Chapter 3:

Kerrio:

"Ok, what now?", Kerrio thought. This didn't make any sense to him at all. He couldn't draw on the huge knowledge pool of LitRPG story reading experience he had access to from his days back on earth, before he was whisked away into this Omnis place, to compare it to any concepts from those stories. Essence was obvious, or perhaps not, depending on what one meant by it. Whatever this essence fragment seedling newborn was, had discovered him to be related to its host, who was the lady who took him in after she found him all alone in the wilds outside the village. He accepted the prompt, which was flickering and flashing furiously.

*Buzz*, he heard in his head. He was surprised, but he quickly parsed it. That buzzing noise seemed to carry certain emotions and words, like the buzzing version of music. That particular buzz said: "Arcanist! Save the host! Bring energy. Me needs energy to fight! Direct me! Bond with me! Me not can fight on me's own!"

"What does it mean by arcanist?", he thought.

He thought hard. "How do I, bond with you?". Then the system saved the day by displaying another one of its nice prompts. "Would you like to bond with: Essence fragment seedling? This will provide you the following benefits: -Grants control over the actions of the seedling by being able to issue commands. -Binds a portion of the seedling's energy to you, which will be used to call upon the seedling in times of need. -Better understand the state of the seedling, its host, and the Holder. This includes energy pools, status effects, and *UNKNOWN*. Yes, no?". The Unknown part was hard to look at. It was outlined in a jarring red light that seemed to move in chaotic patterns, which threatened to cause a headache to Kerrio, who quickly skipped them and did his best to avoid looking at the big bad red writing.

"Crap!", he said, then pressed the "yes" button with his thoughts like the system had taught him in the tutorial. Yes, there was a basic tutorial that informed him about the most obvious things, like status menus, notifications, levels, and even a race selection at one point. He just chose human. Thankfully there was no evil monster behind the scenes choosing a race for him like what happened in a certain book where the main character also had the choice of selecting a race. Or at least Kerrio didn't think there was. He wanted to stay a human, and he chose human. No weird race names or other similarly weird stuff. Although when he was presented with a screen to choose his inherent ability, the system had glitched out for minutes on end, then said that "his soul" prevented him from choosing one, whatever that meant. Maybe he would get an overpowered ability like a certain hunter, or maybe not. He'll just have to live, wait and see. But first, he needed to finish this crappy encounter and not have to die in the process.

He felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. Then he felt a mix of emotions, and a huge pile of information dumped onto his brain. He honestly couldn't process all of it at once. Thank the god that the system still wanted to be nice and handled that for him. He got another system box.

"You have successfully bonded with: "essence fragment seedling newborn. With the assistance of the system, you can now access this information by focusing on the icon of a vertical line. You can now issue a command to your new bonded by phrasing your command and thinking of sending it to the bonded. System tip, since you clearly don't know what you're doing, tell it to defend the holder, the host and you, and to engage any hostiles it classifies as a threat.".

"Ok, that was harsh and uncharacteristic of an objective game interface...", he thought. "But hey. Free tips are always awesome. When they're useful and come up right when you need them the most, they're even more awesome.", he added. He did what the system said by thinking of the command. "Oh, and don't you dare let her die.", he added at the end, of his own volition.

*Buzzzzzzz!*, the fragment answered. "The seedling has acknowledged your command.", a system box said.

High guard Blade faced off against Eileen Valdris. She was surprised at her opponent's combat prowess, but quickly got suspicious as the fight went on. At first, the farmer acted aggressively. After she slashed at her with the hooked sword, a strange shield appeared and blocked the attack. After that, the woman never actively sought to strike her, only content to block and never move on her own. Then in a sudden burst of speed, the farmer-woman sent a barrage of punches at Blade, who blocked some of them but was hit by a lot more. Then she dashed away like she did before, and back, impacting fist first into the swordswoman and sending her stumbling back slightly. When the latter stabilized herself and looked in the direction of her enemy, she only saw an image of a person spinning on 1 foot like a sawblade, with the other foot raised up to kick her in the jaw. She fell on the ground and her opponent pounced on her like a tharo, punching her twice, one punch in either of her shoulders, then fell on top of her, gripped her robes, and jumped off of her, landing before a new threat.

"That's quite enough, demon.", a calm male voice said, and Blade gasped in shock and horror.

"Y'You! Why are you here, master executioner?", she blurted out.

"Because one of you has to be executed, along with all of her accomplices, who are: You, and", The man said and pointed to Kerrio, then toward Kerrio and Eileen's house. "That one over there.", he finished.

"But, but that one is a child, sir. Why would you execute him?", she asked, still trembling.

"Because he freed the weird-eyed demon, who controlled your opponent, whom you should have been able to cleve with one strike. You've clearly gotten weaker since we last met, Blade.", the man answered.

