《Luna Daemonium》


 Prologue 1: Before Change

    A/N: There will be 2 more prologues to come before the actual story begins. I don''t have the time to instantly write one chapter due to studies and well I think it wold be better with 3 prologues than one as each prologue showcases a distinct factor in the MC''s life and there is some defining of character to do. Hope you enjoy, tell me if you do or don''t feedback is always appreciated.


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    It was a starless night with only a red moon to light the dark and on a narrow trail snaking around a mountain which is called home, many flickering lights could be seen from the distance. Upon further inspection it could be observed that these flickering lights belonged to flame torches which lit the way for their owners, men and woman all in their middle age. These men and women had the eyes of someone placed in a trance and were walking at a slow rhythmic pace, almost to the point where another person may think they were zombies. At the forefront of the group an unconscious woman was being carried on a simple ply of wood. She was visibly the same age as everyone else but with a silent beauty none could speak of. Her jet-black disheveled hair obscured her face and reflected off the red moonlight shining onto it. She was unconscious and had various marks on her body, some showed signs of resistance while being placed whilst others seemed to be placed after she fell unconscious. Everyone, including the unaware beauty, wore rags for clothing and silently trod to the mountaintop.


    <hr />


    Meanwhile, near the base of the mountain a youth of around 13 years old could be seen running frantically up the mountain trail. He must¡¯ve been related to the persons from before, because he was dressed in rags just like they were. He carried jet-black hair and though his face was covered with mud and grime, one could see how handsome he was, he carried the silent beauty of the woman from before. He ran as fast as his little legs would allow him but the mountaintop seemed far too out of reach. However, he couldn¡¯t stop here as he was afraid of what his fellow villagers would do to his only remaining family member. Yes that is correct, the zombie-like humans from before were persons from his village and the woman being carried was his mother. His name was Ignis Nox and currently he was afraid of the unknown, the unknown being what would happen to his mother if he did not reach in time.


    <hr />


    -3 Hours Before Change-


    Ignis lived on the mountain side with his mother in a village called Thysia. This mountain was called Kuu Verta but was better known to Ignis as home. It was a rather peaceful place with not much happenings going about. He was told his father was a hunter that died while on a bear hunt. It wasn¡¯t the most honorable way to die but he didn¡¯t really care, at least he still had his mother. Ignis wasn¡¯t informed of any other relatives from his mother or the other villagers and he really did not care to know. Ignis was born and raised on Kuu Verta as a hunter by villagers that called themselves his father¡¯s friends. He was to provide the food for his family of only himself and his mother.


    Today, just like any other day, Ignis was out hunting for some game. He had stumbled across a wild deer and using his bow and arrow he swiftly and easily took down his dinner. The bow was his choice of a weapon, as Ignis was rather feeble bodied and using a brute weapon such as a sword or mace was too taxing for his little body. Ignis found it rather enjoyable to use the bow to just pass his time, though he did wish his body would have allowed him to pick up more weapons to adjust to any situation, after all an arrow will not always kill the prey and if that prey turned out to be a bear then you would most likely need to fight it in melee range after.


    <hr />


    -An Hour Before Change-


    Ignis was returning to his village when he noticed something strange, his usually noisy village had an unnerving calm over it. Not wanting to risk anything, Ignis took cover by some nearby brushes on the outskirts of the village and looked on to observe any abnormalities. He could find nothing out of the ordinary so far¡­that is until he looked through the window of one of the houses. He was astonished at what he saw, the bodies of 3 of the village children were ripped apart and strewn across the floor. Not being able to stand the sight, Ignis threw up his lunch.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.            After recovering from the shock, he heard a woman¡¯s scream in the distance, no that was his mother¡¯s scream! Hearing this he got up and ran towards the source of the voice only to be stopped by what he saw. All the adult villagers were carrying his mother¡¯s body off towards the path leading to the mountaintop.


    ¡°STOP!!!¡± Ignis shouted repeatedly until he realized that the villagers didn¡¯t even seem to care. Seeing this he nocked an arrow onto his bow and fired it at the nearest and only villager his arrow could reach at the moment. This villager was named Kail and was one of his late father¡¯s friends. Kail easily fell to the floor and died quietly¡­but the other villagers just continued walking like nothing happened! Not being able to reach anyone else with his bow, Ignis decided to dash forward and close distance between himself and his targets.


    On his way towards the villagers his ankle was suddenly yanked and Ignis flatly to the floor. His face and clothing hit the ground and dirtied his body. Looking to find the cause of his fall, Ignis was surprised to see Kail grabbing at him, arrow and all still lodged into his skull! Ignis quickly took out his small hunting knife from his pocket and repeatedly stabbed at the body until only a mess of a human remained. Ignis kicked the body off of him and continued his chase only to realize how long it took for him to get rid of Kail.


    <hr />


    -Present Time: Change-


    Cursing the dark of the night and his frail body, Ignis ran. After running hectically for the past 45 minutes, he finally reached near the top of Kuu Verta. Out of breath and out of energy he used his legs like a cripple, forcing his way to the top.


    When he arrived, what he found was the mass of villagers chanting in an unknown language and his mother being held up to the sky in the middle of Kuu Verta¡¯s peak. It seemed like the chant was coming to an end as it quickly accelerated in pace and volume. The marks on his mother body began glowing a light red. Due to the noise being made or maybe due to instincts his mother awoke. Seeing this Ignis reached his hand towards his mother as if to grab her hand which was a few meters away. As the chanting became louder and louder and the end seemingly approached the color of the marks grew in intensity. His mother¡¯s mouth moved as if to utter her last words, tears streaming down her face. Her mouth moved but the chanting drowned out her voice. He didn¡¯t need to hear the words to know what she said though, he instinctively knew it.         Seeing this, Ignis mustered enough energy to make a final dash towards her but right before he could move a bright red flash shun at the top of Kuu Verta.


    Ignis reflexively closed his eyes but when he reopened them what he saw was disastrous to say the least, everyone at the peak of Kuu Verta exploded. They looked like crimson flowers in bloom. In the background a Blood Moon could be seen shining upon the mountaintop as if to spotlight the massacre that took place. The Blood Moon quickly faded and returned to its silver glow as if it was somehow sated. He fell to his knees basking in the moonlight. The scene before him no more, all he could see and hear were his mother¡¯s final moments. Her disheveled hair, her clothes, the marks on her body, her eyes, the moon in the background, the villagers and her final words, ¡°I love you¡±.

 Prologue 2: Change

    A/N: Final piece of prologue coming right up, already mostly done and then we could get into the real story, though as I see it, it will still be more of an intro with how much I''ve though up. If I have a clear idea where I''m going with this? No, I just have to gist of it from a story idea I had from a few years ago. Have I ever written stories before? No I haven''t, this is my first attempt as it is obvious in my amateur writing style. Will I stop if no one reads or doesn''t like the story? It would be disheartening but no, if I held onto the idea for more than 3 years I don''t think someone else''s dislike would really affect me. Not sure if anyone would ever read this text since I am grateful if you even read past the first prologue but I just threw in some quick Q&A that persons might ask.


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    In the midst of the darkness, a boy around the age of 15 could be seen waiting patiently in a brush for his prey to fall into a trap. This boy was named Ignis Vox and it has been 2 years since his life changed. He now lives alone on the mountaintop of Kuu Verta not willing to move from the place his mother died.


    Using the ruins of his village, he took materials from various buildings until he was able to improvise a shelter for himself.


    For 2 years he has been living off of the wildlife found on the mountain and has been steadily honing his body. He vowed never to be powerless never again when the situation called for it. The once frail young man that boasted a face of silent beauty was nowhere to be seen. His body, which seemingly underwent a metamorphosis, now showed many muscular bulges and scars, the silent beauty now replaced by a ferocious allure.


    Since that fateful day 2 years ago, Ignis has always been a night hunter. Whatever happened 2 years ago, he did not know but what he did know is that it changed every living thing on the mountain, except for him. All the once docile animals were now replaced by beasts unlike any other. For example the deer in Kuu Verta now preyed on the meat of its fellow deer, even going to the point of eating its own fawn sometimes. Even the smallest of fishes on Kuu Verta were now dangerous eaters which could kill Ignis. He needed to hunt during the night though, because that was when the beasts came out from their dens to hunt. Ignis did not want to risk following a deer back to its cave, and encounter multiple enemies, during the day.


