Akuzo Hirotima, LVL - 68 (Sealed)
A sinking feeling in Kayden's chest; he wants to cry out for help; he feels this fear in his soul. This man looks to be enveloped in a murderous aura, it's like Kayden could feel this mans emotions himself, and this man certainly wanted to kill Kayden.
Kayden kneels on the road, unable to move an inch, only able to view this unstoppable mountain of a person. Akuzo Hirotima looked 6'8 to 6'10, with no shirt on and only a simple pair of black trousers supporting his waist with a black martial arts belt. His body has overwhelming muscle mass with what looked to be ten-pack abs and a monstrous upper and lower body. He had a spiky ponytail and jet-black hair; he had what can only be described as shark teeth as he menacingly grinned at Kayden.
Akuzo, with his blood-red eyes, looked straight at Kayden and beyond him to his very soul; Akuzo had six large pins in his face, one on each side of his temples, his cheeks, and lastly, his jaw, this didn't seem to bother Akuzo, as if it was a simple piercing.
Kayden, after taking a look at Akuzo, Akuzo scrunched up his nose like he smelled something horrible. Akuzo sniffed the air towards Kayden; even simply sniffing seemed to deprive Kayden of oxygen in his lungs.
Akuzo suddenly laughed, a deep and loud laugh that almost made Kayden's ears bleed. "Hahaha! That's hilarious. Did I find the candidate this early on? Hey, boy, tell the gods they failed once again, haha! This is too hilarious." Akuzo rambled on while laughing in between sentences."
[To think...to think we'd face this fucker so soon, Kayden, theirs only one way you survive this, strike a deal with the gods right now! Say that you want an audience with the gods now!]
"Why, why, why, why me, why me, I can't...I can't think; this doesn't feel real. Go away, go away!" Kayden's thoughts were sporadic as he tried to keep sane over the overwhelming pressure of Akuzo's mere presence.
[Shit! He can't hear anything I'm saying! Please, Kayden, come on, live, so this ordeal wasn't a massive waste of the god's time!]
Suddenly the massive paralyzing weight Kayden felt was lifted; Kayden collapsed on the road and started gasping for air, his whole body shaking as if he had just skinny-dipped in Antarctica. Kayden looked up and saw Akuzo standing a few feet away from Kayden with a menacing grin. Kayden's body moved on its own, a burning desire to survive as his flight response went into overdrive.
Kayden backed up on the road while keeping his eye on Akuzo; he dared not stand up as he couldn't even feel his legs.
[Kayden, listen to me! Say in your mind that-]
Akuzo suddenly interrupted as he finally spoke up. "Are you done yet, squirming around? I'm starting to feel pity for you; no candidate was this pathetic."
Kayden could only respond with a horrified expression as he grunted and squealed in fear.
"Right, let's see, this should be enough..." Akuzo started waving his arm around as if he were testing something out, not paying attention to Kayden desperately trying to escape. Akuzo suddenly swatted the air lightly as if he was hitting a fly.
A sudden gust of wind came from Akuzo, swatting the air, storming towards Kayden, and destroying the road and buildings behind Kayden. The breath of wind was akin to a tornado, its merciless path leaving everything destroyed. Kayden couldn't react in time and was swept up in the current, the wind immediately breaking his ribs and pushing his organs against each other; he landed a block away from where he originally was. Kayden could not move; he was covered in rubble and on the verge of death.
[-137 HP! ONE HP REMAINING!]
Kayden was sure he would bleed to death before Akuzo could even reach him; Kayden could feel all his rib fragments piercing his lungs and other organs as he struggled to breathe. With his dying breath, Kayden looked up and saw Akuzo standing right above him with a satisfied grin.
[Kayden, that's it! I'm forcefully transferring you to the gods! This is the most I can do; you'll be safe there for some time; I'm sure we can think of something then!]
Kayden couldn't even formulate a thought in his brain as the system talked; all Kayden could see was a white light enveloping his vision as he seamlessly was teleported to a new location; the feeling of teleportation was like every atom was shaped and formed to move through space to the following location fluidly.