Kerrio was shaking in fear. This man was the strongest in Elva, the hired executioner known as Rogan. And he was specifically aiming to kill the three of them without a second thought or consideration of Kerrio's and Queltsom's age. He was like a killing machine. In his opinion, if he was paid to kill someone or sought to kill them, it doesn't matter what their age, gender or job was. If they did something he disagrees with, they had to die, and no one could ever stop him from killing them. Kerrio's adoptive mom was about to be killed, and he could only watch. This had to be a dream, right?

"Braaaaaaaaarshrshr!", they heard from afar, in the direction of Kerrio's house which hosted Queltsom after freeing him from the chains.

"Guess it finally decided to show itself.", the man, Rogan, said, smiling.

The wooden door was smashed open, and a 10 feet tall abomination of black flesh with red stains all over, a mouth full of sharp teeth and two angry eyes walked out.

"Braaarkshkshkshksh", it roared once again, fixating its eyes on Rogan. It shambled forward, disturbing the ground with each stomping footstep.

"Wanna challenge me? Come at me then, beasty!", Rogan taunted. It found Eileen and touched her hand, sending her flying into the house, straight through the broken door. It snapped its fingers, and Kerrio flew into the house as well. Then it split itself into tens and tens of pieces and started reassembling the wooden door. The rest of the monster, now just over 6 feet tall, advanced forward and bared its teeth at Rogan, who frowned.

"Are you trying to gain Blade's trust by faking benevolent behavior? That won't work.", Rogan said, and the monster swung at him. He avoided the attack, and punched the monster in its midsection, making it stagger and cough dark blue blood to the ground. The beast tried using the barrage of punches again, but they were all intercepted by Rogan.

"Haaa?", the monster growled, and punched Rogan hard enough to shatter iron, but it did nothing to the executioner.

"It won't work.", he said again. "Your moves are too slow, and too weak. You're not as strong as they portrayed you to be. Is it because you lost your power perhaps?", he asked. "Also, who taught you how to fight that way, hmm?"

*Hissss!*. A stream of thick black substance impacted Rogan, who grunted lightly and backed off. "Poison trick... Bet that's the only thing you got, isn't it?", the fighter kept on talking, still calm and casual.

The monster emitted silver-brown smoke into the air from its body, and it started panting heavily in exhaustion.

"Weak, not even what I'd consider a fight. Not sure why Jane's assistant paid me this much for dealing with a weakling like you, but I'll kill you now. Any last words? Don't waste my time more than you have already.", he finally said.

"There won't be any killing near my humble abode I tell you, mister Rogan. I humbly ask you to crawl off and never show your stupid face in front of my house.", a voice of an elderly man said.

"Huh?", was the only word Rogan could say after seeing the elderly man with gray hair and wrinkled features, wielding a pale wooden walking stick the length of two men.

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"Who are you, and why are you here you ridiculous old bag of bones?", he said to the new arrival.

"I might not seem ridiculous to you after you get bonked in the head by my little staff here, you stupid-faced crook. I can easily learn how to craft stronger constructs from your nose.", the old man replied.

"Anyways", he continued. "I won't say what I said again, because repeating what I said to the likes of you doesn't seem to fancy me. No, not in the slightest.", he added.

"I'm here on an execution mission to obliterate the demons here, tasked to me by the Silverstars themselves. So my actions are the truth, and my judgment is the law here. And if you don't back off and go back right where you belong, you will no longer stand here among the living.", Rogan said in a dark and icy cold voice.

"Woah there nutbag. Quit the edgy and extreme vibes will ya? I can't believe how much you like to say here all the time. Also, you're standing in my territory and no matter what you think, and no matter what that old hag known as Jane Silverstar thinks, I dictate what goes on here, and no creature shall find peace in defying me, regardless of their rank or power", the man said in a similarly powerful voice.

"You're under arrest for defying me as the executioner, verbally defying the leaders who have my contracted liege, and blasphemy against the God.", Rogan said. "Now stand down!", he screamed. He shot out a violet ball of fog that tried to drain the old man of energy, but the latter ensnared it with his walking stick, taking control of it and preventing it from moving anywhere or returning to its caster. Then the mental endurance of the two men fought, over the control of a wispy orb of fog.

"You see pal, you have spunk, I'll give you that.", the older man said, visibly straining. "But what you lack is attention to detail. You should have listened carefully to what I said, processed it for deliberations and other signs of wordplay, then acted.", he continued in a lecturing tone. "I understand the claim of defying you and your boss, and I stand by my decision to do that, because believe it or not, all of you are trashbags, I tell you. Except for whom the God has blessed.", he kept on talking, and the other man was also straining, constantly grunting lightly.

"but claiming I am a blasphemer holds a big impact. The stakes are high. Interested in a witness declaration?", the man asked Rogan.

"No, I understand, and I admit that this is an error on my part. May the God forgive me.", Rogan said in a voice gravelly from strain. "But I will still arrest you and the demons because of my orders. I will act according to the orders I was paid to obey, and any consequences fall on the Silverstars.", he added.

The old man visibly reddened in anger and clamped down harder on the foggy energy.

