Elijah Snow's PoV
*Ding*
Following the high pitched tone a blue screen popped up in front of me.
Congratulations citizen of Earth!
Your planet has been one of the 1000 lucky planets chosen to participate in the Ascension Games.
Teleporting of all life forms will commence in 3 minutes. We strongly recommend the following:
Weapon
Sturdy Clothes
Tools (Especially which can start fire)
Electronics will NOT work.
Good luck surviving!
'... well that's good? Haven't really won anything before but WHAT?!'
Looking at the 3 minutes part of the screen which was slowly ticking down made my sanity shudder. Only when I noticed that Strawberry had stopped talking gibberi*cough* I mean asking questions did I turn around.
What met me was Strawberry's face pale as papper looking into what seemed like the air in front of him.
I didn't even have to guess what he was looking at. Only when I turned back to the timer which was now at 1 minute and 12... 11.. 10 seconds did my brain snap back. I tried thinking logical thoughts like 'could it be a hologram?' But with no sensors and the fact that I couldn't see Strawberry's screen quickly diminished that thought.
Hurrying back to the kitchen I see Megumi with the same pale face as her son. With the timer ticking down I didn't care how stupid I looked but I quickly located a nice sharp knife and a box of matches in one of the drawers. Megumi seeing what I was doing did the same, yeah maybe it's some kind of television joke and we are under camera but with timer ticking it was better to be on the safe side.
Throwing all my stuff + some blankets in my backpack I once again checked the timer, 13... 12... 11...
Seeing the timer near the end I felt.. fear? Embarrassment? Or maybe excitement and then it happened my vision rapidly blurred until nothing but darkness.
I don't know if it was a few seconds or hours later but a small light soon appeared in the middle of my vision. It grew until finally it became a scenery. Tree's a lot of tree's through the tops I could see an enormous mountain far away It could be compared to Mt Fuji but being so far away I couldn't tell. Further forward between the trees I could see people.. a lot of people. Turning around to locate my host family a blue screen once again popped up.
*Ding*
Welcome dear competitor to the Ascension Games.
The Initial stage will start as soon as this notice have been acquired. We can update you that amongst the 17 billion people from earth 5 & a half billion has been terminated due to... unfortunate spawning positions.
You've been spawned in the western part of
Your chance of surviving the initial stage has been determined to be 57 %.
Notice:
This is not your world and as such no laws of nature (or any other law) from your previous world have been confirmed yet.
I couldn't read more than half-way through the screen until I heard an ear piercing scream.
Turning around I saw the impossible, estimated around 20 m tall stood a naked huma... no, creature resembling a human, completely naked, it had no gender but the frightening part wasn't it's body no what was frightening was what was in its hand heading towards its mouth.
"Megumi chan?"
Not a second after whispering out her name I stared in disbelief as it squeezed her, my angel, into its mouth like a baby squeezing in food and chewed. Blood splattered on trees nearby and pure exctasy in its eyes as it turned its gaze on the fleeing masses of people. I was about 50 m away when it suddenly jumped, doing the cannonball it squashed tens of people and the nearby trees falling squashed another 20. It.. laughed while crawling licking on the dead piles of meat which ones were human.
I puked. I continued to puke until there was nothing left but I could still feel my body forcing out what little was left. It was only when I heard a peculiar scream which instantly shook my heart back to reality again.
"Ichigo."
Unlike the pale face and almost dead eyes before a determined and focused expression was formed. Quickly locating Strawberry I saw him heading towards the remains of Megumi, infront of him an enormous dog pushed away the people still fleeing.
I quickly regained my bearing forcing my mind through sheer willpower to not collapse. Only one thing was on my mind. Save him.
I raised my speed towards Strawberry and Beastie jumping over people crying for help and bodies trampled intill death. Reaching Beastie I forced him into a halt, noticing right away him shaking violently. I looked into his eyes.