    Using the remaining tools and weapons from the now dead villagers, Ignis was able to meticulously train and use the sword, bow, spear, axe and a halberd, even though the halberd was just a decoration. He wasn¡¯t taught by any instructor so Ignis had to make do with what he had on hand, man-eating beasts and multiple near-death experiences. He developed an aggressive fighting style which he would use to overpower his prey, using every weapon and trap in his arsenal. His fighting style was, in one word, ¡°wild¡±.


    Due to the location of his village, he had not contact with civilization since the day of change. This has caused Ignis to become more of a beast than a man. The pupils of his eyes almost always dilated and looking like that of a beast and even the way he fights is like a beast, brutal and wild.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.            Describing how he killed the beasts would make it seem easier than it actually was. He would sometimes take an entire night to kill one deer, once he took two days straight to kill a mutated bear. After fighting the bear he almost bled to death and promised to never bite off more than he could chew if he lived.


    <hr />


    ¡°How long do I have to wait for an owl to come around?¡± Ignis questioned himself. He was getting tired of all the deer meat and he did not dare to challenge a bear again nor did he want to try his luck at the nearby pond. The fishes there were closer to the Lochness monster than actual fishes. He usually feasted on bird from time to time. They tended to be birds from other regions and therefore they weren¡¯t mutated¡­as yet. That was the unique feature of this mountain since that day, all life will eventually become destitute of self-control. Ignis observed it himself, he took in a stray dog which wondered up the mountain path during the day. Within the week the dog began to snap at him until it reached the point that the dog tried to kill him in his sleep. He never expected the dog to be alive for long anyhow so Ignis just looked at it as extra meat.


    ROAR!!! In the distance the sounds of battle could be heard. Of course in a forsaken mountain like Kuu Verta, the wildlife wouldn¡¯t only hunt for Ignis, after all he was a scrawny human with hardly any meat compared to their neighbor. Kuu Verta was literally transformed into a ¡°Dog Eat Dog World¡± within one night.


    Hearing the roar off in the distance, Ignis decided he would go observe the battle. Maybe he could scavenge something which would be of use. Anything from one of these mutated beasts could be of use, from their skin pelt for clothing to their claws for weapons.


    Arriving near the battle, he climbed upon an overarching tree branch and observed the battle happening within the forest opening. A bear and viper were fighting each other, it seemed the bear was winning with its sheer stamina and vitality but knowing the danger of the viper Ignis placed his bet that the bear would lose.


    After a while Ignis realized something was wrong, when the two beast fought they left many openings but somehow their opponent didn¡¯t utilize the opening in the defense as if trying to avoid something. Focusing his beastlike eyes Ignis discovered a faint silver shine in the midst of battle. This silver was in the middle of the bear and viper but he didn¡¯t notice due to it being the dead of night and the moon being blocked out by the clouds, not providing any assistance to his diurnal body trying to play nocturnal.


    Looking closely it could be seen to be humanoid in form. This instantly peaked Ignis¡¯ curiosity, these beasts seemed to be fighting over a rather interesting dinner. He quickly adjusted his positioning on the tree branch to get comfortable while he waits until the winner is determined. Of course he would save whoever the human was, he never had human company for 2 years, he was only 15 and would still feel lonely living secluded on a mountaintop after all. He was his only company and even his best friend for the last 2 years. Going insane was an understatement for Ignis right now. He would need to be placed in heavy psychiatric therapy if there was any hope remaining for him.

 Prologue 3: Meeting

    A/N: Sorry about the wait T^T My Internet provider decided I wasn''t worth their service yesterday apparently, had to wait till today to actually get my internet back. As always, feedback is appreciated, whether good or bad so I will know how I am doing. I don''t really know if this webnovel has readers or even any following but thanks if you are and sorry if I''m not good enough to meet your standards (?)


    <hr />


    -5 Hours Later||Meeting-


    Ignis had been observing for the past 5 hours and it would soon be dawn. Seeing this Ignis began to feel irritated.


    ¡°These f*cking beasts are taking so long to kill one another! Do I need to do it myself!?¡± he said to himself. He has been waiting patiently on the same spot but there seemed to be no progression in battle.


    Finally, as Ignis was about to give up and leave both beasts collapsed. His eyes lit up in joy. Now he can see what the big fuss was over!


    He got down from the branch and ran to the center of the clearing. There he found an otherworld beauty lying unconscious on the ground. The dirt seemed as if it wanted to obscure her beauty but to no avail her luster was too much. She carried the allure of an intellect and anyone could sense that. Her skin carried no signs of blemishes and it paled to the point of where one might question if she was a human. As if to complement her flawless skin she wore silver leather guards, a silver bow and most notably, silver hair.


    ¡°Silver obsession much?¡± he softly mumbled as if expecting her to hear him.


    Not even batting an eye to her divine looks, he swiftly swept her into his arms before he got ready to run off into the wild¡­but then he stopped.


    ¡°Wait¡­I came here for something else didn¡¯t I?¡± he finally remembered the main purpose of his trip.


    He quickly dropped the beauty from his arms¡­yes dropped he didn¡¯t really care if she was an intellect or carried the charm of the gods, right now he needed food and there were 2 unconscious maybe even dead beasts lying next to him, of course he would sate his hunger before his curiosity!


    Ignis took out his spear and moved towards the viper first. He would rather eliminate the larger threat that carried venom which could kill from the inside out instead of the bear that killed from the outside in. At a closer look, the viper would measure about 16 feet at full length and the bear was a hulking 8 feet in height. Both were obviously mutated by the mountain¡¯s curse.


    ¡°Seems the viper is just unconscious, good thing I checked her first¡± Ignis talked to himself.


    The spear easily sunk into the viper¡¯s body and then he followed to walk up to the bear and ensure it was dead. He couldn¡¯t use the bear meat otherwise he might risk ingesting some of the viper¡¯s venom from the meat and that was one chance he would not take, but that didn¡¯t mean that he couldn¡¯t use its pelt and claws.


    After taking care of the bear, Ignis threw the now dead viper and bear over his left shoulder and the silver beauty over his right shoulder and began the journey home.


    Maybe due to Ignis not caring or him not being in contact with humanity for the past 2 years he did not know, but he just threw a 8 kg viper and a 300 kg bear over one of his shoulder. That was a feat that could put any man to shame, especially since a 15 year old that was looking like a could break at any moment 2 years ago did it. Ignis blew all common sense out of the window and did not care one bit.


    <hr />


    -6 Hours Before Meeting-


    Currently above the clouds in the direction to Kuu Verta a fight, no more like a chase, was taking place. Flashes of yellow and silver could be seen streaking across the night sky. Even though to the world underneath it seemed that the clouds were blocking the moon, there actually wasn¡¯t any moon to be found. It was gone and so these flashes acted as the replacement for the night.


    ¡°Babe stop! I just wanna talk!¡± a handsome blonde haired youth of seemingly 19 years of age shouted out before firing a fireball¡­yes a fireball, from his hand at the fleeing silver flash.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you would be firing fireballs at me if you just wanted to talk Carne!¡± replied the fleeing silver flash.


    ¡°Well you don¡¯t want to stop ba¡­Woah! Calliste!¡± the blonde youth shot a fireball at the flash of silver called Calliste while he narrowly dodged an arrow aimed for the center of his brows.


    Yes, this silver flash was called Calliste and she was currently being chased by the blonde haired youth called Carne.


    ¡°What did I tell you about calling me babe!? I will make sure you lose your manhood next time you refer to me with that word!¡± Calliste followed up after she shot out her arrow.


    Hearing this Carne quickly took his 2 hands and covered his ¡°manhood¡± as if to protect it from another arrow, none came and his face just continued smiling as if he was playing a game of tag with a friend.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you Carne, back off!¡± Calliste¡¯s voice sounded from in front Carne.


