《Vanquisher》


 A Revived Dream

    Over 200 years ago, towering beams of light appeared all over the world. Over time, they released unknown and horrific creatures that people referred to as "Demons". In order to battle these Demons, humanity gathered strong forces and formed the "Vanquisher Corps". With extensive efforts, the Vanquishers managed to seal the pathways, but the battle for survival never came to an end, for these pathways never stopped tormenting the world.


    ***


    Loud chants and cheers could be heard throughout the streets of the city of Tillian. A young boy dashed into a crowd of people, seeming desperate to reach the front of the roaring group of people. He squeezed through tiny openings left in between the crowd. Once reaching the front of the crowd, with a big smile on his face, he looked up and layed eyes upon them.


    "Vanquishers!" Yelled the young boy with an excited expression.


    The boys dream was to be a Vanquisher. Many young lads dream of obtaining their Gift and joining the Vanquisher Corps.


    Behind the boy was a girl about the same age as him. She squeezed through the same openings the boy had been through, wanting to reach the excited boy.


    "Ken! hold up!" The girl exclaimed.


    "Your too slow, if I wait for you I''m gonna miss them!" The boy responded.


    In front of them were Vanquishers, marching the streets. The boy kept running, keeping up with the pace of the armed group, not being able to take his eyes off them.


    Eventually, they stopped their march and in front of the group was a beam of light reaching the sky. The boy looked up in amazement, soaking in the white beauty of the light that seems to reach and illuminate the heavens themselves.


    The platoon of Vanquishers took a deep breath, then exhaled as they walked into the beam of light and disappeared.


    The crowd eventually dispersed, feeling disappointment as the group of Vanquishers left. Eventually, so did the boy and the girl.


    "Ken, are you really thinking of becoming one of them?" The girl questioned Kenny.


    "Of course, once I get my gift I''ll become the strongest Vanquisher ever!" The boy said with a excited tone.


    "Then I''ll become one with you!" The girl said.


    "No way Claire, your too weak."


    "I''m not weak!"Claire retaliated while pouting.


    "Tomorrow I''ll be getting my gift, then I''m going to train super hard and become super strong! Then, vanquish all the demons in purgatory!" The boy announced with a big smile on his face.


    ***


    "Forget about it." A man in a white coat said.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "Huh?¡±


    Kenny¡¯s face was pale.


    "With this gift you can''t become a Vanquisher. The ability is just useless in a battle, all it does is light a flame in your hand. Sorry kid." Said the man in the coat.


    The devastated boy looked over at his status window and read:


    [Name: Kenny]


    [Titles: None]


    [Rank: 1]


    [Gifts: (illuminating Flame)]


    [Blessings: None]


    [Regalia: None]


    Kenny tapped on his one and only Gift:


    [Illuminating Flame (1): A flame that illuminates the darkness.]


    Kenny felt a painful ache in his chest, and a lump in his throat. His eyes began to water. The realization of his dream being crushed was too heavy of a shock for the boy to handle.


    Next to the devastated Ken, a beautiful woman with long black hair looked at her son with a sad expression, and began to comfort the boy.


    "Ken, this doesn''t mean that your aren''t able to become a Vanquisher. Think of it as just an obstical that you must overcome. Beside once you rank up you''ll get better Gifts." Said the woman.


    Kenny, looked up at his mother with his still devastated expression, then looked back down, not speaking a word.


    Once arriving at their home, Kenny went straight to his bed which was stuffed with straw and feathers, still not willing to speak from the shock.


    A tall muscular man with brown hair just like Kenny, looked at the boy walking to the bed while sitting on the dinner table. For about a couple of seconds he looked confused, then realization hit him.


    "It''s not what I think it is, is it?" Kenny''s father questioned.


    Kenny''s mother looked down at the wooden floor with a pained expression. His father did so aswell. He then calmed his tensed up face and sighed.


    "I''ll see if I can talk to him." Kenny''s father spoke.


    The muscular man was hesitant to approach Kenny. He relaxed, then he turned his head to look at Kenny.


    In the corner of the room, he saw a troubled 10 year old boy, hugging his legs and a stream of tears could be seen flowing down his cheeks.


    Rowan walked towards Kenny and sat down. He turned his head in his direction. With a troubled look he pondered on what to say, until he finally broke the silence.


    "What happened at the office?" Rowan asked.


    With a stuttered voice and streams of tears still visible on his face he responded.


    "I got a stupid Gift that can only be used as a torchlight."


    "So, just because one obstical has appeared, now you give up? With that kind of mind set you can forget about being a Vanquisher."


    Kenny looked up at his father not knowing what to say. He wanted to keep trying, but he was doubtful. His gift which could only be used as a torchlight was the root of his worries. He was worried that due to his lack of talent and his useless ability he would be rejected from the Vanquisher corps. In order to enter the corps one had to be talented and have a decent first gift, which Kenny was clearly lacking.


    "It''s not just a one little obstacle, it''s a huge one." Kenny said while sniffling and holding his tears back.


    "Mabye so, but are you going to give up on your dream?" Rowan questioned Kenny.


    " I don''t wanna give up. I still wanna be one of them."


    Rowan with a smile on his face stood up and turned towards Ken.


    "Tomorrow in the afternoon, meet me outside in front of the house." Rowan said.


    Kenny with a confused look on his face questioned Rowan.


    "Huh, why?"


    "Because, I''ll be teaching you how to use a sword."


    Kenny''s sad expression faded away, and what replaced it was a big and excited smile. Kenny had never thought to learn how to use a sword, it had never crossed his mind.


    Now, he had found a way to gain strength. A new type of strength. He thought that with pure skill he could overcome the Vanquisher trials.


    "But don''t get too excited. I''m not going to teach you anything amazing, just the basics because thats all I know." Rowan warned Kenny.


    Just as Kenny''s father had promised him, the next day Kenny had started his training. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. In all of that time, all Kenny focused on was learning the sword and learning all there is to know about Vanquishers. With 5 years of hard work and pure dedication, it was time to see if Kenny''s strength was enough. To see if his hard work was for not, and attempt the Recruitment Trails.

 Recruitment Trails(1)

    Inside of what seemed to be a classroom there were people of a different variety of ages. In the far back, there was Kenny, looking down at a paper with questions on them. He was now taking the written portion of the Recruitment Trails. Many around him were scratching their heads, confused by the test''s complexity. Kenny on the other hand was calm, not seeming fazed by the test.


    ''Alright, next question. "How many ranks are demons categorized in and what are said ranks?" This is easy, there are 7 Ranks demons are categorized in, starting from the bottom is F-Rank, then E-Rank, then there''s D-Rank, C-Rank, B-Rank, A-Rank, and S-Rank. There''s also another Rank but Vanquishers consider them a whole different species due to their absolutely overwhelming power, they''re known as "Devils". I can understand why, it''s said that a S-Rank to a Devil is a massive jump in power.''


    On the other side of the room was Claire, with her golden blonde hair and forest like green eyes. Her slim and calloused hands holding a pencil. An anxious look was visible on her face. Unlike Kenny, she seemed like she was really struggling.


    ''Dammit why do they have to make this test so hard! Okay, calm down, let''s see, "how does a Vanquisher seal a pathway?" Oh, that one''s easy, by retrieving a key from a sky island.''


    Minutes passed by, Kenny stood up from his seat walked up to the front of the room. 3 men were standing in front of a podium. He placed his paper on the podium and turned around to go back to his seat, but one of the men stopped him with a surprise expression.


    "You''re finished already?" The man asked with a surprised look.


    Kenny nodded and went back to his seat and sat down. He rested his chin on the palm of his hand and looked out through the window beside him. His messy brown hair danced to the air''s current that came from the open window.


    ''I know I definitely passed the written test, but, what I''m worried about is the next test where it''s all about combat ability. If I perform too poorly, my written scores won''t make up for it. Well, I did my best the past 5 years training with a sword. I even touched some hand to hand combat so if I don''t make it, it just means I was too weak. No point in fretting about it.''


    Soon, all the other cadets turned in their paper, many looking visibly worried. They sat in their seats for about 30 minutes. With each minute they only grew more nervous, with their hearts beating out of their chests, the results were announced.


    Half of the cadets had failed.


    The next test however, was where most of them were going to be weeded out. The remaining cadets walked out the room, all looking anxious except for a few. Kenny sighed and put on a serious face, reading himself for the challenge to come.


    ***


    Upon reaching the testing grounds, dozens of white circles made of sand could be seen. The cadets were free to chose any wooden weapon of their liking. Kenny grabbed a wooden sword and then walked up to one of the white circles and took his battle stance, putting his left foot far in front of his right while bending his right knee a little. He raised his sword up to the back of his neck and horizontally placed it there as he lifted his left hand, plam open, towards his opponent. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    Across from Kenny was a dark haired muscular man. The man looked at Kenny with pity, clearly underestimating him.


    Outside of the ring of sand was a man who seemed to be a Vanquisher. Actually there were dozens of Vanquishers there. each at a ring observing the newly started battles.


    The muscular man put his wooden axe to his right with both hands and charged towards Kenny. He swung his axe nearly missing Kenny''s chest as he dashed backwards to avoid the attack. Once kenny had touched the ground he immediately dashed towards the man swinging his sword with all his strength. The man instantly raised his axe, blocking Kenny''s swing. Kenny took his blade back and prepared a barraged of attacks.


    The man was struggling to keep up with Kenny''s onslaught of attacks. Although he was strong, his muscular body was restraining his speed making him unable to counter attack.


    Kenny retreated back, catching his breath. The man looked angered and inwardly insulted Kenny as he dashed towards him. Kenny jumped into high the air avoiding the horizontal swing and with a kick, hit the man straight in the jaw with the back of his foot. The man slowly stepped backwards clearly in a daze and fell backwards.


    The Vanquisher that was observing the battle looked somewhat astonished at the way Ken had defeated his opponent, but didn''t pay it any mind. A win is a win after all.


    ''It''s good that I defeated him, but what they are looking for his capable fighters that can kill demons, not other humans so he still might have a chance. Anyway, how is Claire doing?''


    Kenny exited the Circle and walked around for a few minutes, trying to find the circle Claire was in. He eventually found her fighting against yet again, a muscular man.


    ''Do all these people only care about their muscles?'' Kenny questioned himself.


    With incredible speed Claire lunged towards the man. She swung her wooden sword, striking the man on the neck winning the mock battle. Claire had noticed Kenny observing her fight. With a smile on her face she walked over to her childhood friend.


    "Wow you already finished your match? That was quick."


    Kenny put a faint smile and responded.


    "Yeah, I was lucky to get a weak opponent." Kenny responded.


    "That''s good, so are we Vanquishers now?" Claire questioned.


    "Unfortunately, not yet."


    "Tch, yeah that was too easy. So what''s next?"


    With a calm expression Kenny pointed behind himself with his thumb then responded to Claire''s question.


    "It''s another mock battle, with the ones who won."


    Claire didn''t look surprised. She knew that there was more to it then what she had experienced. Now that the weaklings had been disposed of, the remaining ones were undoubtedly going to be strong. Kenny also knew this in fact it was the next mock battle that had him worried.


    Even if your defeated. If the Vanquisher Corps sees you have potential they''ll still pass you on to become one of them. Claire might be fine, but Kenny on the other hand had isn''t so fortunate. Even he himself knew he had almost no potential. The only reason he had the courage to enter the Recruitment Trails was due to his swordsmanship and hard work developing it, and with his useless gift, it only made it worse. The thought of all of those grueling days that he had spent swinging a sword going down the bin, frightened him to his core.


    After all of the first mock battles were finished, the arrangements for the second battles were already in place. Kenny walked over to his designated ring. He looked at his opponent and his fear he had felt earlier struck him, a cold sweat ran down his cheek, for his opponent for the second battle was none other than the most promising cadet among them all. It was the Generals second son, William Yemel.


    Kenny took his battle stance readying himself for a fight he knew he was going to lose.

 Recruitment Trails(2)

    Kenny was nervous, he took his stance and prepared himself. Across from him was William who was calm and collected.


    William held his wooden sword with both hands and raised it in front of him. Kenny took the initiative, charging towards William as he unleashing a barrage of consecutive strikes. William blocked slash after blow. Kenny retreated back trying to think of a solution to win his unwinable battle.


    ''Shit, if I continue like this I''ll surely loose. Think Kenny! Think!"


    While Kenny was in thought, William was suddenly in front of Kenny. Kenny with a surprised look on his face, dodged the downward swing aimed at his head by a literal hair. Kenny had no time to think so with all his strength, he retaliated with an upwards swing. William dodged the strike and attacked with an upwards swing of his own hitting Kenny square in the chest, sending him flying a multiple feet.


