The eternal darkness of the terrifying void a place only a god like Xorathul could truly call home. He consumed, devoured, and absorbed entire cosmoses and beings like himself. He was the very embodiment of power, and yet he died, just like that, at the hands of a coward a being who hid in the shadows of space.
_____ the _____ was the one ended his Existance and his reign over the cosmic realm. Yet when he was being torn apart a little part of his soul ripped out, weak enough to die on its own in vacuum of the cosmos but just enough for a few inexperiance cultist to summon the old god.
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Where am I? A thought arrived in his head as tried to move but couldn't, it was dark, moist, and cramped but oddly enough edible for consumption. He devoured the thing to absorb his biomass to build himself up again yet it wasn't enough, he needed mo-
A kick, he was kicked or so the thing he was in got hit but still it hurt. Pain he never felt pain, he was too strong even that thing ________ was able to kill himself almost instantly but this was just the sake of dealing pain to him and he needed to retaliate. He ripped and tore through the fleshly coffin he was entombed in, the tendril made its mark on the perpetrator.
The vibrations on the ground had let him know what was going on, and he reacted accordingly, using his other tendril to stab and wrap around the next target. He felt three more of them move away from him, and he sprouted more tendrils from absorbing mass into his ever-consuming power.
The next two weren't a hassle, he caught up to them in no time and started to rip and tear bits of them for easier consumption though he needed more. He consumed, absorbed, and reconstructed his newfound form, he was able to see now thanks to their eyes, he had fly-like vision, multiple sets of eyes watching from every angle. He also had a set of teeth, noses, ears, and hair but it isn't important, he didn't need to breathe since his mass automatically absorbs oxygen, even if he did try to breathe normally it would look like a mimic acting human.
He kept the eyes and mouth for now. He plans on building his biomass into the size of a galaxy, so he needs to consume as much as possible and then the world. His tendrils instinctively turned into limbs based on the human skeleton but still looked like a mass of swirling tentacles bunched up together. He tracked the trail where the other went. He got down on all fours and started to run until he noticed her hiding.
Unlike himself he taunted her, somewhat wanting her to fear him despite having no emotion, like it was animalistic instinct to conquer, to dominate and devour their victims whole. He spoke her name based on his previous victim's memories, drew her out just enough so she could take the bait and so she did.
He left no piece of her.
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For the next couple of days, he hunted and ate wolves, rabbits, and any insects he could get his tendrils on. He got stronger, absorbing their strengths. He gained the wolves' sense of smell, the rabbits' burst of speed, the ants' surprising strength, and the mantis' fast and deadly attacks.
Yet he needs more, craves more and he can't absorb a lot if he's just in this forest hunting these types of critters. He scouted through the forest until finding a small group of interesting creatures: Goblins.
Small chunky creatures, short yet cunning, weak yet dangerous. He pounced on the first, piercing through it, his mass of tendrils extending around him to pierce and kill the other goblins. Luckily they were cowards when faced with such a threat, they're fast but not fast enough as he shredded through them, consuming and absorbing, this time he gained their vision to see in the dark, and he also gained various other traits like enhanced sense of smell, enhanced reflexes and their minor poison resistance.
He kept this up, devouring an entire forest full of animals, monsters, and races alike until he was ready. He was close to breaking, a metamorphosis to an extent. His body changed rapidly due to the unique biology of the creatures here, changing from bipedal, avian to quadrupedal and over and over again but still remaining with his cosmic attributes.
He needed just a little bit more for his next step in evolution, and that is when he found it: A village and a small one that was filled with enough humans primed for consumption.
He started by taking out the guards, never being able to react to him as he ripped one apart while decapitating another. He took the head off another who was relieving himself in the bushes and the last one who was coming back from patrol didn't fare too well.
He entered the village, luckily it was night and they were all asleep allowing him to go door to door, consuming them in their sleep. He did this until one of them screamed, one of them returned home to see him devouring his wife whole which alerted the village.
He had to make it quick, he dashed in short bursts as he obliterated the now widower without letting him get in another gasp of air. Villagers who came out of their houses to see what the commotion was only disappeared in front of their loved one's eyes in a blink with only living blood puddles behind.
