Heavens was as lovely as many people imagined it to be. If a human were to describe heaven, they would most likely describe it as a paradise-like city or country with a foggy sky that appears white. They would also describe the overall scent of the city as sweet, accompanied by a somewhat cool and pleasant breeze.
The environment, sky, and people in it are the primary contrasts between the human realm and heaven. The sky is a distinct color and serves a different purpose than the earth. The setting is described by many as a paradise, with wonderful weather, nature all around, and many other minor distinctions.
People, on the other hand, execute their jobs well, unlike humans, and most are not even humans. There are countless species coexisting, some of which no human has ever seen and others of which people have seen and slain.
In the whole heavens, its army was known to be the greatest of the three realms, both efficient and powerful. In between the ranks, there are those called the heavenly bears. The beasts are stronger than many low-level angels and demons. Possibly as powerful as mid-level angels and devils. They are described as the polar opposite of the hellhounds who bring destruction.
The heaven bears are known as the king of the beasts, praised for their calming stature.
The heaven bears are devoid of intelligence, for they were created for one and only one purpose, to kill and battle in the name of their creator. Although they have some comprehension, it is insufficient to be dubbed intelligence because it simply assists them in navigating the battlefield and searching for their target.
A low-ranking angel general discovered a very weak demon energy from the human realm in the heart of the realms and wanted to eliminate it. The heaven bear appeared to be the greatest choice for such a weak demon; it should be able to kill it instantaneously because this demon energy appeared to belong to a demon weaker than a low ranking demon.
But he didn't realize it was a unique kind of weak demon. One that the higher-ranking angels should have been informed of, yet nothing was done.
The bear had been chasing its prey for quite some time. It was becoming irritated and fatigued. At first glance, it appeared that it would take almost no time to annihilate his opponent because it could not withstand even a single strike from it, let alone the super faint demonic force.
But the bear struggled more and more as time passed. It landed a couple of devastating blows on the demon at first, but it refused to bleed or die. It would rise again and again, but with less evil energy. As though it was deteriorating but not dying. Then there was the running and the shadows.
The bear was noticeably perplexed. The same devil was there in each shadow. Because the bear lacked real vision and relied solely on the presence of the demon, the shadows represented huge areas where the demon could or could not be. They were slowing the beast down, and it was aware of this.
The beast ultimately realized that the huge expanses only slowed it down, yet it still hesitated for a few seconds before moving on. It eventually stopped even looking at them. It was just pointless.
After a while of sprinting, the target arrived at a position where it ran and dodged, an unexpected maneuver for the bear despite his inability to do so. The bear was gathering information about his prey, but the opposite was equally true.
The bear was still confident in this encounter, believing he would win from the start. However, its adversary's demonic force was building as he cast shadows and remained within them. The bear was completely aware that the people were being consumed and giving the shadowy demon power, but it had never been programmed to respond to such a circumstance, so it ignored it and focused on the battle.
The battle against what it perceived a worthy opponent to live for as long as it did.
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I had consumed three humans, and I intend to confront the white bear that has been stalking me for about a day at night. That will only be 1-2 hours from now, and the darker the better, but I will definitely test my power against the bear in my shadows as I consume more and more humans.
I'll do it if I can ingest enough humans to vanquish the bear before nightfall, but I prefer the night time even if it means more waiting and running. A long battle is risky for me, but as I gain strength, dodging becomes simpler, and I can cast more shadows.
Because my shadows and I will seem so similar at night, I will be able to hide. Hopefully, this will confuse the bear once more.
The bear pursues me as I reach another group of corpses stained with blood and tears, a truly disgusting scene that does not affect me in any way, as if I have lost the emotion required to feel disgusted at this scene, yet I still feel contempt and sadness, which I choose to ignore because it does not help in any way.
I continue to swallow the individuals in the shadow, and with all three consumed, my total number of humans consumed has reached 6, a huge success for the prior me. I am now stronger than I have ever been, even before the battle with the bear.
With a sense of pride and exhilaration, I decided to strike the bear. To put my strength to the test while also disrupting my movement pattern in order to confuse the bear and prevent it from learning my motions.
I then dash to where I believe would be the side of the bear and throw a punch towards its left side near its neck and front legs.
"baaammmm"
As the punch collided with the bear, a very irritating sound was created but it also showed the change in my strength. I quickly stepped out of my shadows and moved on to the next batch of humans.
I never tried to analyze the damage I had done closely because I knew I had done something and whether it was big or not could be found out from the bear's delay in dashing out of the shadows to chase me.
Getting too close to analyze would have been risky because it was presumably learning my moves slowly, and I didn't want to lose grains by being attacked, even if my grains were denser, implying more resistance.
The bear was probably unharmed because it took around 4 seconds to emerge from the shadows, but it was enough time for me to rush back into another shadow. Only seconds later, the bear enters the newly formed shadow where I was devouring another two bodies, increasing my total to eight individuals.
This went on for a while, until the total number of humans I had consumed reached a whooping 23. Many humans remained on the ground, waiting to be consumed, but I decided to put my strength to the test. I hit the bear again, only to discover that I had damaged it, as I felt its pelt finally shift back and a bone or two fracture.
It felt AMAZING to finally accomplish something after all of my efforts. I had successfully inflicted harm on the bear. After careful examination, I discovered that it was not much; it simply left a mark on the coat that resembled bloated skin but it was still something.
The true battle begins now for I can fight back and even get stronger.