In an instant, all his pain was relieved; Kayden could feel his whole body again, and a serenity replaced all the pressure from before. As Kayden adjusted to this feeling, he finally looked up to see a completely white place; it was like an infinite void of white. As he was gawking at the foreign location, he heard someone clearing their throat.
The sound of its voice shook Kayden's very soul, and he instinctively backed up. He turned to the voice's location and saw three chairs. The chairs were completely black, directly contrasting with the milky white void. The chairs were simple dining chairs, and when he looked up to see who was on the chairs, he saw three white silhouettes.
One silhouette took the form of a woman; Kayden could only tell by the obvious signs of breasts on the silhouette. While the other two were male as far as Kayden could see, one slim in figure and the other being muscular and massive. Suddenly the slim figured silhouette spoke, his voice quiet, although it seemed commanding. "Are you finished observing this area? May we talk face-to-face now?"
The thing formulated his sentence like a question, although Kayden knew he was demanding it. "Who.....who are you?" Kayden responded weakly. "The almighty deity of the universe, lord of the gods, and the precursor of nothingness."
The muscular silhouette turned to the man. "Holy shit, you're so lame. Little human, call this thick-skulled person Kala." The burly figure teased the man continually as Kala ignored his remarks and continued talking. "It must have been difficult for you, facing such a problematic adversary at your current level. Worry not, mortal; I will teleport your body to another city; you'll be given enough time to recoup your strength and get stronger."
"Huh? Take me back; what do you mean? I'm done with this; I thought I was going to face ghouls at most, not fucking monsters like that; I'm not going back!" Suddenly the burly figure jumped off his chair, pointed aggressively at Kayden, and started shouting.
"You have no choice in this matter, mortal! You are nothing but a dog that must obey us!" Kala turned to look at the burly figure, and the figure assumed a submissive stance and sat down again. Kala spoke up with the same calm, neutral tone of voice he had used since the start. "I understand your frustration, but you are the hope for humans; I will explain what it means to be a candidate for the gods for you."
"Becoming a candidate means you earn power at an accelerated rate compared to others, let's say a weight lifting champion trained for a couple of years to be able to lift 1000 pounds, that is impressive for mortals such as yourself, however with the power we bestowed upon you, you can lift 1000 pounds in a few months, as long as you continually grow at a decent rate; even if you have a frame of a twig."
The burly figure snickered as he examined Kayden's physique. Kayden stared back at the bulky figure; the figure reminded Kayden of Felix. Kala continued his explanation.
"For your purpose, it is to slay the demons that trespass onto the earth; as the candidate, only you have the power to shift the power imbalance in favor of humanity. Theirs no greater honor than to be a candidate for us. Now mortal, you will accept this responsibility, won't you?"
There it was again, Kayden thought; Kala's tone suggested it was a request. However, it was more like a demand. Using the prefix that only Kayden had the power to stop humanity from falling instills guilt in his choice if he thinks about rejecting that. Kayden, after thinking out his response for a minute, responded.
"I must reject; I am not fit-" Kala interrupted, keeping the same calm tone of voice. "Your family is safe, alive, and well; perhaps demons will smell the scent of humans and find your mother and brother, and maybe they will tear apart your family's meaty legs and chew on their jugular like a chew toy. Perhaps they won't if you fulfill the duties given to you. What do you choose, Kayden?"
Hearing the god call Kayden by his name made him panic; this god was threatening Kayden with his family; Kayden felt his blood boil while feeling a great fear coming from the well-mannered and calm god. Although Kayden was terrified of Kala's threats, he was relieved to learn his parents were alive.
"Um, if he's going back, can I make a request?" a soft and quiet voice spoke up out of the blue; it was the female silhouette she had kept quiet until now. Kala nodded his head and patiently waited for her request. "I wish the mortal would be sent to another city like planned. However, I wish for the mortal child he shortly accompanied to come with." Kala responded. "For what purpose, Cleesha?"
