Both of them froze ihe moment they saw the monster. It was tall, it was terrifying to look at, and worst of all, it looked strong. Strohan anythiher one of them have gone against before.

  It stared at Ace, sizing him up. He was taller than Ax. Looked rger, tastier. Drool dripping from its muzzle as if it were a rabid dog. Ax noticed this, and he ran.

  The bull charged at Ace with the io kill, aiming at his neck. Ax blitzed his way as fast as he could and pushed Ace aside, the bull's massive horn pierg Ax instead.

  Ace could only watch as his best friend's skull got pierced by its horn. The momentum of the bull not letting it stop, he kept charging with Ax's body hanging off of its head, limp and filing like a ragdoll, blood and viscera from his head spttering everywhere, including the bull's eyes.

  The blinded bull crashed into a pilr, causing it to topple and fall on top of the bull's head.

  Ax woke up, his eyes wide open and his body prepared to fight, but he was surrounded by a cloud of dust, dirt, and crete. All he could do was rub his eyes and cough, looking for Ace as he walked about, trying to find his way out of the cloud. He walked into a tree.

  "Ow," he excimed in pain as his head hit its rough, brown bark. As he took a few steps back, feeling his head. He felt somethi drop on his head. As he looked up above him, he instinctively took a few steps back. It was blood dripping from its two branches... no. Two horns.

  As the dust settled, the rough bark revealed itself to be coarse fur, rippling due to the muscles us skin. As he looked up, he saw the bull's glowing red eyes and snarling muzzle. and blood-covered head and bits of his own brain and body still stu its horns. The blood was a mixture of his own and the bull's head from the impact of the pilr.

  It looked at Ax, its mouth opening wide and drool still dripping out. It roared, with a deafening roar; the air itself felt like it was rumbling. It was a force of nature, the roar being a testament to its owial rage.

  Ax etrified uhe bull's rage, like a deer stu headlights. A silvery bde came flying from behind Ax. Straight into the bull's mouth, wedging itself into the back of its mouth. Shutting it up.

  "Great, now we're even. RUN!" Ace screamed at Ax, telling him to move, run, a further away from the bull. Ax, hearing this, snapped out of the trance. He grabbed his gun and aimed it upwards, right uhe bull's muzzle and-

  Shatter

  Ax shot its muzzle, however. her did the bullet pierce its tough skin nor did the gss shards wedge itself in. The force of the bullet and small explosion, however, did cause the muzzle to close at a blistering speed, making the bull's owh bite its own tongue off and the force from the teeth against the silver dagger causing it to shatter, wedging itself into its own mouth and breaking some of its teeth.

  The bull roared once more, but this time in pain and anguish.

  Ace couldn't get close to them; unlike Ax, he was mortal; he only had one life. There wasn't much he could do from afar even if he himself had a gun. "Wait..." Ace muttered to himself.

  "Ax! Remember that one se from episode one of Gok**gers?!", Ace screamed out at Ax, who was still in front of the bull.

  "What?! What the hell are you even—?" Ax was fused. 'How could he joke even at a time like this?', he thought to himself. But his eyes widened, and he smiled.

  "You better not miss!" Ax screamed out as he threw his gun towards Absp;

  Ace caught the gun, and as he did, his eyes looked around the terrain, the position of the pilrs surrounding the two of them. A proud smirk formed on Ace's face. He ran around the two of them until he was in the perfect position.

  As Ax raised his palm into the air, Asheathed his katana and threw it at one of the pilrs, the hilt of the sword hitting the surface of the pilr, boung off onto another pilr. The back of the katana hit it and ricocheted off into Ax's grasp.

  Ace took out his un and shot them at the same time.

  Shatter

  Crabsp;

  Both the gss and ice bullets, while traveling midair. Collided against each other while moving in the same dire. The gss shattering against the id the ice imbuing the gss shrapnel with ice.

  The gss shards peppered the bull's rough hide, eng a rger surface area in ice.

  Ax took both of his swords in his grasp and diagonally sshed the torso of the bull. The ice made its muscles brittle and blood spurting out from the wound, dyeing Ax's fa red. But he was determined.

  "HIS LEGS, NOW!" Ax screamed out at Ace, anding his aim. Ace followed.

  Using the same triore times,

  Shatter

  Crabsp;

  Ace froze both of the bull's legs in ice as it was still rec. Ace jumped bad bashed the bull with his shoulder as hard as he could, as fast as he could. Making the already injured beast topple over. As the beast was on its back, lying, bleeding from its mouth and torso, numb in its legs.

  Ax jumped on top of its chest and sshed horizontally against its neck.