    Kenny got back up and continuously coughed. He looked up at the unfazed William.


    ''Dammit, bastard isn''t even struggling.''


    Kenny resumed his stance, keeping his eyes on William. Suddenly, there he was, in front of his face yet again. Kenny was astonished as to how he even got there. He had clearly seen him several meters away from him but he was now in front of him. Kenny could only come up with one conclusion. His gift.


    While barely dodging and blocking all of Williams strikes, kenny began to think. Williams gift is either an extreme burst of speed, or teleportion. Although one might think that it''s a burst of speed due to his straight forward attacks, Kenny was leaning more towards the second possibility.


    ''There''s a limitation on every gift, the thing is, I need to know how much time and distance.''


    Kenny was on the pure defensive only trying to find out more about Williams gift. He attempted the same back heel kick he knocked out his previous opponent with, but as expected William had blocked it. Kenny used this as a chance to create distance. He used the wooden sword as a stepping stool and propelled himself backwards. He quickly got back up, and as he expected he was in front of him again. Kenny began to count as he created distance yet again.


    ''1, 2, 3, 4, -7, 8, 9, 10''


    Then, William disappeared and the appeared again. But this time not quite as close.


    ''So about a couple of meters of distance too.''


    William began to perform consecutive slash''s giving Kenny a hard time. But in Kenny''s mind, he was counting waiting for the right moment to strike.


    ''8, 9¡­ 10!''


    Then as kenny had predicted, William had vanished. The moment William vanished kenny instantly ducked and kicked behind himself, striking William straight on the ribs with all of the strength he had, sending William flying.


    At that moment Kenny felt proud of what he accomplished. But again, not all things go as planned. Kenny thought that the strike would incapacitate William, but he was wrong. While grabbing his his side, William got back up and looked at Kenny. Kenny saw a face of astonishment. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Never in the 6 years of obtaining his gift had someone close to his own age predicted his Gift: [blink].


    Kenny was waiting in anticipation as William composed himself.


    William took his battle stance and used his gift.


    [Blink].


    This time he was not in front of Kenny, but beside him. This surprised Kenny as he tried to avoid the attack, but it was too late the wooden sword had already struck him. The blow was powerful, knocking Kenny far.


    Kenny quickly got back up and dashed towards William.


    William blocked Kenny''s swing as he himself swung back. Kenny dodged backwards.


    Then suddenly, William disappeared. Kenny ducked again and hit William yet again.


    William first that that it might be a fluke, but now he was sure that Kenny knew the conditions of his gift.


    Another ten second passed, but William had yet to use his gift. Now, all Kenny could do is guess when William would use his gift.


    Kenny prepared himself, he dashed towards William, which was a mistake. William used [Blink] and appeared beside Kenny. William swung his wooden sword with all his strength, knocking the air out of Kenny as he was sent flying onto the floor.


    The winner of this battle, was William.


    As the same time, a tall and big figure could be seen sitting on a chair conveniently place atop a building, next to the battles which were taking place. The figure smiled in amusement, and said:


    "Finally, it''s been too long. A good one."


    ***


    Kenny opened his eyes, in front of him was Claire, resting her head on his lap as she slept. On Kenny''s face could be seen a faint smile as he looked at Claire. He turned his gaze to look out at the window beside him. A sudden pain struck his chest as his smile faded and was replaced with saddened eyes.


    ''Is this the end of my little fantasy?''


    Then the door to the room opened and a somewhat buff old man with grey hair and white military uniform walked through, many badges decorating his chest. Kenny was confused, not knowing who this person is. The old man grabbed a chair and proceeded to walk over to Kenny''s bed. He placed down the chair and sat down.


    Kenny still looking confused asked: "who are you?"


    "My name is Alexander Yemel and I wish to speak with you about your future." The old man said.


    "My futu¡ª, WAIT, your saying your THE Alexander Yemel, the General of the Vanquisher Corps?!" Kenny yelled in astonishment.


    Claire jumped, scared by Kenny''s sudden outburst of shock. She looked over at Kenny.


    "Ken your awake."


    "Huh, Oh ya I am."


    She looked over next to her, then back at Kenny, then back to General Yemel. Her eyes shot out of her eye sockets as soon as she realized who she was sitting next to. She immediately stood up to salute him.


    "G-General Yemel what are you doing here."


    "I''m just here to talk to this boy. Could you give us some space?" The old man said.


    "Of course sir!"


    Clare walked out of the room while giving Kenny a suspicious look, leaving General Yemel and Kenny alone. As he turned his gaze back to Kenny, General Yemel began to speak with Kenny.


    "Your name is Kenny correct?"


    "Yes sir." Kenny replied.


    "Seeming as you don''t have a last name your a commoner, is that also correct?"


    Kenny gave the General a glare, seeming to know where he was heading with the conversation but somewhat restrained himself.


    "Is that a problem."Kenny said with a relaxed tone.


    General Yemel slightly smiled.


    "Not at all, as a matter of fact I thought you were a noble or something."


    Kenny not expecting that, gave the General a puzzled look.


    "Why is that?"


    "Because, your strong for your age and status. Honestly I was surprised when you countered Williams Gift, and on top of that feat you have a gift that does nothing in battle. Can you blame me when my son who was trained with many tutors the moment he received his gift gets struck multiple times by a commoner who has a useless gift?"


    "I guess.. not."


    Now that kenny was told by another person what he had accomplished he felt proud of himself again. But didn''t let it show and remained composed.


    "Does this relate to what you said earlier about talking about my future?"


    The General looked at Kenny with a straight face and said something that shocked Kenny.


    "Yeah. I want to invest in you Kenny."


    Kenny looked staggered by what the old man in front of him had said. The General of the Vanquisher Corps wanting to invest in him?


    "Invest in me?"kenny questioned.


    "That''s right."

 A Cruel Fate

    Kenny was baffled at what the General had said. He had no earthly idea about what he meant by "invest".


    Kenny looked at the Genral with a puzzled look and asked:


    "What do you mean by invest, General?"


    "Sorry, the right term for it would be that I wish to sponsor you, Kenny."


    "Sponsor me, what do you mean by Sponsor?"


    "As you know, the system has a total of 10 ranks that a Vanquisher can attain. And obviously, the higher the stronger one is. Knowing this, here at the Vanquisher Corps we have a Sponser system in place."


    "And what is this, "Sponser System" you guys have in place?" Kenny asked.


    "It''s where a rank 6 Vanquisher or higher can take a rank 5 or lower Vanquisher under their wing and personally train them. They can also go on expeditions together, although that rarely happens."


    Kenny in the entirety of the conversation never changed his baffled look. The General of the Vanquisher Corps, wanting to personally train him? The thought of this being some sort of joke or prank did cross his mind but dismissed it right away, the General didn''t seem like that type of man.


    "Why would you want to Sponser me?"


    "Because I see the potential for you to be great Kenny. I watched your match, and you have a good battle sense but most importantly, you have drive."


    Potential? Drive? In Kenny? No one had ever told him that he''s had potential to be great, only his father and mother encouraged him, but never actually told him those exact words. Kenny felt a bit happy to hear those kind of words.


    "Well you look fine to me so get ready, we''re starting your training right away."


    "Before that, can I first take care of something."


    The General looked back at Kenny and responded:


    "Sure, just don''t take too long."


    ***


    Kenny walked into a room with wooden flooring and a old worn down wooden bed was in the right corner of the room, and on that worn down bed, was Kenny''s father. His dying father. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Next to the bed was a small desk in which Kenny''s mother was sitting it¡¯s chair.


    "Kenny, your back. How did the Recruitment Trails go?"


    "I was actually hoping to talk to you both about that." Kenny said as he looked over to his father.


    Kenny''s father looked pale and fatigued, making it seems like as if he hadn''t eaten in days. Dark circles could be spotted under his eyes, he clearly had not slept for who knows how long too. The sorry state of his father drove a knife through Kenny''s heart, he was hurt by the sight of his dying father. After 6 months of his father fighting an unwinable battle, Kenny still couldn''t get used to the sight.


    Kenny walked over to the bed and sat down next to his father.


    "Hey, dad, guess what? I actually became a Vanquisher. Can you believe it? I know this might sound a little unbelievable, but even General Yemel wants to Sponsor me too." Kenny had said this with a pained smile on his face. He was trying not to let his words get too stuttery as he talked.


    His father slowly turned his weak head and smiled. He was proud of his son''s accomplishment, but couldn''t express it.


    "Really¡­? I¡ªI am¡­ so¡­ proud of you, son. You¡­ finally¡­"


    His fathers eyes turned blank as he turned back up to look up at the ceiling. He had forgotten what he was talking about, and with who. He just blankly stared at the ceiling.


    Kenny sighed and stood up. Rowan''s time was up, Kenny and his mother knew this which only made him and his mother even more sorrowful.


    All they could do is enjoy their last moments together, as Rowan slipped into the eternal slumber of death as he layed still on the worn down bed.


    Rowan had passed away.


    ***


    Kenny stood in front of his fathers grave, a stone tablet at the front of the burial. Around them were many other graves. Below Kenny was his mother, streams of tears flowed down her face as she cried in agony. On Kenny''s face were tears aswell, pouring down from his eyes. Memories of his father flashed in his mind, this only made the emotional pain worse and worse with each memory.


    Claire was behind the family of two, looking down to the ground, her hands shaking as she momentarily raised her head. Rowan was a kind man and always welcomed Claire into their shabby home whenever her parents paid her no attention. The family had a special place in her heart.


    Claire looked back down, her eyes began to water. Soon, she too felt the emotional pressure as she began to shed tears.


    That day, Kenny had lost a father, and Martha a husband.


    ***


    The next day, Kenny walked through a long hallway stopping in front of a double door filled with engravings of architectural design. He opened the door and inside was a full white room. He walked in closing the door behind him. To his left he saw General Yemel getting warmed up. He walked over to the General, still traumatized by his fathers death.


    "I heard why you didn''t show up." Said general Yemel.


    "If I train under you, will you make me powerful."


    "Of course, I am the strongest Vanquisher in the world kid."


    After hearing those words Kenny felt relieved. He knew that under General Yemels guidance he would truly become strong. So, he simply said:


    "Good."


    Genral Yemel smirked.


    "By the way, my training isn''t to be taken lightly. Kenny, you will suffer, but it''ll make you strong.


    Kenny felt scared and curious as to how his training would make him suffer, but in the end he didn''t care he would do anything to become strong, to achieve his goal of becoming the strongest and making his father proud.


    General Yemel stood up and without warning punch Kenny straight in the gut. The air escaped from him as he stumbled down onto the floor.


    "Get up kid, this is just the beginning."

 A Beating

    Kenny was gasping for air as he attempted to stand up. The blow was so devastating to his stomach that Kenny thought that his insides might have been rearranged.


    Kenny kept on gasping for air as he grabbed his stomach, still trying to stand up


    ''Damn, that really hurts!''


    Kenny stood up and slowly walked backwards paying attention to the General, making sure he doesn''t leave his line of sight. Kenny reached for his sword that he had brought with him and took his stance.


    The General looked at him with an unsatisfied look.


    "No kid, that won''t do. That stance, it doesn''t suit your flexible combat style."


    "What?"


    "A stance is an important fundamental in swordplay, and your current stance isn''t bringing out your full capabilities."


    Kenny had known that a stance was important, but never considered changing it since he was used to it. It was also the stance his father taught him, so he was hesitant to replace it with another.


    ''No, if it''s to get stronger, then father wouldn''t mind. Even so¡­''


    The General walked over to Kenny and stopped in front of him. Kenny thought he would give him guidance as to what stance he should adopt. But no, the General moved his arm back, and with tremendous force struck Kenny on the side of his face. He was flung across the white crystalline room, crashing into one of its walls.


    As he crashed back on the ground, he attempted to get back on his feet as trembled to do so, a sudden burst of anger flooded him.


    "Dammit old man! I thought you were suppose to be teaching me and making me stronger, your just beating me the hell up!"


    General Yemel began to walk over to Kenny. Kenny with all his strength got up knowing what the General was trying to do.


    The General was making sure Kenny knew that he was superior to him in every way possible. He was trying to make their level difference known.


    Kenny began to think about how he could survive this with taking minimal damage. Kenny assumed the General would would charge at him with great speed, but he just continued to walk at a normal pace.


    ''This isn''t a battle for me to win. I just need to meet his expectations and survive his attacks. So, just as his son he''s probably going to vanish an appear in my blind spot.''


    A sudden deep voice interrupted Kenny''s train of thought.


