After barely dodging a seemingly endless chain of attacks, Nox was finally ready. Feeling the tingling sensation rise up, Nox held onto it tightly this time and shaped it to his liking, keeping it in a firm grasp as he darted to the monster's exposed torso.
As soon as Chang Feng deflected an attack from its swinging claws, he struck with as much force as he could muster.
"Nox, what are you doing?!" Fay's anxious shout could barely be heard above the rush of adrenaline going to his head.
Not losing a moment to hesitation, Nox swung his arm across the waist of the monster, a curved crimson blade protruding from his bleeding forearm. The attack made a schhk noise as it sank into the flesh of the bull-like existence, successfully cutting through the thick pelt.
In the first place, the monster was too tall for him to cut anything higher than the waist without getting maimed. So he had to make the fight even in terms of height.
Ignoring the pained noise the monster released, Nox slashed through its legs next, awkwardly dodging to the side as the attack forced one of its knees to thud onto the ground. Nox's chest heaved, a wound on his side throbbing in protest. He ignored it, focusing on his next action.
Right arm.
Duck under the wide swing.
Slash down.
Setting his jaw, Nox used the last burst of energy to swing the blade towards the thick throat. He felt a wind rushing towards his back as the crimson blade cut off the minotaur's head in a messy splatter of black and red, cold sweat dripping down his back.
After the large head crashed onto the ground, he let out a short, relieved laugh, eyes glancing back at the dangerously close claws that almost gouged through his back.
Thankfully, he had been faster in dealing the killing blow.
As the adrenaline faded away, his body started to hurt all over, wounds burning painfully. It really hurt. A lot.
Fay peeked out from behind Chang Feng, looking at the black monster blood with vigilant eyes. Nox couldn't help the small laugh that escaped after seeing their expressions, motioning for the shocked duo to come over. "Don't worry, I'm pretty sure it's not acidic."
Fay squinted at him and came forward to poke at the monster corpse. "What was that red blade you had?" she demanded, kicking him in the foot. "Do you know how worried I was when I saw you run towards your death?"
Nox gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I couldn't control it until that moment."
No matter how he looked at it, people didn't immediately gain feelings of comradery even if they went through life or death situations together.
That's why he couldn't accept her concern at face value. But these two weren't so bad, even if he had his suspicions in the beginning. At the very least, they were people who seemed genuine and could see the bigger picture.
Although he was skeptical, there was no hidden meaning behind his words. It was hard to grasp the feeling of morphing his blood; whenever he tried to think about it logically, his control loosened and he lost the shape he wanted to create. Acting as bait to lure the minotaur's attention didn't help with his concentration.
Its presence was similar to a child, in a way. While attempting to coax it, it would slowly creep closer and then disappear if he was too forceful.
The resulting creation was crude- just a blade, and nothing else. Although this creation was from his own blood, Nox could also subconsciously feel the presence of blood that wasn't coming from his own body.
He felt a small tugging sensation from both Fay and Chang Feng at times during the battle when he tried to pull at his ability, but there was no response from the black blood pouring from the monster.
A wave of dizziness descending on him caused him to stumble, gripping onto Fay's shoulder for support. "It really takes a lot out of me, huh," he said faintly, trying to orient himself again. "It's an… ability, I guess. There was this voice, and something about a contract. I can use it if I think about it. With restrictions." He didn't go into specifics.
He could see the two exchange the 'I can tell what you're thinking with one glance' look, bracing himself for their onslaught of questions.
But before they could say anything, a slow applause sounded above them in an odd sense of deja-vu. "Congratulations for passing," a familiar voice drawled. Violet eyes glowed in the sky before the rest of the cat-man appeared slowly, his gray ears twitching suspiciously. "You've cleared the trial, and two of you have successfully awoken."
From the corner of his vision, Nox spotted the purple haired girl from the restaurant poking her head out from a building, looking in their direction. He huffed out a laugh, seeing her unsure expression. So that was what she tried to hide. It was a good thing that she managed to stay alive.
"What does it really mean if you've awoken?" Fay demanded, supporting Nox who was sagging down further. He was so hungry he had no energy to move.
The cat-man looked at her coldly. "You're not privy to that information if you can't awaken your abilities."
Fay smiled at him, mouth twitching in annoyance. "Ah, thanks. We get abilities, that's actually useful to know. I thought he contracted a supernatural virus or something." She rolled her eyes, but then stopped and muttered in confusion, "Not that it's very different?"
"How dare you compare the Chaos Contract to a mere virus?" The cat-man looked at her in horror.
She exchanged a smug look with Chang Feng.