"The child interests me to a degree," Cleesha responded plainly. "Very well, I'll teleport both of them together," Kala replied.
Kayden responded in frustration, "Even if you threaten me to go back, I never agreed to bring along the kid!"
"How about this mortal? If you keep the child with you, I will protect your family to a degree. For one child, your family will be fine for a while; and I'm sure you have questions like where they are or who we are and our purpose. However, we cannot tell you for now; goodbye now, mortal."
Before Kayden could protest any further, Kayden's vision shifted and changed to a lush green scenery. Kayden quickly observed the area and saw a sign that said he was in a national park; birds were chirping away, oblivious to the world's dangers as they hummed away. Kayden teleported near a pond and a park bench.
"Wait, wasn't I supposed to be with the-" Kayden was interrupted by tugging on his shirt; he screamed and violently threw up his arms to intimidate the enemy. Kayden regained his composure and assumed a fighting stance, only to see Sylvia with an expression of bewilderment.
"You need to stop doing that, kid, one of these days, I'm going to punch you in the face, and how things are going, probably not on accident," Kayden said threateningly. "Really?" Sylvia asked fearfully.
"Anyway, we are in another city right now; we need to figure our way through the city since I don't know this city," Kayden said while ignoring Sylvia's question.
Kayden gestured to Sylvia to follow him and started walking on the paths in the park while examining the maps sprawled around the park to figure their way out. After walking in silence for a few minutes, Sylvia finally spoke up.
"When you left, I was tired from running, so I took a nap; I woke up here; what happened?" Kayden replied absent-mindedly, "We teleported here."
"Oh, ok," Sylvia replied, indicating she did not know teleportation.
The slight breeze, birds chirping, and nature flowing as generally as any other day gave Kayden a moment of respite from the battles. However, no matter how peaceful it seemed, Kayden still felt the fear that Akuzo gave off, his heart pounding as he desperately tried to think of other things besides Akuzo.
"Status," Kayden whispered.
[Status window]
Kayden, LVL - 2 | Exp - 0/100
Health - 160/160
Race: Human
Stats
Strength - 3
Agility - 1
Intelligence - 3
Constitution - 3
Available points - 0
Skills
N/A
"So, I did heal completely when I entered that white void," Kayden thought. "I must grow stronger if I ever want to be able to get over this fear."
Kayden clenched his fists, digging his nails into his palms as he gritted his teeth and started brisk walking; Sylvia could barely keep up.
As Kayden was absorbed in his thoughts, he nearly failed to notice the creature coming out of the forest surrounding the path he was following.
[APPRAISING THREAT.]
On cue, the system started analyzing the creature; the creature was staring at Kayden, and after Kayden took a quick look at it, he could tell the beast was the same kind of dog he fought before he blacked out when the demon outbreak started.
The dog had the same tan skin, green pores on its body, and hollow V-shaped eyes as the ones Kayden fought before. The dog was snarling at Kayden and showing its teeth at Kayden, making it clear that it was out to kill him.
[APPRAISAL COMPLETE]
Canlup, LVL - 2
Race - Demon/Beast
Gives 30 EXP
Kayden was still shaken up from the last battle. However, he quickly composed himself; he knew the dog, now officially called Canlup, was a pushover compared to Akuzo.
"Sylvia, stay back if you don't want to get hurt," Kayden said calmly. Sylvia quickly retreated, making sure to be at least ten feet behind Kayden. In response to Sylvia backing up, the Canlup snarled and gurgled a bark that sounded like a rusted chainsaw starting up.
Kayden paced around the Canlup, slowly waiting for it to strike. Kayden also picked up a sturdy branch off the ground to at least have a better attempt to get past the Canlups formidable defense.
After Kayden and the Canlup finished sizing each other up, the Canlup finally became impatient and struck first, lunging at Kayden to tear open Kayden's stomach. Kayden dodged to the side, leaving the Canlup to bite the air.
Thawk!
