Seth’s head rocked back as his consciousness returned to the mortal realm. Dim outlines of his surroundings were lit by the purple tinted vision of True Sight. For a moment, he had forgotten he was still in Rulik’s pit, so the wave of stench that once again assaulted his nostrils caused him to retch anew.

Christ, I need to get out of here. He grumbled before pinching his nose.

But before he could leave, there was one thing still on Seth’s agenda. After tying a new rag across his face, Seth turned to the leftover remains of the old monarch that he has slain. ‘Remains’ was a generous term, as after he had used Plunder, there was nothing more than a shriveled husk left over. The corpse’s abuse was not yet finished though, as Seth could still sense the faint aura of Rulik’s anima still waiting to be claimed.

He didn’t immediately go to use Anima Thief though, as there were some hiccups that he was worried about. For one, Rulik had been a tier eight beast, meaning that his anima was on a level that Seth wasn’t sure he even dared to meddle with. He remembered the first time he had tried to steal the anima of an Xtrey Hound while still at tier one. It had ended favorably, but it had been a feat only achievable through the endless mass of Fouler animas he had stored up beforehand.

Unfortunately for Seth, not only did he not have an army as backup, but the anima was four tiers above him. Also, the anima was one not in the Configuring Stage like himself, so Seth had no idea what to expect. To make matters worse, Rulik had apparently been a shaper, and the last two times Seth had attempted to steal a shaper’s anima, he had failed.

Something did feel different about this time though, so Seth did have a spark of confidence in the endeavor, even if it was miniscule. As he approached the corpse once more, Seth felt a palpable pressure surrounding the husk. Before he could even wonder what had caused the change, he was hit with what felt like a mental wave full of contempt. Finally, Seth realized that the anima sitting before him was actually the vestiges of Rulik’s being, meaning that the anima still had some amount of sentience left over despite Rulik being dead.

The weird thing was… Seth didn’t really feel threatened despite the obvious rebellion of the leftover monster. Reaching a hand forward, he felt more and more waves of rage, bloodlust, and desperation roll over him like a hurricane. Seth could feel it though. He knew that the anima was still bound by the actions of its owner. This meant that no matter how much it wanted to fight Seth, to fight it’s fate, it had no way of opposing the little tier four shaper even with the insurmountable gap in power.

His confidence swelling, Seth grinned as he activated Anima Thief, causing the rest of the body to dissipate into dust. Like a floodgate opening up, a torrent of black oil erupted from the dust, bigger and more volatile than any he had ever seen before. As the mass began formulating into a most terrifying version of Rulik’s prime, Seth noticed that the anima was almost completely corporeal. To him, it felt like the monarch’s anima was only a small step away from being truly tangible, something that felt like it held some sort of weight in the grand scheme of things.

A few moments later, the roiling storm of onyx energy formed into a huge nightmare of a monster that towered over Seth. The previously milky white eyes and blank features became a mask of razor sharp teeth and cold red eyes. It was like Rulik had been revived and rewound in time, leaving only a being of terror and incomprehensible might.

Suddenly, the beast let out a mighty roar before charging him. Seth instinctively raised his hands in defense only to be left in surprise as the hulking figure disappeared in a storm of darkness that was drained into the various spots of black vortex on Seth’s person.

The young shaper grimaced in pain as the pieces of Presence of Doom began heating up to a boil. Bracing himself, Seth decided to wait it out as the searing sensation started to level off, leaving him covered in sweat. Reaching his fingers up to brush his nose, he pulled his hand away only to find a large smear of black blood dripping down his palm. A brief checked showed that his ears and eyes had also bled generously during the induction of Rulik’s hefty anima.

Regardless of the uncomfortable experience of absorbing the high tiered anima, Seth couldn’t help but feel elated as he felt a new surge of power run through his entire being. It was so strong that even though the pain was gone, Seth felt cramped as his body could barely constrain the influx of the monarch’s energy.

With a thought, the node below his throat opened up to pour the Concept of Resonance through his cells, allowing his body to resonate with the power and adapt to it at an astounding rate.

