Once Kaian noticed the building his mood immediately got better.

[Maybe there are people inside?] he asked while rushing in.

However, he was still a snail so he didn't move much.

[Vexi, Human.]

Kaian transformed and ran towards the building.

As he got closer, it revealed itself a bit more. It had a flat roof, two pillars in front of the entrance which didn't have a door, but was rectangle shaped and was built entirely from stone bricks. It looked more like a crypt or a tomb than a house. But Kaian was in a different world right now, maybe they had a different architecture style.

Kaian walked up the few stairs leading to the entrance at which point he decided to transform into a snail, just to be sure.

"Vexi, Snail."

As soon as he passed through the opening, a blueish, water-like substance fell from the top and blocked the exit. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there and rapidly approached Kaian.

He only had enough time to curse a bit before getting enveloped by the liquid. Thankfully, it seemed like it was meant for a being with a larger size and a different build because Kaian could hold his breath for a pretty long time as a snail and even though the liquid sucked out air out of his lungs it was at a very small pace.

The creator didn't build a defense system against snails, such a trivial mistake.

After approximately an hour, the water started evaporating and Kaian finally emerged. He quickly checked his shell for any scratches or cracks but it was pristine. It seemed that his shell didn't just look like a rock but was as hard as one too, even harder, most likely since he got thrown around quite a bit. Even a stone would have some scratches.

Despite the shell's status, his body started hurting anyway, it appeared like the water wasn't so simple after all.

[Vexi, human.]

Kaian quickly changed and after checking whether he could change again, there was a cooldown of 30 minutes. That was very surprising, he could've sworn he was fine. Before he could think about it further, a puppet-like creature appeared before him. They both stared at each other for a while.

Kaian broke eye contact first. He couldn't continue the contest for he realized that it didn't have eyes. The puppet started moving, slowly, like a rusted gear starting to work again. This time window gave Kaian enough time to ready himself and recover the loss of morale he suffered after losing the staring contest. How could he win against someone without eyes?

Kaian took a combat pose, his few hours of training he got in elementary school would come useful. This was unlike the fight for vexastone as his mind worked perfectly fine and he wasn't consumed by rage. The bad news was that his puppet wasn't either, nor was it hurt from previous battles. At least it seemed to be too old for it to work perfectly. A small advantage. Yay.

Kaian slowly started closing on the puppet, which reacted by copying his move. As they neared each other, Kaian threw a punch, aiming at the puppet's chest. The puppet blocked it seamlessly. When Kaian's fist hit the arms of the puppet, he felt like he punched a melon covered by a plastic bag. Don't ask how he knew that feeling.

The puppet took advantage of Kaian's failed attempt and managed to hit him on his extended hand.

"Argh!" Kaian grunted and backed up while holding his hand, being aggressive didn't work... again. The puppet didn't pursue Kaian but stayed in place, which was surprising. Kaian took advantage of this and waited for his pain to subside before engaging again.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

This time he approached the puppet and stood there, waiting for it to attack. But it didn't, it was standing menacingly, unmoving. Kaian decided to attack after 5+ minutes of waiting; he wouldn't get anywhere like that. He couldn't approach it like the last time, how about doing a feint? And so Kaian "punched" out with his left arm. The puppet moved to block it. Kaian's left fist stopped midair and he swung his right at the, now unguarded, enemy.

BLAM

The puppet staggered slightly and his eyes started glowing red. It started attacking. Kaian defended himself and threw a few attacks of his own, however the fight was in a stalemate and Kaian's body started to hurt pretty badly from all the hits taken. He tried to retreat just like the last time but it didn't work.

The puppet was still targeting him. Kaian tried thinking about what he could do but it was pretty difficult to think while fighting. Therefore Kaian defaulted to his trump card - Vexastone. He jumped away from the puppet and his hand slid into his pocket, touching the stone. The puppet bent his body, very differently than before and Kaian could feel that receiving this hit would have drastic consequences.

The puppet threw the punch. Time felt like it slowed down. The attack was like a sweep of whirlwind coming from the left. Kaian didn't have enough time to crouch.... But he didn't need to.

[Vexi, snail] he thought, his body immediately changing into a snail and his antennae eyes looking up.

The punch passed by where his body used to be, evoking a gust of wind and a sharp sound.

[Vexi, human]

Kaian readied himself in the process of transforming, making his right hand a fist and lowering it. He didn't even finish transforming before he threw an insanely strong uppercut at the puppet. It had no idea what happened and even if it did, it wouldn't be able to react.

