The boy was exhausted beyond measure but an unknown surge of energy was supporting his beaten body up on his feet.

Similarly, the dark rat was swaying unsteadily on its three limbs even though it was positioning itself for a pouncing attack.

“Yeah Its actions are….slow and wobbly. There’s no way it’s still okay.”

The rat channels its energy into its fangs in preparation for a bite while he concentrates his aura throughout his body, ready to react to any slight movement.

Immediately its aura spikes and it lunges, its speed betraying the extent of the damage it has endured.

Despite the boy’s own injuries, the bubbling energy inside him propels his body away from the snarling bite.

But the rat doesn’t stop and quickly bursts into a second lunge, following his dash.

He sees the incoming open gape of fangs in slow motion and sidesteps out of the way with a controlled burst of red and gold energies in his legs, gracefully gliding over to the rat’s right side as it bites the empty space in front of it.

It wasn’t just his imagination. In spite of his exhaustion and lack of food and water, he was faster than before.

There was no doubt the rat had grown weaker but there was definitely a boost in his own strength and speed as well.

“What’s going on…Why am I..!”

His thought gets interrupted by a swipe of the rat’s right forepaw aiming for his head.

In his perception, the attack is coming at a marginally slow pace, affording him the opportunity to react with enhanced speed while the claw is in mid-swing.

He easily avoids the swipe by dashing back, but he hadn’t paid attention to where he was stepping. His left foot gets caught on a gray rat’s decapitated head, causing his body to lurch uncontrollably.

The boy loses his balance, falls backward, and hits his head on the floor as his high-speed momentum rolls his body backward.

The dark rat bares its fang at this unexpected opportunity, its snarl seeming more like a grin. It leaps after the tumbling boy, channeling all energy into its forelimbs as it flies through the air.

Just as the boy manages to recover on to his feet the rat lands on top of him, pinning him down with its energized forelimbs, almost knocking the wind out of him.

“FUCK this is the one thing I was trying not to let happen!”

Finally having him within its grasp again, the rat quickly adjusts the position of its forepaws so they are bracing against his chest while it channels energy into its fangs to tear into his throat.

Gathering enough energy, it lunges for his throat with its fiery jaws but they never manage to reach his neck.

The rat’s eye almost pops out of its socket as the boy manages to hold its head in place with both hands, blazing red aura emanating from his entire body.

He had stopped the dark rat in its tracks with his own strength.

It tries to push forward, its jaws hungrily snapping close to his throat but his arms don’t budge at all.

Feeling its brute strength fail it attempts to push his arms out of the way using its own forelimbs but the boy grips onto the skin on its head as best as he can.

The tug of war between the two lasts for a couple of minutes as the rat tries to bite his neck while he pushes its head away.

Both of their red auras flash wildly, reacting to their straining and struggling attempt to overpower the other.

However, unbeknownst to the rat, the boy’s aura was growing in volume and density with every passing moment.

A clear winner was emerging out of this contest of strength.

If the rat had the ability to speak language, then right now it would be screaming “HOW” as it felt its head sway back from his strength.

Despite the perfect positioning of its forelimbs, the boy’ torso was beginning to rise up no matter how much it tried to pushed him down.

“I don’t know how but it seems I’ve gotten stronger. As strong as the rat physically or even more.”

He was feeling the full brunt of the rat’s strength, but his struggle now was nothing compared to before.

Peering at the rat’s open gape in front of him, he spots a few cracked fangs on its lower jaw.

“…..I can use this.”

His face breaks into a smile as he channels most of his energy into one arm, concentrating his aura. Then he lets one hand off the rat’s head, holding it in place with just a single arm, and quickly grabs a cracked fang inside its mouth.

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Looking at the wide-eyed rat, he says.

“Try biting without this, you rat fuck.”

Before snapping the cracked fang, breaking it in half.

The dark rat jolts away from him, letting out a loud squeal as black blood spills out of its open mouth.

While its writhing in pain the boy swiftly gets back on his feet, more than a little puzzled by what was happening.

“I just overpowered it completely…how?”

He doesn’t get enough time to ponder though. Seeing him getting back on his feet the rat overcomes its pain through sheer rage and rushes in to slam him down with its right forearm.

He easily avoids the downward slam with a light sidestep, his eyes examining the colors of the flowing energy enveloping the rat’s body.

Its aura moves and concentrates over its left forearm, signaling that another swipe was coming.

And that is exactly what happens, using its left forearm the rat delivers a horizontal swipe. targeting his head but since he already knew about the coming attack, he not only avoids it by jumping up but kicks the rodent under its snout, easily breaking through its barrier.

The rat tumbles on its injured side but quickly rolls upright, albeit a little dazedly.

“…I can see all of its movements….it seems so slow.”

In the boy’s perception the rat’s movements had grown slow, unsteady, and predictable. He didn't know how it was possible, but since he was currently winning, he wasn't going to let it bother him too much.