    "Kenny, you think too long. In an actual battle a demon isn''t going to wait for you to finish assessing it. I''m not saying don''t think, but think faster and do it while in combat."The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "What about my stance? You said it didn''t suit me so what should I do?"


    "I may be your teacher now, but I''m not going to hand everything over too you like a baby, but I will give some advice. Just do whatever you want, whether use your current one or another, it''s ultimately up to you, do it how you feel most comfortable. But remember, efficiency is best in a battle."


    Do whatever he wanted? What kind of advice was that? Kenny understood that he probably wasn''t going to be handed everything, but what kind of advice did he mean by "just do whatever you want"? It perplexed him.


    Kenny looked at the General with a muddled expression. Kenny put his hand on his chin thinking about what the General had just said. Then, everything went dark.


    The General looked down at Kenny motionless body.


    "What the hell did I just say?"


    ***


    Kenny opened his eyes and as soon as he did, he got D¨¦j¨¤ vu from seeing the familiar room. A sudden and painful migraine came to him. He put his hand on his head as he looked around the familiar room.


    ''Am in the medical ward? What the hell happened? I remember training with the old man. Was I knocked out by the General?''


    Abruptly, the door was smacked open and the blonde, green eyed beauty walked in. She rocked grey baggy pants, a long grey sleeve shirt along with a dark grey jacket, and black boots. She wore a metal breastplate with small pauldrons on her shoulders, the typical recruit uniform for Vanquishers.


    "Claire?"


    Claire walked over to Kenny with a grin on her face.


    "How does it look?"


    "What do you mean?"


    Claire closed her eyes and let out a big sigh of disappointment.


    "I mean the Vanquisher uniform, Ken."


    "Oh, yeah it looks good on you."


    Claire let out a big sigh yet again.


    "You know, I miss the old you. Back when we were kids you were always energetic and cheerful with a big smile, ranting on about how you were going to be the strongest Vanquisher, always knowing what to do. Now you''re all serious, stubborn, and cheeky."


    Claire''s comment annoyed Kenny. Since he thinks that he is superior to Claire in every way, this made him want to retaliate with a comment of his own, but controlled himself not wanting to prove her right.


    "Anyways, I was surprised when I heard that the General is Sponsoring you, the entire Corps is talking about it."


    Kenny did think it was amazing but immediately remembered the beating he took from the General. Now he knew what Genral Yemel meant when he said that he was going to suffer.


    Kenny disregarded the thought quickly, not wanting to remember it.


    "Also, how come your in here again?"


    Just when he forced himself to forget.


    Kenny told Claire everything that had happened in the training room, what the Generals¡¯ "training" was, which sent shivers down Claire''s spine.


    Claire and kenny chatted for a while about how the first day of training was for the other Vanquishers. Since Kenny was immediately sponsored during the Recruitment Trials and because of a certain passing, he did not attend the couple of days of training which left him out of the loop for what the rules and curfew are at the Vanquisher Corps.


    "One more thing, you know that guy you lost to? He was looking for you, he was probably mad about how you hit him, although I didn''t see it."


    "What? Why would he be mad?"


    "Probably because he was hit by a commoner with a handicap."


    Kenny cursed under his breath. He guessed that the noble would have it out for him which made him feel exhausted already. He didn''t want to deal with that problem in his current state.


    ''Well, whatever.''


    Kenny felt the pain coming back to him from the previous beating he took which made him stay in bed till the next day.


    ***


    Claire came barging into the room were Kenny was staying in. On the floor was Kenny doing pushups. Kenny was lean with small scars around his muscular forearms. Claire instantly turned around at the sight of Kenny, her ears burning up.


    "Hey what are you doing, why do you have your shirt off! What if someone comes in the room!"


    "I mean, it''s more comfortable that way for me, plus your supposed to knock before you enter a room."


    "Whatever just get dressed!"

 Unexpected Team

    Walking in the hallways of the Vanquisher Corps Medical center, was Kenny and the still mortified Claire.


    "By the way Claire, aren''t you supposed to be with the others in training? What are you doing here?"


    Claire looked over at Kenny.


    "I was ordered to come pick you up since you probably don''t know the way and would have gotten lost."


    Due to Claire, he had realized that he indeed would''ve been lost if Claire had not come to guide him to the training grounds.


    Kenny began to imagine what his comrades would be like, but this brought up a forgotten dilemma to Kenny. William Yemel.


    ''Oh ya. I forgot. Damn it, why do nobles have to be so damn prideful.''


    Kenny began to consider a few things that he could do. He thought about just taking it and not doing anything but the thought really irritated him so he quickly dismissed it. He considered fighting back if it came to it, but remembered his defeat and also disregarded the idea. Kenny was lost on what to do with the predicament.


    ''Mabye he''ll be nice about it? I highly doubt that.''


    Kenny let out a big sigh. Claire looked over at Kenny with a confused look.


    ''What''s wrong with him?'' She thought.


    Upon arriving to the training grounds a group of about 30 to 40 trainees filled "Ground 13" which was one of the 30 total training grounds in the Corp''s base. Kenny and Claire walked over to the group. The female Lieutenant noticed the tardy Kenny.


    The Lieutenant was a fit women with short black hair and sharp eyes that made kenny shiver a bit.


    "Well if it isn''t Mr. Chosen one himself!" The Lieutenant yelled.


    Kenny flinched at the lieutenant''s roar.


    ''Mr. Chosen one? Is she referring to me being Sponsered by the General?''


    "What are standing around for dumbass, are you lost?! Hurry up and get over here!"


    Kenny hurriedly jogged over the group of trainees and stood with his back straight and palms to his sides like the others. Then, the Lieutenant''s voice roared throughout training ground 13 yet again.


    "Listen up, I''m not the one who was supposed to do your training, but I wanted to make you experience hell personally! And in here, you are to be obedient and follow orders to the letter is that understood!?"


    The recruits in harmony responded to the Lieutenant.


    "Yes, ma''am!"


    The Lieutenant continued with her words:


    "Here in the Vanquisher Corps, you will be mostly learning how to work together! In other words, teamwork! Most Vanquishers can''t take on demons alone and need the help of others! So with this in mind, you must understand that teamwork is essential in battle! Now, I want 7 groups of five were, going to start off with mock battles!"If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Kenny looked around to try to find Calire but saw that she was already in a group of five. Kenny made a worried face as he panicked, for he knew no one. Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder, Kenny looked behind him and saw a boy with messy gray hair. His eyes were calm and filled with kindness which surprised Kenny  because the boy behind him was William Yemel.


    With a gentle voice William spoke:


    "Hello, your name was Kenny correct?"


    Kenny stood silent as he stared at William, surprised at his calmness. Kenny presumed that William would start bad mouthing him. But no, he was smiling at him with no ill intentions at all. Kenny hesitated but finally spoke:


    "Yes... that''s right."


    "You really surprised me back in the Recruitment Trails. I didn''t expect you to predict my Blink like that. You truly are impressive."


    "You aswell. But I''m not impressive at all, I did lose to you after all."


    William lightened his smile.


    "Mabye so, but you were still able to land a good hit on me while I was using Blink."


    William raised his hand in an attempt to shake Kenny''s hand.


    "The reason I came up to you is that I would like you to form a team with me. Would that be possible?"


    Kenny was shocked that William would want to form a team with him. Kenny looked behind William and saw a crowd of about fifteen trainees wanting to join him.


    Kenny was mystified as to why he would want to form a team with him so he simply asked:


    "Why would you want to form a team with me?" Kenny asked.


    "I wish to get closer to you. Besides, you look a bit panicked earlier."


    Kenny thought for a while putting his hand on his chin.


    ''I mean he doesn''t seem like a bad person and I see no reason why to refuse.''


    After about five seconds of pointless thinking, Kenny finally agreed to team up with William. William raised his hand and so did Kenny to shake hands.


    After they shook their hands, the Lieutenant''s voice echoed throughout the grounds.


    "Alright that''s should''ve been enough time!"


    The Lieutenant glanced over at the two trainees who had just shook hands.


    "Where are your team of five?" The Lieutenant asked.


    Kenny and William both looked at each other and then around them. The rest of the recruits had already formed teams, even the ones itching to form one with William had scattered off to find a team of their own.


    "Mr. General''s Son and General''s chosen one where is your team?"


    William took the initiative to respond.


    "I apologize Lieutenant, it seems that everyone has already formed groups and we''re the only ones left."


    The Lieutenant turned around to look at the other recruits and noticed that they all indeed were in their own groups. She turned back at both Kenny and William.


    "I see, then you two will be a team. You guys are probably the strongest ones in this group anyways."


    "Yes, Lieutenant!"


    Kenny didn''t think he was on of the strongest in the group so the Lieutenant''s arrangement made Kenny worried. The two of them would be fighting against five.


    In the distance, Claire looked over at kenny and let out a faint laugh, clearly laughing at Kenny predicament. Next to Claire''s team was a tall guy with red slick back hair. He had an angered look on his face, directed towards Kenny.


    Two teams stepped up to a circle similar to the ones during the Recruitment Trails and the mock battles begun. The mock battles continued until it was ultimately Kenny and Williams¡¯ turn. They both walked into the ring with wooden swords in their hands.


    A different team walked into the circle as well. They looked quite hesitant to fight the two of them, they felt a sort of guilt fighting them while outnumbering them. The Lieutenant looked over at the hesitant team.


    "Don''t hold back or hesitate! One of them is the Generals¡¯ son and the other is specifically hand chosen by the General!" The Lieutenant Yelled.


    This seemed to have shifted their hesitation to a different direction. They now felt somewhat scared to fight two peope with that kind of background. But they had no choice, their numbers let some of the hesitation lighten.


    The two on the other hand were calm and collected, even Kenny. Kenny turned towards William.


    "Hey William, since you''re stronger and more experienced you take the three on the left and i''ll take the two on the right. Their probably somewhat acquainted with each other but not experienced in team combat so I''ll separate the other two."


    Williamm nodded in agreement.


    "Now, begin!" The Lieutenant screamed out.

 First Mission

    Not even 3 minutes had passed since the battle had began, but the entirety of the opposing team had been wiped out by Kenny and William. It was a swift victory for the two of them.


    ''That was unexpectedly easy. Though it was due to their lack of coordination.''


    All of the recruits present were astonished at what they had witnessed, even Claire who had honestly almost never seen Kenny battle too was surprised. The Lieutenant smirked as she looked at the two recruits.


    "That was impressive, both of you."


    "Thank you Lieutenant." They both harmonically spoke.


    The rest of the mock battles went on and as Kenny was observing them, he realized that he had been quite harsh on himself for always thinking that he was weak and had no talent compared to others. What he observed was that the rest were quite weak compared to him. After all, all he had done the past 5 years was train everyday until his entire body shut down on its own.


    William was next to Kenny and suddenly asked a weird question, at least in the eyes of Kenny.


    "Kenny, what do you think of nobles?" William asked.


    Kenny looked over at William quite perplexed at the sudden and weird question. He was quiet for a few seconds and then with a serious look he responded:


    "The vast majority of nobles are greedy self righteous fattasses who think they can buy anything in the world with money. They look down on others based on their social status. They think they''re better than you, but in my eyes a noble is just another human, whether it be a asshole or nice person, they¡¯re just another human. ¡°Noble¡± is just a title given to them mostly because they having money."


    William looked quite astounded at Kenny''s response.


    "I guess your not wrong, based on what I''ve seen."


    "I did say the vast majority though, not all of them. William, take your father for example, he''s a man I do truly respect. His strength and efforts is what brought him to his noble status after all, not money."


    William put on an Akward smile.


    "Yes, I do think he''s a respectable man."


    Kenny looked disgusted at William''s akward smile.


    "Dude, your making me cringe with that smile."


    "Huh? Oh I''m sorry!"


    The recruits began to stare and whisper with a somewhat disgusted or confused look about the two young recruits.


    "Are they dating?" A student silently asked.


    "I don''t know, but they look very close." Another student answered.


    Kenny looked pale as a ghost, his good short reputation was now gone for good.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "Look what you did, now everyone is gonna think I like dudes!"


    William gave Kenny a worried look.


    "I''m sorry! I didn''t mean to!"


    Kenny put his plam to his face while next to him William looked distressed, feeling sorry for putting Kenny in that situation. Suddenly the Lieutenant''s voice resonated the the training grounds.


    "All of the mock battles have been completed! You are now released for today!"


    ***


    Loud bangs and clangs could be heard in the same white crystalline room. It was the General''s personal training room, and inside was Kenny, yet again taking a beating from General Yemel.