CRACKK

Kaian's attack connected. He could feel something like a bone breaking under his fist and the puppet left the floor, flying with its head thrown back.

Slam

It fell on the floor, a liquid similar to the water that nearly drowned snail-an, leaking from its head. Kaian bent over, breathing heavily, this was the most intense moment in his life so far. It felt so liberating too! Before he could rejoice more, however, vexastone started glowing.

"Huh?"

Kaian took it out to look at it but it had already stopped glowing.

"Didn't that also happen when I was back on Earth? After I beat up that dude?" he asked himself, ignoring that he didn't just beat up that guy.

"It also transmitted the words to me at that time, does this mean that it acknowledges me more or that it grew stronger?"

"Hmm, it happened after i killed that puppet, so does it get stronger by killing?"

As if to prove him wrong, the puppet slowly stood up, the liquid that was spilled on the ground gone. Either evaporated or went back into the puppet.

That didn't matter, though, it was time for battle, again. And this time let's do it without getting hurt that much. Kaian grinned, forgetting all his questions. Winning was fun.

POV: Nell

"JARREN, ARE YOU THERE?! YOU OKAY?" Nell shouted. He was deeply regretting inviting his friend to meet up right now. Everything seemed to be okay before he entered Casey's. Nobody was there.

"Alright, that's weird" Nell thought at the time.

While that seemed off, he didn't think much of it, whose first thought would be that they were lured somewhere by a magic stone? Nell waited for a bit until he felt the calling. It was weak, like it didn't actually want Nell to come close to it that much, like someone else already did and it was just calling out for the sake of protocol.

"Oh no..... Did Jarren listen to this suspicious voice and go there?!" he thought as he started running towards the place. He felt like there was an arrow pointing him in the right direction in his mind. So he ran and ran. Finally he noticed something, a person laying on the ground! No, a body, a deceased body.

Nell's pupils shrunk. He started breathing faster and trembling. He wanted to run away, he wanted to never think of this again. Then he thought of Jarren. He couldn't just leave him in there, what if he got hurt? How could he just abandon a lifelong friend like that? Nell gritted his teeth and moved towards the corpses, the voice in his head having fallen completely silent.

The corner blocking his view was removed and Nell's eyes witnessed the horror, tens of bodies laying on the asphalt, surrounded by houses like a prison. Only two ways were leading to this spot, the one Nell used and the one directly opposite to it. Speaking of which, there was some kind of movement in there, could he be mistaken? Nell was about to investigate when he noticed a piece of armor in the middle of the bodies. It was black like the night, blue and red liquids flowing across it, meeting in the middle where a purple star shape lay.

Nell was enchanted the moment his eyes noticed this wonder. He immediately ran towards it, lifting the dark helmet into his hand. It was light, soft and tough. Unlike any metal or material on Earth. Nell lifted it up even more, looking into the helmet and it looking into him. Suddenly a skull fell from the inside, shattering into pieces as it touched the ground.

Urgh

Nell vomited on the bodies, which made him feel even more sick. He conveniently ignored them when approaching the armor, but that couldn't be done anymore. Thankfully, his nausea got interrupted by the sound of police sirens in the distance. He panicked, he wanted to keep the armor but the police were coming!

Out of nowhere, a crazy thought emerged in his head. What if he wore the armor? It made no sense, wouldn't help him in any way and was generally dumb. However, the moment it appeared it wouldn't leave his mind, taking root there. Nell took a deep breath, steeled himself and started wearing the armor. The bones spilled from the holes like waterfalls and shattered into thousands of pieces.

Nell first put on the chest plate followed by the shoulder pads, arm pieces and gauntlets. Then he put on the leggings and footwear. Lastly he put on the helmet, covering his vision and making him look badass. When the set got assembled, Nell's body got filled with incredible power. He felt like he could break mountains, shatter seas and disintegrate countries by himself.

In spite of that, his body started falling, his knees gave way and he dropped on the ground, gasping for breath. It was too strong for him...

Nell was about to die from the pressure when the armor started glowing, first the left part shined blue and second the right part shined red. The colors combined into purple, just like the star on his chest and space around him started breaking. Nell fainted.

...

He opened his eyes to see the inside of an empty castle. The armor no longer pressured him. Nell felt like it was breathing calmly and what happened before was a panic attack because it didn't have enough oxygen.

Nell exhaled in exhaustion and confusion. He blinked and a man appeared in front of him.

"Ah, Master, you're back. How was the trip to a different world?" the man spoke.

"Wha-?"