He grew two large spike-like swords out of his arms. Growing these, Koku blitzed the cratrus which were fleeing, and just as fast as they appeared out of nowhere, they all lay dead. This time, however, Koku's enraged mode in a literal sense led him to another group of cratrus which were originally on their way to the area where Koku was at.
Reaching them instead, Koku, without hesitation nor mercy, slaughtered them left and right. All that remained were two of these monsters; one was big, and the other normal-sized. Seeing them, Koku was about to move forward but collapsed onto the ground. Holding his chest, he felt it twist and reciprocate the feeling of being crushed. After that, the dark purple aura began dispersing. Slowly but surely, all of the aura Koku had was no longer there, and being in the state he was in, the two cratrus began approaching him.
With the source of fear gone, the two cratrus were now acting aggressive. Seeing them inching closer, Koku struggled to rise up as his body was in immense pain, but nevertheless, he did. Once he did so, he created an aura blade and got into a defensive form. "Why am I always on the defensive?" Koku asked himself as the smaller cratrus began running at him.
He managed to use his remaining strength and swung his aura blade upwards as the cratrus was about to devour him. Slicing through the air, he cut the smaller cratrus in half. The creature let out a guttural screech as its body fell to the ground in two pieces. Koku was surprised as his power had seemingly increased. Koku's chest, however, felt heavy, and as he panted, the pain coursing through him was proving worse than it was, but the adrenaline in him as well kept him on his feet.
The larger cratrus growled as it had seen its companion die, hearing its massive jaws snapping as it began charging at Koku with nothing short of good speed. Koku gritted his teeth and sidestepped the creature's attack, narrowly avoiding being crushed under its weight. "I've gotten faster too," as the cratrus came to a stop, Koku seized the opportunity and lunged forward, striking at the creature's exposed flank.
His aura sword sliced into the cratrus's tough hide. Seeing the dark purple blood spew onto himself, Koku backed away as soon as he landed the attack. The cratrus roared in agony and swung its tail at Koku, sending him flying through the air. He crashed into the ground with a violent thud, his vision gave out that moment, and he began to feel dizzy; his sight was spinning around as he struggled to stand. The pain in his chest intensified, making it difficult to breathe. He knew he couldn't afford to stay down for long, though, so he stood up and stabbed his arm. This brought him to his senses quickly.
Able to see again, Koku gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, using his aura sword for support. The larger cratrus was already charging at him again, its eyes filled with hate yet compassion. Koku's mind raced as he assessed his situation. He needed to end this fight quickly before his body gave out on him.
Worse of all was the fact his body was more than 80% of the way there. Koku noticed the cratrus limping slightly since it was wounded and he used that to his advantage. "They haven't seen this yet… AURA SLASH." Koku unleashed an aura slash, and with the cratrus already in front of the attack, there was no dodging it.
Koku, however, jumped to its left and used aura slash again. So after the first one had hit its face, a dust cloud formed and it lost balance. After that, the cratrus regained its footing, turned its head to the side, and was hit again. This time, however, it was on its flank. Feeling the strike, the cratrus tried to shoot a few quills at Koku.
This didn't work since Koku dodged it and used aura slash once again, this time it was aimed at its tail, and then another one for its face. Once those two other hits had landed, Koku rushed to the cratrus which had its neck exposed since the hit to the face had made it lose footing and fell over. Nearly there, Koku mustered all his strength and increased his speed. "Come on... come on," Koku swung his blade upwards, and it began cutting the neck of the monster.
"Yes, we're almost there," Koku had been halfway through its neck, but this was too easy, he thought. Just as his aura blade had reached the halfway mark, his hand fell, not his arm. Seeing his hand fall off, Koku jumped back as fast as he could.
"What?" Koku was confused and ripped apart his shirt, immediately tying it around the open wound. This was all happening so fast, and Koku looked to his side and right there, he could see an even bigger cratrus. This one didn't run but slowly walked in between Koku and the other cratrus.
Koku created an aura sword with his other hand and pointed it at that even bigger cratrus. Not only was it bigger, but it was a different color entirely. It had much more gruesome features and had a stronger presence; the color was grey with black stripes. Koku looked at it and smiled, "So you're the boss of them." Despite feeling immense pain, he forced a smile and got ready for another fight he was surely to lose.
The grey cratrus snarled at him and rushed him with a blinding speed. Right before its claw was about to slash Koku's head off, a black mist formed around Koku, and someone even faster than the monster blocked the attack with a single hand. The grey cratrus jumped back, and focused its attention on this new individual. After focusing on this new person, the cratrus snapped out of its climbing rage and noticed Koku's true presence.
That person, however, muttered something, "It'd be a waste to lose someone so interesting, so how about I lend you a hand, child." After saying this, the person looked at Koku and pointed his hand at him, muttering something. After that, Koku's body revealed a black mark, one which quickly disappeared leaving no trace.
After that, the person easily inflicted lots of damage to the cratrus but didn't kill it. He left as quickly as he appeared. Koku, in this time, blacked out and re-awoke after 20 seconds. Feeling a sense of power deep within the endless void, he reached out to it mentally, and his body erupted with black markings. His body regenerated his hand, and Koku was at a state of overboost.
In his head, he had seen the words, "Cursed gods gift." This wasn't in the dark space, but simply in his mind. After obtaining this, he had seen the nearly dead but standing cratrus. Feeling his body about to break down, Koku rushed the monster quickly and was, for a moment, faster than it. He kicked it and then slashed it with his aura blade, but something was off, very off. This monster wasn't like the rest; he felt a connection.
Because of this, he stopped attacking and backed off. The cratrus didn't chase after him but fell over; it looked at him as if it was submitting, yet dying, and at that exact moment, Koku remembered what was hidden in the guide section of this monster. 'Wait, if that was all true then…," Koku felt dizzy, and his new profound form gave out. Koku blacked out, this time he was out for good.
After blacking out, Koku was taken to the dark space, and like it had happened with the rabbits, a few owls and many many cratrus's were there as well. They stared at him, showing no signs of aggression or hostility. Just before Koku was about to talk, the two rabbits formed again and hopped their way to him. Feeling confused and nervous, Koku saw the cratrus move to the side. After doing so, the grey cratrus appeared before him. It got closer and closer until it was looking down at his face.
It did nothing but that for a few seconds, and out of nowhere, like a dog, it began giving him affection. It licked and pounced him. "I- hu-huh?" Koku was confused and being overloaded; everything was happening so fast. First the snakes, then the cratrus, then the massacre, fleeing being attacked, nearly dying and getting his emotions back, then raging and losing his hand. On top of having markings all over him for a moment, but they all disappeared. More importantly, the things that tried to kill him moments ago were now acting all friendly and like loyal dogs at that?
(The grey cratrus died due to blood loss and was therefore considered Koku's kill by the void since he was the last to get hits in).
"What's going on?" Koku asked, actually trying to get an answer from someone. Koku really wanted the answer to this, but just then the words, "Void summoner," appeared. He read that, and they vanished. "Summoner? Wait, are these monsters my summons?" Koku felt weird, and the cratrus stopped licking him. "I- I'm a~ WHAT?"