********

Seth finally opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity. Although the process wasn’t near instantaneous like when he used it to handle a tier up, Seth still felt like the concept flowing through him was saving days, possibly weeks in meditation that he would’ve had to do to consolidate all of the unrestrained power of the tier eight monster.

Now he felt like a new man, though his limbs were a bit stiff; proof that he had been standing still resonating with the energy for a long time. He noticed there were of course some new notifications waiting for him, but he ignored them and instead checked the time. He let out a sigh of relief as the clock only showed he had been in the pit for two days, meaning that he hadn’t lost any significant amount of time that could’ve been better spent in the next dimension.

Well, honestly I don’t think there could’ve been any better way to spend my time. He thought with a stupid grin on his face as he excitedly opened up his notifications and ability screens. He could feel Rulik’s anima inside his Anima Reservoir; the new, much less effective version of Anima Abyss, so Seth was anxious to find out what kind of boost the ancient monster would provide.

-Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima stolen.

-Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima can be slotted into the sub-aspect: Anima Prison.

-Slotting a tier eight anima into Anima Prison will permanently alter the aspect ability: Anima Prison.

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-Would you like to slot Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima?

Seth went to immediately approve the prompt, but stopped as he realized the language was different than the last time he had tried to slot animas into his weapon. The only reason he hesitated was because of the word ‘alter’. The last time any of his abilities had been altered was when Gaia had fucked with him, although this one was only on an aspect ability while she had changed his actual aligned ability, Presence of Doom. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread at the use of that specific language.

Seth suddenly let out a scoff as he smacked himself in head with disgust and annoyance. I’m seriously going to let a bit of vocabulary stop me from getting stronger? Don’t be a fucking pussy man!

Biting his lip, he mentally assented with forced concentration.

- Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter anima has been slotted, Shade Predator anima deposited back into Anima Reservoir.

-The aspect ability: Anima Prison has been altered! Anima Prison can now also use abilities that the anima’s previous owner used due to the alteration!

Anima Prison:

-The item can use the power of the anima it holds. (Current Inhabitant: Rulik, Disciple of Slaughter (Tier Eight), Current Ability: Slaughter Sense)

Once more, Seth was beset by a huge wave of agony as his abilities were altered. An itching sensation also burrowed into his ears, nose, eyes, and skin. But as quickly as the pain came, it was gone just as fast. Seth inhaled deeply, only to regret it as a new, more distinct wave of stench invaded his nostrils.

With his eyes watering, Seth fought back the putrid scent, noticing with interest and a bit of annoyance that his sense of smell was sharper than before. Not only that, but through his tears he could also see through the heavy darkness that was constant throughout the deep pit. Beforehand, he had navigated around using the purple outlines provided by True Sight, but now, his gaze seemed to better sense the sparse lighting in the lair, giving him a dim but visible layout of his surroundings.

Sensing a trend, Seth also snapped his fingers next to his ears, causing a slightly painful ring of noise to echo through his brain. It seemed that his newest ability gained from Rulik’s anima naturally heightened all of his senses. Well duh, it’s called ‘Slaughter Sense’. He thought.

He thought about taking another couple minutes to cycle his Concept Moon of Resonance, but decided against it, as he REALLY wanted to get out of the horrid smelling pit. Ten or so minutes later, Seth found himself back above ground, a few hundreds meters away from the caustic pond and horrible smell.

After a moment of thought, Seth decided to settle into his old meditation technique that Blair showed him. Slowly moving through the forms allowed him to still his mind; a much needed action in the face of his recent confrontations with not one but two ancient beings. The meditation was also required for him to attain some aspect of rest.

For he had not slept one single time since the end of the group challenge.

********

The Sckriz’Ul dashed through the dark swamp, eager to find it’s next victim. It’s thin body ignored most trees as it simply phased through them using it’s racial ability. Since all the powerful beasts that spoke in strange tongues left, the Schriz’Ul had been undefeated in the entire city that it previously resided in. This was why the monster was currently venturing deep into the swamp that had bordered their city for so long, as it could no longer find any worthy prey back in it’s own territory.

