"Somebody, help me, please!"
Bruised and battered, the boy ran through the barren, wasted city, panting and screaming for help but no one came. He kept running and looking behind him, checking for the entity chasing him.
"I need- I need to hide!"
He exclaimed through rough breath as he looked around for a hiding place. He scanned his surroundings as he kept running, abandoned houses, and collapsed skyscrapers, piles of debris everywhere. His eyes fell on an alley. Its entrance was blocked by the collapsed building nearby, but a hole large enough to crawl through remained. He rushed toward it with the little energy he had left and crawled through it, entering the narrow alley.
He crawled a bit deeper into the alley, the boy leaned his back against the wall, still panting, and could feel his stomach churning, was it from fear or his act of pushing his body past its limit to run? He didn't care at that point, all he could care about was that he hid.
The ground started to shake, and his surroundings rumbled, signaling to him that what he feared had arrived in the barren city. The boy covered his mouth, barely breathing as he saw the shape of the top of the entity's head popped above the collapsed building blocking the alley entrance. His breaths hitched, his pulse pounded in his ears, and his body trembled instantly just from the entity's mere presence. Time stopped for minutes yet felt like hours, the entity moved away, shaking the surroundings with each of its steps and everything went silent. He let out a sigh of relief.
"You thought you were safe, sneaky little rat?"
A sinister voice spoke up from the dark part of the alley. The boy's sense of relief quickly faded, his blood ran cold, and his eyes widened as he stared at the source of the voice. The figure emerged from the shadow, butcher cleavers in hands, a wide sadistic grin plastered on his face the moment he was entirely out of the shadow, his steps were silent, you couldn't even hear his shoes scraping on the ground.
"Don't-Don't get close, you murderer!"
"Tsk tsk, that's not a way to talk to your elders..."
The man stepped closer to the boy, gripping tightly on his cleavers. The boy couldn't back away any further, his body was frozen and he wasn't breathing as he watched the man's menacing figure looming over him ever so close. The boy opened his mouth to scream, but the cleaver flashed, slicing through his jaw in one swift motion. The boy's lower jaw dropped flat onto the ground, he widened his eyes and stared at his cut-off lower jaw. The cleaver was raised again, it flashed down and sliced through the boy's right shoulder with ease. The boy's eyes began to water but still, he didn't feel any pain, what's going on?
"You're wondering why you're not being tortured by the sheer amount of pain, aren't you?"
The man put away one of his cleaver and grasped the boy's hair, pulling him up to his eye level. Only now the boy's scarf dropped and revealed the circle around his neck which was then very dark, indicating this is his last life.
"It's my Blessing [Butcher] that turns my prey pain recognition to null, they will only feel pain when I allow them to."
The boy was crying, staring into the man's eyes. The eyes of a sadistic person, painted with murderous intent, there was no humanity left in those eyes, just the presence of a blood-thirsty predator.
"How about I let you taste some of the pain?"
The boy frantically shook his head, his entire body was painted red from the blood pooling from his cut-off right side and lower jaw, he didn't want to feel the pain, ever with how much he was bleeding and disfigured he was at that moment. The boy started swinging his legs, trying so desperately to kick the man with the little energy he had left but it was as if he was kicking a wall. The more he kicked, the more his bones cracked, and eventually, his legs snapped. The boy's legs wobbled down, they were completely broken and shattered. That was the end, he had no more control of his body, and couldn't struggle anymore.
"Useless endeavor till the very end, I applaud your stupidity..."
With a snap of his fingers, like a nuke exploded inside the boy's body, it started to convulse and jolt uncontrollably. Waves of agony tore through him, each more unbearable than the last until his mind could no longer comprehend the torture. The boy went limp, his brain stopped working as it couldn't process all the shock coming from the pain. The man dropped the boy's lifeless body onto the ground and stepped back as if he were preparing to witness a spectacle.
The circle around the boy's neck darkened a bit more and started to spread all over his disfigured body until the boy's body was completely covered in its dark essence. The sky began to split apart. A colossal hand crashed down and obliterated the boy's body into dust, shaking the ground, and toppling more of the surrounding buildings. Loud crashing noise echoed through the barren city as the buildings fell and collided with one another, dust and debris flew into the air, blurring everything in a curtain of dust.
[You have killed a player]
[Skill received: Gravity Pulse]
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"Did you hear that?"
Samuel asked as he looked around, he thought he heard something but it was too faint to make out.
