Prologue

A being sat alone inside an infinite darkness, imprisoned there after a war fought long ago. Despite the immense power they wielded, despite the legions of soldiers they’d led, despite standing side-by-side with their brethren, they’d lost the war, and suffered the ignoble fate of being imprisoned.

And so had their enemies.

To this date, that conflict, known as the Divine War, was the stuff of legend. The war had spanned countless dimensions, and caused casualties beyond anything that could be estimated. It had been the war to end all wars, and yet, no one knew who had actually won.

Near the end of the war, the two sides had been locked in a bitter stalemate, neither able to gain an inch over their enemy. At that time, something of even greater power was activated. A conjuring of immense scale and power, capable of suppressing and capturing the combatants all at once, without even giving them the chance to fight back.

They’d been captured by the World System, imprisoned within it.

Fortunately for them, and unfortunately for just about everyone else, something even worse had begun soon after, diverting the System’s attention from them. This gave them some much-needed room to breath, and allowed them to begin spreading their roots into the System itself. While they couldn’t free themselves, they were able to nudge and guide certain parts of the System, giving them the ability to mold it to their own ends.

Take this space for instance. Originally, it should function as a prison, meant to hold the being for eternity. However now, it served a vastly different purpose.

The being's eyes opened, revealing pupils of deepest red and irises of shocking gold, surrounded by a black so deep, it seemed to devour the mind when looked at. At the being's behest, the darkness surrounding them rippled, beginning to form into something new, something different. For the first time in so very long, someone new was about to arrive in this place, giving the being a chance to acquire a new pawn, a new follower……

A new Vassal.

Episode Five – Back to the Nightmare

Part One

I awoke in a featureless white room, empty except for a pair of doors and a podium in-between them. The door in front of me was jet-black, with the same ouroboros pattern embossed into the door. The other door was pure white, with no further embellishments.

Okay, I wasn’t expecting this. Uh, I guess I should check that podium before I do anything else. Checking it over, I realized that it was covered in the same kind of writing we’d seen in the Demon Dungeon. Knowing that, it was obvious what I had to do.

A choice stands before you.

In front, there is only Darkness. Behind you lies the light.

Proceed carefully, Challenger, for once you’ve chosen, there shall be no going back.

Only success or death shall set you free.

Welp, that’s ominous as fuck. So, the black door takes me into the Dungeon, while the white one takes me back out? Sounds simple enough, though that last line bothers me a little. ‘Only success or death shall set you free’? I know you can’t normally leave a Trial once you’ve entered, so this seems redundant. Or is it? Maybe I should ask the others after their Trials. I’ve got an odd feeling about this.

Though the wording of this warning bothered me a little, it wasn’t enough to change my mind. The second my hand touched the black door, the world went white again, though I thought I heard a voice say something as I passed out.

“Well, if that’s what you want. Then let it begin…..”

***

When I came to again, I saw the same maroon sky that had been present in the Nightmare Labyrinth. I’d returned.

Well, no use laying here on the cold, hard ground. Time to get to work.

Rising to my feet, I looked around to get my bearings. At first, I thought I was on some sort of stone patio surrounded by low walls, with a recessed stairway set in one corner. However, I soon realized that it wasn’t a patio, but actually a rooftop. Looking over the railing revealed a city sprawling far below me, extending well past the horizon.

Based off a rough estimate, I’d say I was about thirty stories up, pretty far compared to most of the buildings I could see. But there were other buildings, few in number, but each easily twice as tall as the one I was currently on. And to make matters worse, I could see countless figures swarming between the buildings, looking like ants after their hill was kicked. It took me but a moment to realize that they were all monsters.

Oh fucking hell. What did I agree to do?

If this entire city was filled monsters, it would take me ages to cut my way through, if I could even survive down there. Honesty, I was starting to regret my decision. Maybe I should’ve taken that warning more seriously.

“Lovely view, isn’t it?”