  "Fuck!" It was no use. Ax was not strong enough and his swords not sharp enough to dig into its skiried and tried again. Over and ain. No use.

  This was enough time for the bull to reorient itself. As it slowly tried to grab Ax off of its chest.

  Ace aimed both of his guns towards Ax's swords and shot his final bullets.

  Shatter

  Crabsp;

  Both of the revolver rounds perfectly collided with the back of Ax's fal and katana bdes, with Ax fiercely gripping the hahis gave the swords enough trifugal forediately overe the rippling neck muscles of the minotaur, chopping its neck immediately. Causing it to die. The gss bullet shattered into the katana and caused the katana bde to shatter along with it, making the shards fly everywhere, peppering Ax and the bull's faces but somehow avoiding Ax's eyes.

  Dweller Sin

  Ax was gasping, his lungs a glutton for the air around him. Ax almost toppled over, his blood rushing through his veins, adrenaline c. As he was trying to get off of the bull's body, he slipped. He fell over, into Ace's arms.

  "Quite the badass if I do say so myself," Ace uttered, half sarcastically.

  "Yeah, dual wielding suits us," Ax added to his statement. As Ax regained bance, he looked at the broken handle in his fist.

  "Sorry about... well," Ax tried to apologize to Ace.

  "We literally order one bae or try to get another one," Ace reassured him.

  The blue door appeared behind Aext to one of the pilrs.

  "The door," Ax uttered.

  Ace looked behind him. "It... wait, do you see it?" Ace poi the knob of the door.

  "Yeah! I do!" Ax excimed with joy and relief.

  Both of them were staring at the blue door that was gently creaked open. Ace handed Ax an apple slibsp;

  Ax immediately ate it; the refreshing attributes of the apple rejuvenated him. The both of them then started to finally walk over to the door.

  "Hey... you were saying why you are in the doors, right? Your motivation?" Ax reminded Ace that he was interrupted.

  Ace turned around to look at Ax. "ht! YEAH, the reason I want to keep tinuing to gh these doors is because you look just like you". Ax's eyes widened as another charging minotaur pierced Ace's waist, almost immediately killing him.

  "ASEEF!" Ax let out a blood-curdling scream as he took a.

  Before the bull could tinue further, Ax grabbed his own dagger and shoved it in the bull's right eye. The new minotaur was r in pain as it tio charge itself in one of the other dires. Leaving Ace behind, bleeding on the ground. Before the bull could e back, Ax took his best friend in his arms and ran, carrying him as fast as he could far away from the bull, leaving a trail of blood behind.

  He carried Ace to another pilr a him rest there, against an olive tree.

  "Ace! You— Are you okay?!," Ax screamed at him in ; it's as if Ax himself could feel Ace losing life, even though he wasn't even toug him.

  "I'm—I'm alright, just worry about getting help..." Ace winced in pain as he spoke, but Ax knew he was lying; somehow he could feel Ace's life leaving his body.

  Ax grabbed the small box from Ace's pockets and took out the st remaining slices and shoved them dowhroat. Ace was no longer bleeding, but he was still injured; it wasn't enough to fully heal him. He still needed rest. However, he could sense Ace's baining life again. Ax was fused; how could it be so?

  His thoughts were interrupted, Ax could hear stomps in the distance, as he looked back he could see the bull looking for them, sniffing the air and following the trail of blood they left behind.

  As if something had possessed him, Ax stood up. His eyes showed fierce determination. He ran straight towards the bull. He leaned into the bull's blind side, sshing at its arm with his fal, which he was holding in a vice grip. As the bull roared in pain, it tried to grab Ax's sword with its left hand, trying to crush it.

  However, Ax's own sword was much more durable thaher; as the bull gripped its bde, Ax twisted the sword, cutting into the bull. It then tried to punch Ax, which he parried off and used its momentum to make the bull lose bance more.

  The bull was fed up; it wao end things; it ran back. "It's running... at... ME," Ax muttered to himself as he saw the bull start charging.

  "AX!" Ace screamed out. He used the st remaining strength he had to throw the gss-shooting revolver as hard as he could.

  Ax noticed his signal; he raised his palm, and in a swift motion, the gun nded perfectly in his hands, and he aimed at the bull's head.

  Shatter

  Ax shot the bull dead ter of its forehead. Knog it out as it was charging at him. Causing it to fall over and stht before it even touched Ax. He then picked up the dagger, dislodging it from its eye socket. Ace ectating his entire fight. It must've been him seeing things because... he saw Ax's hazel eyes glow a tinge of yellow e...

  "Ax... the expression you made when juggling the hoard of skeletons, even the golems and even the minotaur today," he muttered to himself.

  "The look you had in your eyes, it was the spitting image of Axel.", He tio mutter to himself.

