'Ugh... Why am I not dead yet?'

Ryuji found himself among a myriad of stars, each one brighter than the other. He slowly stood up and looked around.

As soon as he stood straight, the stars seemed to bend and turned into long horizontal beams of bright light. Ryuji felt himself being pushed somewhere. But this had already happened once, He was probably traversing in a same way he had travelled during his first trip to the afterlife. Though ofcourse, his first trip was interrupted by someone unexpected. 

This time, he didn't seem to be travelling through a dedicated path, instead, he seemed to be travelling on top of some kind of road made from a complex weave of radiant strings. It wasn't as impressive as the one he used after his first death, but he had to admit that it was still incredibly complex.

But the real question in his mind was about his whereabouts. If a person died in heaven or hell, their soul was destroyed and they were returned to nothingness. Which means... They simply ceased to exist.

If that was not the case, then where was he?

Ryuji tried to remember the events that happened just before his death on the cursed dimension of hell.

He was heavily injured... And saw the runes describing his story burning with intense fire... And then he felt a strange power filling his muscles. He lifted the blade... And Killed White. After that... He met with Spider. She took his Soul Core... And he died?

No. No, He saw the hidden attribute under his Story just before dying, and activated it... But nothing happened... He just died. Unless he didn't. Maybe he just passed out and then the Hidden Attribute showed it's effects?

But that is not true at all He knows the feeling of dying all too well... And the feeling of passing out even better. What he felt was definitely the feeling one gets when they die. But the fact that Ryuji is here must mean that he didn't die, or he was brought back to life, and into this path that leads somewhere... somewhere unknown.

Anyways, He has been feeling a weird stirring just above his heart for a while now. He definitely doesn't want to die of a mere heart attack moments after dying in hell. It'd be such a shame.

Now, He just needs to wait... And be bored probably.

But then the runes softly announced something and appeared before him:

[The Formation of The Resurgence Core is complete]

'Huh?'

Almost instantaneously, Ryuji felt a slow feeling of something cold and liquid-like filling somewhere in his core. The Core wasn't inside his body, but he could feel that it existed within him. As if it had become a part of his very Soul.

Plus it had already started gathering the cold and liquid-like energy inside him! Neat!

[Your Core is ready to Evolve...]

[Evolution complete]

[The Resurgence Core is lit with a Burning Ember]

"W-Whoa..."

Ryuji couldn't help but let his feelings escape out of his mouth. Well, it's not like someone could hear him here... So he could say his thoughts out loud.

The feeling of power slowly filling up his core almost doubled instantaneously. He couldn't help but let a low moan escape from his lips. Immediately embarassed, Ryuji Coughed and decided to summon the runes describing his Soul Cores.

Core Name: Resurgence

Core Rank: Embered

Soul Fragments - [0/1000]

Core Description - ["The Resurgence Core will aid you in battle. You will enjoy an accelerated rate of Soul Essence accumulation in your body. You will also enjoy a larger reserve of Soul Essence in it."]

"That's neat!"

Ryuji didn't hesitate to say it out loud. He will not just enjoy an accelerated rate of Soul Essence Accumulation, He will even have a much larger reserve of it. He still wasn't sure how the expenditure of Soul Essence worked or how great of a deal it was, but knowing that he was gonna enjoy better effects was enough to make him happy.

But somehow his Core was already Embered. He didn't even need todo anything.

[The formation of The Oblivion Core is complete]

"W-What?! Another Core?"

But as soon as the runes announced that, he suddenly felt the feeling of Soul Essence accumulating in his Core get slower. It slowed down more, and more... And then some more to the point that the rate of Soul Essence accumulation in his core got almost half.

"Wait? What?! Why?!"

Ryuji checked the description of his new core immediately

Core Name: Oblivion

Core Rank: Dormant

Souls Accumulated - [0/1000]

Core Description - ["The Oblivion is your child. Feed your child well, and it will grow up strong and independent. Keep it hungry for even a second, it will feast on you instead."]

'What the?! This sounds so omnious'

A Soul Core is supposed to give power to it's master. Even though the Resurgence Core was supposed to be Embered, providing him with a large amount of Soul Essence, he couldn't enjoy it! This nasty bastard was eating half of it afterall!

And what was up with the Souls Accumulated thing?! Zen never told him about something like this!

Oh wait, His first core had undergone an Evolution. Maybe the Oblivion Core will go through one too! He just needed to wait.

...

...But nothing happened. Resurgence Core's evolution was almost instantaneous. And The Oblivion Core had been in him for a while now... But nothing was happening.

Perhaps it wasn't going to evolve.

As Ryuji was losing himself in these thoughts, The Runes spoke up and appeared before him again

[You have acquired an Aspect: The Last Abyssal Flame]

[Evaluating Aspect Rank...]

[Congratulations, Dragon! Your Aspect is of the Lost Rank!]

