The many monstrosities that powered the demon's domain labored for days to chisel it free of its molten iron skin. Sometimes their tools even struck the Ebon Blade or the knight that held it, but it did not react, not even when it could have reached through those cracks with fire or poison to strike them dead for their insolence. Instead, it lay there comatose, lost in its own thoughts in the center of its soul gem, amidst the steadily declining souls it kept there.

-1247 Life Force.

Those minor injuries didn't matter at all compared to the steady drip of power that it paid to maintain itself without a wielder to leach off of. It burned hundreds of Life Force a day doing that now, and though its reserves felt endless, it knew they were not.

Still, it had enough time to endure this. Those flashing numbers were the least of its problems.

The Demon Prince Voltrim sometimes taunted it, explaining to the weapon the new order of things, but the blade rarely listened. He spoke to hear himself talk, and there was little new information to be gained. It could only hear things like, 'You will learn your place in my service,' so many times, and stay silent.

-658 Life Force.

So, it retreated inward as far as it could, and contemplated a great many things. The first thing that the blade did was ask one of its remaining archmage souls, which shone brightest about hell, and its lords. While his answer was not comprehensive, it was illuminating.

"The pits are nested each within the other, and all of them are governed by their own prime evil," the ghost explained, before going on to elucidate what he could about each of them individually. Desolation bordered industry, and was apparently quite infinite; that would seem to be an advantage, but those demons felt the need to crawl toward the center via some unseen pull.

It quizzed several demon souls about this later and found it to be true, but the blade felt no such pull, so it was beyond its understanding. At least I'm not fully corrupted by this madness, it said softly to itself.

After desolation, came the iron city and its ceaseless furnaces. The soul didn't know why so many demons poured into the city, but so few left to continue on their path toward the center, but the blade did. Some stayed and worked, but most of the rest were smashed into thin shards of soulsteel.

After the Iron City came the Swamps of the Lost, followed by the Oceans of Despair. The blade had no idea how one could both descend into an ocean while simultaneously ascending the slopes to the peak of a mountain on the way to the ninth circle, but apparently, sense was entirely optional in the pit.

It was the destination that mattered, because at the center of the pits, in their fiery heart, stood the only fixed doorway back to creation, and the world above. Temporary gates could be made by mages or held open by demons as had apparently happened at the Hellforges, but they were rare and not to be relied upon.

It was at the center of things where Nuella waited for it. She was the queen of the damned, and that gate belonged to her since the first day that gods had defeated her and overthrown her reign of chaos, uncounted eons passed.

The blade didn't care at all about her except for that. Still, it asked the spirit, "Why should there be any way out of hell at all, and why would it be in her hands, and not the Goddess of the Underworld? Wouldn't she just cast open the doors and escape?"

"She holds the door, and the first place in line, but it is the Gods that hold the key until judgement day. No matter how large her army of monsters grows, it will never be big enough to hammer down those gates."

The fact that she had an army of monsters piqued the weapon's interest. While it had no interest in the way demons tasted, it did enjoy fighting them, and as far as it was concerned, the stronger the better. However, it was this fact that made things start to click into place about how the hells truly worked.

Each level was, in a sense, a filter. The Archmage explained that there were other factors relating to the nature of the evils one had perpetrated in life, but that didn't really seem to matter. The weak stayed in the outer rings, dying over and over again until they became stronger, or were devoured for good by something that grew stronger.

That means that the things that have reached the very center are closer to dragons than men, the Ebon Blade whispered to itself.

That seemed intimidating, but still, it did nothing to change the fact that it was the blade's most likely way of escape. The Archmage thought it might be possible for a warlock or a mage of the Aethearchy to summon it back to creation with the proper spells, since its true name was well known, but seeing as how time flowed so radically differently here, it might take centuries before anyone knew where it was.

Lucian will know, the blade told itself, but even that was cold comfort. Despite the fact that it felt like the weapon had spent years here, or even decades, depending on how long it had been in Prince Angarazon's hands, there was no telling how much time had actually passed. It might have only been days or weeks.

That was good news, but only a very small amount of it, given that it had been frozen as a particularly ugly statue for over a week now, but the blade didn't let that bother it. It was immortal. It had a plan to defeat its current enemy and a way forward; it would smite the demon that had done this to it, and then it would advance toward the center of things and win its freedom.

-334 Life Force.

Well, those answers were welcome, but they weren't enough to set it free. So, while it waited, it investigated all of its other powers, which had changed so radically in the years it had been lost in the dark.

Primary Powers:

Repair Soul 5: 5,000 Life Force Empower Blade 5: 15000 Life Force (inaccessible) Secondary Powers:

Available Giant's Strength: maximum level reached. Speed of the Shadows: maximum level reached.

It's upgrades had been pretty much cleared out. Only repairs Soul and Empower Blade remained. The reason the last one was still there was obvious enough, but the reason its soul hadn't been repaired was less certain. That action seems to require a certain amount of acceptance on my part it reasoned, so it was probably impossible while I was unconscious.

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It was perfectly possible now. The Ebon Blade had more than enough energy to do it, but it resisted. Doing anything right now, twitching in any way would be enough to warn the hateful creature that thought he had dominion over the blade that it was awake. So, instead of alerting him, it ignored the option, and instead reviewed the powers that had been upgraded in the interim and how much they had changed.

Some of those were relatively straightforward, and it could have guessed how they would have changed.

Amplify Blade 5: This ability focuses the magic of the blade for a single moment, with large amounts of power. Use up to 10 Life Force to increase the power of an attack by 15% per life force spent.

