In The Abyss As A Toon Character

An otherworldly orange hair was drenched in sweat, clinging to a pale, dirt-streaked face. This woman was Katley-- Her breaths came in ragged, shallow gasps as her lungs barely kept pace with the demands because she was gobbling down mana potions with inhuman hunger.

"Fucking... *GULP* power... *GULP* of... *GULP* friendship..." Her knees buckled slightly, but she forced her body to keep itself upright, leaning heavily against the crumbled remains of a floating stone.

The faint glow of mana flickered sporadically like a dying LED. Her ability had pushed her body into a debt it couldn't afford; the universe wanted payback for her reckless gamble, and it took it in the way of a giant mana debt and the commission of her ability for one hour. 'I swear I wouldn't have done this if not because of the FUCKING contract.'

The scene was shrouded in an eerie silence, broken only by the distant hum of electricity and the soft rustle of leaves in the wind. The vibrant aura the pink girl carried was now dimmed to a ghostly flicker, a sickly grim sensation that corroded any attempt of a miracle.

The battered and dead body of the pink-haired girl stood motionless with her once bluish cyan eyes now dull like empty windows staring at nothing, yet her lips curved in a wry, bittersweet smile. It seemed one of reassurance to finally take the sweet eternal slumber... Looking at her body tells you a silent story of a final effort; there are scratches on the ground, indicating that she moved a few seconds to do something, but why?

In her death, she also desperately grasped something in her hands; one of the Limit Breakers with difficulty opened her left hand. He expected a treasure, perhaps a relic or artifact worth rescuing, but what he found froze him in place.

Two simple pendants stood there, one of the sun and one of the moon. He quickly went to the right hand, but again, he only found pendants, this time of Venus and Mars with Neptune dangling delicately at the end. This was a treasure but not the kind he wanted.

Now that he thought about it, it was quite poetic in its own way; she was so near to her friends but at the same time so far away... all of them meeting the same fate, getting permanently separated by death.

Fang Shan stood nearby, with his usual arrogance and unreadable face, "She fought with the elements of love and hate. But her body wasn't built for it. A strange last-breath technique…"

The mech, turned its head with a mechanical whir. Then a voice flat and devoid of empathy, cut through the heavy air. "Strange? Why does it matter? If it worked, it's practical."

Fang Shan glanced at the mech, furrowing his brows. "It does matter... Her body would have self-destructed from following such a path. Slowly but surely, she was breaking herself, and I'm pretty sure she didn't die from Katley's order or my blade." He seemed quite angry at the last fact: "It was the backlash."

The weakened black goo that coated Kaiden's form seemed to shift and swirl, forming jagged mouths across her body that twisted into a mix of anger and frustration, "Kaiden... If you're going to try and kill a high-ranked Aspect, FRICKING TELL US FIRST!"

Kaiden's expression hardened, "I had my plan! She was weak...--" Everyone raised an eyebrow at this, even the proud Fang Shan, so Katley corrected herself. "Mentally, to be exact."

Another player barked, "Did you at least get what you were trying for?"

Katley's gaze shifted slightly, and her eyes narrowed as she turned to Fang Shan. "Probably someone else would have died, but I had it under control. I just needed her to tire out."

Kaiden's gaze flickered back to Dante's lifeless body, "I needed her alive," she admitted, barely above a whisper, "Everything was going so wonderfully, but I didn't consider his friend to kill himself to prevent it from happening."

Fang Shan, with his breathing trembling from anticipation, murmured, "Long time I hadn't met someone that was stronger than me by a large margin..."

A wet sound began filling everyone's ears-- a faint *drip* *drip* *drip* that echoed in the place. Everyone's eyes fell to the ground, where a dark red puddle spread beneath Fang Shan. It wasn't until now that they noticed the horrible state of his body; his arms were shredded, the flesh was twisted and mangled, grotesquely bent in ways that didn't make sense; it was a miracle; he was standing up.

Katley's voice ran out, "Do you want me to heal you?" even when her tone suggested that she wasn't exactly 'excited' by the idea, she still tried her best to work with her team.