    Two days had passed since the mock battles, and since then William and Kenny had become good friends. It turns out that what he previously thought about William was entirely wrong. William was a nice guy with a caring attitude, dfferent from what Kenny imagined most of the nobles to be.


    "Get your head in the game kid!"


    General Yemel struck Kenny right on the side of his face with his fist, sending him into a wall of hard white crystal.


    Kenny groaned in pain and he stood up.


    "Hey old man, aren''t you supposed to be teaching me something! Not just beating the hell out of me!"


    "I have to toughen you up a little bit first."


    Kenny made an annoyed face. This is nothing of what Kenny had expected training with the General would be. He thought he would be teaching him how to kill demons. But for the first and now second day training, General Yemel had just been beating the crap out of Kenny.


    ''Damn every punch feels like I''ve been hit by a boulder, and he''s holding back too.''


    Kenny picked up his iron sword, and with all his power dashed towards the General and swung his blade. Multiple loud clangs echoed throughout the room as the General blocked all of Kenny''s strikes with a blade of his own.


    Multiple hours went by as the General simply beat Kenny. Kenny did attempt to fight back, but ended in futile efforts.


    Kenny layed on the floor, bruises all over his face and body. Even vomit could be seen next to him for at one point a gut punch from the General manage to get the damn thing out of him.


    ''This fucking hurts like hell.''


    The General stood over Kenny looking down at him.


    "Next week, you and your platoon will take on a Mission, take this chance to rank up since obtaining the 2nd rank is pretty easy. With this, you''ll get your self a new gift."


    Kenny look a bit excited but then changed his expression to a confused one.


    "Wait, not an expidition?"


    General Yemel looked over at Kenny and began to laughed uncontrollably.


    "Hahaha! you think you can go on an expedition?! Your entire team will get wiped out in an instant. You have to get Rank 2 before even thinking about going on an expedition."


    Kenny gave the General a disappointed look. Kenny has been wanting to go on an expedition now that he''s become a Vanquisher, but now that he learned that you need to be at least rank 2 to be part of an expedition, it only made him more eager to go on that mission.


    For the next week Kenny had been following the same routine every day, and three times a week going to the General''s training room and gettin beat to a pulp. Kenny was starting to doubt whether the General would ever teach him anything.


    ***


    The platoon of Vanquishers were in their training grounds as the Lieutenant began to lay down the details of the mission.


    "We are going to the town of Ballen, there we have been tasked with the elimination of monsters around the area that have been growing in numbers recently. We¡¯ll get a better overview once we arrive. Prepare to head out!"


    "Yes ma''am!" The cadets harmonically spoke.


    ''A mission huh? Vanquisher do take care of other tasks around the country to if their needed. I have to take this chance to rank up and get another gift. And hopefully get a useful one this time.''


    Kenny grabbed his sword and placed it in the baldric on his back.


    In the distance he saw William coming towards him and waving at him with a bright smile on his face.


    "Hey Kenny."


    Kenny returned the greeting with a faint smile and wave.


    "Hey, William."


    William finally reached Kenny and said:


    "How about you call me Will, it''s what my family calls me."


    "Sure, then if were giving nicknames how about you call me Ken."


    A sudden soft and girly voice came from behind Kenny.


    "You guys seem close. Are the rumors true?" Claire asked with a smirk.


    Kenny looked behind him and with an annoyed look said:


    "They''re not true, but we''ve become friends, that''s it, so don''t get the wrong impression. Anyways looks like we''re leaving."

 Disgusting Giants

    The platoon of recruits marched into a circular platform made of stone, many engravings decorating the exterior of the circle. Claire seemed a bit unsettled by the way of transportation which made Kenny grin in a provocative way.


    A light began to engulf the bodies of the recruits. Some flinched in surprise by the sudden luminosity radiating from their bodies.


    Once the light had diminished from them, they were in a completely different room. The room had white pillars all around the Transportation Circle and the walls were etched with drawing of what seemed to be Vanquisher''s battling with Demons.


    In front of the Transportation Circle was a man of small stature with short light green hair. His eyes were green aswell and he had sharp pointy ears.


    ''An elf?'' Kenny thought.


    The Lieutenant walked up to the elf and reached her hand out, wanting to shake the elf''s hand.


    "Hello, we are the Vanquisher''s that have been sent to deal with the monsters." The Lieutenant said as she shook hands with the short elf.


    "I see, well thank you for coming and taking on this request of mine. Now if you''ll follow me I''ll show you to the briefing room."


    The recruits walked through a long hallway. Kenny couldn''t keep his eyes off the walls of the building. There were beautiful illustrations of many different kinds of people like Humans, Eleven people, Beastmen, and Dwarves.


    They eventually made it to the inside of a room filled with chairs and in the front of that room was a board with a map of the Elven city of Mithilis and it''s surrounding area.


    The elf of short stature walked up to the front of the room as the cadets began to take theirs seats. The short elf grabbed a wooden  rod placed on a table in the front and began the explanation of the mission.


    "This may be a little late but, greetings everyone, my name is Aaron Shint. I like to do things quickly so I''ll get straight to the point."


    Aaron lifted the wooden rod up to the board and pointed to the eastern side of Mithilis on the map.


    "Recently, an unprecedented amount of monsters have been discovered in the eastern part of the city. The citizens have been somewhat frightened by this since this is the area where we have our agricultural fields. If their not taken care of, they will harm not just our citizens, but our crops."


    William on far right of the room raised his hand seeming to want to ask a question.


    "Yes?" Aaron asked.


    "May I ask what monsters we will be dealing with?"


    "The monsters in question are¡­ Bugs. Giant bugs to be specific."


    Kenny could see Claire¡¯s¡¯ face filled with horror as it turned pale. She absolutely despised bugs, she hated them with a burning passion, so much so that if she had the chance to get rid of all of them in the world she would do it in an instant.


    I mean¡­ anyone would, right?Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Kenny looked over at Claire''s terrified faced and smirked.


    "You look a little troubled there. Are you perhaps, scared?"


    Claire with a still scared expression voice said:


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about¡­ im perfectly fine."


    Kenny gave Claire an unconvinced look. William, who was beside Kenny leaned over just enough to see Claire.


    ''Is she scared of bugs?''


    The Lieutenant walked up then stood in front of the room.


    "We will commence the mission tomorrow morning. We''ve been provided lodging, head there for tonight!"


    "Yes ma''am!"


    ***


    ¡®Elves have it nice. The bed is comfy, the food is good and everything inside their buildings looks amazing. The only thing that bothers me right now is this.''


    Kenny looked over to his side. There was Claire and William sitting on chairs from a desk.


    "What are you guys doing here? Don''t you have your own rooms?"


    "Yeah, but we wanna hang out before our first mission." Calire said.


    Kenny sighed.


    "Not now, I''m going to bed."


    Claire have Kenny an annoyed look.


    "C''mon, just for a while, I''ve always wanted to hangout with friends."


    With just that, Kenny gave in.


    ¡°Fine.¡±


    ***


    The recruits walked through a luscious green forest filled with many different types of flowers and trees, in fact it was surprising how many different varieties of life there was.


    "It''s very different from Tillian, it¡¯s much more green and¡­ what¡¯s the word?." William said.


    Claire and Kenny nodded in agreement. Back in Tillian there were forests, but these were beyond green. Actually, all you could see was green. Everywhere you turn is either colorful flowers, the brown of a tree trunk, or the green grass and leaves.


    As the Cadets were walking, Kenny turned over to Claire. He saw something resembling something like a wolf spider but not quite exactly. The damn thing was covering her entire back but since they were at the end of the group, no one but Kenny had noticed.


    "Hey Claire, stop."


    Claire stopped and looked at Kenny with a confused expression.


    "What?"


    "On your back."


    Claire turned her head as much as she could in order to see what Kenny was talking about, and in the corner of her eye she saw two giant eyes, and little ones beneath those.


    Claire turned pale as a ghost as she almost let out a loud scream of terror, but before she could get a peep out, Kenny had put his hand to her mouth.


    "If you scream, you''ll scare it and then it''ll bite you. The poison will spread numbing your muscles, and then your heart." He calmly warned Claire.


    William looked back at the two with a puzzled expression.


    "What''s wrong?" William asked them


    "Just a spider on Claire''s back. Don''t worry, I got it." Kenny said as he drew his sword from his baldric, grabbed the thing with his bare hand and cut its head off.


    But since these ugly bastards can still move after having their heads severed, Kenny sliced off its limbs and fangs, aswell as chopping its body to pieces. You know, to be safe.


    [You''ve slain a Giant Wolf Spider]


    ¡®This is the first time I''ve slain a monster and seen this. Is this the "notification" you get when you kill something?''


    Claire who still look petrified and pale was next to Kenny, silent, she felt shivers run down her spine. She really did hate bugs.


    Kenny and Claire hurried to catch up with the group. But they seemed to have stopped.


    "From here on is the territory where the monsters have been found. We will move in groups of five as planned, and remember if you are in a dire situation crush the stone that you''ve been given and I''ll immediately rush to you. Is that understood?"


    The cadets harmoniously said:


    "Yes. ma''am."


    The recruits began to move out in their designated teams. Kenny, William, and Claire moved in the same team with another two, a shy, small girl with short brown hair, and a guy with red slick back hair and fierce eyes.


    "Hello everyone, my name is Mia Halbert." Said the small girl with a shy voice.


    "Hello Mia, I''m William, to my right is Kenny, and this person to my left is Claire."


    Both Calire and Kenny gave the shy girl a wave.


    "And you?" Claire asked.


    "Victor Von." The red haired guy said with a rather irritated tone.


    "Alright, now that we''ve gotten the greetings over with, let''s get moving." Kenny said.


    Kenny unsheathed his sword, while the others took out their own respective weapons.


    They traversed the green forest, many minutes had passed but no enemy had been seen yet which seemed a bit strange to Kenny. But his suspicions turned out to be unnecessary.


    In front of the group was a terrifying sight, especially for Claire. Giant spiders, millipedes, worms, Centipedes. All sorts of creatures were bundled up together. This sight even made Kenny feel quite uncomfortable.

 Reanimater

    The Giants stood triple the height of a normal person which made them even more terrifying yet revolting at the same time.


    Kenny sighed.


    ''I thought I would be fighting Demons, not some insects.''


    The group drew their weapons and commenced their attack.


    The intolerable stench the insects gave off made fighting them even more of a challenge, but the five managed to make it through without any problems. That is until something even more terrifying appeared before them.


    It possessed eight long legs with the end of them being sharp enough to make a big impact on the ground every time it took a step. It stood about twenty feet tall and it had many eyes that were very small yet fierce.


    "It''s a King Arachnid!" Kenny alerted the others as he raised his sword.


    The group of Vanquishers turned towards the beast and readied themselves for the Giant monster. Kenny signaled towards Claire and Will to follow his lead while charging towards the monstrosity.


    The Giant let out a loud and powerful screech.


    "Victor, Mia, support us with your Gifts!" Kenny shouted.


    William disappeared and appeared beside the giant beast, he swung his sword and struck one of its legs, but the monsters exterior was so sturdy that it felt like William had hit steel which made the recoil quite painful.


    "Go for the joints!" William yelled.


    The King Arachnid struck William with one of its eight legs, but with his sword, William blocked the sharp edge of its leg, though still sending Will into a nearby tree.


    At the same time Kenny had jumped on the creature as Claire went under it and struck multiple of its joints making the creature fall down onto its sternum.


    Victor raised his hand and conjured a blue flame and discharged it towards the creature, landing straight into its face, igniting a fierce flame on its head as the creature began to screech in agony.


    Kenny still on top of the Giant Spider raised his sword in the air and with all his strength pierced the spiders burning head and twisted his blade making the creature shake its entire body, Kenny quickly took his sword and leaped off the giant''s body.


    The flame died down, its head was half way burned, but the creature was still moving. The innards of the creature could be seen from where part of its head was missing, which made for quite a revolting scene. Claire was thankfully still still behind the Giant. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    The creature was still moving around, attempting to get up.


    "These damn things are so annoying." Victor said.


    Mia raised her hand and suddenly, ice shards the size of a small knife conjured around her. The shards discharged from around her with great speed and into the head of the giant.


    But the King Arachnid still remained alive. Kenny dashed in and sliced off its head which was barley hanging on and at the same time cut its body in two from its pedicel.


    [You''ve slain a King Arachnid].


    [Your Rank has been increased]


    [You have obtained a new Gift]


    Kenny''s face lit up with excitement.


    ''Yes! Finally, a new gift!''