"You're telling me, that you, will act like a machine and reap innocent lives, and those will be the Silverstar's fault, and not yours? Do you have a broken head or what?", the old man roared. Rogan screamed louder this time, sweat pouring onto his forehead. "So by your stupid thinking, if the Silverstars tell you to jump off a cliff and into a 1000 feet drop because there's a treasure they wanted to claim there, and they ask you to bring them the treasure, you'll follow their orders?", the old man screamed.

"Of course not. I wouldn't follow their orders and jump off to my doom. It's simply common sense!", Rogan screamed back.

"Well, what makes you think a woman and 2 children being demons that supposedly invaded Elva to be common sense to you, huh?", the screaming from both men intensified.

"It is common sense... because it's... an order. I do what I am told... as long as I get... my rewards... and it doesn't compromise me.", Rogan replied.

"You unfeeling illogical psychopathic bastard!", the older man cried. The figurative and literal tension between the two suddenly exploded when a boom rang out, causing a deep hole in the ground to separate the two combatants. It was a crater generated when the pressured release of the foggy energy orb impacted the ground and caved it in within a circular radius.

"No, my life bane! How dare you make me waste such a resource, you accursed b...", Rogan screamed.

"Shut up before you doom yourself, Rogy. Now, what would a dangerous and prohibited material like life bane be doing with idiots like you? Has the creeping thorns guild fallen that low in my sleep?", the old man said.

"We use it to enact justice, and destroy the falsehood...". *Bonk*! *Bonk*! *Bonk*!. The old man just couldn't stand it. He had to give him the bonks he so deserved, with his most powerful walking stickEvershadow, right in the head. A red light flickered upon each impact.

"Gotcha, foxy bastards. Mind magic. Haaaaaaah... Hi-Yaah!" The light shattered, and sharp needle-sized shards of red cristal jutted from all over Rogan's head. Before the man could do anything further, a whispering voice spoke. "You have found us, little hunter! We will come for you, and we will have our sweet, sweet revenge!". Then it started cackling. After a minute or so, the cackling faded, and all the cristal shards just... disintegrated. "Well that sure was ominous.", the man muttered to himself.

The man looked about, finding the street empty. So he decided to walk around, relieving his exhaustion by taking a stroll in the open air. He walked, until he fell into a mechamagical trap that closed in on him faster than he could blink.

"So, I heard someone say I was an old hag. Does any of that sound familiar?", a female voice said. "Stupid ambush, god curse the demons below!", he thought.

"Yes. I'm pretty sure I've said it, and I'll say it again, Jany-jany. You, are, a detestable old hag. Does it sound better to you?", the man said, looking at Jane Silverstar. The noblewoman's face reddened in rage, and she smashed one of the buttons in a square device, causing the metallic pitfall trap to send out a razor-sharp blade that pierced his ankle with the sound of metal impacting flesh. The man merely grunted in pain.

"I never thought I'd see the day when your life is in my hands, Brelethro Vergan, wielder of the cloak of rumors. I've heard quite a lot about you, but the rumors overestimated your power. Now that you're here, I'm killing you myself. This is the end of your journey, legendary figure.", she spat.

"The thing about me is that you don't really know if it's me or not. You don't know if it's the real me, or if I even exist at all. For all you know, you could be killing a legendary warrior or a stuck-up disposable spy I hired, or maybe something else entirely different.", the man said jovially.

"I don't have a lot of patience towards your games, old man. Surrender and pledge your allegiance to me, or die.", the woman said.

"What if I want neither of those options?", the man asked. "Like, Hmm... What if, for example, I want to give you a good beating?", he shouted, then lunged at the woman, ruining the trap in the process. He sat on his staff, riding it through the air. He urged the staff to go higher and higher, then sent it spiraling down to impact his enemy in the chin, through her veil. The woman screamed in pain and fell to the ground, rolling from the momentum. She got up and cleaned the dust off herself, and snarled at the man.

"Gotta love monsters. They always face death without flinching.", the man commented.

"Judgment of the Silver Star!", she screeched, obviously furious. A silver-colored five-pointed star formed itself from her energy and started to grow in size, whilst flying in the direction of Brelethro. It kept growing, until it reached a threshold and exploded, sending searing fragments of light that charred and destroyed stone. The man smiled.

"I love the thrill of battle and all, but I'm tired of this. I have a disciple to train after all. So, see you when I see you, noble.", Brelethro said.

He collected energy in his staff, and it started vibrating and spasming rapidly. It became even darker in color, and it shortened and thickened. "Don't forget to get stronger next time.", he shouted.

"Wrath of the shade lord!". A black shadowy substance appeared from the end of the staff, growing in size while sucking the light around it. It took the form of a man wearing black robes and wielding a black weapon of shadowy energy. The man roared, then struck. The shadowy energy and the man's form exploded in a booooom that shook the ground and sent splinters of stone and dust clouds rising everywhere. When the dust settled, Jane was fallen on the ground, groaning and moaning in pain. A swirling portal appeared, looking like a half circle of blue, green and yellow that sucked the woman in and vanished.

"Let's see what this weird-eyed demon has in store for me. Hope he'll make a good student.", he thought to himself.