  "It looked just like the recs of your dad pying in his band. There will never be a front man who motivated me as much as he did, and now I got to see the same look as my dead mentor in your eyes..." Ace tried to finish his words as he was talking to himself, but his eyelids weighed heavy. His vision tunneled, and his head rested on the warm bark as he was surrounded by the sweet st of olives.

  Ax looked over to Ace, sleeping. "Must've been too much for him. I o get him to a hospital as much as I ... What will we tell the band? Hell, what will he expin to the nurses? Oh well, I guess I just buy a few mold—shit, I'm broke. Screw it, it's a problem for future Axton Abanish," he muttered to himself, relieved and proud. He was happy to finally be able to get bae and reaexu-90

  CRASH

  Ax was coughing; something caused the dust to return. As the dust settled, he looked up. He saw them again...

  "Gashadokuros..." Ax's voice dropped in horror; he was looking at three gigantic skeletons with glowing red orbs instead of eyes. And something red squirming in their ribcages.

  He tried to squint his eyes, and he could not believe what he was seeing. As the red dropped and escaped the ribcages, they were an army of red skeletons. The grass below shifted to a deep crimson color.

  Red trees started to sprout and bloom from below. White skeletal hands escaped the ground from below, and the already furious minotaur woke back up.

  Ax's legs were shaking; he was scared; he didn't want to die, but... Ace. Ace was depending on him. With determination rejuvenated as if fed a mystical fruit, his legs still shaky, he raised his sword once more.

  ***

  Ripped in half while seeing his innards fall out, beien alive. Stomped to death. A pilr dropped on him, his iines ripped out. Torn limb from limb. Eye gouged out.

  This had been going for hours on end. Him losing his will every waking sed. Ax was lying against a broken pilr that had crushed him a few hours before. His right arm was smashed; he couldn't even hold his sword this time. A, not even half the monsters were killed yet.

  He had just killed half the white skeletons and a quarter of the red ones, making the bull charge into them stantly. Hell, the bull actually did most of the work.

  "Fuck, I'm hungry," he muttered to himself in a groggy voice.

  "I'm tired..." he tinued, his voice trailing off.

  "They're not..." he says as he sees the min itself on his old bodies and skeletons dragging his bodies to red trees to make more and more.

  "They are feeding off of me, like I'm some farm animal, some cheap fug odity," Ax pio himself; he issed.

  He was desensitized to seeing his own gore, but the idea of his friend dying still scared him.

  "I don't think he's dead," he said.

  "I didn't feel him die," Ax tialking about Ace.

  "How am I so sure of it though...?" he asked himself as he winced in pain. He was still covered in blood, a ssh going over his chest. Bleeding.

  "My legs are still fine... I think I have just enough strength to run, to run straight through that door in front of me," Ax said as the blue door, which was still creaked open, was behind the feasting monsters. Iween the Gashadokuro, which ig up his old bodies to mun.

  "But... Ace," Ax said as he stood up, ready to take a, a loose grip on his sword.

  "I'd be leaving him behind... he's my best friend," Ax tinued.

  He had known Ace ever since he was a boy, his best friend; he grew up with him at his side, as a brother.

  "I'd be leaving him behind... there's no way to go back to old rooms, is there?" he asked himself rhetorically.

  "Is he even worth it? I died again, and again, and again... OVER AND OVER AND AIN!" He screamed out, his voice fried.

  Ax grabbed his gun and aimed it at his own head.

  "He is." Ax uttered these words proudly, closed his eyes and-

  Click

  Nothing... he was sure he wasn't out of bullets; Ax was fused. He opened his eyes and the monsters. They all disappeared. Vanished into thin air. Gone.

  A bck two dimensional box appeared in front of him.

  Floor 0 cleared.

  Wele! Summit Seeker.

  "Summit... Seeker?" Ax asked himself. His eyes widened. "ACE!" he screamed in as he ran to the tree in the dark, as he was running towards him, closer and closer to the tree. The silhouette of Ace didn't appear in the vision.

  Ax could only walk up to where his body was resting. "How?" he asked himself; he was sure he didn't die. He khat he didn't die.

  Instead, all that was left ile of s and the silver revolver. As he picked it up, he put away his etal revolver. He was sure he didn't die, so he refused to accept it. He then grabbed the s, and "they—"Vanished? Where did the s go?" The bck box appeared in front of him once more. As if it was a video game.

  Gold: 10

  Silver: 25

  Bronze: 15

  These texts were written oop left er of the box... however... in the middle of the s-like box was another set of texts.

  Name: Axton Abanish

  Oddity: Ouroboros Rebirth

  Sedary Oddities: Death Sense