Kayden slammed the branch on the beast's head as it was lunging. The beast was dazed for a moment, stumbling around and trying to support itself to stand. The creature snarled at Kayden and went in for another lunge.
Kayden dodged again, although the beast managed to graze his shirt, leaving a sizeable hole on the lower side of his shirt. Kayden attempted to strike down at the Canlups head again. However, the Canlup immediately counter-attacked; the Canlup outstretched its arm and tried to claw at Kayden's arm. Kayden immediately backed up and just barely avoided the beast's claws.
"This dog isn't like the ghoul; unlike the ghoul mindlessly flailing its arm around, this one has some intelligence." Kayden thought while keeping his distance. Kayden decided his best bet was to wait for an opening.
The Canlup lunged at him at a more incredible speed than the lunges before; Kayden stood waiting for the Canlup and kicked up dirt straight into the beast's eyes when it was a few feet away.
The beast wasn't expecting this, and with the speed, it was going, it lost traction while temporarily blinded by the dirt and rammed its head straight into a tree. It was hit hard enough to lose focus and collapse because of the brain trauma it had while colliding with the tree. With Kayden's increased strength from the stats he allocated to the strength stat from earlier, he started repeatably bashing the Canlups skull, not giving it time to wake up to counter-attack; the sound of the skull slowly breaking and the blood seeping out of the Canlups head and mouth made Kayden a queasy. However, he continued, not relenting and continuing his onslaught on the Canlups head.
Kayden barked at Sylvia. "Hey Sylvia, bring me durable enough branches to keep bashing this bastard's head in!" "You got it!" Sylvia replied.
He continued bashing the Canlup until he heard her return with long thick branches perfect for clubbing the beast. The beast's body twitched now and then, but it couldn't move anymore because of how much damage Kayden was doing to it. After a few minutes of continuous bashing, the beast stopped moving; Kayden had to use a few branches to finish it. A mesh of blood, flesh, and skull fragments replaced the face it once had.
[30 EXP OBTAINED]
"Looks like I do get stronger by killing others, and even though we are on the same level, the Canlup couldn't get a hit off me, most likely due to our intelligence differences." Kayden thought.
Kayden sat down to catch his breath, his hands callusing from gripping the branches with all his strength so Kayden wouldn't mess up his momentum. Kayden felt like he had gained stamina after the fight with the ghoul; Kayden inferred it was most likely due to putting two points into the constitution.
Sylvia stood off to the side, shifting around uncomfortably and trying her best not to look at the dead Canlup. "Oh right, she's still a kid; I've been so caught up in the moment that I didn't even think about the kid." Kayden thought while staring at the Canlup absent-mindedly.
Kayden said to Sylvia, "Come on, kid, let's get out of here." Sylvia nodded and walked beside Kayden, making sure not to look at the bloody mess.
Kayden and Sylvia started walking again as if nothing had happened; the peaceful environment of the park was brought in again, and it was as if Kayden was in his world.
[I've been meaning to ask, how was the meeting with the gods?]
His daydreaming was abruptly disturbed by the system. "I thought I would have a peaceful break for a moment." Kayden thought.
[Very funny, now give me the juicy bits, the drama, action, I want to know what happened.]
Kayden replied sarcastically, "Well, besides them threatening to kill my family if I don't be their "candidate," I think it went fine and dandy. Oh, and just so you know, I'm stuck with this kid if I want my family to be protected.
[Eh, I see, um well, anyway, at least you are safe now!]
"You're just going to ignore all those red flags I said so easily; how heartless."
[Look, they may seem evil, but it's for the sake of humanity sugar coating things never work out, especially when it comes to the fate of your species' survival, and well, all species' survival on this planet.]
"Why was I chosen, I'm not remarkable for anything, really, and I don't care too much about saving humanity."
[Ask the gods, I don't get a choice about who uses the system.]
Kayden grunted and decided to end the conversation there, continuing with Sylvia and being wary of any more demons. After ten minutes of walking, looking at maps of the area, and getting lost a few times, they managed to find the exit.