    Kenny opened his status window and read:


    [Name: Kenny]


    [Title(s): None]


    [Rank: 2]


    [Gifts:(Illuminating Flame),(Reanimation)]


    [Blessing(s): None]


    [Regalia: None]


    ''Reanimation? What the hell is that?''


    Kenny tapped on the text.


    [Reanimation: Reanimation allows for one to reanimate the dead and have them serve under you has their King. You are allowed a certain amount of attempts to reanimate the deceased based on their strength.]


    Kenny''s face was filled with excitement yet confusion. His mind was filled with many questions.


    ''I can revive the dead and have them serve me as their king?! Does this include humans? How many attempts do I get? What''s the limit of servants I can have? How do I summon them? Can I use it consecutively?''


    A soft voice suddenly interrupted his train of thought.


    "Hey Kenny, we''re going to start regrouping with the others now." Mia said while have one hand on Kenny''s shoulder and the other near her chest.


    "Go on with out me, I''ll catch up in a couple of minutes."


    "But we can''t just leave you here, what if another one shows up?"


    Kenny gave Mia a faint smile.


    "Don''t worry, King Arachnids are territorial and stay within their own territory which means that another one won''t show up."


    Mia gave Kenny a worried look but decided to trust Kenny and left without him.


    ''Now to test it out.''


    Kenny walked up to the King Arachnid, then circled around it.


    ''So¡­ how do I do this?''


    Kenny thought for a while and then put his hand on the King Arachnid.


    [Would you like to reanimate ¡°King Arachnid¡±?].


    Kenny was quite startled by the notification.


    "Yes."


    [Reanimation failed, would you like to try again?]


    "Yes."


    [Reanimation successful].


    A white mist started to emit from the King Arachnid''s body as its injures began to heal on their own. Once the King Arachnid was fully recovered a red portal appeared beside it and the Giant walked in and disappeared.


    [You have received the title "Reanimator"]


    ''What? a title too? Did the bad luck of my last Gift turn into good luck for my second Gift or something? Anyways, how do I summon it?''


    [Chose a way to summon your servants].


    ''I can chose a way to summon it? Can it be anything?''


    Kenny thought for a good minute.


    "Come forth."


    A red portal opened behind him and the King Arachnid walked through. Kenny looked behind himself and grinned.


    Kenny began to test out his new Gift. In the process of doing so he learned that his servants react to his orders whether he says them out loud or thinks about them. Furthermore, their strength is greatly reduced, probably due to his low Rank, so he didn''t even try to reanimate the small fry that were laying dead on the ground.


    "Anyways, It''s about time I start heading back."


    Kenny headed back to the regrouped platoon of Vanquishers.


    On the way back to Mithilis Kenny couldn''t stop thinking about his new Gift. He was relieved to finally have a Gift that is useful in battle.


    ''I wonder what the General is going to think?''

 A Jackpot

    The group of recruits stepped into the Transportation Circle, the same light as before engulfed their bodies, making them disappear.


    ***


    Upon reaching the front of the General''s personal training room, Kenny opened the doors and walked inside. On the far right of the room he saw the General performing varied stretching exercises, preparing for what Kenny knew was another beating.


    The General noticed Kenny as he stood up.


    "Your back. Did you reach rank two?" The General asked


    "Yeah, I did" said Kenny as he walked up to the General.


    "Good, now we can start on your actual training. What Gift did you receive.?"


    Kenny gave the General a smug look.


    "Reanimation, I can reanimate the dead and have them serve me and their "king", with absolute loyalty."


    The General looked stunned by Kenny''s words, but then a huge smile on his face appeared, the potential he saw in Kenny wasn''t just potential anymore. The General was certain that if given the right opportunites, Kenny would become one, if not the most useful Vanquishers.


    Having the ability of Reanimation would mean that Kenny could possibly have an army of his own.


    This made the General excited.


    "Are there any limitations, and have you used it?" The general asked.


    "I used it to reanimate a King Arachnid, and the only limitations that I know of is that there''s a limit on how many attempts I get to reanimate a single dead, and that there power is greatly reduced, probably because of my low rank.


    This made the General even more intrigued.


    "Show me."


    "Come forth."


    A red light appeared behind Kenny that soon turned into a portal of some sorts. The King Arachnid walked out of it looking the same as when Kenny first encountered it, only now it wasn''t a ferocious beast out for his life.


    The General observed the beast with a curious look on his face.


    "When you say absolute loyalty, it''ll do anything you say?" The General questioned Kenny.


    "Yeah, pretty much."


    The General turned his gaze toward Kenny.


    "If I kill it, will it be gone for good?"If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "I''m not sure." Kenny replied.


    The General walked up to the beast and with great force, punched the King Arachnid, completely destroying it. The punch was so devastating that it not only sent the barley intact beast flying into the wall, but Kenny as well due to the shock wave.


    "What the hell are you doing old man!"


    The General looked over at Kenny.


    "Testing it out, you have to know everything about your gift in order to improve it. Besides, if it¡¯s actually dead now, we can just get you another one."


    Kenny turned towards the King Arachnid. The poor thing was blown to smithereens, only three of its eight legs were intact, one of them barely hanging on. Its entire body was crushed under the weight of the blow.


    As Kenny was looking at the King Arachnid, he noticed a faint mist coming from the King Arachnid''s body. Soon, it''s entire body was covered in the white mist which seemed to be disintegrating its body.


    Once the entire body was gone, Kenny received a notification.


    [Level 1 King Arachnid Recovery time: 3 days]


    ''Level 1?''


    "So, is it still alive?" The General asked.


    "Yeah it is but I have to wait three days to be able to summon it again. It also says level 1 which probably means I can level it up and make it stronger."


    General Yemel put his hand on his chin and said:


    "Interesting, you really hit the jackpot with that gift of yours."


    The General took his hand off his chin and look up at Kenny.


    "I''ll have your group and some others go on an expedition with an elite one. You''ll only be there if you¡¯re needed, so don''t interfere unless your ordered to."


    Kenny quickly stood up.


    "Yes, sir!"


    As Kenny began to walk towards the door the General stopped him.


    "Wait Kenny. Starting tomorrow, we''ll be doing actual training, so prepare your self for more grueling and painful work."


    Kenny didn''t like the idea of having to go through grueling and painful work, but he was happy that he was finally going to be taught something instead of getting beaten.


    Kenny left the room and proceeded to walk through a long hallway. He began to think about his new gift, which made him excited. Just like the General, he started to think about the new Gifts¡¯ potential. If he wanted to, he could build an army of his own since the system didn''t say that there was an amount of servants he could have. But there could be a limit that Kenny wasn¡¯t made aware of, so there was still some experimenting to do.


    Kenny smiled.


    ***


    The Lieutenant''s loud voice echoed throughout training ground 13. She spoke one of her usual speeches which Kenny had grown tired of. But soon, she said something that made Kenny excited.


    "I''ve been notified that we''ve been selected to go on an expedition of a white pathway, so prepare yourselves! That is all!"


    The group looked uneasy since it''s quite uncommon for a fresh platoon to be selected for a expedition this early in their career. It would also be their first expedition to Purgatory.


    "White pathway? What does the white mean?" Claire asked.


    Kenny looked over to Claire and sighed.


    "Are you serious? Don''t you know that there are 3 types of pathways?¡±


    Claire hesitated, then said:


    ¡°N-No.¡±


    ¡°White, yellow, and red, which signify the quantity and/or the quantity of demons in the area where the pathway is located."


    "Oh¡­ I see."


    William looked over to Claire with a sympathetic expression.


    "Don''t worry Claire, I didn''t know that either until recently."


    "Really Will?"


    Claire smiled and said:


    "I guess¡­ I''m not the only nut job here."


    William smiled.


    Kenny left and walked to the barracks, since it was night he wanted to rest for tomorrow''s expedition and be prepared for it. Although he knew that he wouldn''t be doing much, he still wanted to be ready for anything.


    He arrived to his designated room and sat down on one of the desks next to the bunk bed. He grabbed a paper and a dip pen which was situated on the desk.


    He began to write a letter to his mother. He wrote about his experiences in the short amount of time that he''s been in the Vanquisher Corps, also that he''d be leaving on an expedition the next day.


    After he finished writing the letter he put it into an envelope, climbed into his bed, and fell asleep.

 Purgatory

    Upon waking up, Kenny got up from his bed and began to change into the standard Vanquisher uniform.


    Kenny climbed the stairs leading up to Williams bunk and shook his shoulder lightly in an attempt to wake him up.


    "Will, wake up."


    William groaned and pulled his blankets over his head. Kenny grabbed the blanket and pulled it off William, throwing it onto the wooden floor. William turned his head toward Kenny.


    "It''s time to get up, if you don''t, we''re going to be late."


    William sighed.


    "Why does it have to be so early?" William asked while still half asleep.


    "Just get up."


    William climbed down and prepared himself. Kenny equipped his baldric and placed his sword in it.


    Kenny and William walked out of the room, William looking visibly nervous.


    Upon walking out of the barracks, both Kenny and William assembled with the rest of their platoon. There were at least 60 Vanquisher''s present, Kenny''s recruit platoon of 20, another recruit platoon of 20, and an elite platoon of 25.


    Two men opened the gates of the Vanquisher base, the group then walked through the gates.


    Waiting for them was the people of Tillian, cheering and chanting. This made Kenny feel a little emotional, he never thought he would be the one to be marching the streets to go seal a pathway.


    Kenny noticed that all the other recruits had a similar reaction to the crowd. They were excited yet unnerved.


    They marched until they reached the plaza of the city. At the center of it, the same beam of white light that had mesmerized Kenny every time he saw it. He really couldn''t get used to the sight of the light that reached far into the skies.


    He quickly composed himself. Three Lieutenants stood infront of the group, they began to speak about what their mission was in the expedition, which Kenny didn''t really listen much since he already knew what his role was.


    After their motivational speech was over, the group began to marched into the white light, it took a while before Kenny reached the light since there were about 50 other people who needed to enter first.


    The light grew closer and closer making Kenny and the rest more nervous. Eventually, the light was right infront of him and he walked through. After entering a pathway, there''s no going back unless you obtain a key and seal it, which Kenny had prepared himself for.


    He felt quite nauseous after entering the light, which everyone probably does after their first time.


    He had his eyes closed while entering the pathway, once he opened them, he saw a crimson red sky. The land was covered in red. Tall red rock formations could be seen everywhere, but were quite a distance from each other. The place looks like it would be boiling hot, but it wasn''t, It was warm but not too hot or cold.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    In front of him was what seemed to be a island floating in the sky, though from his perspective it looked like a spec. Black Metal chains protruded from the edges of the island, leading all the way down to the ground.


    Only a couple minutes later after entering the pathway, a loud ear deafening roar could be heard in the distance.


    From behind one of the large red rocks, a large creature emerged from it. The recruits looked horrified by the sight of the creature.


    A demon.


    It''s skin was pale and grey with a slight ashy texture, its body was skinny and bony making it seem like the thing had never eaten, and it''s slim arms lead to its sharp and long claws. But what what made the tall humanoid creature terrifying was that it''s head was not there, from the place where it''s neck was supposed to be was just open flesh, and in it''s stomach, was a large open mouth with countless sharp and deformed teeth.


    The Demon on all fours and charged towards the Vanquisher''s like a starving beast. The thing was drooling at the sight of humans, but it didn''t really need any sustenance to survive, it was just our for the kill.


    "It''s a D-Rank Demon!" One of the Lieutenant screamed.


    Although the recruits were scared at the sight of the disgusting thing, they quickly calmed themselves and readied for a battle.


    The D-Rank Demon was charging at the group all 25 of the elite Vanquishers. Though, they swiftly defeated the thing in mere minutes.


    The only way Kenny could describe what he had witnessed was¡­ spectacular.


    Their attacks were coordinated and precise, they barely even spoke to each other throughout the 7 minute battle.


    After the victory over the D-Rank Demon, one of the Elite Vanquishers took a piece of iron and flint. The female Vanquisher began to strike the two pieces together and created a fire, she then proceeded to set the Demon on fire which made Claire a little confused as to why the female Vanquisher had done that.


    "Why are they burning it, do they despise demons that much?" Claire asked.


    Kenny looked to Claire.


    "How come you don''t know anything about Vanquishers?" Kenny asked Claire with a disappointing look.


    Kenny sighed.


    "It''s so the body doesn''t attract more demons to our area." William said.


    "Ah¡­ I see." Claire responded.


    The group began to move, not wanting to take any chances of getting attacked by another demon.


    While traversing purgatory, the group of Vanquishers surprisingly didn''t encounter any demons for some apparent reason, it was honestly concerning.


    After a while of traveling through purgatory for a while, the sky island wasn''t getting much closer which made Claire visibly irritated.


