Chapter 4
Change of Fate (1)
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The forest was shrouded in eerie silence as the moonlight filtered through the dense canopy above, casting elongated shadows on the forest floor. Rick, a blond-haired Feline Shifter, lay motionless, his battered body barely clinging to life. His blond hair was matted with blood, and his eyes, once full of life, now held a dull, weak gaze.
Men, adorned in dark robes and masks dragged Rick's limp body through the underbrush, their grip firm and merciless. Their footsteps were heavy and purposeful, echoing through the quiet forest. Their voices, filled with fanatical devotion, carried through the night air.
"The awakening is near," one of them whispered, his voice laced with anticipation.
"Our god will rise, and the world shall be cleansed. It will be a paradise unlike any we have ever known."
Rick's mind was foggy, his thoughts barely coherent amidst the pain and exhaustion. He could hear their words, but they seemed distant as if coming from a faraway place. The weight of his helplessness bore down on him like shackles.
I... I lost.
As they dragged him deeper into the forest, Rick's eyes wandered, taking in the twisted branches and the flickering shadows that danced on the forest floor. The moonlight painted an ethereal glow on his blood-streaked skin, accentuating the bruises and cuts that marred his once-pristine features.
He thought about his life before this, before he and Levina were found by this dark organization. The memory of his blond hair flowing freely in the wind, and his agile and feline movements in the festival alongside Levina, the girl he raised and taught, seemed like a distant dream. He was reduced to a broken and defeated shell.
'Please... Be safe.' Rick prayed to whoever god is out there, 'Levina.'
The men continued their conversation, their voices dripping with fanaticism and a twisted sense of purpose. Their words seeped into Rick's fading consciousness, painting a grim picture of their intentions.
"Our sacrifices will bring forth the god's power," one of them said, his voice filled with reverence. "The world will be reborn in fire and blood, purged of all impurities. We are the chosen ones, the instruments of the divine will of this forsaken world."
'Madmen.' Rick's mind flickered with fragments of understanding, his thoughts fleeting and fragmented. He could sense the cruelty in their words, the darkness that consumed their souls. They saw themselves as saviors, but to Rick, they were nothing more than monsters.
'Levina...'
Rick slowly loses consciousness as his thought drifted into Levina's rebellious and stubborn attitude that always gets her into trouble with people. He worried and desperately prayed.
'Don't die.'
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/=/
Surviving in a world where monsters could easily overpower a person required more than just physical strength. Aira knew this all too well. It was only after nearly facing death at the hands of a formidable Grimm that she discovered how to harness the essence.
It was a power that came from deep within her, a power she could not fully explain. By visualizing the desired outcome and believing in it with unwavering faith, she could tap into this essence and wield it to her advantage. With this power, Aira could heal herself, enhance her strength and speed, and manipulate the elements around her. She could even will herself to do the unthinkable.
"Kyek!"
Blood-sticky liquid splattered against the ground in the dark corner of the forest. A grayish hairless head with an inhuman face rolls lifelessly followed by the other heads of its kind scattered in the area of their wide dirty and primitive base. Their weapons and headless corpses lifelessly fell on the ground as the stench of death filled the air.
Seeing the fate of their kind, the Grimms who also goes by the name Griblins, couldn't help but hesitate in their track.
Fight in the hope to overwhelm their enemy like they usually do? Or run from this enemy who seemed different from what they usually hunt upon?
Regardless of their choices, Aira will never stop the hunt that had begun.
The burning sensation that rages in her chest would never cease if she let a single one of them escape.
Stepping on the hand of a crawling Griblin, Aira sliced its head off with a quick swift of her blade. Her glowing silver eyes darkly rose towards the group of Griblins while her sword glimmered in a white faint aura and her essence twirled in concentrated activity within the flesh and muscles of her body.
Bending forward, she throws herself in their way and swings her sword, Slice. Slice. Slice. Each of her strikes takes the life of a Grimm while evading her enemy's weapon like a leaf in the wind.
