Screams echoed out followed by blood curdling roars. The earth was coated in the rubble of buildings that once stood tall. Amongst the debris were monsters, lumbering giants or prowling hunters all mingling, ignoring or even helping each other as they slaughtered the humans that once called the ruins home.
The sky was filled with horrifying beasts, descending from the thick cloud layer to join the feast, massive airplane sized birds, wyverns and all matter of draconic creatures, winged mammals ranging from giant bats to creatures that really shouldn’t have wings, even roiling masses of tentacles that writhed through the air, flying through some supernatural means.
There was little prey though. Most humans had either fled or died already but a few were left. The unlucky few ordinary humans were doomed to a terrible fate, to be consumed by the ravenous beasts or worse by the truly malignant creatures that take pleasure in suffering.
Not all humans were easy pickings though, some came here for a purpose.
Professional hunters and Adventurers here to slay monsters whether to stem the tide and save people, for money, for glory, or even for the simple thrill.
I stood over it all on one of the last standing buildings, watching the horde as it writhed and screeched. I was much like the hunters who came here to sate their bloodlust or earn a pay check, but I hungered for something else. For a long moment I surveyed the swarm, waiting for something to catch my attention.
There. In the horde a strange lizard with 8 gangly arms. It flowed through the crowd, crawling over the top of monsters and flicking out with a bladed tongue. It wasn’t particularly strong or impressive but it was unique, I hadn’t seen one before and that was enough for me.
A smile tugged at my lips beneath my eerie skeletal mask before my body suddenly changed, becoming more akin to the monsters beneath me. My legs had become oversized, my shape oddly frog like and I crouched down before springing up, leaping through the air.
My jump took me far above the crowd and once again I changed. Soon I was a behemoth of stone and fire rocketing towards the ground.
The impact was an explosion of flame and sharp metal, I felt hundreds of weaker monsters die around me.
The monsters were inundated by chaos, they could tell they were under attack but they were unsure what exactly it was, they didn’t expect it was another monster till it was too late.
I danced through the monsters ever shifting in shape, one second a juggernaut of muscle, the next an elusive creature of shadows.
Soon the prey I had tagged was torn apart and I felt it become a part of me, in a horrifying moment of bone snapping and flesh re knitting I had become that same gangly lizard, my bladed tongue shooting out and severing necks and limbs as my sinuous body flowed through the crowd looking for more prey to add to my library of beasts.
The killing didn’t stop, I carved through the crowd like a scythe through tall grass and as I butchered more and more, the stronger monsters appeared.
Great beasts with ripping claws and thick hide became the norm, wyrms, drakes, wyverns and even a full dragon came at me. I welcomed all opponents, tearing into them as I became an even bigger monster than they.
I was no longer unscathed, I felt my body tearing apart as wounds accumulated, a scratch there, a blast of flame, a glob of acid all accumulated and made my fights ever more difficult.
But I didn’t stop, I’ve still got more to do, more to kill, more to hunt. I still needed more. What was a cut to a creature made of slime? Fire was pointless to a salamander born in lava. Acid neutralised against the slimy skin of the toad that secreted a base.
All these monsters came and were slaughtered but I still wanted more. I leapt across the battlefield, taking flight on wings that sporadically burst from my back to leap onto a creature I had never seen.
All to add more to my collection. All to feast on more and become even stronger. My flesh bubbled and bones kept growing, more creatures were devoured and some even fled as they watched my twisted form in horror.
I needed more; I was so damn hungry. There was too much blood in the air, too many monsters that needed to be consumed.
I needed more.
I have to eat more.
Kill more.
Devour more.
Become more.
More.
More.
More. More. More. More. mOre. MorE. MOrE.
MOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOREMOERMOREMOREMREOMOERMOOMOMMMOORMEOEOMOERORMMEOMOOERMREOEMOEOERMOOMEORMOEOMRMEOMROEMROEMOREMOOOOMRMOMRMRMOMRMOMROMROMRMOMROMROMORMOEOMROMEMORMOEOMROEMROEOMROEMREIORMMOERMOEMORMOEMOROEOMROEMORMEOOMOEOEOMEMOEMOROMEORMOEMOFMOEOMMOFOMEMOFMOEEMOMO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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DING
Jaune woke with a start, blearily looking around at the dingy, bleak fast-food place he was in. On the table was a half-eaten burger and a phone buzzing with text notifications.
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The young black-haired man sighed as he scratched his head, lamenting, and just a bit embarrassed at the fact he had fallen asleep in some shitty burger place.
Damn dreams, always so weird and violent.
