Keir stands up from the ground while the man was cutting off pieces of the beast for supplies when he hears stomping sounds in a quick rhythm. He stands up and a swift kick is landed perfectly landed on Keir's face. He flies away from a rather far distance, which is not possible for a human. A human can never kick a person three times their height, but Keir had experienced it just now. In the air, Keir weirdly waves his legs and hands and kicks the ground. Keir jumps on the ground perfectly after kicking himself away from the ground to avoid friction.
Keir quickly grabs a branch and holds it as a sword points at the man.
"Throw that away. You cannot fight me with that."
The man arrogantly said as he threw the black sword spinning at Keir. He claps, and the sword was between his two palms. It didn't take long for Keir to learn a simple technique requiring a good amount of strength to stop a blade with no friction and enough reflex to stop his face from getting a sharp blade piercing his skull from a distance of two to four inches afar.
The man was in shock, looking at the talent of the kid. Without wasting another second, Keir wielded his sword and dashed at the man at his full speed and concentration. The man had a small knife in his hand that he used while cutting off the beast and he used that in their combat.
The sword came at the man slicing all the wind but was stopped with nothing but a knife. A knife used to cut flesh is supposed to be a lot more brittle and thinner than a sword. There is no way a knife can defeat a sword, but it did. As he stopped Keir, the man flung away his sword, and the second he was about to run for it the man had already pointed the knife under his chin and in front of the next.
If Keir were to move behind the knife would be in his neck, if he were to move sideways the knife would slit his throat, if he were to jump the knife would pierce his tongue from below and if he were to grab the hand, there is a chance that with his own force he would pierce his neck.
Keir was shocked, so he backed off but didn't give up. Keir waited until the knife was put aside then he ran towards his sword and stood in front of him once more with his sword in hand. Keir now slowly walked toward the man with a calm expression.
Why is it that Keir is now calm while a few moments ago he was raging to harm the man in front? Is it that he had the confidence the man would not kill him but even if he won't kill Keir, how is sure that he will not take one of his limbs? Might it be the missing blood thirst every fighter shows at the beginning of a fight, or is it he is only using a knife that is used to cut vegetables? or might it be both?
Keir took another step forward and the sword lit with black flame.
The man took a deep breath and let out a sigh.
"Tell me, boy, why are you fighting me? Is it because I took your prey? If that is the case, there is an unimaginable number of that kind. Stop bothering me and if it were a real match, you would have been dead already"
The man said as he had no interest in fighting someone that is already been defeated.
"There are two reasons I want to fight you, first is that you are stronger than the beast so you would make a better prey, and second I am now ready to put my life in this match hence it is a *real* match"
Reasoned Keir.
"Are you sure you are ready to die?"
The man said as his voice became deeper and more serious. Keir started feeling more pressure as the surroundings became tense. The pressure increased to the point the man had the whole intent of killing Keir and he could feel it. He knew he was going to die any moment now. His hands and legs froze. His mind was powerful, but his body didn't want to die. He felt weak and felt a tingling sensation around his muscles.
Sweat ran down his forehead as he started feeling a sense of trouble or a threat. He now feared that man, he feared his movements and had an urge to flee from that man.
"Hmph, you froze with just a bit of blood thirst that I have in me, kill a few humans and monsters and then come at me. I will be in this forest for a week. Come and show me your will to put your life behind your sword."
After saying that, the man walked away.
Just after the man was out of sight, Keir dropped to the ground, shaking and trembling with fear. Tears ran down his face, he cried while he faced to ground. Keir discovered new emotions in him, even if a few negative ones he felt those, and without him knowing those emotions were going to be his fuel.
Keir got up and started walking when he heard multiple steps. He turned around and saw the same kind of beasts like the one that Keir had preyed on. They were many, half a dozen of them and Keir was alone. He couldn't run away this time, of course, because they were faster than him, but this time he couldn't run away because there was a part of him that told him to stay and fight those beasts.
He faced the pack of beasts with his sword in hand. He felt fear for sure, but this time he won't let fear get him. The demon has Keir in its arms, but Keir won't let it get eaten by it.
