[INJURIES: SEVERE]
Eden popped up before his eyes to warn him of the severity of the situation. His breath was rough and ragged. He was on the verge of death.
His vision was going blurry. The room was shifting around, almost like they were moving. The eyes fell upon inside the kitchen. He focused in on his mutilated wife.
'I can't die now...!' He stabbed his sword into the ground and used it for its intended purpose - as a cane. His legs shakily got up before his body leaning against his sword.
He took off his coat and tied it around his chest to cover up the wounds. Mists formed after every breath. The sense of numbing was taking over his limbs. A sense of death embeds itself into every fibre of his being.
But... Even after feeling all those, one thing trumped over all others and kept him still going. It was the determination to rid the bastardly cat from the world. And... he was filled with determination.
***
After shattering the flooring underneath it, it finally raised its head and went still. Grim's ears twitched, followed by his hair standing. He can sense Patrick's rugged breathing and begins to make his way to him slowly.
The hair dangling over his face formed a shadow to veil over his eyes. He leaned his entire body against the sword and tightly held onto it like it was his lifeline.
The cat gently raised its paw before flashing its claw towards him. Patrick rapidly reacted by pulling his sword out of the ground and stabbing it into the eye of the cat.
SCREECH
A screech rang out from the cat's main maw, followed by a grinding noise from its eye. It bit down on his blade while the cat's main mouth bit down onto Patrick's legs.
Everything began to blur again. He could feel that he was losing himself again before a picture of his wife's face appeared in his mind. He tightened his hold on his sword.
"Hahaha.... That's way too shallow... GOTTA GO IN DEEPER!" He pulled out the sword before thrusting it into again over and over. The sword dug deeper and deeper into the eye. Grim roared out in pain before doing a quick shake and tearing off his legs.
"ARGH!" Blood exited his stumps like a broken damn. He gripped the cat's fur with his free hand to use it as an anchor. The adrenaline had already numbed the pain, so he continued to stab his sword deeper and deeper into its eye.
Under the pressure from the maw in its eye, the blade split in half. Half the blade was lodged into the eye.
The world then went slow, and as if on instinct, he threw away the cane before forming his hand into a fist and propelling it towards its teeth-filled eye. His entire arm went through.
His skin and muscles were ripped and torn before reaching the blade and pushing it in even further. Blood erupted from his mouth and his nose due to how far he was pushing his body. A large bloody grin stretched across his face.
"RAAAAAAAAAA!" He roared. His voice was a bit hoarse and a bit distorted. He pushed with every last bit of strength he had left into plunging the blade further into Grim's brain. He could feel his bones cracking and snapping but kept on pushing it forward.
The Eye maw paused its chomping. In a split second, Patrick noticed this and twisted his hand before pulling out the blade. He fell back and landed on the floor with a pool of his own blood under him.
The cat began to eject blood from its eye before going limp. It continued to mewl a deep and distorted meow. Grim's last remaining ear twitched as he heard the words coming from Patrick's mouth.
"Full... Recovery..."
Patrick's body shone with a bright light. Blue tendrils shot and attached themselves to his severed legs before pulling them in; unlike Everette, who had to regrow his arm, Patrick's legs were reattached before being restored.
The entirety of Patrick's body itched. His body had several thin blue tendrils, sewing him back together and healing him.
After a few moments, he rose from the floor, good as new except for his torn clothes. He walked over to his broken sword before walking up to Grim.
He walked around him before stabbing it into his back and through his spine, ultimately causing Grim to become paralysed. He then walked around again to face Grim before crouching down to his level.
"Do you remember what I promised you?" He threw away his broken sword before clutching onto two of Grim's teeth and beginning to pull them out.
The cat continued to scream and roar out loud in misery and pain as Patrick continued to rip out every single one of its teeth with an expressionless look.
Blood spewed onto his face and clothes every time a tooth was ripped out.
This carried on for several hours.
***
Mee...ow...
The once gory and grotesque appearance of Grim became more prominent as all of its teeth were ripped out, including the ones in its eyes. Its eyes were left empty, and so was its maw.
All across its body were sharp, blood-stained objects stabbed into it from its tail, its legs, its body, and its head. It became a pin-cushion of its own teeth.
He should have gotten serious since the beginning. The cat regretted not being able to hunt its prey. He enjoyed hearing his prey scream and cry as it ate them. But it also regretted something it can't remember...
His ears twitched as he heard the human again.
Sigh, a sigh resounded from Patrick's lips as he knelt down. "Grim... Just know this... Your mother would've been disappointed in you."
Grim's nonexistent eyes widened as flashes of memories appeared in his mind. Memories of his time as a kitten with only a single mother and living with two humans. He was content with life until he discovered his mother still one day and never woke up.
He mourned for her day and night. Years passed, and he has grown up. He loved the two humans who took care of him. Even when it became like this, he still loved them.
