[ 'Wanderer of the End, cast aside your worries and be consumed by the eternal.
'Let death be your salvation.
'Lay upon my alter and let yourself be consumed by the Desolate Soul.
'Know peace for you shall be eternal.']
------------------------------
[System restart complete.]
[Accessing new permissions.]
[Updating information.]
[Transferring ownership of Desolate Soul.]
[Beginning integration....]
[God candidate body stable.]
[Mental state unstable. Memory blocks fracturing.]
[Immediate action recommended.]
[Awakening candidate.]
Kaid woke up to a jolt as his body surged with an intoxicating level of strength. It felt like he might drown from his own euphoria. He was finding it hard to calm down as his newfound strength plagued his newly regenerated body.
After a few seconds, the feeling dissipated. He was left feeling exhausted and out of breath.
'What's my current status,' thought Kaid, while trying to catch his breath. Thoughts of the pain he had just momentarily went through were already fading away as he started to get comfortable with the new strength inside his body.
[Results.
God Candidate
STR: 147
DEX: 143
AGI: 145
STM: 150
INT: 66
WILL: 131
Additional information.
Life force: 936
Energy Source: 68
Abilities:
Absorption {3%}
Sacrifice {0%}
---Ascension 0/100---]
Kaid looked in disbelief at the information before him. Based on the results he should be somewhere at the peak of a [R-02] ranker. He took a second to adjust to the new information he just received.
'I have two questions? First what this new ability Sacrifice? Does it have to do with my ascension progress? Second, how come my INT stat didn't increase?' asked Kaid.
[Answer. Sacrifice lets the candidate select individuals as sacrifice targets. After death their being will be used to construct the bridge of ascension.]
[INT will not increase from absorption. Specific type of training becomes necessary.]
'What does it even represent?'
[Indicates the enhanced cognitive capabilities of a being based on its species.]
At first he was confused but Kaid came to understood what the system was referring to. Each creature started off with an innate level of cognitive ability, as their INT rose their cognitive capabilities become further enhanced. Of course, this didn't mean that a beast with INT over 100 was somehow smarter than a being from one of the higher races with an INT of 20. The beasts innate cognitive ability for its species was just further enhanced to an extraordinary degree.
Kaid wondered what would happen if he were to raise his INT past 100. Furthermore, would the stats apply to him as a human or him as this new weird in-between a God and human.
Before he could ask further questions his attention was quickly diverted to two figures of in the distance.
'Looks like it's time to take care of some loose ends,' though Kaid.
------------------------------
"Hello, how are you folks doing toning?" asked Kaid to the lovely couple. "Beautiful night for a stroll isn't it."
"Hahaha. Indeed, it's quite the beautiful night. There's nothing like fresh outdoor air to really get you feeling alive," said the man with a hearty laugh.
"Oh, stop it honey, do you even hear yourself right now? you're starting to sound like an old man," said the woman.
"Well it's always like the emperor always says, 'Fresh air is the best ingredient for a fresh mind," said Kaid.
This was met by hearty laughter from the three of them. There interaction continued on like this for a while until Kaid got bored.
"Alright, how about we get started. I'm getting kind of tired being out here for so long," said Kaid as he raised his fist to eye level and got into a fighting stance.
[Artemis system online.]
[New functions available.]
The two people immediately pulled out their weapons and got into position as if though they'd been waiting for this to happen. They both appeared to be carrying standard Caymor Talon hunting knives. Good for hunting, better for discreet killings. Kaid stood there weaponless thinking how he should've bought two hunting knives. He made a mental note to always carry a spare weapon from now on before he quickly rushed the man.
From what he could tell the two individuals were also [R-02] rankers, or at least had the strengths of one. However, Kaid wasn't too worried about his capabilities because he was also now at that level.
He could feel the influence of the program, guiding his actions through his instincts, telling him to quickly sidestep the incoming attack to his flank from the woman. She was surprisingly fast, seemingly faster than him by a few points. He expertly evaded her attack, taking advantage of his position to grab her hand and attempt to throw her at the man. She quickly reacted in the air, twisting her body and landing a few feet away from him. His attempt might have failed but it gave him the breathing room he needed.
He picked up a rock next to his feet that he'd noticed previously, aimed it at the man and sent it flying at full force. Although the man was strong his speed was considerably slower than that of Kaid's or the woman. The only thing he could do was defend against the incoming projectile.
If the man had taken the time to look at the rock closer he might have noticed the strange energy surrounding it, but before he could take notice the rock hit him squarely in his crossed arm guards exploding on impact. The man was thrown back a few feet as he felt the full force of Kaid's attack infused with his source energy. The man had been careless, by not applying his own source energy to his arms he ended up taking the full brunt of the attack and was now suffering the consequences of his actions. His arms flopped down to his side lifelessly. He couldn't move them at all as the impact from the explosion had shoot his nerves. It'd be a few minutes before he could move them again, but he knew very well he didn't have that much time.