Jaune had been getting these dreams all his life, at one point he thought they were an anomaly, a mysterious power some ascended possess, but Jaune had none of the enhanced strength an ascended had. Even worse his dreams made no sense, always being a chaotic mess of monsters tearing each other apart.
It didn’t help that Jaune couldn’t remember his dreams very well when he woke up, just a hazy blur of violence.
He was still just a measly F rank in a family of prodigy’s and geniuses.
He itched at his scalp and peeked at the messages on his phone, the cheaper hair dye he bought reacted badly with his skin. Jaune scrolled through the texts, the only person who could possibly be texting him at midnight would be his sister Jess.
Always sticking her nose in his business. Jessamine Blackwell was Jaunes older sister by 3 years. She was born in C rank much like most of Jaunes siblings. However, unlike most his siblings, Jessamine actually seemed to care about Jaune.
Even if her damn pitying gets fucking annoying.
She was easily his favourite sibling, well besides his younger brother Ben. They could relate at least, even if he was so busy with training.
Jaune understood the kid's position. He had a lot of burden to bear, he was the lowest ranked in the family if you didn’t include Jaune, only at rank D, but he did have the perks of being triple ascended. Ki, mana and an Anomaly, just like their father.
The texts where the usual messages when Jaune was away from home too long without word for Jess’s tastes.
- Where are you?
- Are you safe?
- Why aren’t you responding?
- Come home now.
If Jaune stayed away too long Jess would likely hunt him down, it had happened before.
Not wanting to deal with the lecture that came with being tracked down by an expert in the field, Jaune quickly left the shitty fast-food place, on his way out sending a message to Jess.
I’m coming home, I’ll be back in a while.
He let out a sigh as he walked through the narrow streets of the outer city. There were few people around, most being the unsavoury type but they left Jaune alone, they recognised the enchanted folding sabre at his waist.
Jaune appreciated the quiet as he walked, looking up at the cloud ocean above. The clouds were a wonderful dark blue at night, the clouds flowed almost like water and in the gaps that appeared every once in a while, he could see flashes of colourful light from whatever horrific flying monsters called the sky their home.
Humans may be powerful and prolific but they never owned the world especially not either oceans, caves or cloud. The beasts that lived there were threats to even the strongest of humanity.
As Jaune walked through the city he left the outer zone and entered the abandoned section. No one lived here, there wasn’t anything besides ruins and old buildings any way.
The city of Evernent was ancient, predating those who live here now and was much larger than the population it currently holds.
The city is built around the Tower of Evernent, a super dungeon that begins at rank D and goes to rank SSS and possibly above, no one's ever reached the top.
Surrounding the tower is a wasteland from annual dungeon breaks, when the monster population grows too large for the massive dungeon, resulting in a tide of monsters that were forcefully ejected from the tower.
The sections of the city are arranged in a clock wise manner, the noble area being to the north, richer neighbourhoods to the west, middle class to the south, low class to the west and the abandoned section taking up a good chunk of the north west, as well as a good chunk of fields to separate the poor from the rich.
Jaune’s family, the Blackwells were a relatively new adventurer noble family, only being around for about 3 generations. Their family began with Ferdinand Blackwell, Jaunes grandfather, an already notorious adventurer who had come to Evernent and organised one of the largest tower raids in history, attempting to go higher than ever before.
Out of the 250 adventurers who went with him, only 60 survived. Despite the dead they celebrated, having left with treasure beyond imagine, Ferdinand himself had ranked up from S to SS within the dungeon.
After his raid, he had proved himself worthy of claiming land in the noble quarter and the Blackwell family had officially begun.
The Blackwell estate was located on the edge of the noble quarter, near the wall and abandoned section as well as far from other noble estates, why Ferdinand chose that land in particular was explained by the massive craters he left behind, formed from his thrill of destruction and penchant for blowing up landscape.
Those craters had long since filled with vegetation and life, the man responsible having been dead or at least missing for the past 12 years.
Jaune was getting close to the noble's quarter when he heard something from one of the many abandoned buildings.
It was pretty common to find monsters in the abandoned section but never anything threatening. Stuff like dire-rats or imps, monsters an F rank could beat with a sturdy branch or even just their fists if they don’t mind getting a few scratches and were physically fit.
He shrugged before entering the building, Jaune wasn’t in the biggest rush to get home and he felt an itch in his chest that just needed to be scratched.
Jess can wait; I could go for a fight.
Jaune found himself in an old warehouse, at least that’s what he thought it was. Just one huge wide-open room with some old boxes lying around.
Hmm, I’m pretty sure this place was shilling drugs last year... some of that proper alchemical stuff as well. Actually, I think Adrien and Amelia had something to do with this place.
The sound that alerted him came from a particularly high stack of crates, he drew his folding sword, flicking the lever that allowed the blade to extend fully, and began to move closer.