"Beastie calm down." There was only three words but the shaking immediately lessened. Turning my gaze unto Strawberry my mind once again threatened to collapse. The eyes of the once energetic small boy which hammered me with questions and adoration was bloodshot from intense focus and crying, all of him was shaking from grief and anger. His eyes were focused on the giant, still disgustingly licking corpses. I knew right there that there was no chance of him listening to reason, I may be strong in human terms but I could tell with a glance I was not even at the danger level of a fly to that... monster.
So I did what was left to do. I knocked him unconscious and placed him on Beastie. Exchanging glances with Beastie once more I pointed towards the mountain I saw earlier and he immediately understood.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Turning around to start sprinting I felt sharp pain on my shoulder, turning around I saw.. a human male probably in his 20ths looking not at me but at Beastie with greed and helplessness in his eyes. I already knew he hadn't caused a lethal injury so I quickly reversed the grip on his knife putting pressure on the bottom of the hilt forcing it into his left lunge. Backing off a few steps I felt danger coming from my left so I quickly rolled towards my right. Far too many people to handle approached me and Beastie with knife in hand our escape route hade been blocked and greedy humans rushed towards Beastie. I quickly interrupted the first few humans coming from our right, pushing them back onto the next person behind them taking out my own knife I finished them off once they were grounded, no time to be merciful. This took less than 10 seconds killing and incapacitated around 12 men and females. But it was more than enough time for the other humans reaching Beastie.
Turning around I saw 4-5 people on the ground screaming their lunges out while next to them Beastie stood with 4 knives embedded into him, but even though he stood, he had no energy to stop the remaining 2 from slitting his throat. It felt like knives pierced my heart watching the scene. All this happened while I was less than 10 m away. Had I not been injured previously maybe, just maybe I would have made it.
The men which killed Beastie instantly ran away when their plans to use him as a mount had dissolved. The disgusting giant had noticed the people screaming around Beastie and was already on its feet. I raised my speed to the maximum trying to close the distance and save Strawberry. The giant was 25-30 m away while I was around 10. Naturally I made it there earlier. But the scene made my heart grow cold. A knife was embedded into Strawberry's back... Why? WHY?! I felt tears starting to emerge but before they surfaced I had already put my emotions under control it was naturally one of the things I've learned while training martial arts all these years. A quick glance towards the corner of my eyes I saw the giant less than 10 m away, its lips had formed into a perverted smile running towards the men screaming besides me.
Without time to grab my little brothers corpse I jumped out of the way into the forest. Screams slowly stopped behind me as the giant played with its newfound toys.
*Ding*
Good job surviving the initial stage our dearest competitor!
Amongst the citizens of Earth approximately 2 billion now remain.
Amongst the 1000 planets there are approximately 5 trillion now remain.
After evaluating your performance during the initial stage you have been bestoved the title(s):
Stone cold killer
Frozen heart
Calamity escapee
Next stage will start in 29 Days 23 Hours & 59 minutes.
Good luck surviving!
[tr][/tr]
Title(s) Name:Stone cold killer Rank:2
Description:
You kill without batting an eye, others your race are beneath you. You exclude an unnatural cold aura when releasing killing intent.
Can be evolved.
Title(s) Name:Frozen heart Rank:4
Description:
While trying to escape calamity you encountered the dark side of humanity, greed, selfishness & envy. A monster killing the woman you love was bearable, but losing your brother to humans made you lose a bit of your humanity and your human heart froze.
+ Resistance against cold
+ Attribute towards cold
- Loss of humanity (You are what lurks in the shadows at night, humans have a instinctual fear against you, may be overcome by great willpower.)
Can be evolved.
Title(s)Name:Calamity escapeeRank:1
Description:
For escaping a calamity you've gained an increase in luck.
Falling Snow: yepp it's rated 18 for a reason. And before anyone comments, Yes I took the titan from attack on titan. I just thought they were the most disgusting creatures I've ever seen.