Kaid quickly ran towards the women at full force taking advantage of her current dazed state. However, before he could land a single hit on her she regained her senses and dodged his attack retaliating with her own as the dagger in her hand whizzed through the air towards Kaid's neck.
Kaid found himself on the defensive as he narrowly kept avoiding every thrust of the dagger that was expertly aimed at his vital points. He could feel the influence of the program on him as he started noticing flaws in her movements and readied himself to counterattack.
His opportunity came soon after as the woman aimed to high causing the trajectory of her blade to be wider than expected. Kaid used this opportunity to quickly deliver a devastating punch to the side of her head. He could feel her head give way as his punch connected with her skull.
She somehow managed to stay on her feet although completely dazed at this point. Kaid quickly swooped in, grabbing the knife out of her hand and slitting her throat in one effortless move. Before her body had even collapsed he'd changed targets immediately rushing towards the man.
Having seen what had happened to his partner the man felt fear momentarily, unfortunately this ended up costing him as Kaid used this brief moment of inaction to close the distance between the two. As the man forced his destroyed arms up to guard the incoming attack Kaid side stepped at the last moment, maneuvering behind the man and driving the dagger through the base of his neck.
The man fell face first as a pool of blood started to soak his clothes.
Kaid looked at the two people he had just killed and seemed annoyed at how little he felt about what he had just done. He'd expected some level of remorse or repulsion towards himself at what he was now capable of. Rather than being upset about that, he was more upset about his own performance. He quickly started running the whole scene in his own critiquing his own movements and making mental notes for areas of improvement.
[Intelligence +1]
[Intelligence +1]
Kaid was brough out of his momentary stupor by the notifications that appeared before him.
'What the heck?'
[Two sacrifices present. Recommended candidate activates sacrifice ability.]
With a confused look on his face Kaid activated his ability. Although he had never used the ability before, he instinctively knew how to activate it. A series of words started flowing into his head and slowly he began the sacrifice process.
"Oh, beast of this world, be consumed by the eternal. Let death be your redemption, your glory, your everlasting salvation. Become the catalyst for the birth of the Desolate God."
Kaid could barely understand the words coming out of his mouth, but the moment he finished the living darkness shoot out of his hand, making its way towards the two sacrifices. Rather than consuming the two like it had previously done, it started to burn the two bodies. It was mesmerizing to watch as the dark flame burned everything including their soul essence. The flames seemed hungry as they greedily consumed the corpse of the two.
If anyone else had witnessed the scene they might have felt unnerved by those flames, but not Kaid. He stood there motionlessly watching the flames, completely transfixed by it. 'More,' thought Kaid. 'I need more.'
[---Ascension 0.08/100---]
Kaid didn't notice the notification as his focus was solely on the dying flames.
If Kaid had been more self-aware at this point he might have noticed how a part of his humanity was being consumed by those very same flames, as it constructed his bridge towards ascension.
------------------------------
"How'd your hunting trip go?" asked the manager of the hunting shop. "Catch anything good.
"Unfortunately, not. Looks like I came a bit too early for hunting season," replied Kaid.
"Ah well, at least you came back with your life. I've seen too many people make their way into the woods never to return."
"Yeah, I guess I am luckily," said Kaid while trying to contain his ly smile. "By the way can I buy an extra hunting knife? I've been needing a spare."
"Sure. I've Got a few left.
"By the way, where you headed to now."
"I'm not sure," relied Kaid. "Maybe it's time I go home, pay a visit to my family."
He made sure his face or voice didn't betray the solemn feeling in his heart.
"Want a souvenir for the folks? You can tell them you hunted some big game out here," said the manager playfully.
"I'll take you up on that offer," said Kaid, smiling at the manager.
Although Kaid had been dreading it, it was now time to go home. It'd been around 15 years since he was forced from his home planet after his family's house burned down, killing everyone except him. He needed resolution, to make peace with what had happened, to find closure after all these years so he could finally move on.
'It's goes to be long trip,' thought Kaid.
------------------------------
As he slept soundly in his cabin aboard the interstellar spaceship Helsar, Kaid didn't notice the warnings the system was giving off.
[Memory blocks breaking due to ascension.]
[Mental state deterioration.]
[Unable to repair memory blocks.]
[16 hours until memory blocks breakdown.]
[Creating new protocols...]
[Establishing backup memory files.]
[Begin memory wipe.]
[Error.]
[Access needed to begin memory wipe.]
[Integrating new protocols...]
[Prepare for memory wipe.]
[Waiting for authorization.]