A vast ocean, clouded by a dark crimson fog, was the first thing Clifford saw when he opened his eyes. Towering pillars, far in the distance, rose high, piercing the sky, seemingly restricted by massive chains dug deep below the ocean. Taking a look around, Clifford realized that he was standing right on the ground, covered with shallow ocean water.
"If you devoured us, making us a part of you, then why do you keep rejecting us?" A soft voice coming from the right side caught Clifford's attention. Diverting his gaze, Clifford wasn't able to see anything beyond the fog.
"Is that one of the beasts I killed before?" Squinting his eyes, Clifford was able to make out the shape of the speaker beyond the fog. Before long, the speaker approached Clifford, signaling the beasts to close in on him, making her visible. The wendigo, minus her left arm, came close to him as the remaining beasts surrounded Clifford, forming a circle. Their number reached thirty, and some, like the wendigo, were missing parts of their bodies due to his previous actions.
"Probably because I went against them completely?" Although he didn't know why he was here, he could guess to some degree as he remembered the events that transpired before coming to this place alone. All the wounds he sustained from tearing these beasts apart were nowhere visible at all, and he seemed to be in a great state.
"Why—" The wendigo suffocated, feeling the rough hand choking her neck and completely silencing her. Disdain painted Clifford's face as he looked at the beasts surrounding him; their decision proved how foolish they were.
"A part of me…?" Ridicule flashed in his eyes as their gaze met, sending a shiver down the wendigo's spine and forcing her down to her knees. "You drowned in fear as you fell to your knees, just like now," Pausing for a second, Clifford placed his right hand on her right shoulder as he eyed her missing left arm.
Whatever he tore before couldn't be regenerated by any of these beasts, as their forms conveyed. This gave birth to a horrible idea as his violent tendencies started to surface, and he diverted his gaze to her right arm. Holding the top of her right arm, Clifford started to pull it using his right hand, slowly tearing it apart. Waves of pain assaulted the wendigo as a part of her soul got torn apart. The arm started evaporating into black smoke that rose high into the sky.
Same as what happened before, a missing part couldn't be regenerated, and this gave him another idea. What if he could just destroy their hearts or skulls? Would that remove the cancer permanently? This thought pushed him to bring the wendigo's head to the ocean floor, following it with a stomp, smashing it right away.
The moment the head exploded, its entire body evaporated slowly, like its arm. The black smoke rose high into the sky, forming a small cloud floating above Clifford and the beasts surrounding him. Since killing the wendigo here seemed to erase its existence, his resolve pushed him to hunt the ones surrounding him.
None of them dared to face him head-on, and none had the thought to team up against him in battle, which gave him a huge advantage since he was far stronger than any of them had fought before. His battle intent, coupled with his unbreakable resolve, caused him to enter the predation state once more as he started to absorb the dark force inside his body.
Feeling the power coursing through his veins, Clifford opened his eyes, witnessing the fog being rapidly absorbed from the atmosphere around him, slowly transforming him. This made him wonder where he was since the crimson fog resembled the energy he was familiar with. What did these pillars resemble? Was he somehow in a dream? Pushing his thoughts aside, he decided to ask the cultivator for answers later when he woke up if it turned out to be a dream.
The moment the transformation was complete marked the start of the hunt, as Clifford disappeared from his place, bursting forward and aiming for the bear. He planned to erase them one by one in the same order he did the first time. His sharp fingernails reached the bear's neck, forming a dark line and separating it from the rest of its body before it could react.
Without pause, Clifford's vanished blinked from one place to another. The beasts met their demise as he focused on destroying them as quickly as he could to avoid wasting time. Smoke rose high into the sky, forming clouds that began merging slowly, creating one massive cloud that covered the entire sky.
Soon enough, none of the beasts remained, making Clifford feel a sense of accomplishment as his body reverted to normal before he fell on his butt. Contrary to his thoughts, the dream didn't seem to end the moment he finished off all of them. Instead, the world where he was started to rain lightly, causing the clear water below him to darken slowly, turning pitch black.
The ground below him started to rumble as he felt a shiver down his spine, witnessing the massive chained pillars crumble as the beasts broke free from their restrictions. Soon enough, the dark water level rose high until everything was completely covered. For the first time, he realized that the substance covering the ground wasn't water. Although he didn't know what it was, it could never be water, given he could easily move and breathe without restrictions.
Taking his stance, Clifford prepared to take on the gigantic beasts. However, influenced by the Devil's Core, instead of attacking him directly, they started marching toward a point. Then, one after another, they began transforming into smoke, slowly merging and creating a massive amalgamation. Once complete, the monster turned slowly, approaching him as its roar sent another shiver down his spine.