    "How long till we get there?" Claire asked.


    "It''s going to be quite a while before we get there. Mabye in a day or two, depending on our pace." William responded.


    "Two days?!"


    Claire looked defeated. She was never the patient type so this expedition would be a arduous one for her.


    Finally, night had befallen them and they settled down near a giant red rock to rest for the night. During the night, groups of around ten to fifteen people stood guard in case of an attack from a demon.


    Kenny was sitting on the ground since it was his turn to take over the guard position. Then, an unexpected surprise came from one of the tents.


    It was Victor Von. Victor approached Kenny and awkwardly sat down next to him.


    Kenny looked at him with a confused look.


    "Do you need something?" Kenny asked.


    Victor stayed quite for a few seconds before he spoke. He scratched the back of his head and said:


    "Uhh, I''m¡­ uhh¡­ sorry."


    Kenny''s face froze.


    Victor apologizing? The guy who was so prideful and arrogant?


    But what puzzled Kenny even more was why he was apologizing, and why now?


    "What for?" Kenny asked while still giving Victor a confused look.


    "You know, for being an asshole, always acting like I was better than you. At first, I thought you were a nobody who thought he was strong, but after the mock battles and the mission to Mithilis, I instantly realized that I was wrong."


    It was true, for some reason that Kenny didn''t know, Victor would always try to antagonize and belittle him over the short time they had been in the Corps.


    ''So that was it, huh?''


    "Anyways that''s all I wanted to say." Victor said as he stood up and walked away.


    Kenny sighed softly.


    "So that''s what is was. But it still feels weird and awkward when you apologize, so dont, it''s fine." Kenny said.


    Victor momentarily looked back at Kenny, then walked into the tent.

 Grueling Ascent

    The routine of standing guard continued until dawn, and as soon as it arrived, the group packed their belongings and headed toward the sky island.


    Purgatory was a weird place that didn''t seem to be what it looked like. It appeared to be a smoldering hot place, but it wasn''t. In fact, at night it was unbearably cold.


    As Kenny looked around in curiosity, he noticed that there seems to be some kind of valley in between the massive mountains that surrounded Purgatory. He was curious as to what it lead to, but eventually paid it no mind since it would probably take at least a couple of months to reach that place based on what he saw.


    After a five long days of constant travel, the Vanquishers had finally reached the massive sky island.


    It was truly spectacular.


    Kenny had many questions about the place, Like how is it floating? who created the sky islands and why do they contain the keys to sealing a pathway?


    A sudden voice erupted from the elite Vanquishers.


    "Two demons incoming!" One of the elite Vanquishers yelled.


    The elite group got into their formation. Two demons emerged from the back of one of the giant rocks.


    The creatures resembled something like a giant dog or rat, it had spiked fur on its back and legs. It''s claws looked like they were sharp enough to tear through flesh like butter. Every demons seemed to be quite ugly.


    The demons began to charge towards the elite Vanquishers. A large man stopped one of the enemy in its tracks, as the other swung its claw to the man. Another Vanquisher prevented the attack from connecting as the rest swooped in to attack the beasts.


    A couple landed a few slashes on the enemy but not enough to seriously harm them.


    The demons stood there for a couple of seconds, growling at the Vanquishers.


    The demons rushed towards the group in another attempt to attack. The same two men stopped the creatures as the rest surrounded the demons and began to slash at the them.


    The demons were overwhelmed by the Vanquisher''s numbers and coordination which resulted in their quick defeat and death.


    Kenny had previously tried to reanimate the demons that had been defeated, but to no avail. He had come to the conclusion that either it was more rare to able to reanimate a demon now, or that mabye there was a limit and that he would have to grow his gift in some way in order to reanimate more.


    On the bright side of things, the Vanquisher¡¯s had already arrived at the island just before they were attacked.


    With the defeat of the demons they looked up at the sky island, and prepared themselves for yet another long and difficult journey.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    In front of the sky island was a flight of stairs leading all the way up to the island.


    When they first entered into purgatory, they were extremely far away from the island and couldn¡¯t see the stairs. Now looking at it up close, it¡¯s pretty big in width, fitting at least eight to nine people side by side.


    "Do we really have to climb all these stairs after all that walking?" Said Claire with an unmotivated look.


    "How else are we supposed to get up there?" Kenny responded.


    The sky island was miles off the ground which made the journey up the stair a grueling one.


    After about over an hour of climbing up the stairs, Kenny began to feel tired, he looked up the stairs and then down and saw that the other inexperienced Vanquishers looked the same.


    He could only go on, step after step, minute after minute. Eventually the team sat down on the stone flight of stairs to rest for a while and recuperate their energy.


    "This is damn tiring." Victor said.


    Kenny leaned over the edge and saw that they were really high up in the air which made him quite uncomfortable.


    "Yeah." Kenny responded.


    Kenny backed up from the edge. He looked up the stairs and felt a little unmotivated by the distance that was still to be climbed.


    ''We''re only half way their, this is damn tiring.''


    Kenny sighed and looked over to Claire. She was huffing and puffing, she looked like she couldn''t take another step. William looked very tired but not quite on Claire''s level.


    Kenny turned to the elite Vanquishers.


    ''Damn machines aren''t even tired.''


    "Alright we''re moving! Get up!" One of the Elite Vanquishers yelled.


    The recruits stood up and continued their ascent to the sky island.


    But before they could get moving, Kenny spotted a small black dot in the distance. It quickly went from a dot to a figure. Kenny''s face filled with concern. He turned up to the Elite Vanquishers and screamed:


    "There''s a flying demon coming our direction!"


    All the recruits looked around in panick. The elite Vanquishers turned to the flying demon.


    The thing was flying straight towards them. It wings flapped in the air as it let out a loud screeching scream, and readying it''s talons to tear the human flesh.


    ''Shit! We¡¯re to vulnerable right now!''


    The demon was not heading for the elite ones this time, it was heading towards the recruits. The elites tried to make their way down but it was too late for any of the ones on the bottom to be saved.


    The demon grabbed one of the recruits with its talons and took him into the air. The recruit yelled in pain as the demon tore his entire body in half, and his innards falling down the the sky. The sight was horrifying and extremely gruesome for the recruits. They could only watch as they were taken one by one.


    The elite Vanquishers spread out in the group. The demon circled back to find another victim, charging towards one of the Elite Vanquishers. The Vanquisher prepared his sword and swiftly cut off one of the demons legs, making the demon screech in agony.


    Thankfully, the demon had made a retreat, but damage had already been inflicted upon the group. In that single attack out of the 35 recruits, 5 had lost their lives.


    They could only continue to move forward, not wanting another attack to befall them.


    The recruits still had a horrified look on their faces.


    Being a Vanquisher and going on an expedition was not at all like Kenny had imagined. He didn''t expect simple E-Rank demons to be able to inflict such havoc and damage.


    Was he a fool for wanting to make this his dream profession? Perhaps he was blinded by the idea of having power and recognition. Even Kenny ridiculed himself for having this naive dream.


    If E-Rank demons could cause this much terror, he could only imagine what the higher rank demons could do. This thought only made him more terrified.


    Fortunately the ascent up the stairs from the point of the demon attack onward went with no trouble.


    The hours put into the ascent upwards had finally paid off for the group as they reached the top of the stairs, and glancing upon the sky island.


    The sight that they had laid their eyes upon made them flabbergasted. Even the elite Vanquishers had been shocked by the sight.


    It was unbelievable how such a phenomenon was even possible.

 Sky Island and A Terror

    On top of the sky island, was a beautiful and peaceful forest. Many different flowers and trees decorated the island. Even a couple of rabbits and other types of small animals could be spotted, as well as a couple of small Mountains.


    All of the Vanquishers look very puzzled and confused. Although it wasn''t directly connected to the ground aside from the huge chains, it was just questionable as to how a forest filled with life was able to thrive in a barren wasteland such as purgatory.


    ''Is this a forest? How is this even possible for a place like purgatory?''


    With a bit of hesitation, they began to venture into the bizarre forest.


    It was suspiciously quite and calm. It seemed like the Sky Island wasn¡¯t home to any dangerous creatures. Hopefully.


    "It''s oddly quiet and peaceful here" said William with a worried look.


    "I know right? I bet some big ugly thing is gonna be protecting the key." Calire responded.


    "Stop it, your going to jinx it Claire." Kenny said.


    Since the group of Vanquishers had been tirelessly ascending up the stairs of the Sky Island, they settled in an open space somewhere on it.


    Like always, it was unbelievably cold. To make it worse, since they were higher up in the air, it was much colder than on the ground.


    ***


    Once the sun had risen, the group followed their routine and continued to move.


    Since a key to seal a pathway was found in the center of an island, that was the goal of the expedition team.


    While traveling through the island, there fortunately wasn''t any dangerous interactions with any sort of creature.


    Minutes passed by, then minutes turned into hours. The group had finally reached the center of the island, and what was in front of them was a giant blue and shiny lake. In the middle of the shiny lake was some sort of stone podium that stood on a grassy platform. On the podium was a small white shard the levitated just above the stone podium.


    One of the elite Vanquishers approached the wooden bridge that lead to the hill and began to walk towards the podium. Upon reaching the podium he lifted his hand to grab the shard. But before he could, a large creature quickly emerged from the lake and pierced through the chest of the elite Vanquisher.


    The group of ¡ª now fifty four¡ª Vanquishers stood there in surprise and confusion. The monster then retracted its pincer from the chest of its victim as it dove back into the lake.


    ''What the hell is a demon doing up here?! Did it just ambush him?! I thought demons weren''t supposed to be intellegent or patient to wait for its prey?!''


    "A demon!" One of the Vanquishers yelled as the elites prepared for battle.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    The demon turned around to face the other Vanquishers. It looked at them with murderous intent, and then quickly ran towards them with an intense hunger. The Vanquishers got into formation and waited for the demon to get close.


    Two of the Vanquishers rushed to the demons sides and struck its legs. But no damage had been inflicted upon the demon. It''s skin was sturdy. The recruits prepared long range attacks to support the elites.


    The battle had gone for a couple of minutes but no progress was made. The demon was slow, weak, and not too powerful overall, but it''s skin was so sturdy and tough that no damage could be done.


    Kenny thought of an idea and pondered on whether he should try it, but since no progress was being made he decided to go for it.


    Kenny lifted his hand in the air and a red portal opened above the crab-like demon. The king Arachnid then fell from the sky and onto the demons back.


    The force and weight of the impact was enough to make the demon collapse. The King Arachnid then pierced it''s fangs into the demon, releasing it''s poison into it''s body.


    The demon cried out in pain as it attempted to shake the King Arachnid off its body. Its movements began to slow down, and eventually it completely stopped moving.


    Kenny looked over at the sudden notification.


    [You have slain an E-Rank Demon].


    The group looked in confusion at what had happened before them. One of the elites looked over to the recruits and said:


    "Was that anyone''s doing?"


    Kenny hesitated, but then slowly raised his hand.


    "It was me, sir!"


    The Vanquisher looked at Kenny with a unconvinced look.


    "I see, well thank you, but a heads up would be very much appreciated next time."


    "Yes, sir!" kenny responded.


    He noticed that William and Claire were giving him a strange look.


    "What?" Kenny asked.


    "What kind of ability was that?" Claire questioned Kenny with a shocked expression.


    "When I defeated the king Arachnid, I ranked up and got the gift ¡°Reanimation¡±, which lets me reanimate the dead and make them serve me as their "king", or something like that."


    Their expression turned more shocked than before. William composed himself and asked:


    "So you used it on the King Arachnid then?"


    Kenny nodded.


    The group proceeded to obtain the key and head back to the pathway. Going through the forest and down the flight of stairs, by the time they had reached the bottom of the stairs night had already enveloped purgatory.


    They upheld the same guard routine throughout the cold night.


    The days traveling back were suspiciously peaceful and quite. No demons had been seen throughout the whole trip back. Although he was thankful for it, Kenny had an unsettling feeling about the situation and couldn''t help but worry something unpleasant awaited them.


    Turns out, his worried mind had been right on the mark about something.


    Terror, fear, worry, and dread filled all of the Vanquishers body and minds. They knew that they would not leave purgatory unscathed, or leave at all depending on the decisions they were going to make in the next few minutes.


    The ground shook with great force, a large three headed serpent emerged from the ground, sending rubble all over the place. The thing was at least thirty feet tall. Its black scales looked even tougher than the demon back in the sky island. This was not a battle that was meant to be won at the moment, but one for survival.


    The leader from the elites made the only sensible choice. Since the pathway was only about less than a mile away, the elite screamed:


    "Run towards the pathway while we hold it back!!"


