The blood, hot and sticky, dripped from my newly sprouted wings, a visceral counterpoint to the thundering {Enhanced Bloodlust} still raging in my veins. The roar of the beasts lessened. They hadn't stopped coming, but at least they were fewer. My heightened senses, now fully engaged, painted a detailed, horrifying picture of the encroaching horde.
"They're coming!" Akai's voice was a desperate shriek in my head, laced with a fear that echoed my own. He was a ten-year-old, caught in a nightmare I'd written.
I ignored him, focusing on the sensory overload. The rustle of leaves, the damp earth trembling with heavy footsteps, the chilling whisper of something unseen. My vision, now sharp and clear, caught the last monstrous forms breaking through the tree line.
First, a monstrous six-legged bear, its fur matted with dried blood and leaves. Its eyes, the size of dinner plates, glowed with a malevolent red light, fixed solely on me. Its claws, long and sharp, scraped against the forest floor as it lumbered forward, a growl rumbling in its chest like distant thunder. This wasn't a mere beast; it was a walking, breathing tank of muscle and aggression.
Second, a terrifyingly swift blur to my left. My eyes struggled to follow, but my [Perception] kicked in, sketching its outline even before my sight could fully register. It was a monkey that could go invisible, its movements silent. The only things that betrayed its presence were a ripple in the air and a faint distortion of the leaves. Its fangs glinted in the dim moonlight as it darted, an agile, deadly phantom.
And then, the final. Dank, metallic, and surprisingly sweet. A slow, agonizingly deliberate movement accompanied it. A three-meter-long snail, its fleshy body glistening with slime, emerged from the shadows. Its shell, a twisted coil scraped against the trees, leaving a trail of shimmering, corrosive residue. Its eyestalks, thick and pulsating, swiveled, eventually locking onto me with an unnerving, unblinking intensity. This wasn't just big; it felt ancient. And its sheer mass alone was a threat.
[Who would have thought that the first three beasts you noticed were the cream of the crop amongst this lot?]
"Shut it, system," I muttered, pulling {Two Of A Kind} from their tile forms. The sword shimmered, its blade humming, its crimson scabbard dropping away. The gun's core pulsed, a faint blue light in the encroaching darkness.
The bear charged first, a bellowing roar tearing through the air. Its six legs churned the earth, closing the distance with terrifying speed. I activated {Mirrored Rhythm} just as it launched itself, its massive paws aimed at my chest.
[---Skill: {Mirrored Rhythm} Activated. Duration: 10 seconds. +50% reaction speed, increased motion sync.---]
The world snapped into hyper-focus. The bear's charge, once a terrifying blur, slowed to a manageable pace. Its claws, arcing through the air, became visible, predictable. I twisted, flowing like water, and brought my sword down, not in a defensive block, but an aggressive, targeting strike. The blade sang as it bit deep into its exposed foreleg joint, a precise cut aimed at crippling its momentum.
The bear shrieked, its roar of fury turning into a bellow of agony. Its charge faltered, throwing it off balance. Black blood, thick and steaming, sprayed onto my face, igniting a fresh surge of the {Enhanced Bloodlust}. My {Demonic Resilience} thrummed, a warm itch beneath my skin as the minor claw marks from the previous wolf encounter sealed themselves.
But as the bear staggered, the monkey struck. I felt it before I saw it, a cold prickle of air behind my left shoulder. Its claws, impossibly sharp, aimed for my throat. My wings, reacting purely on instinct, snapped back, acting as a crude, bony shield.
SCRAAAPE!
The claws scraped against the hardened membrane of my wing, a sound like grinding stone. Pain flared, but the wings held. In the same fluid motion, still operating under {Mirrored Rhythm}, I spun, bringing the gun up. The monkey, momentarily stunned by its failed attack, shimmered into faint visibility, and then it showed its form. Black, white-eyed, and awfully small.
BAM!
A kinetic blast tore through its stomach. The monkey screeched, a sound like tearing silk, and shimmered out of existence again, a faint trail of black blood droplets marking its last known location. It wasn't dead, but it was wounded.
7 seconds remaining.
The colossal snail, meanwhile, was making its slow, inexorable advance. Its eyestalks twitched, tracking me. The air around it began to thicken, a corrosive mist rising from its slime trail. I could feel the very oxygen burning in my lungs.
"System! Activate {Castle of Bondage}!" I bellowed, knowing it was my only chance against something so massive, so slow.
I focused on the snail, picturing its immense form, its slow, lumbering approach. The castle, still pathetic in its physical manifestation, pulsed with unexpected power as I poured my will into it.