    How were these two fighting atop clouds you might ask, well obviously they were flying¡­or well it looked like they were flying. What they were really doing was absorbing the quintessence otherwise known as essence (explanations later) in the air and using it to create an area of zero-gravity below the soles of their boots. This sounds easy but they must ensure that they keep the amount balanced under both soles so as to not misbalance or risk falling over while continuously expending essence to create a new area for movement.


    ¡°Well I¡­What!?¡± as he was speaking, a small streak of blood appeared on Carne¡¯s face. It was from the arrow he dodged before. When he dodged, it grazed the sides of his cheek causing some blood to flow out. Realizing his face was injured, his smile disappeared and suddenly he started gathering his essence at the palms of his two hands. It looked as if he was charging a Kamehameha. The essence took the form of fire at first but slowly it turned from burning red to an eerie white.


    Sensing this Calliste immediately started panicking, she knew Carne didn¡¯t take injuries to his face lightly. He took pride in his looks and she just desecrated it. She instantly dove into a nearby cloud to buy herself some time.


    ¡°You can¡¯t hide Calliste! You know this skill will never miss its target, only two fates await! Either it burn out before it kills you or you die before it burns out!¡± Carne shouted in anger. As he readied himself to fire the mass energy at Calliste when she emerged from the cloud, he was surprised to see simple wooden shield being held in her arms.


    ¡°What are you gonna use the shield for? Firewood!? Hahahaha¡± after saying this he shot the ball of essence at Calliste.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Well if you¡¯re going to use your Prestige Art (also explained later) then so will I!¡± Calliste replied as she held the wooden shield in front of her body. The shield began to glow a strong color of white and Carne¡¯s Prestige Art collided with Calliste¡¯s Prestige Art.


    ¡°Shit!¡± hearing what Calliste said made Carne astonished, he never saw Calliste¡¯s Pretige Art and just took it that she was too incompetent to have one, who would¡¯ve thought she was hiding it! Carne got ready to tackle her midair, but before he could a yellow and white explosion rung out and blew him off into the distance.


    The two Prestige Arts both cancelled each other out and with Calliste being so close the clash of two great powers, she received the most damage. After taking the blow head on she was shot into Kuu Verta, now below her after being chased out so far by Carne.


    <hr />


    -27 Minutes After Meeting-


    Taking Calliste¡¯s body, Ignis threw her onto his makeshift bed and proceeded to carry the viper and bear to his ¡°kitchen¡±. Even though it was called a kitchen, it was just a table and fireside which he setup outside of his house. He used water collected from a nearby stream for cleaning his food and bathing. Why not bathe in the stream? Well Ignis had a particular distaste for being eaten alive by any beasts in the river so he used this method of manually collecting one bucket at a time when he had to bathe or eat.


    ¡°Alright, finally got rid of the extra luggage¡± he thought to himself as he strolled back to where Calliste¡¯s body was resting.


    Inspecting her body he saw that her left arm was bent into a weird shape and slight burn marks were apparent on her skin and leather armor. Seeing this Ignis felt a bit of guilt now.


    ¡°Ummmm¡­Sorry?¡± he apologized to the unconscious Calliste as he remembered both times he dropped her.


    It was now dawn and the period of time Ignis usually rested as he only hunted at night and at most would eat at day.Not having anything o do, Ignis decided to seat himself on a wooden chair, or what was once a chair but now just its base remained. He placed the chair nearby Calliste and looked at her, as if to burn her image into his memory. Well it seemed like it but he was just curious, this woman was visibly 18 years in age and carried an allure that even Ignis couldn¡¯t ignore now. Before he had other priorities, but having nothing to do at the moment it was only a matter of time till he took notice of her charm.


    Tracing her figure with his eyes, he distinguished all qualities that stood out to him. Her face was a trap for any males by itself and her bosom would grab any sane man¡¯s attention. Her hips were in one statement ¡°carried no unneeded fat¡±. Calliste was eye catching enough to catch Ignis¡¯ attention, which by itself was an accomplishment. As he continued to trace her figure and be drawn into her charm he remembered her broken arm and took out some strips of cloth to tend to it.


    ¡°All done, hmmm¡­¡± finished tending to her arm, Ignis tied a simple knot and began staring at her face from up close.


    ¡°Her lips look really soft¡­I don¡¯t think it would hurt if I indulged myself a little, I just want to be repaid for my work saving her life¡­no wait, what?¡±. Ignis¡¯ inner devil and angel were having a little bout at this moment.


    ¡°Dig in!¡± the little devil coaxed.


    ¡°She is innocent!¡± the little angel retorted.


    ¡°Who cares, this is the first woman you¡¯ve met for the last 2 years! Who knows when you will meet another! Are you seriously gonna let this chance go!?¡± the devil fired back.


    ¡°She looks powerful! Do you really want to be on her bad side!?¡± the angel returned fire.


    ¡°He is speaking the truth¡­I don¡¯t even know when I might see another woman¡± Ignis concurred with his devil.


    ¡°Dig in my child, don¡¯t worry you will be forgiven hehehehe¡± the devil continued his brainwashing.


    ¡°Fine fine, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you though¡­jack*ss¡± the angel disappeared from his mind.


    While Ignis¡¯ inner war was being fought, the body underneath him began to stir.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV Begin-


    ¡°Ugh, my head hurts¡± I thought as I slowly regained consciousness.


    My body felt heavy and even opening my eyes was taxing. Deciding not to struggle too much I tried to remember what transpired to lead to me being unconscious.


    ¡°Oh¡­I ran away¡­and took Carne¡¯s Prestige Art at point blank huh, no wonder I¡¯m in such a shitty spot¡± I recalled the events that led to my current position and inwardly pitied my own stubbornness and weakness.


    Suddenly I could feel the warmth of a person¡¯s breath over my face, a chill ran down my back. This was a male¡¯s breath! Forgetting the aching in my body I forced my eyes open and raised my head¡­only to hit a brick!


    ¡°Ouch!¡± the brick retorted.


    ¡°Ouch?¡± bewildered that the brick just spoke, I forgot the splitting pain in my head and focused my vision on the source of the voice. A male! I was correct, it was one of those sleazebags! He was currently rubbing the spot I seemed to have hit, with his hand.


    Not caring about what my body felt or even was incapable of doing I took the bow from my back and began drawing essence from my surroundings¡­well that is what was supposed to happen but no essence came to me.


    ¡°Huh?¡± that was the only thing that could come out of my mouth.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV End-


    ¡°Huh?¡± that was the only thing that Ignis could think of at the time as well.


    An awkward slence settled in. Usually on Kuu Verta the sound of beasts was always present, but at this moment all was quiet, as if to highlight Ignis and Calliste¡¯s moment or idiocrasy and allow them to truly appreciate it.

 Paragraphing errors

Sorry guys, it took me a while to realize but when I was reviewing my work I saw a lot of indentation issues. I don''t even know how it happened because I always indent, but I guess it must do with how I copy and paste from Microsoft Word.

 Hunt 01: Demon

    A/N: Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy! I know that I have some explanations to do in terms of the world but there is a time for everything. Before any grammar nazi pops up, I just want to clarify that Ignis is a villager separated from humanity so his grammatical syntax and understanding of language will be different from that of a city girl like Calliste. Also don''t worry about if I forget any fine details, I always remember, if something is missing it''s missing for a reason. As always feedback is appreciated, heck even suggestions. Tell me what you would like to see or wouldn''t like to see. Most likely it wouldn''t change my story, though it would be interesting to see what others think can make the story even better. Just had to once again place indentations after post *sigh*


    P.S. Can someone tell Karnage to hurry up with Falling Star of Evolution? I want to read the next chapter already T^T


    <hr />


    Taking a few minutes to process what just took place, Ignis finally retrieved his hunting knife strapped to his right leg and took up a defensive position.


    Meanwhile, Calliste was still trying to figure out what was wrong. She was sure she drew her bow and took the proper steps to draw essence to nock an arrow, but nothing happened. Looking at her left hand that she used to nock the arrow, she was dumbfounded. Her arm was like a wet noodle! Of course it would be like a noodle, Ignis only knew basic first aid and only used a strip of cloth to hold the hand in a proper position. When she frantically got up from the table she basically made all of Ignis¡¯ hard work null.