The cat-man, realizing his mistake, coughed into his hand, whiskers moving in agitation. "It seems I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Hui, an overseer of the esteemed-"
"Can you explain later," Nox groaned, rubbing his ringing ears. "I'm really hungry." Hui's posh voice was making his head spin even more.
If Hui had a tail, it would've definitely been lashing back and forth violently. "Very well," he said curtly, violet eyes narrowing. "I'll send you out then." A spinning object appeared in Hui's hand. With a casual gesture, it broke and Hui once again disappeared.
Chang Feng scooped up Fay and Nox, one under each arm and ran back towards the arch they first met under, barely making it safely in before the sky broke apart, clear fragmented shards raining down, the invisible barrier now shattered. The moon hung quietly in the night sky.
They were back in the real world.
___________
Chang Feng set them down gently, passing Nox his long-forgotten grocery bag from the corner where it was miraculously still intact. Nox took it, still bewildered by Chang Feng's fast actions. He had carried them both despite his injury.
Fay had a nasty cut on her leg, numerous injuries scattered on her skin. Her shoulders slumped down, tiredly leaning against Chang Feng for support. Chang Feng's arm was most likely sprained, but Nox couldn't tell the extent of damage from Chang Feng's natural poker face. There was blood crusting near his temple, suggesting that he took a blow to his head at some point.
Looking at the corpses still lying on the crosswalk, Nox sighed. "That cat was going to leave us at the scene of a murder." Nox was annoyed at the cunning bastard. It looked like someone was going on his revenge list. Even if it only held the names of three other people.
"Erm, Nox, do you mind controlling that?"
Nox blinked at her, before looking at where she was pointing only to give a surprised yelp. The blood still oozing from his forearm cut had formed into a chain of little spikes, reflecting his vindictive thoughts. He sighed tiredly. "I'll need to work on that."
Fay pulled out her phone, cracked from the heavy impact it suffered. It still worked, the screen dimly flickering like it was on its last dregs of life. The time made Nox blink in surprise. "It's already 11pm?"
After being dragged into the trial, they were stuck in there for eight hours. But the time it took to escape definitely didn't take that long.
Fay frowned, handing her phone to him. "I guess time just works differently inside the trial area. We'll have to look into that." Nox raised an eyebrow at her, holding her phone in both hands. She gestured for him to hurry up. "Exchange phone numbers."
There was some logic to that. Nox carefully typed out his number before saving it under his name. "Send me a message when you guys can," he requested, handing it back to her. They sort of grew on him, even if their motives were still unclear.
Fay nodded in agreement, pulling Chang Feng closer. "We're going to go heal up and report back to our- go back to report," she amended. "I'll definitely give you a call."
Chang Feng slid next to Fay and held out a hand. Nox shook it, giving him a grateful smile. "Thanks for saving me."
During the fight, Nox had been too distracted at one point, trying to force his ability to the surface. The distraction led him to almost being squashed flat by a giant fist, and it was only thanks to Chang Feng's quick actions that he had been able to avoid the blow.
The tips of Chang Feng's ears turned a notable red though his tan skin. "It was nothing."
Fay laughed, patting Chang Feng on his non-injured arm teasingly. "This big guy's shy when he gets praised. Spare him."
Nox nodded in reply, stepping out under the arch. The cloudy skies had grown darker under the night sky, and a light drizzle started. A refreshing coolness washed away the aftermath of the battle. "Keep in touch."
Due to the late hour and the increasing fear of venturing outside, the city was completely deserted. Shops had all closed early, leaving the usual brightly lit streets shrouded in darkness. The only source of light were the few streetlamps lining the road.
After bidding farewell, Nox took a few minutes to look around for the girl, using the dim light of the streetlamps to aid his search, coming up empty. It looked like she left as soon as the barrier was lifted.
Facing the rain, Nox hurried back home, wanting to get out his blood stained clothes as quickly as possible. By the time his front door shut behind him, he was completely and utterly soaked by the drizzle transforming into a sudden downpour.
Tossing off his shoes, Nox left the grocery bag at the front door and hurried to his bedroom for a new change of clothes. To his surprise, he found a roll of bandages in the emergency kit hidden under the bathroom sink for his wounds. With clumsy movements, he managed to patch up most of his wounds.
Coming back out in a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a simple white t-shirt, Nox was finally able to put the food away in the fridge, sadly throwing out all the unsalvageable ones.
His phone was hanging on by a mere 3%, so he set it aside to charge, opening up his message app to see what he had missed from this afternoon. Roxanne's text message had been cut off, so he checked it first.
[Nox, you should come back home! There's something suuuper weird happening in our neighborhood.] She ranted about the neighbors across the street disappearing in front of their house, declaring that it was the missing evidence for the world to acknowledge the existence of aliens.