The exit was a simple moon gate, lined with drawings of animals smiling at the onlookers with a big sign on top that said, 'Thank you, come again!' "That was kind of fun, Kayden!" Sylvia said while smiling at him.
Kayden grunted a response and left the park, the peaceful atmosphere being replaced by a grim and gory view in the parking lot connected to the park. The parking lot was strewn with abandoned cars, half-eaten bodies which Kayden could hardly recognize as human, and some animal bodies mixed in the crowd too.
Sylvia looked like she was on the verge of throwing up; she quickly looked at the ground and shuffled toward Kayden, staring intensely at his shoes. "Don't throw up on me, kid," Kayden said while shifting away from Sylvia.
Kayden scanned around the parking lot, making sure no demons were there. From his view, he could not see any monsters and took his first steps to the parking lot, Sylvia standing close behind, still looking down at Kayden's feet.
[THREAT FOUND, APPRAISING THREAT.]
Almost on cue, the moment he took a step forward, the message popped into his view; he quickly pulled down the menu and frantically looked around the area. "Where is it? I can't see any threat; is it him? Is it Akuzo? Am I going to die? I don't want to die!" Kayden overthought frantically, letting panic settle into his body like butter; he clenched his fists, sweat dripping on his forehead while his body desperately tried to stabilize his heart rate.
Suddenly a figure shot up from a car; the figure was human-like, looked about 5'10, and held something in their palm. Kayden couldn't size up this new foe anymore because, the next moment, the figure went into a baseball pitcher's stance and threw the object it was holding straight between Kayden's eyes.
Crack!
[-21 HP!]
Kayden was immediately knocked down and started profusely bleeding from his nose; the object came at him so fast that he could only see it for a split second. Adrenaline rushed into his body as he struggled to gain composure; Kayden could taste the blood in his mouth as his nose gushed blood from the wound.
[THREAT EVALUATED, SHOWING INFORMATION.]
Saxceler, LVL - 7
Gives 100 EXP
[NO MORE INFO AVAILABLE]
[DUE TO LEVEL DIFFERENCE, AN ADDITIONAL 25 EXP WILL BE REWARDED TO YOU IF YOU DEFEAT THE ENEMY]
The Saxceler finally revealed itself, the figure eerily human-like; it had a gray skin tone and jagged stones piercing its shoulders and arms, and the Saxceler had one eye. The entire eye was entirely scarlet red. Its mouth and teeth were like it was carved in stone. Kayden looked to his side to see what hit him; he saw a rock the size of a golf ball, broken in two.
Kayden saw Sylvia standing in place, her face like a deer looking at a car. Sylvia looked at Kayden; she had an expression of shock and fear.
"Get the fuck away!" Kayden screamed at Sylvia as loud as he could, which made Sylvia jump back in fear, and with a few moments of hesitation, she decided to agree and ran away back into the park.
"Whaaattt....clichheeee, cliiiicheee!" Kayden immediately looked back at the Saxceler with confusion and fear. It had just spoken to Kayden; it was unmistakenly the monster. The Saxceler had a gravel voice; it was rough and came out in rasps, and all the words he spoke were like he said them in slow motion.
The Saxceler started slowly walking towards Kayden; its stone face somehow formed a grin that showed all its teeth, the teeth were covered in blood, and it started licking its stone lips.
Kayden was brought out of his stupor by it walking towards him and immediately shot up. The adrenaline coursing throughout his body covered the pain as he stared straight at Saxceler's one eye.
Kayden was still spurting blood from his nose as he tried his hardest not to pass out. Kayden took a fighting stance and waited for the Saxceler to reach his fists range.
The Saxceler was casually walking towards Kayden, even looking around as if he was enjoying the view; Kayden composed himself as best as he could, taking deep breaths and trying not to think about the level difference.
Kayden thought, "Why is this thing so strong even though it's only five levels ahead of me."
[The Saxceler species is quite strong on its own. You had some stats which were a larger number than others. Naturally, all species have their base stats which they are born with; for the most part, it is generally the same for the species on every plain of existence. Although humans are unique, they vary the most in their stats.]