As he got closer to the stack, the sounds of movement began getting louder.
Jaune froze, why are the sounds getting louder? If it’s heard me, it should’ve gone quiet, not start digging around harder… it’s almost like it’s trying to be loud. Wait is it luri-!?
Jaunes train of thought was cut off, from behind the crates came a blur of red coming straight at Jaunes head, he flinched back but his training paid off as he delivered a brutal slash to the creature.
It fell to the ground with a wet slap in two pieces. Jaune rubbed at his wrists as moved over to inspect the thing. The monster had some serious force in its lunge, almost breaking Jaunes wrists as he cut into it. If his blade was anything less than a masterwork it wouldn’t even have punctured the monster and Jaune would be the dead one.
He looked down at the creature, feeling a sense of disgust at the strange creature. It was like a starfish if one was larger than a human and made from blood red muscle tendons. At the tip of what Jaune assumed was its head was a black eye, the iris was a blood red and the pupil bone white.
What is this thing? Damnit I should’ve brought an Akashic enchantment! No internal organs and it’s not even bleeding. How on earth was it even alive?
A stinging pain snapped Jaune from his thoughts, he looked down with wide eyes, seeing just a few of those red tendons wrapped around his legs and ripping into his skin.
“IT’S STILL ALIVE!?” He screamed in horror and began swinging his blade at the red mass, but the monster had got him by surprised and instead of a clean slice the blade got stuck in the writhing tendrils which only provided the creature another way to Jaune.
The other half of the creature joined in, wrapping around Jaune tightly and cutting into his body, those tendons were like razor wire. Jaune was helpless against the creature, blood flowed and he began to get woozy.
He felt fear bubble within himself and he hurriedly pulled a red crystal from his pocket, he crushed the fragile gem within his hand and gasped as he felt a rush of energy within himself.
The pain dulled and his wounds began knitting themselves shut, Jaune shuddered with disgust at the feeling of his body healing around the creatures' tendrils and pushing them out.
With his brief respite Jaune focussed himself. He roared with fury and ripped his arm free; he reached down desperately and felt a sickening sense of relief as his hand clutched around the monster's eye.
The fleshy orb burst in his grip and the creature writhed around him, but its grip slackened. Jaune crawled away, finding his sword and leaping back to his feet.
He watched as the now blinded creature reconnected with his other half, it squirmed around before standing up.
“This fucking thing doesn’t quit.” Jaune whispered to himself as he watched the strange monster turn towards him, even without its eye. Smell? Hearing? Heat? Vibration? Fuck it could even be just straight up soul sense.
Even worse for Jaune the thing was between him and the door, shit I've got to fight this thing.
He stepped back and winced. Gah damn why does it hurt still? He looked down at his blood-stained clothes confusion. Wha? I'm still bleeding, why aren't I healing!? Fuck! Not good!
Jaune kept backing up as the monster began to walk towards him, it moved slowly, as if uncertain. Least it can't pin point me.
He spent a few minutes trying to get around the strange creature with no luck, his stomach dropped when he noticed something. Its eye! Its fucking healing!
Suddenly patience wasn’t an option, the monster would simply wait for its eye to regenerate then tear him apart, now Jaune needed to do something and do it fast.
There was a crash from behind him and Jaune froze, the monster immediately locked onto him and he dove to the side, narrowly dodging the monster that seemed to unfold in the air, turning into a grim, bloody net to try and grab him.
He had bumped into the stack of boxes and one fell. Jaune cursed at his misfortune only to blink as a glowing vial rolled out of the box towards him.
Is that a? Holy shit a fucking Rampage Draught! Now that’s some good luck!
Jaune hurriedly grasped the potion as the monster advanced on him. He took a deep breath as he looked at the vial. Rampage Draughts did exactly what you assumed they did, made you incredibly strong and durable at the cost of reason.
Is it worth it? He glanced towards the warehouse doors, still far away and with the monster in the way. Damn it! This thing is faster than me, I can't escape. I have to trust the potion. Nothing can heal forever as long as I keep tearing it will die.
Jaune had one thing that gave him confidence, while Rampage potions filled you with rage and violence, making it difficult to determine friend from foe, they didn’t make you stupid. Someone under a berserk effect would still have enough mind to avoid traps, at least the obvious ones, and flee from guaranteed death. He just hoped his rampaged mind would recognise the monster as death
Jaune took a deep breath and gulped down the vial in one go. There was a wave of energy and immediately he could feel his head begin to ache.
The last thing he heard was a roar that ripped out of his throat and the crack of his knuckles as he gripped his sword impossibly tight.
Then everything went black.