So far, the prey had been laughably weak and too reliant on their own bestial instincts to beat the Sckriz’Ul’s superior phasing ability. There had been a couple so far that left the monster in a partially injured state, but now it was completely healed and of course victorious over the clearly inferior beings. This was especially true after it had successfully killed a snake-like monster with a particularly weird aura that made the Sckriz’Ul feel instinctively afraid. It was on the border of the swamp though, so of course the monster used it’s all-powerful abilities to slay the snake, resulting in the Sckriz’Ul gaining a significant boost in power.

It could feel that it now exuded a similar aura to the snake it had killed, but the Sckriz’Ul couldn’t figure out the incredibly complex cosmic truth that connected it’s gain in power to the new aura. The Sckriz’Ul did not understand what had caused the abrupt gain in strength, but it was not complaining as it tore through the rest of the area, killing everything in it’s path to try and gain another spontaneous rise in power.

This trend continued on for a couple days with the monster finding no beast strong enough to face it. The Sckriz’Ul traversed deeper into the swamp, entering a section that seemed to reek of death. Finally, a new strand of aura was found, and it seemed to belong to a creature the Sckriz’Ul had not came across before. The monster let out a grating shriek that was obviously an expression of happiness at finding a new victim to stalk. The Sckriz’Ul shot through the swamp, using it’s phasing ability freely in an effort to find it’s prey as soon as possible.

Within moments, the strand turned into a thick haze, and the monster’s razor sharp claws clanged together with anticipation. Finally, the monster caught sight of it’s prey, but suddenly the creature stopped in place. An instinctual fear wracked through it’s body, causing it to freeze in place and halt it’s advance. The feeling was different than when the Sckriz’Ul had first seen the snake at the beginning of the swamp, but it was no less overpowering.

The monster could tell that this new creature’s aura was within the same strength level as itself, but the taste of it’s presence was something that still warranted some amount of caution. Instead of going the normal method of rushing prey, the Sckriz’Ul felt a strange urge to use it’s best technique: Phase Stealth. It was a skill that the monster almost felt sorry to use, as the creature was just sitting still on a branch, seemingly ignorant and unalert. It’s eyes even seemed to be glassy and bland, making the monster question why the creature had such an unnerving presence.

Despite it’s observations, the Sckriz’Ul still followed it’s bestial instincts, approaching the resting prey with a slow but undetectable march. Even if it usually phased through trees with abandon, that didn’t mean the monster was unable to climb up the large tree that it’s prey resided on, as it’s lengthy claws were easily able to penetrate the bark, allowing it to slither up the tree in silence. It didn’t take long before the Sckriz’Ul was directly behind the semi-furry creature with the blank eyes.

After one final check to see if any other beasts were in the area, the monster fully extended it’s claws and even activated it’s most powerful combat ability that caused the tips of it’s bodily weapon to be tainted with darkness. Unable to control itself any more, the Sckriz’Ul pounced, it’s claws aimed directly for the prey’s open back.

********

“So that’s how it works.” A surprised voice said as a blast of crimson blood showered all over the purple bark of the large tree.

The corpse that used to be a Sckriz’Ul was now spread out all over the floor of the swamp, as well as splattered on a multitude of trees. It seemed that the monster had thought it could sneak up on him, though he didn’t know why it had even tried given the fact that the tree he was on creaked loudly every time the long nails of the monster was pulled from the bark.

Even without that handicap, the Sckriz’Ul truly had no chance of beating Seth, as he had discovered a small aspect of his new Slaughter Sense ability. It seemed that other than the enhanced senses the ability gave him, he also had some passive sense of life around him. Even with the stealth skills of the Sckriz’Ul, it had been for naught as he had clearly felt it’s presence the second it had come within twenty or so meters of him.

“I mean that is a pretty cool aspect, but is that it?” He sighed with a note of disappointment.

Piercing the stealth ability of a tier four monster was a pretty good passive skill provided by the old power of Rulik’s, but Seth had expected more of a tier eight’s ability.

Maybe it’s about time I start up a little experiment.