"So I'm guessing the Saxceler are strong as fuck."
[Bingo]
Kayden formed a small smile and immediately refocused on the approaching threat. The Saxceler approached wide-open with an unmistakable aura of confidence extruding from it; the beast stopped about five feet in front of Kayden; Kayden was sweating profusely, wondering if he should attack first; after all, this was the first time that he had fought something intelligent, excluding Akuzo.
The demon raised its arm to its face, making Kayden flinch and back up. The Saxceler raised its pointer finger towards its cheek while waving his other hand towards Kayden tauntingly. "Trryyy...hiiiitttt meeeee." With its scratchy voice, the demon taunted Kayden to take the first hit.
Kayden decided to waste no time and outstretched his arm into a jab straight at its cheek. Kayden could feel his entire body on fire; this time, death was closer than ever. The demon dodged out of the way by slightly tilting its head, even letting Kayden's fist graze his cheek as if to say that he was close but not close enough.
The Saxceler immediately counter-attacked and, wasting no time, punched Kayden straight in the gut.
[-25 HP!]
Kayden immediately lost all his breath, and he collapsed to the floor. His body barely resisted the urge to throw up as he desperately tried to catch his breath. "Gueeessss yooouu...yooouuuuuu liiikeeee thhhheee ressssttt, soooo, soooo, sooooooo...weak." The Saxceler gloated more while cackling like a maniac.
The Saxceler took a final look at Kayden before killing him like he was an old toy the demon wanted to get rid of. The monster raised its leg at Kayden's face and stomped down with all its might.
Thump!
Dust and dirt obscured the Saxceler's vision; the Saxceler waved away the dust and smiled widely, eager to see the freshly opened egg it had just opened. To its surprise, no such view was given to it. Instead, his footprint was there with no human.
Kayden was to the Saxceler's right side; the Saxceler immediately took notice of Kayden and saw that Kayden was getting ready to hit it with a left hook.
The Saxceler had no time, so he decided to guard his face from the attack. Instead, Kayden stopped in his tracks, and with Kayden's right hand, he revealed he had dirt in it and threw it straight at the Saxcelers one eye.
"Gaaahhhhaaaaa!" The demon SCREECHED, sounding like an old engine desperately trying to start up. It stumbled back and lowered its guard; Kayden immediately punched the demon square into its cheek as it desperately tried to regain its vision from the dirt in its eyes. It stumbled back and started hitting the air like it was fighting a fly.
"It worked on a demon with two eyes, so I thought it should surely work for a demon with one eye, and theirs that punch you were asking for earlier," Kayden said while smiling.
Kayden knew that wouldn't be enough to stop the demon, and quickly ran up to it, leaving it no time to recover; he wailed on the Saxceler, every part of his body screaming at him and burning up as he gave his all into every punch at the demon.
The demon started bleeding; its blood was surprisingly red, although it was a dark, murky red. The Saxceler stopped moving around suddenly as Kayden continued his onslaught. The demon screamed at Kayden, "Enoughhhhhhhhhh offf youuuurrrr weak atttttttacccksss!"
Kayden went in again, paying no heed to the demon's words, and went for an attack straight at its stomach. As he was about to use his right hand to contact the Saxceler, all Kayden could hear was a loud crunch.
[-22 HP!]
Kayden looked down and saw that his hand was a mangled mess; at the very least, his knuckles had multiple fractures; when he looked at the Saxcelers stomach, all he saw were jagged stones guarding his stomach—forming a shield of rock at the point where Kayden tried to hit it at.
Kayden immediately backed up and gripped his right forearm with his left hand. The pain was severe, unlike Akuzo, where Kayden couldn't feel his body at all; he could feel every part of the pain in his hand, Kayden could barely move his right hand, and it was painful even to bend it. The jagged stones protruded out of the Saxceler, making it where his fingers twisted in unnatural ways.
"Look's like it still has fight in it," Kayden said while grimacing in pain.