"Hear what? All I hear is you not setting up the tent properly!"
William grumbled in frustration, no matter how hard he tried, the tent's cord kept slipping off and whipping him in the face, triggering his self-healing ability and sapping his energy little by little.
"Argh! Screw it, might as well sleep without a tent!"
William threw his hands in the air, completely giving up on trying to complete setting up the tent. He stomped over to a piece of debris and sat down on the largest one, arms crossed in defeat. Samuel let out a sigh and chuckled, that was how William usually is, he just laughed and finished setting up the tent in his place.
A slight shift in the air, both Samuel and William tensed up, they started to look around, trying to peer through the darkness of the night, desperately to know what happened. Heavy stomps and debris falling over can be heard louder and louder then suddenly, piercing the darkness were green eyes, many green eyes to be exact, staring at Samuel and William. Swiftly, Samuel reached for one of the burning firewood from the campfire and hovered it up, slightly lighting up the place a bit more. Surrounding them were what seemed to be spiders, they loomed like monstrous shadows, their limbs were the size of pillars, and sizzling could be heard on the ground as corrosive poison dripped from their fangs.
Heart racing, William slowly stood up, instinctively inching backward until his back pressed against Samuel's. Fear clawed at his throat as he struggled to keep his gaze on the advancing monsters, each heartbeat echoing in his ears like a war drum.
"So...got any plans?" Samuel asked, his eyes scanned and counted how many were there.
"...I have Arachnaphobia..." William whispered, his voice was trembling.
"...Well, just our luck..."
Samuel got into his fighting stance, he was ready to be bare-knuckle and fight these gigantic monsters meanwhile William's hands trembled uncontrollably, his vision blurring as he stared at the monstrous spiders. Each second felt like an eternity, his heart pounding against his chest as panic tightened its grip on him. Before Samuel could respond, the air around them shifted again. A female voice echoed through the clearing:
"EX Skill: Ice Age!"
William and Samuel felt the atmosphere lightened up and a sudden chill ran down their spine. Snowflakes started to appear out of nowhere and covered the ground with snow. Before the pack of spider-like monsters could panic and rampage, they all started to freeze over and eventually became completely frozen only to be shattered in pieces mere seconds later.
A slender figure descended from the shadows, landing gracefully on the ground, like a dancer gliding into a spotlight. The flickering torchlight in Samuel's hand cast a soft glow on her sharp eyes, which sparkled with mischief, contrasting against the warm smile that danced across her lips. Her dark hair was tied back in a neat ponytail that swayed gently with her movements, giving her an air of calm confidence. She wore black leggings and a fitted t-shirt that outlined her athletic frame, exuding both strength and ease.
"You boys doing alright?"
"Y-Yeah, we're fine," William stammered, trying to sound brave despite his trembling voice, hugging himself as he struggled to stay warm after the sudden burst of icy wind. His breath came out in shallow puffs while Samuel stood frozen, staring at the girl in a daze, his words stuck in his throat.
Noticing his reaction, the girl chuckled softly. "I'm Sally, by the way," she said, extending her hand toward Samuel.
"I'm smitten— I mean, I'm Samuel, haha..." Samuel fumbled over his words, his face flushing as he nervously shook her hand.
William, a mischievous grin plastered on his face despite the cold, nudged Samuel lightly. "Smooth," he whispered teasingly, snapping Samuel halfway back to reality.
"What are you boys doing here..." Sally glanced over Samuel's shoulder, her gaze landing on the poorly set tent. "...with that kind of equipment?"
Both boys turned to look back at their campsite: the campfire barely flickered to life, and the tent lay crumpled on the ground, giving the place an air of disarray. They struggled to find an answer, but Sally continued before they could speak.
"Good news for you," Sally said with a hint of relief in her voice. "I was out here searching for survivors. And judging by those Marks of Lives around your necks, it looks like you two have managed to hold your own quite well."
"Mark of Lives?" William asked, curiosity sparking in his eyes. It was the first time he had heard the term.
"Yeah, that's what we call it," Sally explained, leaning her head to the side. A faint grey line encircled her neck, a clear indication that she had lost one of her lives. "It signifies how many lives you have left."
William's eyes widened. "Wait, what do you mean 'we'?"
Sally straightened, her expression growing serious. "We've created a base for survivors—or 'players,' as we like to call ourselves. Come on, let's go."