Rationally, she shouldn't be this reckless.
But, for once. She let herself be.
To think that the first time I will see my own species.
She had followed the tracks that led to the Griblins' Nest. Aiming to get more materials from their remains however what she saw at their table made her feel the familiar feeling the moment she saw the pile of corpses they were feasting upon.
It wasn't a pile of different lesser Grimms they usually dined upon.
Nor a pile of animals that is from this Earth.
It's a pile of Human corpses.
As those damn Grimms bathed in the pool of human blood that continue to flow on the ground while their limbs and other body parts are being divided and eaten with nasty laughter coming from their mouth, the horrified and agonized faces of their faces made it clear that those Griblins took their time on torturing many of those who previously alive.
[TRAGEDY OF WOLFORD VILLAGE]
WITNESSING THE MISERABLE DEMISE OF THE HUMANS AND FELINE SHIFTERS COMMITTED BY THE GRIBLINS
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
YOU ARE DETERMINED TO BRING WRATH TO ELIMINATE THOSE THAT RESPONSIBLE
TASKS: ELIMINATE THE GRIMM SPECIES NAMED GRIBLINS (73/375)
'Kill.'
"Kyek!"
Twirling in the air as another head flies, a more muscular Griblin with crude shoulder armor charged out from one of the trees, swinging the large spiked club to her head.
Unfortunately for its sneak attack, she cut its arm faster than it could react.
"Grk!?"
As the Griblin Warrior took a step back, holding its shoulders as its blood splurt, Aira didn't bother to dodge the blood that splattered on her and kicked its chin midair before twisting above to dodge a spear stabbed through by a thin-looking Griblin. Accidentally piercing the Griblin warrior by its collarbone.
'I kill them all.'
The Griblin warrior growled, throwing the thin Griblin aside before opening its mouth to let out an angry roar at Aira who landed low on the ground.
Aira feels the vibration made by all her enemies through her palm. Their reluctant steps. Their furious charge. And the footsteps of those weaker Griblins that were already on the run.
Her eyes eerily glowed.
The head of the Griblin warrior flies as its headless body falls to its knees. Making the Griblins freeze in their steps, cowering instinctively as agonized screeches echoed out from the forest. Those that were on the run had their legs cut off by the wind blade she made. Leaving them rolling and howling in pain while she will deal with the other Griblins.
Letting out a breath, her blood boils in a familiar thrill that made her laugh, chuckling as she slowly stand up.
'To think I will feel this thing so soon...'
FRENZY KILL 101x!
EFFECT: TEMPORARY STRENGTH +101 | TEMPORARY AGILITY +101
Tilting her head with a weird smile on her face, Aira stared at them with clear bloodlust that made them instinctively tremble and took a step back.
"Die~"
Almost half an hour later. Not one Grimm managed to escape her crazed hunt.
[TRAGEDY OF WOLFORD VILLAGE]
YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BROUGHT WRATH UPON THE CULPRITS OF THE TRAGEDY OF YOUR SPECIES DESCENDENT.
TASKS: ELIMINATE THE GRIMM SPECIES NAMED GRIBLINS (COMPLETE)
REWARD: SERRATED FANG(MAGIC DAGGER), AETHER CRYSTAL(375)
Particles of golden light appeared from the Grimm's torn remains. Hovering all over the area, it flies towards Aira who was walking back into the Griblin's Base.
Her face was devoid of emotion as she surveyed the aftermath of the one-sided fight. Despite the repulsive stench that lingered in her nostrils, she paid it no mind. Her equipment and weapon were also stained with blood, but she didn't care.
She gazed upon the pile of human corpses, and her lips pursed tightly together. It was after venting her anger, she began to think more clearly.
'How did they die against those kinds of Grimm?'
It was a question that arose in her mind.