"Creator's Command!" I roared, directing it specifically at the giant snail. This was a Hail Mary. The snail wasn't explicitly 'created' by me in the same way Rael was, but it was my world, my beast.
A shockwave of pure authorial intent slammed into the three-meter-long snail. It froze. Its eyestalks, previously twitching, became still, unnervingly fixed on me. The corrosive mist around it halted its spread.
Now, for the insane part.
My eyes burned with a terrifying light. The {Creator's Command} made me "invincible," but the cooldown would be too much to bear. The risk was immense.
I stepped forward, right to the edge of the snail's glistening, slimy body. My sword, wreathed in a faint blue glow, pulsed in my hand.
"Castle of Bondage!" I commanded, grabbing it and throwing it directly at the snail's main sensory cluster between its eyestalks.
The sandcastle shimmered, then began to expand. Not outwards, but inwards. Like a hungry void.
The snail, still under the thrall of {Creator's Command}, didn't resist. Its massive, three-meter-long body began to be sucked into the shimmering void of the castle. It was a slow, agonizing process, its fleshy form compressing, contorting, then vanishing completely. The ground itself seemed to groan as its immense mass was pulled away.
POOF!
The sandcastle pulsed, then settled, a tiny, innocuous structure.
[---{Castle of Bondage} - Max capacity reached. Target: 1 Strong Beast (Giant Forest Snail).---]
A wave of exhaustion, so profound it made my knees buckle, washed over me. The {Enhanced Bloodlust} receded, leaving behind a profound sense of emptiness. My muscles screamed, my head throbbed, and the wound on my side, though regenerating, flared with renewed pain. The silence that followed the snail's disappearance was deafening.
2 seconds left on {Mirrored Rhythm}.
The six-legged bear, its leg still mangled, let out a guttural roar and lunged again, desperate. Its movements were slower now, hampered by its injury. I didn't hesitate. My sword moved with brutal efficiency, aiming for its exposed throat.
SCHLICK!
Black blood geysered as its roar cut off, bubbling into a wet gurgle. The bear slammed to the ground, its limbs twitching for a moment before it lay still.
Mirrored Rhythm ended.
The forest was eerily silent now. The monkey, wounded and terrified, had apparently fled. The air, no longer burning with corrosive mist, felt clean.
[---KILL COUNT: 4 (Boss Beasts eliminated)---]
[---KILL COUNT: 1000+ (Minor Beasts Eliminated through indirect effects and flight from combat)---]
I sank to my knees, panting, my wings trembling behind me. They were massive, leathery, and felt impossibly heavy. My hands, stained black with monster blood, shook.
"Yeah," I breathed, my voice hoarse. "I did."
I looked at my hands, at the black blood that clung to them. It wasn't just blood. It was the mark of my transformation, the stain of my choices. This was my life now. This was the monster I had become.
Rael… I hope you're happy, 'cause you just turned my mental state into mush.
The forest, usually teeming with life, was silent. Only the whisper of the wind through broken branches remained, a somber echo of the massacre I had just unleashed. I was alive. And I was changed. Permanently.
My wings, still spread wide, caught the first sliver of moonlight, shimmering with a dark, terrifying beauty. This was the first step. The first taste of power. And it was terrifying. And exhilarating.
Then, the tremors began. Not of fear, not of exertion, but deep, bone-weary exhaustion. My new wings, moments ago a source of thrilling power, now felt like leaden weights chained to my back, pulling me down. The black blood clinging to my {Hooded Armor} felt like a physical representation of the darkness seeping into my soul.
A wave of nausea hit me, swirling with the lingering scent of monster blood and pulverized earth. My vision, which had been so sharp, now flickered at the edges. My legs gave out without warning, and I crumpled back to the damp forest floor.
"I'm changing my identity. Keeping the name "Akai Varn" will only expose my siblings to danger." I said out loud, the weight of what I just did settling on me.
"I will not endanger them," I repeated, forcing the words out, each one a shard of glass in my throat. "They are safe. They need to stay safe. Away from... from everything."
I clenched my fists, black blood still clinging to my skin. "I will become stronger. Strong enough to keep this world from ever touching them again. But I will do it as someone else. As someone… worthy of that sacrifice."
My vision swam. The forest spun around me.
"My name… it will be Akai," I rasped, the beginning of the end. "But not Varn. Never Varn again. It will be… Akai Hashi."
Akai Hashi. Red End.
The irony was not lost on me. I was the author, the one who dictated ends. And this was the end of one life, and the brutal, blood-soaked beginning of another. A final, bone-deep tremor shook me. My wings gave a last, convulsive twitch, then folded heavily against my back. The forest floor rushed up to meet me. Darkness consumed me whole.