The world was cruel.
Unforgiving.
A boy stepped through a harrowing forest with colossal trees and girthy vines surrounding him. A leather sheath dangled from his hip, and the metallic blade was already drawn.
He slowly crept forward, the mud beneath his feet depressing and letting out an irking squelch with each step. A sleeping beast was curled in the corner of a culdesac-shaped area between the trees. The boy, merely 13, furrowed his brows and primed his weapon. There was no doubt in his mind that the beast would sense his bloodlust as soon as he started moving towards it, so he prepared himself for a head-on battle.
The wolf-bull Hybrid's large snout flared as it let out a heavy exhale, blowing away the leaves around its nose.
The soon-to-be battlefield was a plain expanse of dirt, with no assisting terrain to utilize in his fight. It was simple, but undoubtedly more dangerous.
It served its advantages, specifically fewer variables. However, when a species is predominantly physically weaker in every aspect, intelligence alone isn't enough to redeem that flaw.
And not to forget, He wasn't even a fully developed male.
He lightly stepped forward, his tippy-toes barely gracing the ground below him. Slowly but surely, he made his way closer, just close enough to where 3 steps would put him in attacking range.
However, the threshold to where the creature would notice him was a mere hair away, an intangible barrier he mentally conjured through countless re-iterations of this.
He swept his foot back, aiming the peak of his sword behind him, intending to use the future momentum to swing it forward with all his might to penetrate the creature's hide.
He sighed, steeling his brittle determination.
The world was cruel; the snobby wealthy house leaders who threw him and dozens of other 'failures' were nearly as insidious.
It was an inhumane scheme, to say the least.
72 teenagers from the poorest and worst regions in the Thorya nation were thrown into a forest of hellish creatures to feed them 'Essence' to make them stronger, just for the Crest Bearers to kill them to gain a more potent power increase.
Truly pitiful.
Simpletons who are too weak to fight creatures head-on, they get their daddy and mommies to pretty much guarantee death on nearly a hundred other teens to increase their own strength.
Sad.
Weak.
He wasn't sure what 'batch' of teenagers they were, considering there was no metric to keep track of how many people went missing in the outlands, but he was sure they weren't the first.
Clear signs of battles before them were engraved into the world around him, and he already ventured across multiple skeletons belonging to these creatures and humans alike.
Luckily, he and a third of the teenagers banded together. Only two already had their 'Ascension,' which bestowed their otherworldly abilities.
As much as it was a boon, it was unfortunate to realize both weren't combat-oriented, leaving them stuck on square one. There were other ways to attain strength, but it all led back to the same goal; Killing.
Kill, absorb, hope for a good percentage, maybe a trait, and repeat.
A systematic, unforgiving power scheme.
He raised his leg, the prequel to the fight commencing.
He barely put his foot down before the creature huffed and slightly moved, the mental state of the creature already becoming agitated. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of the boy's brow. The simple action of it moving caused a concentrated wave of fear to envelop him. His eyes narrowed, but his mind never wavered. What would he be if he let fear dictate what he did? He had already been through the worst situation, and now he was just doing the killing part.
Countless thoughts ran through his mind, and he soon found solace in a more grim way of thinking.
If he died, what would he have to worry about? He wouldn't remember or feel anything.
The pain he would feel as the creature tore him apart relentlessly would dissipate.
The worries he felt for failing his friends would fade away.
It would only leave his bleak soul.
He erupted in a full-fledged dash, rapidly closing the distance between the two.
In the heat of the moment and in the face of the element of surprise, the monster mindlessly swiped its paw in front of it. The forest creatures possessed low intelligence. Their reactions to sudden or intricate battle designs were the worst possible.
The boy nimbly ducked under the highly-anticipated attack, his height due to being only 13 serving as a vantage in his surprise attack.
He took a deep step forward, lowering his body as he flexed his core.
The beast's paw swept over his head in a blur, and the nails it bore reached nearly 7 inches in length.
He rotated his abdomen, his shoulders turning, his arm propelling forward.
The sword was a blur as it was hastily swung in a wide, circle-like arc that covered a large area around him.
To his dismay, but at the same time very advantageously, the blade cut into the shoulder of the creature with relative ease. Despite the fact he was 13, he was able to 'absorb' a strength stat from a beast he killed, bolstering his strength to that of a 15 or 16-year-old boy.
