Sested at the very top of the black monolith, a strange existence sat.

Its hairs were like locks of golden sunlight.

Its body was strange and shifting, with its form hard to pin down. But it was clearly humanoid.

And its face...

A terrible visage. One that would cause immediate insanity to whatever creature gazed upon it.

This was Eli.

Or rather, this was the true Eli.

The entity stared down at the horrid scene o carnage.

"Hm. Impressive."

Then it turned its gaze up and looked to the sky.

Floating right above it was a strange dark fog. It was enormous, spanning the entire volume of sky that was visible.

Within the fog of darkness were countless eyes rolling within it.

Eli spoke to the darkness,

"The kid has potential, doesn't he?"

Then he chuckled and glanced back down,

"Given how special he is, there will be a lot of competition this time around. Staking claim early was a wise decision, wasn't it?"

Again, silence.

The sound of Eli's laughter was like peals of thunder.

Then a rumbling whisper can from the black mass above.

Eli frowned and glanced up again.

"Is that so... That might be a little troublesome."

Then Eli shrugged and rose to its feet. Standing at the edge of the Spire, he took one last look at the black sky,

"There is still more time. The prophesy has yet to be completely fulfilled. In the mean time, I will be nurturing this one in hopes that we may find out salvation."

The eyes within the dark clouds twitched and focused on sync, as though they were all controlled by a single consciousness.

Eli took a step and fell from the top of the Spire of Dreams.

As Eli fell, the form assumed changed from that of a strange, Eldritch entity, to something very close to a human.

Should Nero, even in his corrupted state, gaze upon his terrible visage, his flesh and soul would erupt them explode into a vile puddle of puss, ichor and insanity.

He stopped right his feet hit the ground, hovering just an inch above it.

He looked down at the bloodied mess he had become.

A smile appeared on his face as he looked down at him.

'Truly, a thing of beauty this is.'

In a world were corruption was feared and associated with death, evil, and chaos, all he saw it as, was beauty and passion.

Passion and madness interwoven into a living, breathing tumor.

The madness in the depths of this twisted entity's eyes threatened to spill forth as terrifying dark tendrils.

However, they vanished when Nero looked up.

Staring at the transformed horror in front of him, Eli took a step forward then leaned down, placing his hand on Nero's head.

"Do you fear it?" He asked softly.

The monster before him shook its head.

Eli nodded,

"Good. That's good. But remember, Nero. You are the Dove. But you are also the Raven. Righteous and good and yet shrouded in lies. Dark and evil, with death as your talons. You are Nero. But you are also Armageddon, the Angel of Judgment."

The eyes of Eli lit up with celestial light.

Runic symbols lit up on his face and forehead, bleeding all the way into his hands.

The runes turned onto the face of Nero in his Abomination form. The golden glow in Nero's eyes intensified.

It became so intense, that the darkness of night was driven away.

Until there was nothing but golden light.

And then...

Nero woke up.

***

Suffocation.

The feeling of drowning.

Faintly, Nero could hear his name being called.

Something was keeping him grounded, not letting him slip away.

His eyes slowly opened up.

He took a long deep breath as he shot into an upright position. His hands clawed around, trying to find purchase. Something to cling onto as he found his bearings.

"It's alright! Calm down, Nero! You are back!"

Slowly, Nero calmed his frazzled nerves.

He glanced around.

The others were looking at him with strange, slightly terrified gazes.

His breathing was heavy and his brows furrowed as he glanced down at his body. His skin was still pale.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

'I hope I didn't transform.'

He looked at their faces again. They didn't look terrified of him. It was more of fear towards something that must have happened while he was out of it.

He glanced at Lucy who had a rather difficult smile on her face,

"What happened?"

She shook her head then sighed,

"You might either be the luckiest or unluckiest bastard I have ever met, Nero."

Nero grimaced, still not understanding what was happening.

"I don't understand what you are saying." He was about to say this when he felt Aisha's trembling hands wrapped around his arm.

He glanced at her, only to see her eyes, puffy and red. It was clear she had been crying for a long time now.

"T—there was..."

Obed spoke up, "Something appeared once you were out of it. Everyone knows phenomenon like that is associated with high ranking corrupted beings."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously,

"Nero, what did you see?"

Nero huffed and answered immediately, "I don't remember."

He didn't hesitate to lie.

Obed still seemed a bit suspicious. But he turned to Lucy,

Lucy sighed. Her face seemed paler than usual,

"For what it's worth, whatever being must have responded didn't seem too hostile. We could have been wrong."

Then she turned to Nero,

"How is your connection to the spear? Have you feel it?"

Nero closed his eyes.

Then they snapped back open.

"Yes. I feel it."

Lucy grinned,

"That's great! Then..."

Nero nodded with a serious expression,

"I can lead us through."

He could feel Gungnir far more clearly than before.

Not only that, but he finally knew now to get out of the "maze".

Eli had given him a map and a key, directly imprinting both onto his soul.

Being touched by that entity had to have been the single most terrifying experience of his entire life.

He huffed and said with certainty,

"Let's get out of the shitty place."

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