Ash...
All he could see, was ash...
Ash that covered the skies, and stretched as far as the eye could see. Amidst the heavy curtain of grey, he began to witness things;
Things that made him question his sanity. Events and beings he couldn't even begin to comprehend whether they were just a figment of his imagination born from his constant state of boredom.
He observed various creatures of all shapes and sizes, grotesque-looking abominations, beings that looked too holy to be gazed upon, and figures that resembled a lunatic's most depraved nightmares clash with one another, creating a mixture of blood, broken flesh and bones, crushed metal, and wails of the fallen. All these mixed together, created the profound event known to all things, both living and dead, as WAR...
He watched, in absolute awe, as these beings of unimaginable strength and power, clashed in what seemed to be a universe-destroying battle, and he was right in the middle of it.
Futuristic battleships and oddly shaped mechanized units, that appeared to be of alien origins began to duke it out in an extremely intense exchange of firepower, blasting beams of hot plasma, hot enough to vaporize all the moisture from the surface of the planet in the blink of an eye, reducing it into a barren wasteland devoid of life.
He was confused...
'What the hell is this?!'
Who would answer this question for him?! His heart was in a state of turmoil, his confusion growing by the minute. He didn't panic, however. He kept his calm, trying to understand the situation to the best of his abilities.
From what he could see, everyone was busy looking for the most unique way to rip their opponent's throats from their necks...
After a while, he noticed the battle around him slowly come to a pause. He heard something call out to him from deep within his soul...
An extremely ancient and archaic voice that seemed to command power itself, spoke in a strange language he could not make heads or tails of.
".... Murdak shall-moth ètaktel akin..... " the voice continued to chant in his mind, words that held no meaning, yet seemed to contain the very truths of reality, as they were affecting the nearby space...
As he listened to the voice recite the words all over again for what felt like an eternity, he miraculously was able to grasp a bit of understanding of the words echoing out from his consciousness...
"Seek ye, child of destruction, power. For it is within the decay that all is born from... Let your life and blood be consumed by the insatiable greed, for therein shall the source of immense power and vanity lay...
"Embrace the whispers of the world, for therein resides both madness and redemption..... "
Upon hearing all that, excruciating pain began to build up in his temple, as he gazed with teary eyes, into the now-in-still-motion battlefield, at a pair of eyes appearing from the horizon.
One as dark as the depths of an abyss, and one as pale white as bleached bones...
Then he heard it in his consciousness once again, a powerful, but less intense voice echoing in his head,
"Accept Our(My) legacy...embrace the seeds of destruction, the embers to rekindle the flames of a dying world...."
BOOM!!!
The mysterious scene shattered like broken glass...
With that, he was jolted back awake. He had finally come back to his senses. He observed that he had only been out of it for about thirty seconds. Feeling lightheaded, he looked around, only to become even more confused as he stared at his classmates looking out the windows of the classroom.
He looked out the windows as well, only to see countless sparkling grey-colored raindrops fall from the sky. They formed a massive blanket that fell upon the surface of the planet like a tidal wave.
These raindrops seemed to reflect off all sunlight as no one noticed that some of them dispersed to the wind, while some hit the ground.
"They look like ashes..." One of his classmates said as they observed them fall.
"Wonder if winter is coming in early this year, hehe..."
Joked another as that could be the only logical explanation he could think of when faced with such an unprecedented phenomenon.
"Grey-colored snow? Where did you get that from, dumbass? Hahaha!" Laughed another of his classmates trying to make light of the situation. They didn't realize, how damned they would be in just a moment.
Suddenly, as if on command, much to everyone's surprise, a holographic menu popped up before some of them all of a sudden.
{System Initialization Complete... The Devils have invaded... }
An ushering of chaos and destruction, as well as an opportunity for a rebirth.....
***
Name: {Cain Lenosi}
Level: 0
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Stamina: 10
Vitality: 1.
Defense: Nil
Control: 0.1
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
Magic: 1.
Skills: Nil
Titles: Nil
System points: Nil.
Free attribute points: 5.
{Inventory}. {Shop}
***
"What the hell...?"
"What's wrong?"
"Hey, y'all are seeing this too, right?"
"I'm not seeing anything strange though."
"Sigh... I don't think I got enough sleep last night, cause I'm seeing some really weird stuff right now!"
Remarks of panic ensued in the classroom as some of the students looked on in confusion as they stared at the holographic menu floating before them. The class monitor tried to get the students to calm down but to no avail.
All of a sudden, a female student let out a shrill scream, raising a trembling finger toward the sky.
The other students turned their eyes toward the direction she pointed at.
Countless streaks of light fell from the sky along with the grey rain and engulfed the entire school, as well as the entire city. Just before these streaks of light hit the ground at speed, they burst open to reveal black oddly shaped pods.
They all held their breaths, staring at the weird objects that now littered the entire school.
It took only a brief moment, less than a few seconds, for these absolute terrors and monstrosities to reveal themselves.
Terrifying-looking beings of diverse forms released themselves from the shells made from a metallic-like material and scattered into the school grounds, searching for prey to devour.
All of a sudden, the windows of the classroom shattered and a sinister-looking creature crawled in through the shattered window.
