The axe shattered into pieces when it struck the neck. He did not know what happened, but he saw Riot glowing like a beacon. His limbs flew in the air, stitching itself back together.

And then a gust blew Chad back against the wall.

What is happening?

His question was answered when the gust died down. Riot stood in the middle of the room, his hair white, his eyes a pitch-black pool of ink. He stared at his blackened hands, testing its grip.

“Amazing.” He looked up at Chad. “This power that I have. I have never felt so powerful before!”

He smashed the metal counter in a clean two. He turned to look at Chad.

“It is time to show you the real Blow of Thor!”

The power that was emanating from him wasn’t normal. It wasn’t even coming from him. Chad sensed and turned to the origin of his newfound strength. The grimoire underneath the woman was giving the same eerie feeling that Riot was giving off.

“You…You didn’t.” Chad turned to the poor man. “You made a contract with the grimoire?”

“I did!” His voice boomed with power.

Chad felt nauseous. This poor man. “You are a fool. You will no longer be reincarnated when you die, you will be a prisoner of the grimoire.”

“The loli is mine! Also, I will defeat you and take back my waifu!”

Chad reached out in his item box, pulling out his strongest axe: the Mooncleaver. It was an axe made from the core of a dying moon, shaped just like a crescent moon. It was said it could cut the shadows into pieces.

This was no longer just about putting him out of his misery, this was now about protecting his wife and his children. It also meant sending him to whatever hellish world the grimoire would put him through.

“Come!”

Riot threw himself at him like a lion pouncing. The intense pressure came down upon Chad hard, he was having a tough time focusing. Chad swung his axe in an upward arc, ramming it deep within Riot’s chest.

A glob of blood left Riot’s open mouth, Chad finished his swing, blowing him through the prison and several walls behind it. Even after that, Chad could still feel that foreboding pressure. The good news was Riot did not know how to use his newfound power and that was Chad’s advantage.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

It was a battle of time. He had to kill him quickly.

#

He called it hide n seek, but it was anything but that. Dalton’s first thought was to escape. He knew just from their small bout that he was no match for the man. All that would result in confronting him was death.

But the Milkman had already taken care of that. Any exits and entry way were blocked, and short of being able to fly, Dalton was trapped here with the assassin.

His only option was to fight.

But his opponent was hiding within the rubble, his laughter echoed throughout the room. He continued to mock Dalton as he searched.

“No, no. Not behind there. I wouldn’t be caught hiding in such a small place.”

Dalton looked around, there was nothing above him where the Milkman could hide.

“Stop playing with me! If you want to kill me, just step out and fight me!” Dalton yelled.

“But that is exactly what I am doing. I am playing with you. Did you know a cat plays with its prey? It silently stalks its prey, it pounces upon it, bats it with its paws until it can no longer play with them. Then, it snaps their neck.”

“Are you saying you’re going to do that to me?”

As he talked, he kept on looking around, and kept his back pressed against the wall.

“Humans think they invented torture, but animals do it all the time. It is within their nature, and as such, it is in my nature to hunt and prey upon my targets.”

He saw something drop right beside him, he turned to see the Milkman wind up his club. Dalton didn’t have enough time to dodge it, but he hardened the blood in his arm and moved it to his head’s level to block the blow.

He was blown aside, smashing against the wall like fly. He fell to the floor like a rag doll, his arm had absorbed most of the impact, but it bent like a boomerang.

Dalton clasped his broken arm, pain shot up to his spine, and he cried out.

“What a beautiful sound.” The Milkman leaned against his giant club. “Clubs are simple aren’t they? Humans made a mistake by going to bladed weapons and then to guns. It’s too simple to kill someone with it, they are designed to kill someone easily. A club is humanity’s first weapon. It’s so simple yet barbaric. Killing you is going to bring me great joy, so please continue to sing for me.”

The club was over his head. Dalton leapt back, but the club caught his leg, crushing it flat. The sound of his pain rung like a bell. The Milkman drank it all in, a euphoric and shiny look plastered his face.

“Yes. That’s it. That’s it! Such a wonderful song you sing. Please, sing until the end. Sing for me!”

The blows broke his bones, but they were soft enough not to kill him. Dalton focused his mana in hardening his blood. It allowed him to bear most of the burden, but the pain he received was making it difficult to concentrate on flowing mana throughout his body. It was like breathing from a straw.

The club whacked him hard in the head. His vision bleeped out for a moment, and he was in the garden of ice pillars in his dreams. When he came to, he was staring at the ground, blood dripped from where he was struck.

Dalton looked up to see the club coming down again. He was back at the garden of ice pillars. He remembered a dream he had a while ago, where one of the pillars was glowing with the soft radiance of the spring sun.

The pillar that was glowing this time wasn’t the same one. It was the pillar furthest to the right.

And it was beckoning to him.

Dalton came to it like a moth to the flame.

As he reached out for it, his hand quivered with anticipation. He could feel a smile on his face grow extraordinary, even crazed. He heard a ding, like that of a game menu.

CLASS CHANGE – HERO

A wave of happiness hit Dalton as a hand grasped his own, as the pillar of ice melted.