Just as I was on the verge of a panic attack, a voice called out to me from behind, one I was intimately familiar with. After all, it was my own.

I didn’t hesitate. The second I realized that, one of my swords was out of its sheath, already swinging towards the Doppelganger behind me. He (or it, I wasn’t really sure how this worked) leaned back, just barely avoiding decapitation. Though before I could unsheathe my other sword, the Doppelganger continued speaking.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…whoa. Calm down there, buddy. I’m not here to fight you.”

“I ain’t your buddy, asshole. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I kill you? Or are you just a different one?”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m the same enemy you fought at the end of the Nightmare Labyrinth, though I do have your memories from after that particular Dungeon, so who's to say? Maybe I really am a different Doppelganger from last time, and the System just pasted the old one's memories onto me. Doesn’t change what I’ve got to do, nor what you have to do.”

“You mean kill you? ‘Cause I can do it.”

“Well, you can try, but I’d recommend you listen to what I have to say. It could be the difference between living and dying in here.”

“…”

Against my better judgment, I actually believed what it was saying. Something about the way it had just appeared gave its words a weight I couldn’t ignore. That, and it was just weird that it showed up again.

“Fine, I’ll hear you out. But make one wrong move, and I’ll cut you down.”

“Oof, not holding anything back, huh? Well, can’t say I wouldn’t do the same if I were you. Oh wait, I am you! Hahahaha…hahaha…ha. Okay, I’ll stop. You can put the pointy instrument of death away. Wait, don’t cast Grudge Magic! I don’t have any resistance to it!”

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, something tells me this guy's gonna get on my last nerve real quick. Let’s just hope I can hold my temper long enough to deal with him.

“Get explaining. Now, before I lose what little patience I have.”

“Fine, fine, I’ll start already! Geez, guy can’t take a joke. Ehem! Okay, where to start? First of all, I’m no longer the Nightmare Doppelganger you fought before. Now I’m more like an...avatar of the System with its memories and yours pasted onto it. I’m here because of how drastically different this Trial will be from anything you could’ve expected. You’re welcome.”

I decided to ignore the sarcasm in favor of moving forward.

“How different?”

“Well, you read the warning in the intercept room, right? The whole ‘Darkness ahead and light behind’ thing? Well that was quite literal. Normally, Trials have some kind of fail condition built into them, like a time limit or something. However, certain Classes lack these restrictions, turning their Trials into do-or-die situations. Ordinarily, you’d have already known this, but given the circumstances, the System decided to create me in order to inform you and increase your chances of, well, not dying. Now aren’t we special?”

That was…a lot to take in. I really had taken that warning too lightly, though there was little point to agonizing over it now. Honestly, my situation now wasn’t any different then back in the Nightmare Labyrinth. I just had to complete the Dungeon.

Wait a minute. Wouldn’t the Labyrinth have been a do-or-die Dungeon as well?....probably best not to worry about it.

“Alright, so I’m stuck here until I kill the Boss. Where is it? This city is so huge that it could take me weeks to find it, if not months.”

“Ah, that one’s easy. See that tower over there? The tallest one? The Dungeon Boss is waiting for you on the top floor, though getting in there won’t be easy.”

That was an understatement. The tower he indicated was enormous. It was so tall that I couldn’t see the top from where I was, indicating that it was far larger than any other building I’d ever seen. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was actually taller than any building on Earth. That’s how big it was.

“Seriously? That’s what I have to climb?”

“Yep, yep. Though I’ll admit it probably won’t be as bad as you fear. There’s likely an elevator or something inside it. Your physical abilities were already tested in the Labyrinth, so I doubt they’d go that far for this one.”

“…’They’?”

“Oops! Uh, could you forget that? As an avatar of the System, I’ve been given all relevant information regarding this particular Dungeon, but I’m not allowed to share some of it with you. Not unless you actually succeed, that is.”