It stood at a height of about seven feet, towering over all the students in the class.
The creature had jet-black blades for hands, and extremely sharp fangs stretched across its bloody maw into a toothy grin.
There was a brief moment of silence before all hell broke loose...
The students pushed and shoved at each other, scrambling towards the door in an attempt to preserve their own lives with little to no regard for the lives of those they had once called their friends.
Cain, who had just woken up, finally managed to get his bearings.
He watched his classmates shove the furniture and people in their path aside as they raced away from the monster.
It quickly developed into a stampede, as those with more strength and better martial arts understanding began forcing the weaker ones out of the way, some of them being trampled near to death after falling to the ground.
Cain turned towards the monster, and the attributes of the monster were displayed before him on a holographic display.
***
{Blade Devil}: Level 5. (elite)
Strength: 40.
Agility: 30
Defense: 0
HP: 500/500
MP: 50/50
Skills: Body strengthening level. 1.
***
It didn't take Cain long to realize that the monster could probably murder everyone in there in a split second.
Unlike the others, he wasn't too panicked. To his surprise, he was able to keep his calm despite all the mayhem and chaos.
The creature was terrifying and could invoke fear, yet he didn't feel any fear towards it, only a subtle sense of disgust...
"So ugly..." Cain thought to himself, considering all the possible ways to kill the abomination in front of him. He calmly walked into the storage closet to find something to mutilate the beast with.
It was too preoccupied with munching on the bones of the students it had already killed, it failed to notice Cain whose presence had completely disappeared from the room.
It had the door of the classroom blocked, denying the students who cowered in fear at the corner of the class, the opportunity to escape. The only thing they could do was cry hysterically while they waited for their turn to be consumed...
***
Cain searched for a while, until he what he was looking for.
A pair of iron rods that must have been a mechanical component of a machine lying in a storage compartment behind the class.
'I guess these will have to do.'
"Hey ugly!"
What Cain did next would probably be called stupid and suicidal by sane people.
Who would want to put themselves in harm's way for no reason?! A lunatic, that's who...
"Come!"
Cain beckoned the monster forward...
Its bloodlust was triggered...
Cain could feel it. It understood exactly what he was trying to do. It was excited to know what sort of peculiar taste the courageous human before him would have...
The classroom wasn't lengthy, so it only took a second before this hideous monster had its bloody maws stretched to their limits, its bladed forelimbs outstretched, preparing to sever his corpse into numerous pieces.
Cain got into his stance...
Holding the iron bars like he would a set of blades, he used his years of martial arts training to predict the direction of the incoming attack.
Shockingly, despite how fast the creature was, he was able to dodge its attacks. The monster attacked haphazardly and without caution.
Soon, he saw an opening...
He ducked under the razor-sharp blade and stabbed the sharp edge of the iron bar straight into its thigh. The creature yelled in pain as it tried to swat Cain away, but he simply ducked below the swing.
SWISH!
SWISH!
SWISH!
The bladed forelimbs created the sound of metal cutting through the air, as they chased after Cain's life like the scythe of death. But Cain managed to remain one step ahead, weaving through the gaps in the attacks. This was only possible due to his profound understanding of martial arts, as well as the abnormal rush of adrenaline he was currently experiencing.
He saw an opportunity again when he noticed the creature falter in an attack, so he took it without hesitation.
Putting all his weight into his back leg, he jumped up, avoiding the claw that was whistling down towards him by a hair's breadth, and arriving at the head of the monster. They locked eyes for a brief moment, and what the monster saw in the eyes of Cain managed to petrify it.
A sudden surge of fear enveloped the monster, as the silhouette of a majestic golden dragon shone in the depths of his eyes. Cain plunged the iron rods deep into its eyesockets, using the force behind the jump to make sure they traveled into its brain, killing it in on the spot.
{Ding. You have slain a level 5 Blade demon}.
{Level up!}
{Level up!}
{Level up!}
{Congratulations on reaching level 3.}
{+5 free attribute points.}
{You have obtained an internal active skill, Golden Blood... }
{You have obtained a Rare-grade Weapon: Bloody Katana}.
{Golden blood level.1: Upon activation, multiply all physical stats by 2. Consumes 50 MP, and costs 1 point of stamina per second to maintain. Subjects the body of the user to great pain and strain.} (0/10000 SP).
***
{Bloody Katana}: (Rare)
Strength: +10.
Agility:+15.
Weight: 10.
Durability: 35/35.
Skills: Lacerate
Lacerate: {Passive}: Increases the size of wounds caused by attacks, causing increased blood loss by 10%.
***
Cain's classmates felt both relief and fear, as they watched Cain murder the monster that was going to devour them all.
Well, most of them...
Susan started at Cain, various emotions flooded her heart, but neither fear nor disgust was amongst them.
Cain, now covered in the monster's bright red blood, could not help but put on a surprised but hearty smile, as he felt his body overflow with raw power. This was the reward granted for slaying foes.
Finally...
This is what he had always yearned for...
Something new to do under the sun...
An opportunity to give the beast within him a chance to finally stretch its claws, and put on a bloody show...