    In all living things quintessence is present, whether it be a human, snake or plant. In plants, quintessence is concentrated at a central location, usually by its food store. In humans and animals however, quintessence is distributed throughout the body and are channeled parallel to the arteries. They operate just like the veins however, and absorbs essence from the surrounding and transports it throughout the body to three essential locations; the heart, under the navel and the brain. Due to how these ¡°vessels¡± operate they are usually coined as the Secondary Veins or the Quintveins.These Quintveins are always absorbing essence and needless to say, quintessence is looked at as the presence of a soul, because the only time the Quintvein stops functioning is upon death.


    The average human and warrior tends to not have all Quintveins in use and use mainly the Quintveins leading to the heart. An academic tends to have a focus of Quintessence on both their brain and heart while a magic user (can be a mage but also someone capable of melee and magic, oh and magic=essence if you needed to know) will have a focus of Quintessence on their heart and under the navel. The amount of Quintessence a person can take in at once is purely based on what tasks they perform and even their bloodline. For example a farm boy may want to become a swordmage but if he doesn¡¯t have the means to practice sorcery nor the ability to swing a sword, then he won¡¯t be able to train his Quintessence to become a swordmage. If his family doesn¡¯t even have some sort of mage or warrior in their bloodline then he wouldn¡¯t even stand a chance of becoming a swordmage. Due to how hard it is to gather essence in the brain and under the navel compared to the heart for a regular human, there is a high concentration of warriors compared to academics and magic users in the world (will be detailed later). The limits of using essence is wholly dependent on how strong a person¡¯s physical body, mental strength and consumption rate of essence is. It also varies depending on what the essence is being used for (magic or physical strengthening).


    An Artifact is an item which is used to accommodate the use of essence. Instead of having to use the essence within the body, thereby placing a strain on the Quintveins and the person, the artifact acts as a medium which allows for the effective channeling of essence. It reduces the strain placed on the user while allowing him or her to draw on more power. These artifacts tend to come in the form of an orb and only reduces the strain placed on the user, nothing more. There are however, artifacts which come in the form of weapons and are a rare find in the current world.


    Calliste¡¯s bow was one such rare artifact. It needed the use of essence to function. To use it, one hand is used to draw essence to the actual bow in order to activate the artifact, and another hand to draw essence from the air. The essence drawn by the second hand would be shaped into the form of an arrow using the artifact as a medium of absorption. This is not easy to actually use in battle, but if one can master it then he or she can have unlimited ammo once they can handle the tedious concentration it entailed.


    ¡°Wha...¡± she stuttered, only to hear laughing coming from the brick.


    ¡°Hahahahahahaha! Look at this ungrateful b*tch, I saved her and she draws her weapon on me. Ignis why do you always make the bad choices? Oh man I make some really bad choices in my life don¡¯t I? Yes you do.¡± Ignis on the other hand found her predicament funny and proceeded to hold his own one man show, talking to himself.


    Not knowing what was happening, Calliste attempted to draw essence from the air once again but to no avail, she failed. Only then did she pay attention to the brick standing before her. Laughing hysterically was a young man which had a head full of unkempt jet-black hair draping down to his waist, a pair of red, dilated eyes and, because of his wide open mouth, scarily sharp-looking canine teeth. He wore a haggard trousers and a bear pelt draped over both his shoulders. Various scars were evident on his fit body and no one could refute the many life and death battles he has fought. In one phrase, what Calliste saw was a ¡°beastlike beauty¡±. Physically he looked like a 15 year old, but mentally it looked like this child was over 40, having fought many wars and on the verge of retirement. Calliste, without her knowing, began to be drawn to Ignis.


    ¡°This brick is one stu¡­*cough cough* I mean, who are you and what do you want with me?¡± Calliste mumbled the first part of the sentence before abruptly changing it and voicing her question out loud.


    ¡°And I almost died!...What?¡± Ignis, finally concluding his one man show, looked to Calliste and questioned her.


    ¡°WHO.ARE.YOU.WHAT.DO.YOU.WANT.WITH.ME.¡± Calliste reiterated her questions loudly but now stated it as if she were speaking to an illiterate.


    ¡°For who I am, I am Ignis Vox. As for what I want, I want a thank you for saving your hind.¡±


    ¡°Wha¡­¡± Calliste couldn¡¯t believe what she just heard, but after a second of thought she concluded that he wasn¡¯t lying. He seemed much too idiotic to be lying and it was true that she did fall unconscious after crashing into some mountain.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your name, where did you come from and why were you so heavily injured?¡± not even waiting for Calliste to recover, Ignis quickly fired back his question


    ¡°MY.NAME.CALLISTE BEATORUM.I.COME.FRO-¡°


    ¡°Stop that, otherwise I will kill you right here, right now¡± Ignis cut into Calliste¡¯s sentence and easily placed his threat as it seemed she actually believed him to be illiterate.


    Observing the boy standing before her and the tone of his words, it seemed that he held no qualms proving his threat true. She was currently unable to draw essence from the air, for some unknown reason, and he had also saved her life. After judging the situation she was currently in, Calliste decided to comply with his demands although a little reluctant about it.


    ¡°My name is Calliste Beatorum, I¡¯ve come from the great city of Albarka and I am injured due to battling another Beatorum in the skies¡± Calliste followed up his questions, making sure not to miss one.


    ¡°Family feud huh? And fighting in the sky? Clearly I have run across a psychopath. Remember what mum always said about the mentally ill, I must care for them because they cannot care for themselves.¡± Ignis thought out all of this upon her response and most ironically¡­he called her a psychopath! It was understandable that he wouldn¡¯t know it was possible to have battle in mid-air though, since he was locked off from the outside world since birth and no one in his village wielded essence.


    ¡°Alright Calliste, right now I¡¯m gonna prepare dinner for myself and you can go do what you want¡­Oh do you want some too?¡± after stating the first part of the sentence Ignis walked out to his kitchen, only to reappear and pose another question. Of course he would have to care for the mentally ill.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.<hr />


    Finally finished tending to her wounds, Calliste walked out to where Ignis disappeared to. Right now she couldn¡¯t trust this man but she had no choice in her current situation. If she couldn¡¯t use the only weapon on her, the bow, then she was basically defenseless, not saying she was unable to fight in melee range, but with a broken arm that was a long shot.


    A sense of nostalgia washed over Calliste as she approached the doorway only to be interrupted by a disturbing odor.


    ¡°Yuck, what is that stench!?¡± exclaimed Calliste upon reaching outside. The scent of the bear and viper carcasses permeated the air.


    ¡°A beast this big was slain by a boy this small!?¡± she thought, seeing the large viper Ignis was skinning, Calliste was speechless. Of course she wouldn¡¯t know that Ignis only came after the viper was unconscious and dealt the final blow.


    Ignis made a simple snake stew, which Calliste found tasted disgusting to say the least. It lacked any form of spices in it and was basically just boiled meat with some random bush Ignis thought tasted interesting. He never learnt how to properly cook and after 2 years of eating virtually raw meat, he grew accustomed to the blandness.


    He separated the venomous sac from the viper and placed it in a wooden container (picture a wooden disposable bowl). He would extract the venom later and use it when hunting.


    Next he took the bear and skinned it. He would use the pelt for clothing, since he did not have any articles of clothing aside from a few worn out trousers and a jersey. Though a pity, he would have to use the poisoned meat as bait while hunting.


    <hr />


    Fatigued from his continuous activity since the night before, Ignis departed to inside his shack of a home. Before he entered however, Calliste spoke up, ¡°Do you have any articles for me to wear?¡± Her current set of clothing was burnt and damaged from the battle with Carne and she felt uncomfortable in it.


    ¡°Articles? Like something written?¡± Ignis questioned.