She couldn't fathom how those weak Griblins could have preyed upon humans, let alone a group of them. Unless...
Realization dawned upon her.
"They... Aren't Progenitors?"
That would explain everything.
They must be the other's offspring...
While Griblins are not that strong, they must have been overwhelmed by its numbers.
'Just what were the others doing while these people were being slaughtered?' Aira thought.
"Sorry," She whispered, her eyes lowering to the ground where she saw a chopped pale hand grasping the smaller hand of someone unrecognizable.
While some of the corpses are already rotting, there was a lot that was fresh and dried. Meaning that some of them may have been alive on this day before she came upon this base.
Closing her eyes, she conjured a blaze of fire that engulfed her surroundings, burning and melting everything in its path.
'This was the least I could do.'
The smoke from the burnt flesh wafted up into the sky, and as Aira was about to leave, she heard a sound that made her stop in her tracks.
"S-some...one."
It was a low and hoarse voice. Had it not for her senses alert, she might not be able to hear it from such a distance.
Turning her head in the direction of the sound, she immediately extinguished the fire and smoke in the area from the source of that voice with the swipe of her hand, then sprinted towards it.
'Someone is still alive!'
Her body moved so quickly that it appeared as if she had teleported, and with a swift motion, she tore the aged wooden door off its hinges.
She looked at them, opening her lips to call, however, the words she was about to say quickly died from her throat the moment she saw the survivor's state.
No.
Not a survivor. It was more of a dying victim.
Through his dirty and torn clothes that barely covered his skinny body, she could tell his physique was young. A male in his teen. And...
'He's going to die,' Aira thought, standing motionless as she watched him trying to move an inch towards her as if seeing some kind of hope. But, how could he do that?
His arms were smashed, his cheeks were sunken, his ears are gone and his eyes were barely open from his throbbing eyelids that bled alongside the open injuries on his head where she could even see the inside of his head through what was left of his dark hair.
"Ah...aaaah..."
From his arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, legs, and back. Red sticky liquid coated the many pointed rusty metals that were pierced over his body. And below his smashed legs was a large amount of blood.
The concept of a miracle is something she never pays mind to but this made her think it's almost a miracle that someone like him is still breathing from that kind of state.
Unless she has the [Greater Healing Potion] to give, he will die in the end.
[YOU HAVEN'T MET THE REQUIREMENTS TO TAKE OUT THE ITEMS GAINED FROM THE TRIAL]
'What should I do?'
With her senses heightened, Drip. Drip. That loud sound of dripping was like a constant reminder. The slight twitches of his muscles, his fading breath. And the lone grey-yellowed pupil that weakly meets her eyes.
In a situation like this, she doesn't know what to do. Should she say something akin to comfort for someone that is going to die?
NAME: RICK
SPECIES: FELINE SHIFTER
> NEUTRAL
> CRITICALLY INJURED [INTERNAL BLEEDING, FRACTURED BONES (WHOLE BODY), BLEEDING, INFECTION...]
So, his name is Rick... What words should she say?
She couldn't come up with an answer even if she tried nor felt anything from something... That will be no more.
Therefore she could only open her mouth and said those words, "I can't save you."
The eyes that looked at him held no sympathy or pity. It was the same eyes when she looked at a dead Grimm.
However, contrary to her expected reaction from someone dying, Why are you still looking at me like that? Aira thought, instinctively sensing his eyes still light up as if finding hope.
'Did he not hear me?'
Seeing his cracked lips move, even if his throat can no longer make a sound, his words were clear to her eyes.
"Save... My... Sister."
As the light of his eyes slowly dimmed, he...
"Please."
/ A HYBRID SPECIES NAMED FELINE SHIFTER {RICK} WISHED FOR YOU TO SAVE {LEVINA} WHO HE TREATED AS A YOUNGER SISTER FROM THE HANDS OF THE GRIMM CULT /
WILL YOU ACCEPT THIS TASK?
"...I will."