His larger instinct was to make a lap around the village making sure no one left and no has a chance of getting out of here alive. When the humans noticed that they were getting picked off one by one even if they tried to escape through the woods they were getting hunted.
They gathered in the center hoping to stand strong together as a group before they saw it. Mass of tendrils, writhing teeth, and ever-shifting eyes bloated as it moves with multiple limbs. Dark limbs stretch out as it walks to them naturally, each elongated step makes a moist squishing noise as if the being was made out of flesh and a wet sponge.
The chattering as it got close, the multiple sets of teeth clacking together each time it shifted its weight. The appearance was like a mess of string, balled and tangled together in a dark viscous liquid, the eyes watched carefully as it stalked its prey. A sound of ripping as new tendrils started to rip out of its body as it pierced through multiple villages like they were nothing... no they were nothing, to the thing they were nothing.
He ate, and ate, and ate until there was nothing left. He needed one more to complete his transformation to a stronger being, not enough to be a god but at least enough to be akin to a minor being. He looked at his body, his limbs, torso, head, and legs were akin to a human yet not enough to be called one, he was still a mess of twisted tendrils, dark with eyes sticking from every surface.
"Who are you?"
He didn't need to turn, he knew from their voice that this person was old and withering away. He did turn around, to face it, to show it who was going to end their existence once and for all.
He was right, an old man, who was using a cane to barely stand on his porch as he watched the whole thing happen. He made his way there, not needing to try this time, he stood in front of the man, towering over him. He reformed his arm to a blade as he went in for a quick end with a slice to the neck.
In that second, in that moment every instinct and every part of his being told him to stop to run from this person, telling him to flee, telling him he would die.
Less than a second before his arm made contact with the man's neck he jumped backward into his door, breaking it into splinters and dodging the attack. He processed what happened as he then charged into the house breaking what remained of the door off its hinges as he made his way inside preparing another strike. The old man was grabbing something from up to his fireplace and before he could look he sliced a part of the beast hand off.
Pain. He felt pain like none before, he quickly regrew the arm as the severed arm rejoined his body, he then went in for another slice but this time with three more tendrils as the man sliced more with quick and precise attacks.
The old man continued to slash, cut, and dismember. The monster continues to regrow, construct, and attack. This continued until the old man got faster, and faster and faster as the being got slower, healed slower, and fought slower. This was the first time he actually fought someone, even in his old life he usually just won in one move. He needs to think, to adapt to win.
He extended one of the tendrils to the bedframe before launching it at the man, he cut down the bed without a second thought but this gave the being a chance to attack. He grabbed the man, his tendrils wrapping around his torso before launching him out the window, he followed it up with him dashing out, his arm stretched out to attack him while he was vulnerable in the air. Mid-air he twisted his body to dodge the last second, but the attack still reached barely cutting him.
Something fell from him but he didn't care as he dashed in as the man barely had time to recover. Another slash sudden slash from the man, this time cutting his neck open along with both of his arms but it didn't stop the momentum as both of them collided and fell down the hill away from the village.
The fall lasted a minute as they fell and rolled down the hill, the man cutting and slashing the monster, only stopping to cut the trees behind in one single swoop.
To end this the creature unleashed a barrage of tendrils around his body to attack the old bastard from all directions. Without a second thought, all those attacks were stopped and chopped in half. He was forcing his natural regeneration and his traits like orc regeneration to the brink as it's the only thing keeping him alive at this point.
He needed more, more power to slay this monster he was fighting. He needed more strength, more speed, more power, more. For the first time in their lives, the Creature... no Xorathul had formed his first plan on how to fight this beast of man. He needed to tire him out.
He sent each attack to specifically draw out more and more energy, just enough to tire him out for an attack. He smells blood and manages to barely cut the man on his face. The old man would've died by the constant chaotic fall down the hill but instead, he was using the poor Xorathul as his own board to slide on as he pokes, stabs, and slashes the constant menace that regenerates.
He was so preoccupied with attacking that he forgot one crucial thing, one that he let out as an instinct and one that caught the man off guard.