    Concluding that Ignis was indeed brainless, she rephrased her question slowly, ¡°Do you have any clothing that can fit me?¡±


    ¡°No, if you need something to wear, follow the trail going down this mountain and you will find a village. You don¡¯t need to worry about any residents there, no one lives there anymore. Check through the houses and you should find something to fit you¡± he instructed.


    Not wanting to keep conversing with the psycho, Ignis abruptly turned and left for his bed while Calliste did the same, except towards the village below.


    Here we have Ignis thinking that Calliste is mad and Calliste thinking that Ignis was an untrained illiterate¡­which was basically true in Ignis¡¯ case.


    <hr />


    ¡°This male, he is so irritating! First he dares to threaten me and worse yet¡­he brought his face ¡­his face¡­¡± Calliste fumed until her voice began to dwindle and her face began to redden. Remembering his wild appearance when she first regained her consciousness, her face became flushed. It was only morning and here we had a young woman blushing profusely.


    ¡°How dare he be so rude to me the¡­¡± her voice trailed off as she caught sight of Thysia. Sensing a malefic aura emanating from the village before her, Calliste raised her guard and proceeded to enter the nearest house.


    Finding some a hunter¡¯s trouser and shirt to fit her in the first house, she decided to explore the rest of the village. The eerie silence creeped her out but this only made her want to find the cause of it more and more.


    Entering one of the houses, Calliste was taken aback and exclaimed, ¡°What the hell!¡± Before her lay the skeletal remains of a human, but not just any human, these skeletons belonged to those of a child.Being who she was, Calliste had encountered many corpses and skeletal remains in her life, but those were adults, seeing those of a child horrified her.Seeing this, she sprinted through the village and focused essence in her eyes.


    She was unable to gather essence from the air due to an unknown reason but that did not mean that she couldn¡¯t use it, she just preferred not to as that would drain from her own reserves and she wasn¡¯t sure when she would be able to gather essence once again. Using essence from herself right now would mean that she would suffer constant fatigue from the missing essence in her body, until she was able to draw upon essence from her surroundings once again.


    She viewed her current situation as an emergency though, and luckily the magic she was using didn¡¯t require much essence. By focusing some essence into one¡¯s eyes, they would be able to view the surrounding essence flow and a somewhat x-ray vision (not through clothing you pervs, just earthly items such as dirt or clay). Though simple, this technique was somewhat risky as persons can go mad from what they see and was termed as the God Eye technique. As the saying goes, some things are better left unknown.


    Sadly, this was one such case. In various houses what she found were the skeletal remains of toddlers or children at least 8 or 9 years old, but not one adult. From one such house, Calliste found a red line. This red line was only visible by using the God Eye technique. While following this red line Calliste found the reason for her inability to absorb essence from the air, there was none present! Deciding the strange line was more important she continued her search. It led to the center of Thysia and what she found there surprised her no less than the child skeleton. Laid out in the middle of the village was a vast circle. The circle was deep red in color and had various characters Calliste recognized. What shocked her the most though was what was at the center.


    <hr />


    -1 Hour After Discovery-


    Returning from Thysia, Calliste lazily strolled into Ignis¡¯ house. While moving she pondered, ¡°There was no essence in the air, no wonder I couldn¡¯t form an arrow. But wait¡­that means I am in a Demonic Realm!¡±


    The term Demonic Realm was used to describe a location which was devoid of any essence and likewise a Godly Realm was used to describe a location which was saturated in essence. A Demonic Realm was very rare to find though, because there were no living beings in it, after all since it had no essence living beings couldn¡¯t be born in it and essence couldn¡¯t be used. Most Demonic Realms were also destroyed by multiple mages and Beatorums coming together and pooling their essence into the area, thus causing the deficiency of essence to be eliminated, this was usually a tiresome process though.


    Continuing her stroll, Calliste spoke to herself, ¡°That explains why there weren¡¯t any people alive, since they would¡¯ve all died to the¡­Wait, if no persons were alive, then how is Ignis still alive!?¡±


    Coming to this realization, Calliste once again used the God Eye technique and ran to where Ignis should be sleeping. There what she saw was not even surprising anymore, it was much more to the level of a trauma. Laying on his side, Ignis could be seen sleeping with the naked eye. Using the God Eye technique, he could also be seen sleeping regularly. But that was the issue in and of itself, where were his Quintveins!? It was common knowledge that all living things carried Quintveins, even a damn plant had one, so how is it possible that a healthy, breathing human without any Quintveins laid before her!


    Calliste, now overcoming her astonishment looked at Ignis with eyes of fear, ¡°Demon¡­¡± was what she uttered.

 Hunt 02: Dont Piss Off a Demon

    A/N - Alright, this post was made after so god damn long. I actually had most of this chapter completed a while back. I don''t even know if any persons will be reading this fiction since it seemed like I had dropped it. If you are then thank you. My reason for not posting anything is simple, I have school and exams coming up. The results of these exams determines whether or not I can enter university so I can''t really waste my time writing. Of course I like my story, and I did say that I would continue it without any readers if I have to, it''s just this story is my way of practicing essay writing and I can''t really take something which should''ve been to better my skills in writing an exam, and place higher priority on it than the exam. Hope you guy(s) understand. I know my story is a lot to take in, this is a story which is made up on the fly in some ways, while I do have most events till the next 2 arcs already planned out in my head. I think that should be all for now. Don''t flame me for not being loyal to the series, I am, just not consistent. Don''t wanna sound like a douche but that''s basically everything.


    <hr />


    -15 Hours After Discovery-


    Ignis had gotten up not too long ago and he was preparing to go out to do his daily, more like nightly, duties, hunting. Ensuring that he had all his gear, which was not much, just a rusty long sword, a mace, an axe, a wooden bow and some homemade arrows, a worn-out spear  and a halberd decoration¡­basically he moved with all the weapons he could. How could he not? Kuu Verta was where only the strong survived and strong did not only mean physically, one had to have the capacity to react to any given situation.


    While taking hold of his bow he remembered the silver beauty. ¡°Where is she?¡± he thought to himself.


    Not caring if she stayed or not, he strapped all of his weapons onto his back and proceeded to head to the doorway.


    Reaching there he was surprised to see Calliste laying at the doorway. She was now wearing some old clothing which she must¡¯ve found in the village that Ignis thought somehow enhanced her allure. Before she looked like an aristocrat which made communicating with her very alien but now the villager clothing made her seem much more approachable. What Ignis did not realize however, was that Calliste was sleeping on the single furthest point that one could away from him while also staying under the same roof.


    Deciding not to wake her, Ignis began to step over her body until he heard, ¡°Watch where you¡¯re walking, has no one ever told you that it¡¯s rude to step over others?¡± Calliste seemed to be awake and a bit hostile in her tone.


    ¡°You¡¯re sleeping by my doorway, you¡¯re staying in my house at my goodwill and you¡¯re only alive because of my efforts, I think you should watch your mouth even if you¡¯re mentally ill. I was gonna leave you to rest up but with your attitude, you¡¯re not gonna get any food unless you help hunt¡± Ignis casually spat out in a rather disgusted tone. He was pissed off that she took his goodwill for him being weak enough to be pushed around and he wouldn¡¯t allow that. Who would?


    Calliste hearing his comeback, laid on the ground dumbfounded. She had never been spoken to in such a way much less treated so rudely, but what could she refute? Everything he said was the truth.


    Seeing the bow and arrows he was carrying on his back, Calliste requested that she borrowed them which in reply she got a swift ¡°NO¡± from Ignis.


    Once again trying to borrow the weapon she said, ¡°I don¡¯t have any weapons and it just so happens that the only weapon I can use is the bow. If you don¡¯t lend me your bow, how do you expect me to help you hunt?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you have a bow when I found you?¡± he asked skeptically.


    ¡°Yes, but if you looked at it well, it has no bowstring to actually use it¡± Calliste replied. She was speaking the truth, the bow she wielded carried no bowstring. The essence used to activate the artifact was also used to create a bowstring for use, so that as more essence was gathered to create an arrow, and the arrow got larger, the longer the bowstring could be to accommodate its usage with the bow.


