It was only when the blur reached the pinnacle of its leap did Magnus see just what they were facing.
It was a humanoid, first and foremost. Its body was all skin and bones, and not a single piece of flesh or fat could be seen. Sharp serrated teeth lined its jaws and its eyes gleamed with one emotion and one emotion only:
Hunger.
A hunger for humans.
"Help!"
The ghoul caught onto Kwashi's ankle at that moment, joining her in Magnus' anti-gravity pull.
AHHHHHHHH!
She screamed an ear-rending scream as sharp claws pierced into he leg. The monster climbed her body, stabbing its needle-sharp nails into her flesh one at a time. It was an excruciating experience to both feel and watch.
"Help her!" Magnus demanded from Sophia and Adelric as he used Kwashi as a gravity anchor. They were immediately pulled to the monster.
Thus, although unwilling, Adelric had no choice but to swing his bolo. The air whistled as he did, and, unfortunately hitting the monster meant hitting Kwashi as well.
But the bolo simply bounced off of the monster's bones like he was hitting steel against steel.
Adelric swung again. And again. And again.
But after three swings, there still wasn't any result. He had already slashed at its head, its limbs, and even its pelvis as it scrambled around Kwashi, taking a hearty bite out of her flesh.
Kwashi screamed even further.
"It's like a ghoul!" Sophie yelled out as she drew a small dagger and tried her best.
Magnus saw that Kwashi was slowly being eaten alive, and the monster was rapidly gaining vitality. Its skin and bones were growing muscles at a rapid pace.
'I need to end this quickly,' Magnus thought as he tried recalling the speed of its blur.
'It's should be at around 2-stars... I definitely have the ability to kill it.'
"Enough! Let me!" Magnus roared as he pulled both the dying Kwashi and the ghoul-like monster towards him.
Rrrrrrip!
Magnus tore apart a Scroll he had wanted to tear later on.
Instantly, some kind of sphere appeared in his palm. It was golden, and it oozed a powerful Spirit Energy that sucked him in.
The sphere stuck to his palm like glue. It was like a magnet. A powerful one that worked on everything.
Magnus' eyes gleamed as he felt a stream of information flowing straight into his brain and assimilating itself with the organised Hivemind memories he had.
He then breathed.
Spirit Energy from both of his wrists flowed into the sphere like crazy. The air around him stirred as it began circling him.
"Repulsion!" Magnus roared as he shot the sphere out of his hand with his command over gravity.
It instantly began pulling in Kwashi and the ghoul-like monster. Up until the golden sphere struck them.
Dong!
It was the sound of a gong, as the sphere vibrated due to the impact. Magnus clenched his fists and commanded the Spirit Energy inside the sphere.
Boom!
In the next moment, a powerful force exploded. A wave of repulsive gravity (if that even makes sense) blasted both the now-dead Kwashi and the ghoul-like monster into the ground.
A small crater could be seen where they lay.
Magnus then took the golden sphere into his hands as he released his control over gravity.
He plummeted rapidly into the sky dive he so wished for back in the day. The wind whistled in his ears and it was mixed with the grunts of a monster.
"Huuuuumaaaan!" It was a bellow of absolute anger, "Food cannooot fiiiiight baaaack!"
ROAR!
It once again flung itself in the air, heading straight for Magnus.
But this time, the young Earthling was prepared. The sphere in his hands had already been sent out, spewing Spirit Energy everywhere and pulling the entire world towards it. The ghoul-like monster entered its range and then ended up getting caught in the gravitational pull.
It shot passed Magnus by a hair's breadth, cutting up his clothes in the process.
The ghoul-like monster was like a comet shooting past the sun at astounding velocities.
And such an analogy had ultimate accuracy. The monster was now circling back towards Magnus.
It made Magnus smile. The monster was in his grasp now.
'I just need a weapon that can kill it,' He thought as he poured even more Spirit Energy into the sphere, boosting its strength to a true 2-star weapon. The gravitational pull it now exuded was much greater than before.
The sudden change threw off the ghoul-like monster's trajectory as it slammed itself onto the golden sphere.
Crack!
The sound of bones hitting steel sounded out, but there was no shattering that occurred. Magnus could not win with just that.
And so, he poured even more Spirit Energy, hoping to crush the monster through just gravity.
But such an event was simply a pipe dream. All Magnus could see happening was the monster having difficulty struggling.
That was when he remembered Sophia's dagger and Adelric's bolo.
"Give me your weapons!" Magnus demanded, but he could see caution on their faces suddenly.
They continued floating in the air, hesitant to act.
"What are you doing? Hurry! I can't hold it for long!"
But they still did not speak. Instead, they eyed Kwashi's mangled body in the crater below.
Magnus narrowed his own eyes as he thought, 'I never needed them anyway. And it's easier to act alone.'