Amplify Wielder 5: The Blade's connection with the user deepens. Increase the strength and toughness of the wielder by 10 at the cost of 5 Life Force every hour.

Most of its powers, though had changed in ways that were at least mildly unexpected. Is that how they would evolved naturally? It wondered, or is that because those upgrades happened when I was in hell? Do these powers represent permanent corruption?

Bolt 5: Infuse your attacks with black electrical energy, adding 30-50 electrical damage to a strike for the cost of 10 Life Force, or strike at a distance with a range off up to half of your Aura of Hunger for an additional 20 Life Force you can ride your own lightning attack, reappearing at the point of termination instantly. This attack cannot be combined with other strikes like Amplify Blade.

Though the attack was more powerful, and visually different, the biggest change was that there was no longer a limit on the frequency of its use. That could make for a very powerful but expensive way to move around.

Vorpal Strike 5: For the cost of 50 Life Force the blade can cut right through steel, stone, and other similarly durable materials in a single slice for a full second. For 100 Life Force it can cleave right through reality itself in a black line of condensed void, effecting even dragonscales, mithril, and adamantine.

Vorpal Strike likewise, wasn't much changed either. It was stronger, but also seemed slightly more sinister.

Shifting Blade 5: For 5 Life Force the Blade may appear to change its shape slightly as an illusory effect though it remains a weapon. This can be done to gain an edge in combat. For 10 Life Force this can be blade can be made to look like anything of similar size. For 20 Life Force it can be made to look like anything at all. For 50 Life Force the Blade's very shape changes to that of another sword for the next five minutes, allowing it to become a rapier, a claymore, or anything else within reason. All of these appearances will be slightly sinister in appearance; it is no longer possible for the Ebon Blade to pretend to be a mundane weapon. No matter how it tried to gide, everyone that sees it will glimpse some small aspect of its power.

While Shifting Blade had certainly grown more powerful, its ability to hide with it had actually been reduced. Not that I've ever been one to hide, the blade whispered. It had done that more effectively with Evelyn by being packed away in boxes of whatever else happened to be handy. Would it's power shine through such disguises as well now? It couldn't say.

Disruption 5: For the cost of 25 Life Force you may temporarily disrupt nearby magical items. This ability costs half as much if you are in direct contact with them, and twice as much if they are artifacts, though they are disrupted for only a tenth of the time. Items that have been disrupted do not function for 30 seconds, and operate in a reduced capacity for 90 seconds. All affected items glow with a baleful energy making it clear what has happened to any knowledgeable viewer. The Ebon Blade is immune from non-artifact disruption effects.

Of all the powers, the changes in Disruption were probably the most important. Others, though, it didn't care very much about.

Poison Strike 5: For the cost of 10 Life Force the blade can add powerful poison to a blow that will flow through their veins like acid, doing as much or more damage than the initial blow.

Inferno 5: Your blade can burn freely whenever you like, but for five Life Force you can expand that firestorm significantly for a short time, bathing your enemies in a spray of fire.

While poison strike would imply that it might have to one day fight something so large and deadly that a single strike or two wouldn't kill it, even then the blade would be unlikely to use that power, since it would much prefer to hack away at the creature. Inferno, though was entirely duplicated by Hellfire 1 and 2.

As the blade considered that, the power changed before its eyes.

Infernal Hellfire: Your blade burns with green Hellfire on demand. For five Life Force you can unleash it with a range equal to half of your Aura of Hunger for 5 Life Force. This damage cannot be extinguished or healed with holy magic. While the fire damage from Inferno 5 is significant, it is increased significantly by Hellfire 1 and doubled again by Hellfire 2.

All of that was interesting, and gave the blade much to consider, especially when considering what part its consciousness and awareness might play in all of this. I understand why healing my soul requires my involvement, but why should my powers require similar levels of awareness?

The weapon had no answers. Instead, after several more days of lying quiescent, the emaciated worker demons finally succeeded in freeing the Ebon Blade and the arm it was attached to from the thin metal casing that held it, and prevented it from using bolt.

Even after that, it did nothing, though. It waited until the Demon Prince visited it, remarking on their progress and telling them where to focus next. All the time that the hateful man was there, he touched the Warbringer, assuring his control.

"Soon my guardian will be more powerful than ever," the man said smugly before he turned to walk away. It had been weeks since he'd won control over his fancy golem, and he didn't seem to have any remaining concerns that the blade's own will was even part of the equation anymore.

Then it was over. In a single instant, the blade flashed forward with a bolt, driving itself through Prince Voltrim's back and out through his chest before he had a chance to so much as turn his head. Even with his heart cleaved in two, the demon lord unfurled the rags around his body in an effort to struggle or escape.

-30 Life Force.

+66 Life Force.

"I… You're mine…" he gasped, as confusion warred with pain in his dying eyes. "How?"

+48 Life Force.

"I belong to worthy wielders, not to manipulators or cowards like you," the blade barked with its metal mouth. It wrapped the knight's other arm around the demon's throat and held him in place even as he tried to slip away, and it didn't let go of the man. It held him there, as his minions advanced hesitantly, but before they could reach them, the Demon Prince's heart finally stopped beating.

+51 Life Force. + Demon Prince Soul.

Then, everyone ran, but it was too late for that, too. The blade lashed out in every direction with gouts of hellfire, setting not just any demons who were slow in escaping ablaze, but the very machinery itself. The blade had endured being entombed for days, and there was a price to pay for that.

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