"I call it Obsidian Agony."
Razeal's lips twitched.
So… that time when she said she'd rather talk to Obsidian Agony than to me…
She meant the damn stone?
His brow furrowed. He gave his head a slight shake, trying to make sense of it all. But his eyes never left the cube there was something unnerving about it. Something... wrong. On the surface, it looked like any high-grade obsidian. Glossy. Rich in luster. But beneath that shine, it felt like it watched.
Zara continued, voice calm but brimming with unspoken pride.
"Actually, I first crafted this thinking I'd make the sharpest and lightest sword possible."
As if responding to her intent, the floating cube instantly began to morph. Its shape twisted midair stretching, compressing, elongating until it formed into a sword.
Not just any sword.
A black, luxurious, almost divine weapon. Gleaming with an otherworldly sheen, it radiated elegance and fatality in equal measure. Each edge seemed etched by godlike precision. Not a single imperfection marred its form.
Razeal's eyes narrowed. Something didn't add up.
The volume…
His gaze darted between the now-sword and the earlier cube.
How? The volume of the original cube was small barely enough for a dagger, let alone this.
And that huge obsidian stone she used before? It was definitely larger… but when she turned it into the thread, it looked so thin and long...
Is she controlling its mass? Its density? Its space itself?
Zara saw his expression and smirked.
"You noticed, didn't you?" she said, as if pleased with his thoughts.
Then, she turned serious.
"The important thing about Obsidian Agony isn't just its shape or form. It's what it became."
She lifted the sword higher, the light reflecting off its perfect blade in fractal patterns.
"It's the sharpest substance I've ever created in this entire universe maybe beyond. Even the smallest particles tiny as grains of salt within Obsidian Agony contain trillions of micro-razor edges."
She let the sword hang midair, vibrating faintly, humming in the air like a creature too still to be harmless.
"And the moment they make contact with anything that isn't themselves, those razors unfold... fractally. Expanding. Splitting. Slicing through molecular bonds before the victim even knows they've been touched."
"It's the lightest thing I've ever created," she said casually, as if speaking about the weather. "Its weight, compared to other known materials, is..."
She raised a single finger and smiled.
"…Let's say 657 trillion to the power of 17 times lighter than silver."
Razeal blinked. Once. Then again.
What?
"Even lighter than air itself."
Those words struck harder than they should've.
Something that light… yet capable of such destruction?
It defied logic. It mocked reality.
"And the most unique trait about Obsidian Agony, as you've already noticed" her grin widened, eyes shimmering with barely contained amusement, "is its density."
"There is a lower limit to how much it can Expand," she continued, raising the cube again, "but…"
Her grin became sinister.
"…there is no known upper limit at least, none I've discovered yet for how much it can contract."
As she spoke, the black sword hovering above her palm quivered, then began growing. Slowly at first then rapidly, unnaturally.
Out of nothing, it expanded.
Razeal's eyes widened.
The sword stretched past his height in an instant, then doubled… tripled…
It surged higher, tearing through air, defying scale, until Razeal couldn't even see the top anymore. His neck craned, but it was pointless.
What the hell…?
It was no longer a weapon it was a colossal monolith of sheer darkness.
No more than that. Bigger than any mountain he had ever seen in his life.
More like a Tectonic plate had sprouted into the sky.
His throat went dry.
This wasn't magic. This wasn't illusion.
This was something else entirely.
"So, yes," Zara said sweetly, still as calm as ever, "it can become the densest known material, compressed to such a point that it turns into the hardest substance I've ever handled."
And just as quickly in a blink that massive structure shrunk back into a small, floating cube, now hovering obediently above her hand once more, harmless in appearance. As if none of what just happened had even occurred.
Razeal swallowed thickly.
That wasn't just material science. That was insanity given shape.
Just what kind of monster is she…?
To create something like this…
It was terrifying.
[Truly impressive.]
Even the system, usually cold and apathetic to all things, offered a rare moment of awe.
Razeal's eyes darted toward the system's message, stunned.
Did it just… compliment her?
Has that thing ever complimented anything before?
He couldn't recall a single time.
His gaze returned to the cube.
It could be called the perfect metal, he thought. No flaws. No equal.
But then Zara simply shook her head, that same strange smile dancing on her lips.
She didn't even need to say it.
She understood something deeper.
The laws of the universe.
There could never be a truly perfect creation.
Not in this world. Not in any.
"…Alas," she said softly.
Razeal found himself murmuring under his breath, barely realizing it. "Alas…?"
He hadn't meant to ask out loud, but the word had escaped. He was too drawn in.
Too curious and fully consumed by this metal.
Zara didn't mind.
"This material is… reactive," she said. "Highly so."
"Reactive?" Razeal echoed, eyebrows knitting.
He blinked in confusion. That part… didn't quite compute.
Zara tilted her head, letting the cube dissolve again into its liquid form. The black fluid slithered downward, forming once again into that familiar dark boulder the same type he had walked past dozens of times when entering this place.
He looked at it now with new eyes.
Wait… this stuff… was everywhere?
That very material that thing was the same black rock covering this entire space?
He remembered the walls. The path. The structures. All made of this… this Obsidian Agony.
"Do you know how it feels…" Zara said suddenly, her tone dreamy and twisted, "when your bone is touched by a needle?"
She rested her chin atop her palms, fingers gently pressed against her cheeks, voice sweet too sweet. It was the kind of sweetness that came with cruelty.
Razeal froze.
"...K-kind of," he replied stiffly.
His past wasn't soft. Not even close. He'd been through rough stuff. Been through pain that most people couldn't imagine.
But even just thinking of bone pain made a shiver crawl through his spine.