[Awakening your dormant powers]

***

Ryuji's mouth grew dry... W-What did the runes just say?

It was... The L-Lost Rank?!

Ryuji was confused beyond his ability to comprehend it. Back when he will still in hell, which was just a few hours ago, He had a conversation with Zen. He had learnt a lot of things from Zen, but Zen was not exactly well-informed about anything. Except one topic. The Aspect Ranking System.

Aspects were divided in 5 different categories.

Glowing, Radiant, Legacy, Ancient and Lost.

The latter getting rarer than the former ones. Zen had a Radiant Ranked Aspect, which wasn't bad, Since the power that an Aspect could provide to a person wasn't based on it's rarity. It was just based on how a person would utilize his Aspect, and how many battles they won.

But still, A rarer rank meant he had a better chance of getting stronger than the others... And then hopefully killing the God he loathes.

'Let's check the Aspect description then yeah? Afterall, to win a battle, you should know yourself before you know your enemy.'

Aspect: [The Last Abyssal Flame] - "The Abyssal Flame was born eons ago, one of the few to not have a creator in the world bound by the laws of creation. It has a will, but not a rule. Once thought to be extinguished, Now burns inside you."

Aspect Rank: Lost

Innate Ability: [-Unbound-]

Ability Description: [You are -Unbound- as long as the Abyssal Flames reside within you. They are bound to your will and will burn anything you will them to burn, and leave anything you will them to leave, given you have an understanding of what you will for.]

**

'That's... Exciting.'

But what exactly does Unbound mean? What is he Unbound from? Fate? Some kind of being that controls everything in this world? Or something else entirely? Perhaps, he didn't need to worry about it right now. But his ability was indeed very interesting.

But his curiosity was pulling him towards something else right now too...

If he received an Aspect... He must've received some new attributes by now... Let's check them all.

**

Name: Ryuji Sora

Soul Core: Oblivion(Dormant), Resurgence(Embered)

Rank: Abyssal Knight

Aspect: [The Last Abyssal Flame]

Attributes: [The Black Flame], [Soul Steal], [Oblivion]

Stories: [The Saviour Of A Thousand Happy Dinners]

Soul Bonds: [One's Resolve], [Blamed Scholar], [Maroon Blade]

Soul Mark: [Divinity's Unwanted Child]

Soul Path: --

**

'Wait... Why am I an Abyssal Knight instead of a Soul Knight? Am I actually turning into an Abyssal Creature?'

Ryuji looked down at his body, inspecting his abdomen, his legs, his hands. Everything looked the same. Surely, it couldn't mean he was turning into an Abyssal Creature. Perhaps it was related to his Aspect.

'Maybe it's fine as long as i feel perfect?'

Ofcourse... Nothing has gone wrong for now. He definitely wasn't gonna turn into an Abyssal... Right?

Ryuji suddenly shook his head, trying to push the thoughts into a distant corner of his mind. He didn't need to think about such things right now. If anything, he should probably be worrying about where he's going right now. And if it'll be dangerous.

Rubbing his hands, he lowered his head a little and glanced at the runes describing his Attributes

The Black Flame - ["The Black Flame was a part of the Abyssal Flame's family. You can Summon the flame anytime since it lives within yourself."]

Hmm... Simple and to the point. Just the way Ryuji likes.

He lowered his head a bit more and glanced at the second one in the list.

Soul Steal - ["You can collect Souls and give them a Shelter in your Heart."]

There it goes with all the omnious and mysterious stuff again! What does it even mean to be able to collect Souls and give shelter in his heart!

Sighing, he looked down again.

Oblivion - ["You can see what can't be seen."]

'I can see what can't be seen? Doesn't sound too interesting'

Ryuji dismissed all of the runes and sat down on path made of the complex weave of strings. He hugged his legs and quietly waited for him to reach wherever they were going."

He didn't even bother checking what the Soul Bonds he received from Spider were. Why was he feeling especially frustrated today? He hadn't been like this before. Was it because of his near-death experience... Or maybe calling it his Death experience would be a better choice.

Before Ryuji could finish his thoughts though, the runes spoke:

[Welcome to The True World, Elysium.]

"Huh?"

And with a flash, everything around him turned white, and in the next moment... He had sand in his mouth.

"Glouuuhhhgh-"

Ryuji pushed himself off the ground and spat out the sand that had gotten in his mouth somehow.

"W-What the hell?! Why is everything against me today!"

Ryuji rubbed his tongue with his palm trying to brush away all the sand stuck to it. This wasn't the best way to start his first day in Elysium, but at least this was a start. But wait... Why was there sand around him anyways?

Ryuji looked around and found himself in a vast desert on top of a high dune. Vast dunes of inhumane height covered the whole desert. Far behind him lived nothing but the same desert, in front of him lived nothing either. No matter where Ryuji looked, it was all just a vest desert.

"AGHHHHHHH!!!! A desert?! A freaking desert?! Fuck this."