After evolving into a mutated, its memories started to blur more and more. His sight was gone, and he could hear more. After he returned home, through memorising the path, he heard a loud pitch scream.
Assuming it was an intruder, he rushed towards them and tore them from limb to limb. He continued doing this and stacked them outside as a sort of way to prevent any more intruders from coming in.
He didn't know why, but every now and then, he could hear the sound of something crying coming from inside one of the kitchen cabinets. The voice sounded familiar, but its memories have been getting harder to recall.
One day, he heard it move inside the kitchen and found it out in the open. It screamed and tried to return to the cabinet to hide. He pounced onto it and devoured them limb by limb.
A feminine voice cried out for it to stop while mentioning the name "Grim" over and over again. The voice of the creature calling for it became weaker before no longer calling for it anymore.
He didn't know why, but... He felt like he did something bad. Really bad. After thinking that, an excruciating pain ran through its mind. He held onto his head as a way to soothe it.
Later, after the pain disappeared, he felt calmer and strangely more relaxed than before. He felt like a huge weight was lifted off its back. He then decided to continue eating his prey without any remorse before engaging with a creature similar to the one it was eating.
The human also called him "Grim."
While he lay there on "death's doorstep," he couldn't help but remember something it lost—the purpose of why it wanted to become stronger and why it became like this.
'I wanted to protect them...'
Before Patrick dealt the finishing blow, a distorted voice rang out from Grim's mouth.
"I-I M s O r R y"
It sounded like a near-perfect replica of his wife. Patrick's eyes widened as tears filled his eyes.
"I know, buddy... *Chokes* It was never your fault in the first place..." Patrick choked as tears ran down his face.
Grim then gave a smile at Patrick. Before, in Patrick's eye, which he once saw as a smile of nightmares - he saw his once beloved black cat when he smiled.
Patrick closed his eyes before delivering the final blow... Freeing Grim from this nightmare and letting him go back to his mother and wife. He fell beside Grim and laid there, resting his arm over his eyes and began crying.
"I am a failure as a man... And a husband."
He cried for hours while clinging to the warm body of his beloved cat.
["Ding! Level 12 Mutated Toothy Cat killed!"]
[Level 10 -> 15]
***
After hours had passed, he got up and wandered over to his wife to see a black rectangular box lying beside her covered in blood. He reached over and grabbed it.
He opened it to see a brand-new cane. The box fell out of his hands before he dropped to his knees again. He nestled the cane in his hand before seeing a small line near the handle.
He pulled against the handle and saw a cleaned, polished blade with his name etched into his side. He then noticed a note inside the box and picked it up to read.
["HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAR! I hope you enjoy your new gift!
I remember how much you loved cane swords, so I was able to get a friend of mine to find someone to make one for you!
I also told them to put your name on it as well as mine on the other side—!
When Patrick read that part, he flipped the blade to see the name "Anna Amato" also etched onto the blade. Tears began to well up into his eyes again.
He then continued to read the note.
"I wanted you to always think of me when you look at it. Hehehe... Kinda selfish, I know..."
"It was not selfish... Not one bit..." Tears streamed down his face as he said that.
"I hope you like it and know that I will love you no matter what!"
X X X
p.s. Do try to stop smoking! ]
Drip Drip
Tears stained the letter as he began to cry again.
"I really am a failure... What kind of husband am I that I couldn't even protect the love of my life?"
He spent several more hours crying before folding it and putting it into his pocket. He roamed the house and changed into new clothes before grabbing a photo of him, his wife, and also his cat before neatly tucking it into his new clothes.
He walked back into the living room to see the corpse of his cat glowing. He widened his eyes before approaching it.
["Ding! Genetic Nexus detected! Would you like to store it? YES or NO"]
He unconsciously pressed yes and then opened his genetic nexus inventory.
===
[Genetic Nexus]
[Mutated Toothy Cat's Tooth]
===
He gripped his cane tightly, which enacted another pop-up.
["Would you like to absorb this to acquire a Random Ability or use it to create an Imprint?"]
He stared at his cane before making his decision:
"Imprint. I want an imprint."
Mana condensed around his cane and began to transform into something more. After a few minutes, the mana dissipated, leaving behind a cane with a couple of new additions.
He walked out of the house in neater clothing, his hair now tied back into a ponytail. He wore his old black vest that he used to like over a white shirt and black pants. His hands then rummaged through his vest to find a box of some sort and a plastic cylinder.
He pulled them both out before gritting his teeth. It was a box of cigarettes and a lighter. He then pulled one out and placed it into his mouth before lighting it.
He leaned against his house's wall before looking up into the sky with his new cane in hand.
"I couldn't even do this last thing for you..." He puffed out a cloud before he hung his head low.
*
*
*
*
"What a failure I am..."