But Fang Shan shrugged her off, "You'll only make it worse. I have to pay some tribulation for using such a powerful technique. The heavens will smite me down if I don't.

The goo created a new mouth and mumbled, "At this point, you will die from bleeding, so if the heavens don't kill you, then I'm sure the bleeding will do the job."

Fang Shan already expected this comment, "I can use Qi to keep the blood from exiting my body, so I don't bleed to death, but what a waste... you could have recruited her. She would have been a nice concept breaker for your team, and I would have had another sparring partner."

Katley simply scoffed at this notion, rolling her eyes. "You already have me for that. If my plan had gone smoothly, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

Fang Shan posture changed, towering over Katley, "As expected of a woman! So short-sighted! And why do you keep calling her a 'he' from time to time?'

Katley blinked, caught off guard. "Because he is a she! Wait... it's rearward... She is a he!"

Fang Shan threw his head back and let out a manic, almost unhinged sound, "That explains everything! The strongest 'woman' I've ever met turns out to be a man, HA!"

'This fucker again with that' Her fist clenched with barely contained rage as she calmly explained, "That's...-- First of all, I can probably STILL beat the crap out of you, and second of all, that's incredibly misogynistic.

Fang Shan shrugged, "It's just biology. Women are valuable because they can bear the next generation. That is why evolution made them weaker-- to prioritize survival over strength. Men, being disposable, evolved to be stronger to protect the weaker sex. It's simple logic and facts."

She was going to snap, she was going to fricking snap at any second, "You're wrong, you fucking misogynistic! You know what!? I should've killed you that time instead of recruiting you!"

"Pffft!" after rebutting her claim, he countered with a perfect argument, "And yet, here I am, thanks to you. You are just mad I'm right."

Katley let out a sharp, frustrated hiss as she snapped her fingers, barely keeping it inside her, "Forget it! I should've known better than to expect anything else from a cultivator. You're all the same."

Fang Shan didn't take this as an insult but rather a compliment, "The only thing we cultivators have in common... is that we all die in the end, and I aim to be the exception."

*SNAP*

She took out a wig and a pig nose and said in a childish voice, "I'm Peng Clan's Young Master. I'm oh-so-powerful, and--" She was going to continue, but with just those words, Fang Shan's gaze changed from a lighthearted one to a bothered one. "That was low." was the only thing that exited his mouth.

After a moment, Katley turned her attention to Dante's body. "You know what? FUCK IT! Five-minute rule." She bent down and swiftly stored the body in a specialized container, "It's still warm. Should do the trick."

"I'ma be quite busy; everyone can do whatever you want. Most players here won't kill me, even without my special ability, so you can scramble." She quickly took some alchemy items out as she prepared a table. "Also, Fang Shan, take the impurities of this body; I don't need them... actually leave the love, just purify the hate."

Fang Shan grunted; even if they had a discussion, Katley was still the king in this game, and her words had to always be considered at least once, "Why should I even do that-"

Katley cut him off, "I will pay you a fair amount. I know you don't plan on staying for too long; you actually want to cross the threshold of level 100. I wish you good luck with that because we are happy here where antimagic is heavily nerfed."

"This place is boring." He ate a brown pill, and his arms regrew, but his strength didn't come back. "You are like a bunch of adults fighting babies; from time to time, you fight a child who picked a sword." He looked at the Aspect of Aqarath. And in one in a million, sometimes you meet your match."

Her eyes also turned to the body that caused her all these problems, "Why couldn't you just accept my deal at the start... everything would have been smooth, and your friends would be alive."

---

Authors note:

funny enough all Fang Shans L's are against something feminine (I did this without realizing)

His first L was against Katley. (He was younger and of lower level but still gave a fight.)

His second L is against Dante, who has a female body, tho I don't know if I can still say that as it's more of an eldritch monster now.

The third L will be against a female limit breaker that isn't important, but the fact that he loses again to a FEMALE LIMIT BREAKER will be important in my next novel (Yes, Fang Shan will appear in my original novel, I kind of like him as a final boss.)

And his fourth L, the 'thing' that he fights, will acquire a female body just to rub salt in his wound.