    It could carry out the functions of a recurve bow, a compound bow, a long bow and even a crossbow once the essence was properly used to create the needed parts. Calliste only used the artifact in a long bow form as that was the form she was most comfortable and the only form she could use fluently.


    Deciding that this talk was taking longer than he wanted, Ignis complied with her request and gave her his wooden bow and arrows to use. When giving her the wooden bow, Ignis took note of how careful Calliste was when she accepted the weapon. Her eyes didn¡¯t show she was treasuring something, it was more like she was fearing something. Determining that it doesn¡¯t affect him, he overlooked it and hurried her along.


    -1 Hour Later-


    Ignis and Calliste are now deep inside the forest setting up traps.


    Seeing all the makeshift contraptions that Ignis had made genuinely surprised Calliste, she did not expect this brute to use tactical means to capture his hunt and was awaiting his primal side to take him over to grapple with a bear or something along those lines.


    Ignis was, after all, a demon. Of course not a literal demon, but that was what she viewed him as.


    She had decided to observe how this anomaly interacted with his surroundings and how his surroundings would be affected.


    As they were both placing seemingly bear traps, Calliste asked,¡± I didn¡¯t get the chance earlier, but what happened in that village?¡±


    ¡°Everyone died¡±, Ignis curtly responded.


    ¡®I know that you asshole, do I need to spell everything out?¡¯ thinking this she once again inquired, ¡°How did they all die?¡±


    Like before, Ignis once again responded, ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Wha-¡°, Calliste was bewildered, an entire village died right under his nose and he knew nothing about the occurrence!? Something wasn¡¯t right.


    ¡°There is no way you don¡¯t know, from the looks of your shack of a home, you weren¡¯t originally residing there and the only sign of civilization in sight is that village. What really happened? What did you see?¡± Calliste grew tired of the back and forth babbling and walked over to where Ignis was standing and asked him straight in his eyes.


    ¡°For what happened, I DON¡¯T KNOW. For what I saw, well¡­that¡¯s different¡±, he replied. Hearing this, a glint appeared in Calliste¡¯s eyes, she was finally getting her answer.


    After explaining the events on ¡°that night¡± Calliste looked at Ignis and for a second there was warmth in them, she did not know what to say and all she could muster was ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Hearing this Ignis just walked past Calliste and continued to lay down the remaining traps.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    A lonesome silence descended between these two as they both stopped talking and were having their own respective thoughts.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV Begin-


    ¡®Damn those f*cking idiots! They did something meaningless and massacred an entire village no less for the sake of¡­ I swear when I get my hands on them!¡¯ Calliste was currently raging inside as she cursed the ones responsible for Ignis¡¯s misfortune. She did not care specifically about Ignis¡¯s worries, after all everyone has their own dark past and he was a man no less, but what she did care about was how it was associated with her. She could not allow another to suffer for her own irresponsibility especially since she was a Beatorum and they prided themselves on Noblesse Oblige, even if it concerned a barbarian like Ignis.


    ¡®If it¡¯s like this, even though this goes against my oldest vow, I¡¯ll do it¡¯, making her resolve Calliste trailed behind Ignis.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV End-


    While Calliste was having those thoughts within herself, Ignis on the other hand could only think ¡®Food¡­.¡¯ That was the only thing on his mind right now. Of course he was caught off guard with Calliste asking him about what had happened but he had gotten over that a year ago, after all he couldn¡¯t feed himself if he was busy being depressed for the whole day.


    <hr />


    -1 Hour Later-


    Ignis and Calliste were now doing what they were at best, hunting. Well, sort of hunting, right now they were waiting for prey to walk into one of the traps as they hid atop two neighboring trees in the vast forest.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV Begin-


    Calliste was always a good hunter from birth, after all she was the Beatorum blessed with the power of the Huntress. With this blessing came the highest caliber of hunting aptitude one could possess, she had all of her five senses sharpened, possessed extraordinary talent for the bow and most importantly insight to the point where it was questionable if she could foretell events. Right now Calliste¡¯s insight was telling her that Ignis was an incongruity in this world caused by her negligence and that it was her duty to keep him under constant scrutiny. She could also tell from the scars on his body as well as his wild nature that although he was a barbarian, he must¡¯ve been a great hunter.


    She had been keeping constant surveillance over him since the night before and dared not to look away. Sure sleep was a necessity to recover from her injuries and his situation is partly her fault to begin with, but none of that mattered right now, she was afraid to look away for dread of what he might do. Of course all of her worries were for naught as Ignis had one of the most simplistic mindsets on the planet, kill, eat and sleep were all he knew how to do and all he planned to do, never mind wreaking havoc, Ignis never thought about even leaving the mountain after being secluded for so long.


    As Calliste continued to stare at Ignis from her sentry point, *Crack**Crack*, the distinct sound of branches breaking was heard followed by a deafening *Rooooaaar*. These sounds informed them that their game had been wounded, but with their hunting skills a wounded prey was essentially the same as a dead one.


    Taking her eyes off of Ignis, Calliste readied her bow and turned in the direction the sound originated. According to her bearings, the noise came from somewhere nearby, behind her. Spinning with her bow, arrow already nocked, Calliste was ready to take the shot when panic suddenly washed over her, she knew the beast which sounded like a bear was nearby so she expected for it to be right behind her tree, what she didn¡¯t expect was that the bear would be staring directly at her face to face, a few feet away.


    ¡®Since when do bears climb trees!?¡¯ She screamed in her mind. Looking at the ground to confirm she was once again baffled. ¡®It¡¯s standing on the f*cking ground! Just how big is this bear!?¡¯ Yes, the bear was standing on the ground. Yes, he was big enough to watch Calliste directly atop the tree. Calliste may be a born hunter, she may be the Beatorum blessed with the Huntress¡¯s prowess, but that was for a regular forest, on a regular mountain in the regular world. But this was Kuu Verta, and in Kuu Verta this is the normal size for some animals! In moments Calliste was rendered useless, what could she actually do? What could those wooden arrows do? All she could was jump to another tree before the mammoth of a bear lunged. But that moment never came, it never came because both parties were currently frozen in terror from the sickening aura that descended upon the area.


    Just like Calliste had feared, the moment she stopped observing Ignis, all hell broke loose.


    -Calliste¡¯s POV End-


    -Ignis¡¯s POV Begin|Approximately Time of Bear Encounter-


    ¡°Wow, he¡¯s big! Nah, he ain¡¯t that big, I did in one at least twice his size. Liar that other bear was only a few inches bigger at most. It was bigger though¡±, looking over to Calliste¡¯s side, Ignis was currently hosting his ever famous one man show.


    ¡°Do you think we should help her? Nah. But didn¡¯t mom say to help the mentally ill? Your mom¡¯s dead, are you always gonna rely on what she said!? Just do what you want already! Fine I won-¡°, Ignis was busy continuing his conversation when he felt a slight sting run through his arm. Using his hand to probe where the pain was coming from, he quickly felt something leathery. Looking over he found an adult sized viper about 7 feet in length, well technically adult sized for the outside world, but in Kuu Verta this was the regular size of a mutated baby viper.


    Bringing his arm in front of his face, he brought the viper to eye level to glare at the youngling¡­which stared in innocence back at him. Ignis¡¯s glare soon turned into a warm look of love as his once scowling face was now smiling, ¡°I¡¯m sorry young one, your parent must¡¯ve been the one that died yesterday while fighting that bear.¡±


    He then proceeded to casually stroke the viper¡¯s head, which it seemed to enjoy¡­until he swiftly grasped it by its neck and applied pressure, squeezing and squeezing and squeezing until *Pop*(goes the snake XD). ¡°That¡¯s for your dad tasting like shit.¡±


    After removing the baby viper¡¯s teeth from his arm, Ignis looked over to where the bear was, rage burning in his eyes. He told himself he wasn¡¯t going to save her. He told himself he won¡¯t challenge a bear again. Well right now he didn¡¯t care, he just needed something to take his wrath out on.


    Equipping himself with an axe and a sword from the artillery on his back, he immediately jumped swinging both down upon the tree sized bear.


    -Ignis¡¯s POV End-

 Hunt 03: Whos God?