Face dark, Nox texted back. [Roxanne, don't think about doing anything funny] Knowing her, it wasn't enough as a warning. [I'm serious. Stay inside as much as possible, or I'll tell Mom about the time you lost her favorite pair of pearl earrings.]
He switched to his abandoned groupchat with Li Zemin and Ki, which had once again blown up with demands of where he went.
[I was caught up in something.] he replied. [Be careful when you go outside.]
Warnings sent, he set down his phone and went to cook himself a well-deserved meal. Although there was no meat, it wasn't too bad to have vegetable hotpot once in a while. He just had to dump the spicy base in instead of the normal one.
As he waited for the water to boil, Nox focused on his unbandaged arm. The wound ran along his forearm in a clean line, slightly jagged along the edges due to it reopening; it was slightly red from irritation.
He rubbed the skin around it, focusing on the familiar feeling and coaxing it out, slowly drawing out a bit of his blood. He formed it into a wobbly sphere, watching it bob in the air cheerfully as he struggled to draw it back in.
This was his new ability. The monotone voice that spoke in his ear had simply stated that an ability had been granted after signing the contract, leaving him to fend for himself after disappearing.
There were obvious drawbacks to this ability- for example, he needed to bleed in order for it to work, and the amount of blood that could be used was proportional to the amount he bled. Nox learned this the hard way when he tried to shape a large object to smash the minotaur with, only to come up empty because he didn't have enough blood.
In any case, it was a weapon that could remain with him whenever he needed. Although bleeding to death wasn't an option, he might be able to use someone else as a blood bank or find a way to increase his blood reserves.
Unknowingly, an excited smile spread across his face as he thought about ways he could control his power. A childlike glee at the thought of having this ability in a normal society.
For a moment, he felt like he stood above everyone else; the moment was a fleeting thought. The world was going to change, and he was just one of many people who might change with it.
Nox quickly pulled himself from his fantasy as the water started to boil, pinching his hand slightly for the absurdity of his thoughts. He didn't want much in life, just to live comfortably doing what he wanted to. His office job was a boring daily occurrence, but it was necessary to make a living to fulfill his hobbies. He didn't have any grand ambitions to take over the world, or be a hero for everyone to rely on.
Quickly transferring the pot to a portable stove on the small coffee table in his living room, Nox poured in the soup base, mixing it well before tossing in the ingredients. While it cooked, he went to the bathroom to rewrap his wound.
With a fresh bandage on, he returned to his meal, eagerly digging in. The built up fatigue from the day slowly disappeared with each comforting bite, making Nox sigh happily as he leaned against the couch. Patting the fluffy cushions behind him, he searched for the TV remote, grabbing the chunk of plastic after digging in-between the cushions.
Chewing on the mushrooms, he turned it on with a flick of his hand. The same news reporter from last night- no wait, five days ago- showed up, this time with at least a dozen new red marks on the map.
'Eight new cases have been found today, all with the same gruesome scene,' she reported solemnly. 'This is the newest record to date. Police are stumped on the case, stating that this is a never seen before occurrence. At the same time, a number of religious groups are rising up, stating that this is the work of the supernatural…'
Nox looked at the news report with boredom, the temptation of the unknown disappearing after personally experiencing it himself. If it was before, then he could've stated that he didn't really care about anything that wasn't beyond the realm of humanity, but apparently he had to acknowledge the fact that cats could have human bodies and that giant bat pterodactyls existed. Minotaurs, too.
Chucking more mushrooms into the pot, Nox switched the channel and settled for a random TV show based on a recently popular novel instead.
By the time he finished up and took a shower, it was already one in the morning. As soon as Nox flopped down on his bed, he passed out from exhaustion.
Images of the trial ran on a loop. The terrifying talons of the bat pterodactyl, the minotaur, and the smell of blood that was growing familiar. They chased him in his dreams, screeching and roaring in unison.
For some reason, he was a pancake and couldn't run away fast enough while the purple haired girl from the restaurant was talking with idioms in his ear as she ran with him.
But pancakes didn't have ears…?
Without warning, the monster symphony was replaced by the default alert sound on his phone. It rang louder and louder, making his pancake self unable to move.
The consistent dinging dragged him back to consciousness. Grumbling in annoyance, Nox fumbled around for his phone, dragging it close so he could squint at the bright screen.
A long second passed, then Nox was out of bed, scrambling for his clothes and wallet, forcefully yanking the phone from the charger. Exhaustion and pain still clung stubbornly to his body, but Nox shook it off forcefully as he shoved on his shoes, slamming the door with a bang as he raced onto the silent street.
His rapid footsteps echoing under the waning moon.
_______________________
[Nox.]
[Mom and Dad are missing.]