The negative of the situation was due to the fact its arm acted as a sort of shield; instead of digging deeper into the shoulder, eventually reaching the neck, the blade grotesquely burrowed into the arm, slicing it open.
Blood flowed out as he withdrew his sword, followed by whatever else was stored within.
The arm drooped down, completely unusable.
Either way, the battle was immensely more survivable now that one of the three primary weapons of the beast was ruled out.
Not to mention any lingering side effects. Despite being physically enhanced, these creatures still suffered from illnesses, blood loss, and similar effects.
While there would be no immediate effects, the beast will become exhausted and slower over time.
The more important question was whether it or the boy would exhaust their stamina first. It dashed forward in a flurry of rage and swung diagonally downwards using its remaining arm.
The boy wasn't a combat expert by any means. Despite a couple fist-fights for food, he was completely inexperienced.
However, after fighting a few rampant beasts, predicting and dodging their attacks became increasingly easier. He side-stepped the attack, lifting up the blade to collide with the joint of the beast.
Unfortunately, he couldn't leverage the momentum from his previous attack, so the attack had little effect besides a slight graze.
The boy grimaced as he lept back to disengage, further analyzing the situation. The plan was clear; Attack from the side of the disabled arm.
Reaching across to attack someone was severely inefficient in battle, not only because the distance it had to travel was longer but also because it left that arm highly suspectable to any attacks.
He dashed to the side, swinging his blade in front of him again.
The beast wobbly stepped out of the way barely. Because it was a hybrid, it possessed some irregular qualities, including its ability to walk on its hindlegs.
However, it was a wolf at heart, meaning it walked on all fours 99% of the time. Of course, it was missing an arm, meaning it had to walk on the unfamiliar hind legs.
The boy's feet shifted, swapping his lead arm to the one holding the blade.
He stabbed forward, the apex of the sword whistling in the air as it bulleted to the beast's heart. Despite losing an arm, the beast was faster and stronger than the boy. It rotated its torso, narrowly avoiding what would've been a lethal attack.
It raised its paw and re-enacted its previous failure of an attack.
Suppose one were to transfer to a new body of different height and weight. In that case, they'd obviously be off-balance, inaccurate, and overall physically unbalanced.
While the beast didn't swap bodies, the overall fundamentals were flipped on its head.
It was previously shorter, more stabilized, and balanced than its standing counterpart.
It wouldn't have been much of a problem if it had utilized the hindlegs more, but its walking ability was akin to a drunk man's.
The sudden imbalance caused the beast to stumble forward mid-attack, drastically changing the attack's trajectory. At the same time, the boy dashed forward to close the distance at an angle. The claws barely managed to graze his hip. His mind shoved the pain to the side, and his will was entirely focused on eliminating the beast in front of him.
He raised his blade, the metallic gloss glistening as the glimmers of daylight caromed off of it.
The green, horizontal pupils belonging to the creature dilated as the impending death came dropping down on its skull.
First, it was the flesh morphing around the blade.
Second, it was the initial spray of blood that exited from the opening in its head, causing a crimson mist to form in the air.
Third, the blade finally penetrated the hide and muscles, freely traveling through the beast's innards.
And lastly, it was the blade exiting through the lower jaw and neck area of the beast, slicing cleanly through its brain and any other vitals. The limp corpse fell forward, colliding with the sandy ground in a dull thump.
The boy lightly heaved, his hand skimming the claw marks left on his hip. Despite what should've been slightly traumatizing and indeed terrifying, he smirked.
'A cool battle scar to show off.' No one should've been this happy in a predicament like his. Still, he discovered that keeping an ecstatic mood or vibe made dealing with things more manageable. He stood upright, peering around the immediate area to ensure no lingering threats.
A common occurrence, both by beasts and humans alike. Wait for one to kill the other, and utilize the opportunity to fight what is most likely a weakened opponent.
The boy, Cale, was guilty of using this tactic in his other, and only 2 kills.
Besides this time, of course.
It was an empowering feeling to defeat a beast undoubtedly stronger than you in a fight, regardless of whether you had the element of surprise against them.
He knelt down, extending his palm to rest it against the head of the beast.
[Rank: Pitiful]
[Class: Simpleton]
[Evolution Path: Beast Hybrid]
[Type: B]
[Physicality {F}]
[14 Strength]
[8 Speed]
[8 Dexterity]
[12 Durability]
[Mental {F-}]
[2 Intelligence]
[0 Adaption]
>[8 Sense (SCENT)]
[2 Essence]