    The recruits began to run with all their might .


    ''What the hell is an B-Rank Demon doing here?! This is supposed to be a white pathway!''


    There was no point is thinking about that at the moment, the only thing that mattered right now was reaching the pathway and going back home to safety.


    Kenny looked back while running, the dread he had felt before had come back to him once more, but this time even more than before.


    All of the elites had been killed in no less than a minute.


    This only terrified Kenny, which was of no good in the current situation.


    The three headed serpent turned its attention towards the Vanquisher. It''s three heads looking at them, with the intent to kill.

 Sacrifice

    Wasting no time, the three headed serpent rushed towards the panicked recruits.


    Kenny''s body suddenly filled with adrenaline at the sight of the oncoming enemy, making his heart race and his muscles suddenly heighten in efficiency.


    Kenny looked over at both Will and Claire. Just like Kenny, they both looked terrified. He looked back at the serpent and saw that it would most definitely catch up with them before they made it to the pathway.


    Kenny clenched his teeth, and stopped. Since both Kenny and Will had been running with terror they had not noticed Kenny''s sudden halt, which Kenny was sort of thankful for.


    He turned around and drew his sword. He wanted to buy time for his friends to escape to safety.


    Now, there was no going back, even if he regretted his decision and started to run, there was a 100% chance that he would be the first to die among the rest of the group.


    "Come forth."


    The same red portal appeared behind Kenny and his one and only servant walked out of it.


    Kenny took his stance. But it was different, he no longer had the same as before. It seems like Kenny had finally understood what the General had meant when he said "do what ever you want". He took a stance that was most comfortable to him.


    His foot placement was the same, the only thing that had changed was his sword position. Instead of resting it on his back, he positioned it horizontally facing the serpent. His King Arachnid stood beside him, he knew that this would be his last battle, he regretted leaving his mother behind and alone. But, he also knew that his sacrifice would give the group a higher chance of survival, even if just a mere second.


    He took a deep breath, then exhaled. Since this is his end, he decided that he would do everything in his power to buy time for his friends to make their escape.


    Kenny''s servant charged towards the serpent head on as Kenny himself waited behind the King Arachnid, waiting for a chance to attack.


    Though, the King Arachnid was instantly mauled by the serpent. Although he did feel bad, this was Kenny''s only chance of attacking.


    Since it''s scales were probably way tougher than the other previous demons, there was only one spot that Kenny could aim for. While the serpent was busy ripping the King Arachnid to shreds, Kenny swooped in from its left stabbing it right in its eye.


    The serpent screeched in pain as it one of its heads aimed its mouth toward Kenny. Kenny quickly removed his sword and jumped off the angered demon.


    Kenny took a few hops backwards in order to creat distance.


    Now that his King Arachnid was killed, he no longer had any type of plan. He could only fight the demon head on.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Upon arriving at the pathway, Claire looked around and was unable to find Kenny. Her face suddenly drained and paled. She looked behind her and in the distance, she saw Kenny fighting the demon head on. She felt a sudden sorrow and fear.


    William noticed Claire and looked towards where she was looking. He too felt his heart drop to his stomach and his face pale. Claire slowly moved towards Kenny¡¯s direction. She was trying to run to him, but was stopped by William.


    "What are you doing?! we have to help him!" Yelled Claire as she looked back at William with the a dread and sorrful expression.


    William gave Claire the very same expression.


    "It''s clear that he''s trying to buy time for us! It''s sad and I want to help him just as much as you do! But we can''t let this chance go down the drain! If we do, Kenny will have died for nothing! This was his intention! He¡¯s trying to buy time for us! So please, let¡¯s go!"


    Claire looked back at Kenny. Streams of tears flowed down her face. She was hesitant, but she knew that William was right. Even if she were to go help him, she would only die with him, which was what Kenny was hoping to prevent. She turned around and walked into the pathway with a pained look and tears running down her cheeks. Then, the pathway was sealed, trapping Kenny in purgatory.


    Kenny was still fighting for his life. He turned his head towards the pathway and saw that it had disappeared. He felt relieved, but regretful. He didn''t want to die, he wanted to keep on living his life and continue to stay happy with the company of his friends and mother.


    ''Damn it¡­''


    When sealing the pathway, Claire and William were still trying to process what had just happened, many things going through their heads like the B-Rank demon, but mostly, Kenny.


    The realization of Kenny''s inevitable death had finally reached them after a few seconds. Claire began to shed even more tears. Then, so did William.


    ***


    The news of an entire elite team being wiped out in a white pathway would soon spred throughout the entire kingdom. But news about Kenny had yet to reach his mother. There was only one suitable person to give the news.


    Claire knocked on the door of Kenny''s small home. Martha opened the door with a faint smile on her face. Claire could tell she was worried.


    Up to this point, Martha had still been recovering from her husband''s death, which will only make the new even more excruciating.


    "Hey Claire, what''s going on? Why are you here?"


    "May I come in?"


    Martha nodded and made way for Claire. She sat down on the kitchen table, Martha followed her and sat down aswell.


    "What''s going on Claire?"


    Claire sat quite for a few seconds, not knowing how to give Martha the news. With a sorrowful expression she said:


    "I''m sorry, uhh¡­ I-I¡¯m very sorry¡­¡±


    Martha lightly laughed with hesitation, not wanting the conversation to lead to where she thought it was going.


    ¡°Haha¡­ W-What are you talking about Claire¡­¡±


    ¡°Please¡­ don¡¯t make this hard ma¡¯am¡­¡±


    Martha¡¯s heart began to ache with unimaginable pain and sorrow. Her eyes began to redden as she soon shed tears. She had lost her husband only a few weeks prior, now her only family that she had left also was taken away from her.


    She fell to the floor, her body began to feel weak. She then let it all out, a river of tears. The agony she had felt at that moment was unbearable. Claire stood up and gave Martha a comforting hug.


    ¡°I''m sorry." Claire shakily whispered as her eyes began to water.


    Martha couldn''t stop her tears from flowing as she cried in unimaginable and unbearable pain.


    ¡°P-Please, I need to be alone for a while. So please leave.¡±


    Claire nodded and said:


    ¡°I understand.¡±


    Leaving would be a decision Claire would regret with all her being for the rest of her life.


    Just after Claire''s leave, in the corner of her eye, Martha had spotted a kitchen knife. She then slowly reached her arm out and grabbed it. She clenched the knife''s handle, then lifted it up to her throat. Her hands began to shake as her eyes soon lost their light.


    A tear ran down her cheek.

 Mutual Interests

    While still struggling, Kenny felt relieved that his comrades had made their escape. Though, regret soon filled Kenny mind. He didn''t wish to die, no one does. He wanted to keep on living on, he wanted to keep his mother company, he didn''t wish to leave her alone. He could only imagine what pain she would feel after finding out that only weeks after her husband died, her son would soon follow. He didn''t wish that upon her.


    ''I don''t have to die though, I can mabye survive. No, I will survive! I''ll fucking kill this thing and go back home! I''ll kill anything that comes at me, even if it''s this fucking overgrown worm! I''ll kill it!!!''


    Soon he would be backed into a corner. Behind Kenny was a large and deep chasm. It was so deep that the bottom was covered in darkness. Now there was no escape, no where to run, only a cage.


    Kenny let out a nervous and scared smile.


    ''I decided to survive. But if I''m going to die here, I''m at least gonna give this piece of shit a scar he won''t forget!''


    Kenny raised his sword and took his stance. The three headed serpent was filled with anger due to Kenny taking one of its eyes.


    Kenny rushed to attack the serpent. One of the heads moved in and opened its mouth in an attempt to eat Kenny. Kenny moved out of the way to just barley dodge the attack. He then stabbed one of the heads eyes with a powerful thrust of his sword.


    Kenny noticed that one of its other heads was moving in to attack. He tried to move out of the way, but it was too late. The tearing of flesh vibrated through Kenny''s ears. But the pain canceled the sound of the torn flesh. The serpent had taken Kenny''s left arm right at the shoulder.


    Kenny let out a scream of pain as tears rolled down his face.


    ''Shit! it hurts! It fucking hurts!''


    Blood began to pour out in intervals out of Kenny''s left shoulder. He was losing blood at on alarming rate. The blood only made the serpent more eager to kill the vulnerable and weak human in front of it. The pain he wa feeling only made Kenny unable to think clearly.


    The serpent moved In to finish him off, thankfully the clear danger infront of him had woken Kenny up. He miraculously dashed backwards avoiding the attack. But the serpent had not let up with its attacks.


    Slowly Kenny was getting closer and closer to the chasm, only making the situation worse. Kenny raised his sword with his only arm. The sword was wobbly and weak. His arm shaking, and since he now only had one arm, he couldn''t use his sword to its full extent. It was a lost cause for him.


    He was already significantly weaker than the serpent. He was honestly surprised how he had survived this long. Now with much more handicaps to him, he felt there was no hope, he felt dreadful.


    But urge to survive still masked the feeling of dread he felt and the memory of his father, mother, and friends flashed in his mind, it gave him power and willpower. He wanted to survive what was the unsurvivable.


    With all his strength, with every last drop of strength he had left, he lunged towards the serpent and let out a powerful scream. He dodged the first attack and jumped towards one of its heads, slicing it clean off.


    The serpent screeched in pain as it raised its tailed and struck Kenny on the stomach, sending him flying. Now he was at the edge of the chasm. A small push and he would fall into the unknown.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    With the air beaten out of his lungs, he tried to get up, but the blow was too much for him. He looked up and what he saw truly made him feel despair. The serpents head that he had clearly cut off had regenerated back.


    The serpent had rushed to Kenny. He tried to get up, but had no strength left. The severe blood loss was also getting to him, he felt weak and tired. He wanted to let go and close his eyes. He wanted it to be over.


    He then felt air, as if he was falling. The weight of both the serpent and Kenny seemed to be too much for the edge to hold. Both the serpent and Kenny were both plummeting down to the unknown. With this new danger, Kenny finally let himself go, and closed his eyes.


    ¡­


    [You have received the title: Ghost of Death]


    ***


    Kenny felt a massive breeze hit his entire body as he slowly opened his eyes. He felt nice and healthy, he would almost be convinced that he was dead and in heaven, had it not been for the serpent lying beside him. He was incredibly perplexed by what he was seeing.


    ''I thought¡­ I died?''


    A sudden deep, raspy, and powerful voice echoed through the unknown.


    "Your finally awake, human."


    Kenny quickly turned around to see who''s voice he was hearing. He saw a humanoid figure dressed in a full black armor, from head to toe, with several intricate golden patterns on it, sitting down with it¡¯s back against a rock.


    "Who¡­ are you? Where am I? And what happened?"


    The voice sighed.


    "Calm down human, I''ll explain to you what happened."


    ''Human¡­?''


    "My name is Aragon, and I''m a demon."


    ¡°A demon?!¡±


    Kenny quickly jumped to his feet and attempted to get his sword, but it wasn''t there.


    "Settle down, I''m not going to do anything."


    Kenny didn''t believe in its words and stood firm. He looked surprised, he just realized that he no longer felt pain, and that the serpent wasn¡¯t moving.


    "Look, ask what you want to know and I''ll answer you."


    Kenny gave the suit of armor a suspicious look. But he knew that if he wanted to kill him he would have already done so when he was unconscious.


    "Okay¡­ how come you can speak?"


    "That is because I am powerful.¡±


    ¡°What kind of answer is that?¡±


    ¡°A demon who has surpassed the rank of a Devil attains intelligence and much more power. More than the likes of you can imagine."


    Kenny looked astonished yet in horror.


    ''There''s a Rank higher than a Devil? Just how much more powerful does a demon have to be to surpass a Devil?''


    "Then¡­ why did you save me?"


    "That is because I need something from you, and you from me."


    Kenny looked puzzled.


    "What do you mean we need each other?"


    "You see¡­ I am dying for reasons you don''t need to concern yourself with, and I am in need of a vessel to contain me for the moment. Then there is you, a human trapped inside purgatory. If you continue to stay here, eventually you will die. Humans are not fit to live in purgatory. You''ll breathe in the miasma, then it''ll spread to your whole body, making it rot and decompose as you are alive. When that process is finished, your body will rebuild its self and you''ll become a mindless demon. In a matter of only three months. And that¡¯s only if you survive the dangerous and deadly creatures roaming these lands."


    Kenny felt a shiver run down his spine.