The dark rat’s blood red eye seemed to glow with rage as the aura enveloping its body swirled aggressively, turning to a deep red color.

Raising his arms with clenched fists, the boy makes a fighting stance in response.

“Given how dark its aura is getting this damned rat is about to go all in with its attack. Time to end this.”

With a burst of speed that defied its missing limb, the rat rushes into him for what initially seemed like a body tackle but its aura said otherwise.

The boy stayed still, letting the rat charge its feint and waited for its real attack.

Just before colliding, the rat leaps over him and brings both forearms down for a powerful plunging slam.

He sidesteps out of the way, feeling the blowing air from the strike flow through his hair.

Using the momentum from its jump, the rat lands into a crouching position before diving toward him with a straight spring.

As it soars through the air, it channels energy into its right forelimb, warning the boy where its next attack will originate.

Getting within striking range it swipes its right forelimb toward his torso, its fast motion blurring the limb into a lashing dark whip.

In response, the boy dashes toward the rat.

Ducking under the fast swipe he sneaks underneath it while it’s in the air and delivers a blazing uppercut into its soft belly.

The blow tears through its barrier and the force of the impact bends its body into an upside-down V.

Then, not wanting its body to fall on him he quickly dashes back out from underneath, letting it slam down to the floor.

Black blood spurts out of the dark rat’s mouth as it struggles to rise up to its feet after this devastating blow, all three of its limbs trembling from pain and effort.

Taking slow and deliberate steps, the boy walks to the rat’s front facing side.

It glares at him as he comes into view.

As if forgetting its pain, it growls at him, baring its blood-coated fangs.

“That’s right rat, here I am.”

Abandoning all strategy and tactics, the rat’s aura explodes with a surge of energy as it springs forward with open jaws, wishing to bite him in two with all of its heart.

It was the exact attack the boy had been waiting for.

He tilts his body out of the way of the incoming bite and wraps his arm over its extended neck, placing it in a headlock.

The rat immediately starts struggling to break free.

Using the strength of its entire body, it pulls away from him, aiming to squeeze its head out of the grip of his arm.

But the boy holds firm, his aura whirling and blazing around his body in a fierce red haze. The volume of his aura continuously expands, outgrowing the rat’s own fiery aura and burning brighter.

Seeing its strength fail miserably, for the first time since the start of this fight the dark rat feels a pang of fear in its heart.

Its rage gives way to panic as it uses both forelimbs to push against the boy’s torso to squeeze its head out of the lock but it was too late.

Concentrating all flowing energy throughout his entire body for his final attack, the boy’s spiking aura swells outside his body.

Sensing its own imminent end, the rat thrashes wildly inside his grip.

Feeling the overwhelming power course through his body, hecloses his eyes and loosens his knees. Then, using the power of his lower back and upper body he suddenly tilts back while holding the dark rat’s neck.

The rat’s barrier flashes a bright blue light against his blazing aura as it strains to protect its neck from his exerted pressure.

The barrier holds out for a couple of seconds before shattering and the boy hears a sharp *Crack* come from inside its neck.

The rat’s body instantly goes limp in his arms and its aura slowly evaporates away.

The boy drops the now dead rat’s black head as white mists flows out of its bloody mouth. A big chunk of the mist seeps into him as he stands blankly.

The flowing aura around his body jumps higher as the wisp flows in, increasing the flow with even more energy.

“I…I…won.”

As soon as the thought crosses his mind, all power leaves his body and he slumps down to the floor. His vision begins to fade away as blackness overtakes the edges of his sight. The aura around his body recedes back into his body.

His limbs feel light and numb as if they were broken.

The feeling was eerily similar to the death he had experienced back on earth.

“Am….I….dying…?”

It wouldn’t be odd if that were the case.

He had pushed himself too far.

It had been over a day since this child body had eaten or drunk anything and now, he had pushed it far past its limit.

He had no information on how the glowing auras and energies functioned. Maybe he had used too much energy.

Pondering on what was happening to his body while sitting beside the dead body, he spots something in his periphery.

Lightning snaps inside his synapses as he remembers the total number of red dots on the map.

“There were eighteen total rats…I killed twelve with my own hands…..the dark rat killed one too so that makes it thirteen and I killed the dark rat right here which means fourteen……there was one that was passed out on the floor with the broken jaw…..fuck there’s three left.”

He looks toward the unconscious rat and finds it missing from its spot.

Alarmed at its disappearance he attempts to get back to his feet, trying to channel energy into his legs while looking around frantically.

Scanning the chamber, he finds the gray rat with the loose open broken jaw slinking away toward the dark upper right corner of the chamber.

As he finally manages to complete his gradual ascent to his feet with his tattered body and limbs feeling like lead, three dark rats step out of the shadow of the corner and into the light.

The boy looks at the dark group around the single gray rat, a single thought passing through his mind.

“Yeah, no doubt about it, picking a fight with the rats was a bad fucking idea.”