“Is that so? I should’ve know there was some kind of bullshit behind this. Actually, it can’t be as easy as ‘reach the giant tower’, right? What else do I have to do?”

“Boo, I was gonna wait until you actually got to the tower to tell you this. Haaah, now I’ll be deprived of the wonderful expressions you would’ve made.”

“…Your personality could use some work.”

“Hm, then what does that say about you, hm?”

“…”

“Ah! I already said to put the sword awaaaaaaay!”

As I seriously contemplated killing my Doppelganger for the second time today, I also took a moment to calm myself. The task I’d been given was a lot more daunting than I’d expected, but it would surely be within my capabilities. Besides, dealing with those blasted Phantasms would surely be just as hard. Failing here could not be allowed.

“Haaaaaah, phew. I thought I was a goner for sure.”

“Just tell me what I need to do, or you will be.”

“Gulp. Sir, yes sir! In order to open the final tower, you’ll need to do two things. First, you’ll have to find the three Mid-Bosses hiding in the city, complete the ordeals they oversee, and take the keys they guard. Those you’ll use to open the door to the tower. However, there’s a second barrier just inside that one, and you’ll need to get your Nightmare's Weapon to its fully upgraded form to pass through it. There’s actually a bit more to this one, but I’ll wait until then to tell you since you could die at any point in here. Like, seriously. Any time.”

Despite the fact that I really wanted to retort to that last line, I felt like I couldn’t. Not only because of how unreasonably dangerous this was turning out to be, but also because I was shocked by the revelation that the Twin Swords would be needed to complete the Dungeon.

For the record, they were currently sitting at about twenty-eight thousand kills, a feat that had taken me months of continuous grinding to reach. Sure, the last month had been pretty good to that total, but it would likely take me months longer to reach one hundred thousand, the number of kills needed to upgrade the sword again. And since he said ‘fully upgraded form', that meant that there could be more after it.

How, how long am I gonna be in here!? A hundred thousand is bad enough, but what if it multiplies by ten again!? A million kills would take far too long! The others could all die before I get out of here!

“Ah, hold on there. I can tell what you’re thinking and it’s needless. The upgrade you’re on is the last one you’ll need to do. Heck, if you hadn’t brought them this far, you wouldn’t be able to be here. It’s one of the requirements to pick the Nightmare Class.”

“Oh fucking yes. Phew, nearly had a panic attack there.”

“Yeah, obviously. Anyway, the sooner you get started on your near-impossible task, the sooner I can be sent back to oblivion, so I’d like to get you on your way as quickly as possible. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask them. Just keep in mind that I can’t tell you anything to do with the actual contents of the Trial, just the mechanics behind it.”

“Hm…what about food and water? I packed quite a bit, but I’m now afraid I’ll run out because of how big this place is.”

“Not a problem! You remember how the Type of this Trial was Mindscape? Well those types of Dungeons are pretty weird. You see, right now, you’re nothing but a projection of your Mind or ego. It’s pretty complicated stuff that involves more magic than either of us knows, but basically, as long as you’re in here, you won’t need to eat, drink or expel waste, and the amount of sleep you need will be reduced. Though keep in mind that what happens here still affects your physical body, so death is definitely permanent.”

Huh, guess that explains how the Labyrinth worked. I’d thought it would be magic of some kind, but that was a little more than I expected.

“Huh, that’s convenient. But then, didn’t I buy all that food for nothing? …….maybe I’ll just start the Dungeon already. No, wait. One more question. What about my familiar? I don’t sense it.”

“Also not a problem. It’s just in Stasis right now. It’ll come back once you begin the Trial, though the same thing’ll happen any time I show up.”

“That’s…weird. I feel like I should be more worried about that, but I’ve got enough on my plate right now. Haaaah, let’s get this started.”

“Very good. Right this way to a land of unimaginable horrors and magic of the darkest variety.”

……I’m gonna kill him by the end of this, aren’t I?