He could summon Restiel whom he had assimilated into the Hivemind again.
"It seems like our cooperation ends here then." Magnus decided, alerting the two humans as they nervously pointed their weapons at him.
Magnus took his eyes off of them, allowing them a breath of relief. Instead, he looked towards his golden sphere.
He switched off the gravity of the two Earthlings and witnessed the panic in their eyes.
"No!" Adelric yelled out as he tried to reach out for something.
"Magnus, please!" Sophia, too, screamed out.
But all they got was the sound of an invocation.
"I am the master and maker of the Hivemind,
The mind behind minds,
The one who stands above humanity,"
Magnus closed his eyes as his lips finished those words. He calmed himself down.
The duo, on the other hand, was stunned, 'Another Blessing? How!?'
But then Magnus suddenly opened his eyes once more. "...And the one civilizations despise!"
Restiel appeared beside him in a flash of light with wings fully spread out.
A part of Magnus began to sizzle at that moment, and so Restiel instantly shot forward, with a scythe in hand. But there was nothing to cut yet. No.
Thud, thud!
AAAAH!
First was a pair of impacts. Sophia and Adelric smashed onto the golden sphere. Their bones shattered from the collision, very much unlike the ghoul-like monster.
"Goodbye," Magnus waved his arms as he said, "I'm sorry."
He had secrets to keep and goals to reach. Both of which wouldn't come if he didn't achieve victory today.
And so, Restiel, wielding his giant scythe, slashed at the ghoul's head in the blink of an eye.
Divine Energy erupted, purifying the point of contact in an instant and flowing back into his scythe.
A bonus chunk of Divine Energy came with it, giving Restiel a significant boost.
As for Sophie and Adelric, Magnus slammed them onto the ground, turning them into mangled corpses.
Restiel could not commit murder in this manner. He could only purify, else his Vow of the Angelic would act up.
The deeds were all done. His enemy had been slain and his allies had been silenced.
Magnus then sighed as he unsummed Restiel. His weakness disappeared as Restiel did.
"I wonder what made them hesitate?" He asked himself as his eyes drifted towards Kwashi, whose body was in a horrid state and left inside a crater.
Magnus then had a few guesses.
"Was it my lack of hesitation to sacrifice a comrade?" He thought to himself.
That was probably right.
He was so used to having the idea that all his Hivemind members, save for Klaris, was expendable. After all, he could just grab another copy of them from the Mirror World if they died and they were needed.
It was a thought process that was very much different from the ones Sophia and Adelric had.
'They probably only wanted to survive. They feared me so much that they couldn't hand over the only thing that could keep them alive.' Magnus floated near the ground and dug out five graves.
'I made a mistake then,' He sighed again, 'I forced them too much in the heat of the moment,'
He had to avoid such an overstep in the future. His goal had been to find loopholes in his Curse. Today should have been a splendid opportunity to do so, and he just wasted it. Well, only half of it at the most.
Magnus then glanced at the ghoul-like monster and took note of its appearance.
"Sophia was right. It does look like a ghoul. So, does that mean that it is undead?" Magnus muttered as he grew closer to the corpse, still slightly wary.
Sniff, sniff.
Suddenly Magnus frowned.
"If it's undead, shouldn't it stink?" He knelt beside the unmoving corpse and inhaled, "Why does it smell... absolutely delectable?
It was even better than the roast duck that he only had the ability to taste before the ghoul attacked.
"...Is something really wrong with me?" Magnus thought to himself as he summoned his Half-Night Tome.
"Could this be the culprit? I recall that the stench of the skeletons still bothered me before I grabbed this book."
Magnus thought that it was likely.
The fact that his skin sizzled when he got too close to Restiel was already a tell-tale sign that Magnus somehow gathered undead characteristics.
Magnus then looked back at the ghoul corpse.
"I still have to collect the main body part before I will be sent back... So should I... Eat this?"
.
.
.
Magnus did not know how to cook an undead monster so he just followed his senses and ate it raw. His teeth dug through the soft blue meat that had been created from it eating Kwashi.
Flavourful black juice seeped out with every bite, making Magnus' experience exquisite. Cold, dark energy flowed through him as he relished in the minty flavours.
He ate through it all until there was only the less-appetizing skin and bones left.
And when he was done, he felt reinvigorated. His Spirit Energy reserves were back to full, and his bones felt much stronger than before.
Just like Restiel, he earned a significant boost. His rating was around 1.3 stars as of that moment.
He then retrieved the Ghoul's claws and teeth last. There was some kind of venom that dripped out of it, and Magnus designated it as the likely candidate of being its main body part.
It was easy to make the guess given the mundane nature of the bones and skin, and the fact that all the meat was already in Magnus' stomach.
He was right.
Once Magnus successfully stored all the items in his Storage Scroll, a new Scroll appeared before his eyes.