toward the sealed door.

"The lower realm..."

He rubbed his forehead.

"Earth?"

’Or...’

"The Abyss?"

Neither answer made him feel particularly good.

If Ryuhei was talking about Earth, then something was coming.

If he was talking about the Abyss...

Then something was happening there.

Either way, his words had sounded less like a warning and more like a countdown.

Eden looked at the potion again.

"You’re a strange guy."

He slipped the potion carefully into his inventory.

"I’ll give you that."

His thoughts returned to the tomb.

The Tomb of the Ruler of Sorcery.

One of five Rulers.

Five beings who had apparently descended into the Abyss.

Eden began walking.

’Mendax.’

His mind immediately returned to that moment.

Eden’s eyes narrowed.

’If there are five Rulers...’

’And Mendax had explicitly claimed that people called him a Ruler...’

’Then Mendax had to be one of them.’

Eden continued walking.

"But if that’s true..."

His gaze drifted toward the endless empty dungeon.

"What kind of authority did he have?"

The Tomb belonged to the Ruler of Sorcery.

So what did that make Mendax?

Ruler of what?

Power?

Death?

Time?

Something else entirely?

And why had he given Eden his authority?

Why had he sent him back?

Why were the Empty Gates appearing now?

Why were the runes connected to the same phenomenon as Mendax’s time stop?

And why had Ryuhei said the lower realm was running out of time?

Eden stopped.

He stared blankly ahead.

"...I hate mysteries."

A headache began forming behind his eyes.

He sighed.

"Too many questions."

He decided to put them aside.

For now.

There was no point trying to solve a puzzle when he didn’t even have all the pieces.

One thing was certain.

He needed to get stronger.

Strong enough to enter the Abyss.

Strong enough to explore the Tomb.

Strong enough to confront whatever was waiting inside.

And strong enough to eventually find Ryuhei again.

"Guess I’ll get my answers there."

After several minutes, he finally saw the Gate.

He stepped toward it.

The familiar blue light swallowed his body.

Edens phone vibrated the moment he returned to Earth.

Bzzt.

Then again.

And again.

And again.

Eden pulled it out.

His eyes widened.

Thirty-seven missed calls.

More than fifty messages.

Almost all from one person.

Lucy.

"...Oh."

He scrolled through them.

Lucy:

Where are you?

Lucy:

Eden?

Lucy:

Why aren’t you answering?

Lucy:

You said you’d be back.

Lucy:

Please answer.

Then later messages.

Lucy:

I’m going to find you myself.

And finally:

Lucy:

If you died in there I’m going to kill you.

Eden stared at the screen.

"...How long have I been gone for?"

He called her.

She answered almost immediately.

"EDEN?!"

He pulled the phone slightly away from his ear.

"I’m alive."

"Where are you?!"

"Near that abandoned Factory that was raided by a bunch of Rogues the other day."

"Don’t move."

"...I wasn’t planning to?"

"Stay there!"

The call ended.

Eden blinked.

"God damn."

A few minutes later, he saw them.

Lucy was the first one to reach him.

She didn’t even slow down.

"Eden!"

She ran straight toward him.

Eden barely had time to react before she threw her arms around him.

He stiffened.

’...Uhm.’

Lucy buried her face against his chest.

"You idiot!"

Eden looked down.

"That’s what I get for helping you girls?"

"Don’t!"

"..."

She squeezed him tighter.

"You sealed yourself inside with that thing!"

"Not like we had a variety of different options—"

"You could have died!"

"But I didn’t."

"That’s not the point!"

Eden opened his mouth.

Closed it.

’This is so awkward.’

Lucy pulled back just enough to look at him.

Her eyes were red.

She looked furious.

And relieved.

Mostly relieved.

"Don’t ever do that again."

Eden sighed.

"Listen Lucy, I get that you were worried, but what I did was the most efficient way to get us all out alive."

Lucy stared at him.

"It was a plan."

She continued staring.

"A very good plan, actually."

"Eden."

"I mean it. I’d never be the type to do the sacrifice play."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You literally stayed behind so we could escape."

"We wouldn’t have made it in time otherwise."

"That’s exactly what someone who does the sacrifice play would say."

Eden paused.

’Does that poor thing really view me as some kind of Hero??’

"Lucy I—"

Lucy wiped at her eyes.

"Shut up."

A small smile appeared on Eden’s face.

"Alright, alright. I won’t do it again."

Sera stepped forward with a relieved smile on her face.

"I’m glad you’re alright."

Eden placed a hand on his right side, before wincing in pain.

Apparently, getting thrown through several supersized trees did some lasting damage to his ribs.

"More or less."

"So what happend in there?"