Chapter 1: The Fool

Year 2053.

Humanity has almost met its demise due to their own foolishness.

After conducting continuous nuclear experiment failures and explosions that caused the tectonic plates to crumble, a gigantic bottomless sinkhole appeared right in the middle of the continent that was known as Asia before.

People called it 'the Abyss'.

From there, countless demon-like monsters, the Asuras, emerged.

Those creatures possessed a variety of body types mostly made of fire and unimaginable strength, and quickly became the sole reason for humanity's extinction since humanity's weapons and arms could not even make any scratch to them.

In the end, humanity barely persisted, but they had to surrender as the Asuras' goal was to conquer and dominate the surface world.

Around 100 years later, the history of 2000 years of civilization and its development completely declined. Yet, after enduring the pain of being trampled on, enslaved, and raised like cattles, a new hope seemed to emerge.

People with strange abilities started to appear.

They were called 'Vessels' as they earned blessings and skills given by Gods, Great Spirits, and even the Legendary Heroes from the Age of Gods.

300 years has passed since the first Vessel appeared, and humanity finally pushed the Asuras back to where they originally belonged.

The Vessels started to 'dive' into the Abyss in search of treasures and fame.

People called them Divers.

Thanks to the Divers, civilization started to develop once again. They fortunately stumbled upon a rare material that was inside and harvested from the Asuras' remains called Ambrosia Crystal. It contained a highly condensed energy that was enough to power a whole city if processed correctly. Not only that, the Divers also found lots of rare metals the deeper they went.

Humanity now challenged their hunters. At least that was what they believed.

***

Year 2516.

Abyss 58th Floor, the deepest floor humanity has ever reached.

"Ah, this happened again…", I sighed heavily.

"Fay...!! What are you doing?!"

Amidst the chaos that was seemingly a battlefield, a sound calling my name was heard. I was lost in thought due to the unbelievable spectacle that reflected in my eyes.

"Please, don't look back! Just run!"

The clanking sounds of metals being crushed and cracking sounds of bones getting squashed, the rancid scent of blood, the stench of burnt meat, the shrieks of people writhing in agony, and the wet and sticky sensation of damp soil mixed into a giant blob of a new torture method to whoever was there. One would definitely not believe that this cruelty ever happened in a part of our world.

"Damn it! Move! Make a way!", the girl desperately tried to clear a path for us to run. The gazes of the people we ran past with was too unbearable for me to look at.

"Why... Why is it always like this?", I closed my eyes and lowered my head in frustration, while running and keeping my balance to avoid falling. No matter how many times I saw this, this kind of predicament was always burdening.

"Please... Just run... I wouldn't know what to do if I were to lose you as well, Fayre...", big drops of tears were running down her cheeks, while she still tried to hold herself from breaking down and stopping her legs.

My hand was being dragged, while the girl who dragged me seemed to be out of breath. She was trying her best to let me flee from this nasty battlefield. No, it was not even right to call it a battlefield. A massacre would be fit to it more.

"STRUGGLE ALL YOU WANT, CATTLES! YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE! WE SHALL RECLAIM THE SURFACE AGAIN! HRRAAAAAAGHH!!!"

A familiar voice could be heard from behind. A deep, hoarse voice, yet it sounded like it was from something out of this world. Just by hearing it, a lot of people tried to run but to no avail. Despair was all it could be described to. The Asura, where the voice was coming from, swung its enormous hand and just like that, dozens of men went flying, right before they turned into ashes.

"AHAHAHA!! PATHETIC, INSIGNIFICANT BEINGS! YOU SHALL ALL TREMBLE IN FEAR! FOR I, BHASMASURA, THE WARDEN OF THE FIRST HELL, WILL DESTROY YOU AND ALL YOU HOLD DEAR! HAHAHA!!", the Asura continued on wreaking havoc, burying lots of countless lives under his feet. His gigantic body did not match with the speed of his swinging hand. His movement was fast and accurate. As expected of a named one.

"As I thought, it was a named one…", the girl turned her head for a moment to steal a glance at the monster. "Fay, listen to me. As long as we're alive, that's good enough. So don't look back and just move your legs!", she added. She kept on dragging my hand desperately as well.

"This is meaningless, Ann.", I stopped my legs, and it forcefully made Ann, the woman who dragged me, also stop.

"What...do you mean?", her teary eyes were slowly getting clouded. I have seen enough of her disappointed gazes before, and this one was definitely the worst of them all.

"This time again, I've failed.", I gritted my teeth and mumbled to myself. "I can't do this anymore."

The feeling of loss, disappointment, anger, sadness, and all the negative feelings one could mention mixed all together. My chest tightened as I raised my head, trying to look at Ann's face. Her hair that used to be long was gone, leaving the hair that had been cut short. Her face, even though it was full of bruises and scratches, was still looking as beautiful as ever. Her short yet proportioned figure would still make me think how this fragile looking teenage girl was able to swing that gigantic sword of hers that easily…

No, I was joking. I did not feel any remorse, since I have experienced this scene too many times. I had stopped caring about things like this after I regressed the 7th time. This was by far the deepest floor I ever reached, but I had been stuck at this checkpoint for more than 10 regressions worth of time. And guess what? My description of her was not a lie, never. Well, if I was not mistaken right after this she would yell at me.

"... Are you fucking kidding me, Fay?!"

Damn straight. Whoops, I should not say that out loud.

"After all this time you gave up just like that?!", she directed her harsh words towards me. I pretended to make a sad face, even though I knew I deserved that. "Don't you remember how many times we faced this kind of shit and still got out barely with our lives?! Why are you giving up now?!"

"I…", I could not even respond to her questions properly, at least I pretended to. How could I say that I have seen this scene too many times before? How would she respond to that? Wouldn't that make me look crazy to her? Nope, I'd rather be hated than called crazy.

"No response, huh?", Ann lowered her head. Her body was also shaking. I pretended, again, to be thinking of any means I could use to turn the table. In the end, I could only reach a stupid conclusion. Don't try this at home, kids!

"Okay, I'm done with this shit. Ann, you run. I'll go back there.", I clenched my fists, and this time I did not pretend. "Let's die like a man…"

"Wait, what? What do you mean by dying like a man?"

"Just as it sounds like, Ann. I'm done with this life.", I smiled a little. After mustering some courage and resolve, I started running towards the Asura.

Speechless, Ann looked at my way, showing her confused look over her face. A moment later, she regained her senses and started chasing after me.

"Eh... Wait up! This... This is not funny, Fay! What do you mean by that? Do you plan to die and leave me alone? You can't do this to me!", she was panicking. Yes, I knew she was running before so making her run like this would deplete her stamina. She then tripped over her own weight, I mean her sword's weight, and fell on the ground just like that. She even made a perfect faceplant.

Seeing me charging towards his direction like a lunatic, Bhasmasura laughed as he taunted me.

"OH! ONE OF YOU ACTUALLY HAS SOME NERVES! COME ON, CRETIN! FIGHT ME! ENTERTAIN ME! HAHAHA!!"

"Die meeeeeeee!!!", I roared as I plunged myself right into the Asura's burning abdomen.

"HAHAHA!!! NICE ATT… UH, WHAT WAS THAT?"

And I died.