    A/N: So I did it, actually wrote more than one chapter in a week. I''m sure there is a plot hole somewhere, and maybe some grammatical errors, but after doing an Internal Assessment project for my Uni marks and a day of sucking ass on League, here you go.


    <hr />


    Recovering from the sense of nausea which assailed Calliste from Ignis¡¯s sheer bloodlust, all she could see was a trail of black which led to the behemoth bear¡¯s head. Upon closer inspection she realized the black trail was actually Ignis and his unkempt hair, but something was clearly wrong. At this moment Ignis looked like the fiery incarnate of wrath¡­but wasn¡¯t he normal just a second ago!?


    ¡°What caused this snap? Never mind that, right now I have to help¡­wait¡­I forgot I can¡¯t-¡±, Calliste spoke out her thoughts aloud only to be interrupt by the nearby thrashing of Ignis and the mutated bear. ¡°That bear is clearly not something any regular human could handle, even in my top form I would find it troublesome, but this child is using regular weapons and to top it off not even essence, to fight that beast. I knew he was a demon.¡± She continued voicing her thoughts out aloud while our main character was busy struggling with the bear on his end.


    Back to Ignis¡¯s side of things, after jumping towards the bear he targeted its head. If he had any chance of taking it down, then the head was where he might find the opportunity to¡­or so he thought. His axe and sword, as easily as they cut through the bears skin, only reached so far. After meeting with the superior dense solid we know as the bear¡¯s head, both weapon were easily shattered and the reverberating shock resulting from the contact between the objects and the head recoiled and hit both bear and Ignis.


    The bear, feeling the painful shock penetrating its cranium, roared and stood on its hind legs. Ignis on the other hand had landed upon its head and grappled with its fur to keep himself from falling over.


    ¡®Did I bite off more than I can chew? Nonsense. Then what do you suggest I do, because at this rate I will be squashed by just him sitting. Easy, kill the beast, and eat him is all. Oh, why didn¡¯t-¡®, Ignis was asking his other self until he was disrupted by the thrashing about of the bear trying to rid itself of the human flea.


    ¡°WOAH! AAAHHHH! HHHHHAAAA! UMPH!¡± Ignis shouted as the bear flailed about throwing Ignis left and right until he lost his grip, fell to the ground¡­and the bear sat on him.


    This bear was approximately 15 feet in height and had the body mass to match its height, it was a reality that anyone it stepped or even fell on would resemble tomato sauce¡­well anyone except Ignis, he¡¯s the main character so of course he can¡¯t die.


    The bear, realizing the pest was gone, got up and looked under itself to find the remains left. Seeing the body intact the bear looked at Ignis suspiciously until its mouth neared his body. Suddenly its mouth opened wide and it was apparently going to eat Ignis whole, until *Twip**Twip**Twip* 3 arrows bounced off its skin.


    ¡°Wha- Wait, did I actually expect those arrows to do anything?¡± Calliste was only astonished for a moment until the self-pity sunk in and she just looked on as the bear paid no heed to her once again as it began its meal. *Lick**GULP*, the meal ended, that was it. Ignis was too small for it to bite so he was just swallowed like a tablet instead.


    Realizing that the bear cared not for her, Calliste began to walk away, ¡°Well at least his death was not in vain, my life was saved and I also got rid of the brat, two birds with one stone. Quite a job well done if I do say so myself.¡±


    *Crack**Mrn**CRRRAACCCKKK**Roar!?* were the sounds Calliste heard from behind her. Unbeknownst to her, Ignis was still alive and well, and he was currently working his way out of the bear. Using the remaining weapons on his back, he tore away at the tender flesh of the beast¡¯s stomach walls and was now busy snapping its ribs out of his way so that he could make his way to the outside world. Of course the strength of the stomach acid was painful, but it was much more bearable than waiting to be digested.


    Turing around what Calliste heard and saw next brought back her sense of nausea.*Stretch**ROAR**STRREEETTTCCCCHH**ROOOOAAAAAAR!!!**RIIIIIIIIIP**ROA-* ¡°Shut it¡±, said Ignis with a look of annoyance on his face as he emerged from the stomach of the bear basked in what were the contents of its stomach, acid and all.


    ¡°Yuck, you smell like crap¡±, Calliste covered her nose to block the scent which coated Ignis from the bear¡¯s stomach fillings. Glancing to Calliste for a moment, Ignis quickly flashed a sneer at her. *Shudder* Calliste¡¯s insight told her not to make any wrong moves, and she did just that¡­she stood still and dared not to breathe until Ignis departed, and so he did but towards the bear!


    By now the bear was enraged, its food had just ripped its stomach wide open and the pain was unbearable. Not paying attention to the boring hole in its chest, the bear swung its bulky right paw down on Ignis¡­only this time Ignis was not caught by the bear¡¯s attack! Ignis jumped to his right, easily dodging the large paw, and using the momentum he built up from landing, he immediately entered into a crouch. Mustering his innate strength and using his anger to fuel his fight, Ignis sprung into the air reaching approximately 7 feet above the bear¡¯s head. Once again utilizing the momentum which accrued on his body, Ignis simply formed his right hand into a fist and landed smack dab on it forehead.


    *Crinkle* a soft noise was emitted from the bear¡¯s skull. Realizing that the puny human was on its head, the bear once again began to stand on its hind legs¡­until *SMASH!**SMASH!**SMASH!* Ignis began throwing a barrage of punches at the area where the original cracking sound was heard.


    *Crinkle**Crunch**CRRUUNNCHHH!* suddenly the cracking sounds intensified until it was apparent that Ignis had actually managed to make a hole in its skull¡­but he did not stop! With his glimmering red eyes he continued battering and battering on the same spot on its forehead until, *Slush**Slush**Slush*. Hearing this, Calliste realizing that it was the sound of the bear¡¯s brain being pummeled into mush released the contents of her stomach onto the floor. It¡¯s not like she never saw brutal sights in her life before, after all she was a hunter and even more was the fact that she lived far longer than any mortal, but today was full of surprises for her and she just couldn¡¯t keep up anymore as she let the sense of nausea just take control.


    Ignis on the other hand continued his journey through the beat¡¯s head until the bear¡¯s body toppled over, forcing Ignis to fall out of the manhole he made within the poor creature¡¯s head.


    By now Calliste had recovered from her sorry state and walked over to Ignis. Even though there were clear signs of fear in her eyes, she couldn¡¯t help but be intrigued by the boy ahead of her. He had fought that large monster head to head, not to mention basically bare handed since his weapons broke before they could actually be of use.


    ¡®What was that strength? He used his bare hands to break through that animal¡¯s skull when not even his weapons could penetrate it. Sure it can be argued that the weapons were of poor quality, but metal should no doubt be stronger than a fist. He doesn¡¯t even have essence much less Quintveins, it seems that there is no questioning this matter anymore. Whether he likes it or not he will have to become mine, but Carne and dad will be a pain in the ass to deal with though¡­¡¯ Calliste pondered to herself. Now that Ignis showed that he was much more than she expected, Calliste had no choice but to accept that it would be dangerous leaving this glitch in reality to continue wondering doing what he desired.


    Looking up at the sky Calliste had now realized just how much time had passed while Ignis was battling that bear, it was already dusk and signs of moonlight peeking out from behind the overhead clouds could be seen. Seeing these streaks of moonlight Calliste saw the opportunity she needed and decided to speak to Ignis about her decision.


    ¡°Ignis, I need to tal-¡°, *ROAR!**HISS!**ROOOAAARRRR!* ¡°talk¡­ Oh come on what now!?¡± in the midst of Calliste calling for Ignis¡¯s attention she was interrupted by the outburst from the resident monsters of the forest in the distance.


    ¡°It seems that I killed the King, so they¡¯re coming to contest the top of the food chain with me¡±, Ignis casually responded with a sharp glint in his eyes.


    ¡°The King? You are meaning to say that bear was the top of the food chain here?! What are we still doing here then, we have run now!¡± Calliste said, clearly flustered by their current predicament.