He flamed his sword again in black flame and slowly approached the beasts. The beasts growled and barked to fear the boy in front of them, but that would not work this time.
It was a quick slash, and Keir had already split a beast in half with his sword. Seeing the death of a fellow pack member, the beasts charged at Keir.
Keir stabbed one of them and pushed all of them behind. Keir took a few steps behind to create distance from the beasts.
One beast recovered immediately and bit Keir's leg. Keir gathered his strength and swung his sword at the beast immediately. The sword went in and killed the beast but couldn't split it. Keir is strong enough to cut through a beast with strong bones, but how many times can he do that? His energy was almost depleted in the previous battle with the man and the other beast.
As he killed the beast that bit his legs, its firm jaws came after he shook his leg, but he couldn't use it anymore. He drank a potion, but only the pain went away, but the blood kept spilling.
He had three down and was left with four more.
He drank his power-boosting potion and threw his flaming sword at the strong-looking beast and It died in a few minutes without even leaving any ashes from the black flames.
"four down, three more to go."
Keir said with a worried smile pantingly. He again gathered his strength and jumped towards the sword which lay on the ground after burning off the beast.
Just after Keir got his hands on the sword, the flames extinguished from the blade. Keir got annoyed. It was not the best for his only strong point to die out when his life was at risk.
"Abel! how do I bring the dead beasts to life?"
Keir asked in a hurry as he dodged the attacks from the beasts and was barely surviving from the beasts.
"Hmmm? just do it."
Abel said with a casual tone
" WHAT!?"
Keir shouted. He was already pissed because of the beasts bothering him, but Abel answered Keir with a stupid answer and it annoyed him even more.
"Just feel that they are beside you."
Keir barely got what he was saying. He imagined four beasts beside him and suddenly Keir heard a roar. He turned his head and saw black beasts emerging from black smoke on the ground. A black circle formed below from where black smoke was released and three black beasts emerged from it.
They had a certain red feeling in their eyes. Maybe it was their hatred and sorrow of death. As they emerged, Keir's vision went dark, and he saw himself standing with a black flaming sword. The Keir standing swung his sword and his vision faded away, and he saw the other two's dying moments as well. He felt angry and sad but couldn't express them. The vision added more weight to his heart. When Keir opened his eyes, he saw the four black beasts fighting off the other three with barely any difference in the fighting style. Soon the bigger beast that Keir burnt off killed its opponent and was slowly killing the others.
The three beasts were now moving towards Keir. He felt something weird as they approached though when the three beasts were very close to Keir, they became liquid-ish gaseous substance and floatingly went into Keir through his nose, mouth, and eyes.
Keir felt different after that. He felt more energized and stronger. His eyes turned red and his vision felt sharper and he could clearly see a long way with no blueness, he could focus on multiple things at the same time and his muscles increased in size and his bones felt like they were being stretched, it was painful but it made him feel a lot stronger.
"It seems you have successfully merged with the Beasts. Most people can't. They just become a beast with fur and all, but you did it, and did you know you can also strengthen your beasts? Just close your eyes and imagine your beasts are with you."
Keir listened and closed his eyes and imagined what Abel said and he found himself in a dark space with his four beasts and three shining translucent beasts. Keir realized that the shining ones are the souls and they are here because he didn't summon them yet.
"How do I strengthen them? Abel?"
"Grab one of the shining souls with one hand and one beast with the other and imagine the white one is going through your hand and into the beast."
Keir went to grab the soul and the beast but they were already in his two hands. Maybe because it is in his consciousness, whatever he wants happens.
He now imagined what Abel told him to until he couldn't feel the soul anymore. He released the beast, and it looked bigger, its teeth looked sharper and bigger, its claws were longer and pointy and its fur looked jacked.
he did the same with the others and all had similar results.
He opened his eyes and found his hands were of a beast; they had claws and fur. Keir got shocked and shook his hand, thinking he doesn't want it and it vanished away. He was amazed. He imagined his legs were of a beast and they changed into that of a beast. He now wanted to experiment with his whole body and turned into a beast and again turned into a human in a blink of an eye.
That day Keir had found his new power