An abyss opened up in the torso where the man was standing. A maw of teeth made out of every living being they had devoured in their few weeks being here. He bit down on the man, nearly taking off his left leg right there and then, that is when the man reacted with a new move he had never seen before; a bright light, sharp and devastating.
"Smite."
The aftermath created a large crater, trees obliterated, the ground torn and the battle concluded. Xorathul lay, his lower half torn in half as his regeneration struggled to reconstruct mass that had no more mass. The man in front of him was standing, his sword clutched tightly in both hands as he was gasping for air. His leg was gnarled and bleeding. His eyes are dilated and bloodshot before focusing on the monster in front of him.
"You... huuu..." He took a step forward. "really p-put me throw the... gauntlet aye?" he smiled as he collapsed beside it. His chest heaving, as he looked directly at the blank canvas of a face close to him. "I can't do as much, as I... did before in my prime" he gripped his sword before sliding his fingers on the smooth side of his blade and whispering to it.
Turning directly towards the beast he smiled. "I know a bit about your kind, how it evolves and becomes a dangerous threat, that is why when I die you'll be disappointed in what this hundred and twenty-seven-year-old man holds" his breath slows, and grows fainter as he speaks out one last thing.
"Fuck you..."
his breath ceases and he dies.
Xorathul unfazed watched, he was already feeding below on the worms and some of the roots just enough to gain more mass to regenerate his body. 'Interesting.' he thought before devouring this monster.
His body shifted, Cracked and Reformed. His next step in his evolution was his first real change into becoming the God he used to be. He grew muscles, skin, hair, eye sockets, and eyes.
His newly formed body felt foreign to him now, feeling, hearing, and smelling, it was different, unlike the form he used to have, this... was human. But he felt stronger, invigorated due to absorbing the man's power, abilities, and now his forms and features.
He stretched, his face indifferent until getting hit with something foreign, not physical, not metal but out of his control.
A wide blue screen appeared out of nowhere.
[System Has Recognised New Host... Will Implement New Changes...]
"...What?" is what he managed to say before feeling the 'new changes' as he nearly collapses, falling on one knee. An immense sense of loss as he felt stripped of his new found power and more.
He looked up to gaze at the screen.
[System Changes Applied Succesfull]
⌈ NAME: XORATHUL. LEVEL: 1
CLASS: NONE. TITLES: NONE
HEALTH POINTS:400/400
STRENGTH: 15. VITALITY: 20.
AGILITY:20. DEXTERITY:27.
INTELLIGENCE:10. LUCK: 0.
MAGIC: 2. ENDURANCE: 19.
FAITH: 4. CHARISMA: 4.
TRAIT SLOTS. 3/3
HERO'S BLESSING.TROLL'S REGENERATIONMANTIS SPEED
SKILLS.
SMITE
INFUSE YOUR NEXT STRIKE WITH HOLY POWER.
COOLDOWN: 1 MINUTE.
DEVOUR:
CONSUME ANY BIOMASS AND INHERIT THEIR BASE TRAITS AND POWER TO YOUR FORM
[PARTIALLY SEALED DUE TO SYSTEM INTERFERENCE]
COOLDOWN: NONE.
ELDRITCH BLAST:
UNLEASH A LONG RANGE BURST OF MAGICAL POWER TO YOUR ENEMY.
RANGE: 15 METERS
CDR: 30 SECONDS. ⌋
'What the?' he thought before losing his balance, the ground below giving weigh as he fell and tumbled his way down the hill until falling into a bush below.
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After getting settled into the clothes the disturbed rider gave him he now stood in the middle of the road perplexed and contemplating his next move. "Stronger... I must get stronger." he then suddenly got angry as he punched the air above.
"I wouldn't need to get stronger! if this shitty system didn't take away my effort!" he kicked the road below before regretting it instantly as he was still shoeless. "Fuck..." he groaned in pain as he knelt down clutching his bruised foot. "Shitty hero... shitty system... along with these shitty emotions I..." he sighed before standing up.
"Alright then! I'll just start the hunt all over again" he smiled before running into the woods like a madman.