    ¡°Seems so, but I cannot run. I am already covered from head to toe in the stench of their dead king. They will seek me out no matter where I am on Kuu Verta.¡± He spoke with an eerie calmness, his previously crazed red eyes showing complete control.


    ¡°Well then come with me! I am leaving this mountain for Albarka tonight!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± he queried with an almost visible question mark above his head.


    ¡°Do you want to die!? This is the only chance that you have, if you don¡¯t take it you WILL die¡± Calliste retorted.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.                Hearing this, Ignis¡¯s mouth opened to reply but was interrupted by another wave of *ROAR!**HISS!**ROOOAAARRRR!*. The sounds were much closer and visibly clearer now. ¡°Sorry but it seems I have some guests to attend to¡±, he replied this time, but unlike before when he went off to fight the bear, he had no signs of madness in him and only looked like a small child prepared for his death.


    ¡°Fine then, I will be leaving¡± Calliste said before departing for the ruined village.


    -Village|Approximately 30 Minutes After Separation-


    ¡®That stupid brat, I¡¯m giving him an opportunity to survive and he refuses it because battle is more important. Is the fighting the only thing on a male¡¯s mind? Whatever, he is good as dead now anyway. I do admit he has godly raw strength, but that¡¯s all. Pure power could only get him as far as that, he doesn¡¯t even have the assistance of essence to increase his survival chances, worst yet is that he doesn¡¯t even fight strategically. No matter how much he tried to look calm after that fight, there is no way he is in some way not wounded or at least tired, even if he has the power, sooner or later fatigue will get the better of him. What am I even bothering myself with thinking about him for? It¡¯s a shame that I couldn¡¯t acquire such a rare specimen, but I could just ask those assholes what they did when I reach back. They won¡¯t be able to hide forever.¡¯ Calliste mused on and on in her head.


    Looking up at the sky, there was a beautiful full moon hanging in the night¡¯s sky. The shimmer of the moonlight seemed as if it embraced Calliste¡¯s silver hair, pure white skin and silver garments causing her to look like a specter in the night.


    Calliste stood upon the circle she discovered the day before. In the distance she could hear the roaring and screeching of the beasts of the forest since a few minutes ago. It seemed that Ignis had not fallen yet and was wreaking as much havoc as he could before he departed. Realizing this Calliste wore a smile on her face, he was male and he was a barbarian but she had to give her due respects to someone willing to die fighting. It may be simpleminded that all men could do was fight but she also had to admit that dying as a warrior was admirable, it boiled her blood. For some reason Calliste was tempted to go view the ensuing brawl, but she warded off the thoughts from her mind and continued.


    -Ignis¡¯s POV Begin|Forest|Approximately 30 Minutes After Separation-


    ¡°AAAAHHHHH!¡± I was currently using the mace I held on my back to obliterate a nearby forest cobra¡¯s head. It was approximately 30 feet in length and possessed two heads. I had incapacitated the other head a second ago and so I had taken out one foe from the fight.


    ¡°Just about one- Who am I kidding I don¡¯t even think I can count how many of them there are. Well good luck with that, I¡¯m outta here. Where¡¯re you gonna go? In someone else¡¯s head? You can¡¯t idiot, you don¡¯t even exist. Ah shut it.¡±, I tried to escape reality by talking to my other¡­let¡¯s be honest since I am going to die, I know that I¡¯ve been talking to myself since the beginning, but it gets lonely not having anyone to speak to, give a guy a break will you?


    From all directions around me, I could hear and see signs of multiple creatures of different shapes, heights and sizes making their way to me. I could distinguish the figures of some spiders, porcupines, frogs and even some raccoons. Squinting my eyes a bit I could see¡­wait that¡¯s a fly!? You cannot be serious, if I am going to die then I will ensure it was not because of a fly.


    Readying for the upcoming fight, I scoured around for my remaining weapons, the halberd, mace and spear. They weren¡¯t the greatest in terms of quality but they did get the job done. I mean, there¡¯s no way the 84 animal corpses littered about on the floor could say otherwise.


    After Calliste had left, it was a constant uphill battle. Using my trusty weapons I had first encountered a pack of 5 wolves, then a broad winged hawk, some pesky grasshoppers and even a damn possum. It was no easy task though, as the burn from the King bear¡¯s stomach acid had already dealt its damage. Up to my waist was burned and just walking and turning were painful to do. The worst thing so far though was the pack of wolves, even though I tried to end them as quickly as possible, those runts gave no way and continued attacking until their heads were a complete bloody mess. I had bite marks present on my calves, abdomen and even the trapezius muscle near my neck. It hurts like hell, but there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to be done in by something so stupid.


    Back to the current situation at hand, it looks like my next challenge comes from a porcupine¡­with some ridiculous spikage. The porcupine had quills about 30 inches in length and it gave me no room to fight. As soon as I was within a relative distance, it immediately became a shooting range, its fur stood on ends as it began shooting at me its quills. I had no time to properly react so all I did was throw myself to the ground.


    *Twip**ROAR!**Twip**Bzzt**Twip* The sound of the porcupine¡¯s quills striking nearby animals were heard. Even though I really hated my current defensive position I couldn¡¯t help but thank the porcupine for taking out some animals for me, especially the fly¡­


    After a while had passed, the flurry of quills still continued to fly above me. I was just under the porcupine¡¯s range of fire so I could observe how he shot those annoying spikes¡­the quills instantly regrew on his back! No wonder he was just crouched there! Getting annoyed with the current status quo I decided to try to just kill the damn animal. I circled around from its back and moved towards its head. I then took the spear on my back and launched it directly towards its forehead. It struck¡­and the hail of quills ended. Maybe if it actually looked at the enemy it would notice the attack, but it decided to crouch over, hide its head and wait till the fight was over.


    Looking around me, there were at least 30 more corpses than before...Thank you for your valiant efforts Mr. Porcupine.


    The next to step up to the plate was an owl. I shot him down with the spear I collected from the porcupine.


    Then a raccoon, he got disemboweled with the halberd. NEXT!


    Bear, crushed head with mace, the mace is now broken and useless. Not to self, make another. NEXT!


    Frog, poked with a spear till it died, I didn¡¯t want to get all slimy. NEXT!


    Red tailed fox, killed quickly with a stab to the heart, skin might be useful if I survive. NEXT!


    Another bear, head smashed with bare hand this time. NEXT!


    With each kill I claimed, I could only feel myself feeling more and more invigorated, of course the next fight would just strip me of the regained vigor right after. And so the war waged on.


    .


    .


    .


    After losing count when I reached 150, I was currently battling number ???, a possum. It put up quite the fight, I was tired alright. Making my way around the battlefield painted red with blood, I finally saw my trusty halberd(decoration). Running towards it I took no notice of the nearby two-headed forest cobra I left half dead from before, it lay near the location of the halberd but I paid no heed to it, because it was already dead¡­well to me. Almost reaching the halberd, I tripped over something that was slightly big¡­and fell atop the body of the forest cobra which awoke and retaliated from the pain of cushioning my fall. Its fangs sunk directly into my abdomen and I could feel its venom being inserted through the break in my skin.


    My consciousness grew fuzzy and I knew that this was it, I lived a really messed up life but at least now it was coming to an end. As I fell to the ground my eyes stumbled across what had tripped me onto the cobra¡­it was the goddamn fly!!! I could imagine that that fly would have a grin on its face right now if it could. Realizing how ridiculous a death I have come to experience, all that I could do was fall into the void of death.


    <hr />


    I was currently swimming in space, no more like a place of emptiness, but what I would imagine space was like. I felt a searing pain on my chest and the numbness caused by the snake¡¯s venom instantly disappeared and was replaced by the rush of pain all of my sense were experiencing in full force.


    Opening my eyes, I could see the familiar trail of silver from Calliste¡¯s hair in the wind. Looking at my chest I could see a crescent shaped mark seared unto my skin. Even though the skin around the mark was red from the burn, the marked skin alone retained a silvery-white colour similar to Calliste¡¯s hair. I thought I was dead one second ago but now here I am back alive, seemingly thanks to Calliste.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± I queried.


    ¡°Your god¡±, she curtly replied.