"That cold, sharp sensation that lingers in your marrow," Zara mused. "Now… imagine someone placing a needle on that same exact spot... then scratching it down."
Her smile turned feral.
"Again."
"...And again."
"...And again."
She stared directly into his eyes.
Razeal's blood ran cold.
A flicker of a phantom pain surged through his nerves ghosts of sensation, stirred by her words alone.
She was still watching him head tilted slightly, chin resting on her palm, smiling like she'd just described her favorite bedtime story.
Razeal, on the other hand, felt his entire body shudder from head to toe.
His breath hitched. His skin crawled. A chill danced down his spine like cold steel.
"Just thinking about that feeling..." he muttered under his breath, jaw clenching. "It's better to just die than go through that."
She didn't deny it. In fact, her smile only deepened.
"This metal is so reactive," she said softly, almost like a lullaby, "that even a normal touch... would force you to feel that pain. Amplified millions of times. All in a single second."
Razeal's eyes widened. "W–What?!"
His mouth opened in pure disbelief. For the first time since entering this strange realm, true shock contorted his face. Not dread. Not suspicion. Just raw, unfiltered horror.
"What do you mean?" he asked, voice dry, swallowing hard.
"I mean," she began lightly, brushing her fingers through her hair as though this was all casual, "I don't think there's a better or more perfect material in existence for torture."
"But I also don't think anyone would ever use it on someone... not even if that person had murdered their own daughter."
She chuckled.
"I call it the ultimate torture."
Razeal stood frozen. The cube still floated lazily in front of her, radiating no malice, no magic. And yet... he had cold sweat running down his back just thinking about it.
He swallowed again, grateful relieved that he hadn't touched the stone with his bare hands when he'd first entered.
"And in the end," she continued, tone whimsical, "it's useless. A masterpiece with no purpose unless you want to use it as a torture device."
"…Huh?" Razeal blinked, dumbfounded.
She looked down at the obsidian chunk beside her as if it were a pet, or a painting only she could understand.
"But didn't I mention?" she added, "this is one of the sharpest maybe the sharpest materials in existence. Even the smallest particles are lethally sharp."
Her voice was filled with something between admiration and sorrow.
"Yet that's also its biggest flaw," she admitted, lips curling in amusement. "How do you use a blade that cuts everything? I made it into a sword once… but couldn't hold it."
She laughed softly, shaking her head.
"If one touched it, he'd hurt himself self far more than any enemy he could face. And as for a handle?" She scoffed. "No material in existence could survive its volatile nature. No matter how hard or reinforced it all just gets shredded the moment it makes contact."
Razeal literally imagined someone trying to put a handle on the sword so they could pick it up, but just as that metal touched this metal, it got ripped apart.
It's so badass, but also makes you think about whether it could really be used.
Razeal could imagine it now. A toddler wielding that blade… accidentally slashing through a fortress. Or worse.
Even grazing someone with it would inflict pain beyond imagination.
"…Maybe this metal really is cursed," he thought bitterly. "Punished by the universe itself for being too overpowered."
He'd never believed that a single material could shift his entire understanding of the world. But today? That belief was shattered.
A sword so sharp... even a handle couldn't exist for it. A blade too dangerous to be wielded.
"That's…" Razeal muttered to himself, "…badass. Terrifying. But still badass."
Yet for now, it was as she said: practically useless. Unusable.
And judging by how even she avoided direct contact with it floating it, reshaping it without a touch he doubted she had figured out a way to neutralize its side effects.
"Well, not my problem," Razeal thought, trying to dismiss the lingering discomfort. "I've got no way of handling or using this anyway. Let's not waste more time on stuff I'll never touch."
He refocused.
"So... what kind of experiment do you want to do?" he asked, glancing at her with genuine interest.
After what he'd just seen her casually creating a metal with such insane properties his expectations had climbed higher. Maybe she'd try something wild, like fusing a monster core into his heart? Or perhaps she'd teach him some cursed forbidden spell she never dared try herself? Hell, maybe she'd just do some insane nonsense like turning his hand into a sword for fun.
But the moment he finished speaking, a shadow passed over her face.
And then, a grin slowly formed.
A beautiful, terrifying grin.
"I've always wondered…" she said softly, as if speaking to herself. "What if someone's entire skeletal structure... was made of Obsidian Agony?"
Her words rippled across the space.
And for a long, suffocating moment everything went silent.
Razeal didn't react.
He couldn't.
His thoughts, voice, instincts everything froze.
Then, like a delayed echo, the System finally chimed in:
["_" Host, you are fucked.]
A single bead of sweat traced down the side of his face.
His knees nearly buckled.
"She's joking, right…?" he thought, barely able to breathe.
Just the idea of that torture… of that pain… running through his bones...
His whole body trembled uncontrollably.
"C–C–Can y–yo–you change it to something else, ma'am?" Razeal asked, his voice breaking. All pride forgotten. Even throwing in an honorific.
She didn't laugh this time.
"No."
Her tone was casual. Deadly.
"And don't worry, kid," she added. "It'll be very advantageous for you. One of the hardest and lightest materials ever created just imagine the possibilities. You won't have to worry about your weak little calcium bones snapping anymore."
She was smiling like a shady merchant trying to sell cursed jewelry. Her tone sweet. Her pitch convincing. Her eyes too damn excited.
"They'll never break. They'll protect you. And hey since they're so light, you might even move faster than ever!"
Razeal stared at her, dead inside.
He had seen a lot.
Survived betrayal.
Faced cursed destiny.
Endured being labeled the villain of the world.
But this?
This was a different breed of madness entirely.
---