    "And that is why we need each other. If you let me seal myself in you, you''ll become part demon yourself, giving you resistance to the miasma, and I''ll be able to survive. Probably¡­"


    Kenny was quite perplexed by the information that had been dumped on him, it was too sudden. He was hesitant to believe the words of a someone he had just met, and a demon no less. He had many questions as to what was happening, but came to the conclusion that Aragon was right. They both had something that each other needed.


    "Okay."


    "Very well."


    Aragon stood up. His legs were a bit wobbly, Kenny looked around Aragon''s stomach and saw red crimson blood flowing down his armor.


    Aragon then put his hand on Kenny¡¯s chest. Kenny felt a sudden indescribable pain in his chest as he let at screams of agony. He felt as if his insides were being burnt by a raging flame.


    Aragon then said:


    "Endure it."


    Kenny fell to the ground in pain as Aragon began to a shine purple light and enter Kenny''s body.


    The pain then suddenly stopped.


    ''Human, can you hear me?''


    Kenny could, but he was too busy recuperating from what he had just experienced.


    After a few seconds, Kenny responded:


    ''You can talk to me in my mind?''


    ''Yes. Now that I''ve sealed myself, it''s like we share the same body, meaning what thought you may have, I also have. And what we you emotionally feel, I feel it aswell.''


    Kenny got up on his feet, clearly not happy about what Aragon had said.


    ''Okay, so what now?''

 Demon and Xin

    ¡®First, start off by killing that serpent.''


    Kenny looked over to the serpent.


    ''What did you do to it for it to be sleeping like that?''


    ''I merely put it to sleep with my Xin.''


    ''Xin? What the hell is Xin?''


    ''I''ll explain later, just kill the serpent.''


    Kenny looked around for his sword. He found it then picked it up with his right hand, he looked over to his left arm¡­?


    Wait¡­ left arm?


    ''Hey, what happened to my arm? Did you heal it somehow?''


    ''Yes, although it took a lot out of me. You see, demons have a natural regeneration power. The more powerful the demon, the more powerful the regeneration. We can also apply this regeneration power to another being, although its effects lessen dramatically.''


    Kenny looked puzzled. He already knew that demons had regenerative powers, but what puzzled him was this Xin thing. It seemed like some sort of supernatural power.


    ''So how do I kill it? It''s scales are too tough for me to get through.''


    ''Its stomach is its weak spot. Pierce it''s heart and it will die instantly.''


    Kenny walked over to the demon. He readied his sword and with all his strength thrusted his sword into the demons heart.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    [You have obtained a Regalia].


    ''Regalia?''


    Regalia is a sort of equipment like a weapon, armor, or even an accessory that contains its own soul. Although not alive, this soul allows the Regalia to grow with its wielder with each battle and enemy slain.


    This made Kenny excited.


    Kenny lifted his hand up in front of him.


    A normal looking sword appeared in Kenny''s hand. It had a golden guard and red grip, it''s blade was normal with a silver color. Honestly, he was a bit disappointed by its appearance. He thought it would be some special or cool looking sword. Though, he didn''t mind its simplicity after a few seconds.


    ''Is that a Regalia that you''ve obtained?''


    Kenny flinched in surprise.


    ''How¡­ how come you know what a regalia is?''This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡®That is not of concern right now. Forget I asked that question.¡¯


    Kenny began to become suspicious of Aragon. He already was from the start of their interaction, but now, his suspicion grew more. Since Kenny didn''t know much about the Demon he had just met a couple minutes ago, and that Demon was keeping many secrets, who could blame him?


    Kenny released his regalia and began to walk through the dark chasm with his flame lit in his hand.


    Kenny and Aragon talked for a while, and Kenny had revealed what had happened to him on his journey through Purgatory, and about his determination to go back home.


    ''Yes, I saw it all unfold, your actions were quite noble.''


    ''Thanks... Anyway, it''s your turn to tell me something.''


    ''And what might that be?''


    ''What did you mean I''m part demon? And what is this Xin thing?''


    ''Hmm¡­ Very well. The moment I sealed myself, your very presence began to reformed into that of a demon and human hybrid. Though the process is not complete yet which may come with difficulties. With the little reformation, you''ve obtained the ability to survive in purgatory. When the time comes for you to fully evolve, it will reform your very body composition. A warning, it will be painful. More than you could ever imagine.¡¯


    Kenny inwardly cursed at the fact that Aragon described this reformation as a painful one. One that he could not imagine.


    ''As for Xin, it''s a power that makes up a being. Demons have demonic Xin, but low level demons rarely use Xin if not at all. Since demons A-Rank and lower don''t have much intelligence, they don''t know how to use Xin very well. Only S-Rank and above have the intelligence to even make some use of it.''


    ''What does it do?''


    ''Xin, is the use of mind and body alike. So if you train your mind to correctly flow Xin through your body, your able to perform supernatural functions.''


    Kenny wasn''t sure what he was even hearing at the moment. With this explanation, he was even more sure that Purgatory was hiding a lot more than he knew.


    To be expected¡­


    But these mysteries didn''t concern him. His only goal was survive, and returning home, but this power was going to help him do just that, so he wanted to know as much as possible.


    ''Is there more to this power?''


    ''Of course, Xin isn''t so simple. Think of Xin like of what you humans fantasize about magic. The Xin in your body is limited, and what determines Xin capacity is when a demon is born. You¡¯re able to train it to increase in quantity, but unfortunately, you have your limit. But what you can increase, is its quality.¡¯


    ''Alright, I think I get it.''


    Before the talk with Aragon, Kenny decided to head towards the direction of the sky island since food and water would be necessary for the journey.


    Now that he had thought of it, how was he going to go back home? Since purgatory was absolutely massive in size, finding another pathway was basically impossible. To find one he would have to be extremely lucky ¡ª even that being an understatement ¡ª and arrive there before the pathway closes. He wasn''t sure what to do.


    ''Aragon, do you know a way back to earth?''


    ''Aside from pathways, I''m not sure there are any other ways.''


    Kenny became but disheartened. His goal to go back home was really dependent upon his luck. The only thing that Kenny thought of to do was wait on the sky island until he saw a pathway open.


    ''Human, you never told me your name.''


    ''It''s Kenny.''


    ''Very well Kenny, from now on, I will begin to introduce you the basics of Xin, as well as the demon language.''


    ''Demons have a language?''


    ''Yes. Like I said S-Rank demons and above obtain intelligence and are able to communicate with each other through the demon language, mostly telepathically. Although they know it the second they reach S-Rank, you on the other hand have to learn it from scratch.''


    Kenny sighed.


    ''I get Xin, but why the language.''


    ''You''ll be needing it in the future.''


    Kenny thought about it and decided to do try it since he''ll need a way to entertain himself.


    ''How come I''ll need it?''


    ''I''ve just thought of a possible way for you to go back home.''


    "Really?! How?!"


    Aragon sighed


    ''My¡­ how many explanations am I going to give today?''

 Suffering

    ¡®We''ll be visiting one of the labyrinths here in purgatory. At the bottom of the labyrinth, there should be a gate to go to earth, although I''m not sure if it''s still around.''


    Kenny was a bit perplexed. He didn''t know there were labyrinths in purgatory, or any sort of structures. He had so many questions about purgatory that he could spend an entire day asking them, but he held back knowing none of them were going to be answered. On top of that, it didn''t matter, if it''s to go back home, questions had no relevance.


    ''So, where is this labyrinth?''


    ''It''s in the south part of purgatory. But first, we must leave this chasm.¡¯


    ¡°South, huh? If I remember correctly¡­ that''s super far.¡±


    ***


    Kenny and Aragon were still in the depths of the chasm. Weeks had gone by, and Kenny was starved and thirsty. He hadn''t eaten since the day he had fallen down the chasm. Any one would be in his state after about over 3 weeks without food or water. And the fact that the chasm was like a dark maze didn''t help either. The complete darkness made it even worse. With each wrong turn Kenny had to retrace his steps and go another way. He would have had to memorize each way he had went in order to not make the same mistakes.


    He would eventually die if things went on like this.


    Kenny walked tiredly and wobbly. His cloths were dirty and tattered, his face emotionless and tired. If this predicament wasn¡¯t enough, Aragon then alerted him about on coming danger.


    ''Kenny, I sense a Demon nearby.''


    ''Where¡­''


    ''Straight ahead.''


    Kenny looked worried, but then it hit him, simce he had not eaten in over two weeks he was weak and tired. The only reason he was alive was because he had reached rank two which greatly increased all of his physical abilities.


    The only thing that had popped into Kenny''s mind, was food.


    ''What rank?''


    ''About F-Rank.''


    Kenny licked his lips and summoned his regalia. As he did, he heard unusual roars in the distance.


    Kenny realized that he would have to be fighting in almost all darkness and with one hand which was a huge handicap for him. He didn''t fret though, because the only thing on his mind, was food.


    The demon eventually came into light of Kenny''s Flame. Kenny was prepared and ambushed it, charging in with a slash aimed at its neck. The creature stopped the blade with one of its two tentacle-looking tails. Kenny with his left hand ¡ª flame still in hand ¡ª attempted to grab the thing by the neck. With the other tail, the demon stabbed Kenny through the forearm.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Kenny screamed out in pain as he dashed backwards.


    ''Stop being reckless!¡¯


    ''Sorry, I was out of it for a moment¡­''


    ''I''ve done what I can to stop the bleeding, but you need to focus and don''t be reckless or else your arm will be the least of your worries.''


    ¡°Right.¡±


    Kenny lifted his sword up and took his stance. He again dashed towards the demon, barley dodging one of its long tails as it scratched his cheek. Another tentacle stabbed him straight through the thigh as he dodged the previous one.


    This time, kenny didn''t scream in pain. He sliced at the demons neck with all his strength. The slash was not too powerful, therefore the head of the demon was still intact, but it was hanging on by a bit of flesh and skin as massive amounts of blood poured from its severed neck.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    Kenny huffed as he fell to the ground.


    ''Damn it, it hurts like hell.''


    ''I''ve done what I can to heal your injuries as much as I can. Since I''m no where near close my original power, my healing capabilities are very limited.''


    Kenny groaned in pain. He stayed down for a moment then got up and began cutting the demon into pieces.


    ''Hey Aragon, what would happen if I ate demon meat.''


    ''You would feel as if your entire body was being burned alive from the inside.''


    ''Why does everything require me feeling being burnt?''


    Kenny pondered on it for a few seconds. He decided to eat it anyway since he had no other choice. Either feel the pain and survive, or die of starvation.


    Kenny lit the flame in his hand and began roasting the meat.


    ''Roasting the meat doesn''t change anything.''


    ¡°Just let me feel better about eating this thing.¡±


    He waited until the meat was cooked and dug in. A little burning sensation began to develop in his stomach. It soon turned from a small flame, into a raging fire. Kenny screamed out in pain after just a few bites of the demon meat.


    Although it had been minutes since he consumed the meat he still felt like he was burning alive. The scorching pain was so intense that Kenny had passed out cold.


    By the time he had woken up, Kenny was still starving and feeling lingering pain of the meat. It was worse than when Aragon had sealed himself.


    ''I told you.''


    ''It was way more intense than how you described it.''


    Kenny shakily stood up on his feet, but instantly fell down to the floor.


    Kenny let out a sigh of frustration.


    ''How long was I asleep for?''


    ''A couple of hours.''


    This was troubling. If a single bite left him in such a state he would not survive.


    ''If I can''t eat demons yet, how the hell am I supposed to survive?''


    ''Don''t worry, your reformation is almost complete. It should be done in about a day or two, so hold out until then.''


    Kenny sighed again as he weakly stood to his feet, this time balancing himself. He just had to hold out for two days and he would be able to have a chance of survival.


    By each passing hour Kenny felt even weaker. Even though only F-Rank demons would attack him occasionally, he would still greatly struggle against it. He received many injuries which only made the journey even worse. At one point in time, he felt like giving up and letting everything go.


    Two days had gone by, but for Kenny it felt like an eternity of waiting. As he walked through the dark abyss of a chasm maze, Kenny felt a sudden sensation. That sensation turned into yet again¡­ pain.


    Even though it was painful, Kenny didn''t have the energy to even scream or writhe. He just fell to the ground, and suffered the reformation of his body, in silence.


    Not even a tear flowed down his face.

 Progress

    ¡®It hurts¡­ It hurts so much. It''s hard to breathe. My body feels like there¡¯s a raging flame inside of it. It¡­ it feels like it¡¯ll explode me into nothing.¡¯


    Kenny stayed still for a few minutes, laying on the ground. The reformation of his body was complete, but that didn''t solve his hunger problem. Although he could now eat demon flesh without much consequences, there were barely any down in the depths of the chasm.


    At this point, Kenny didn''t have the strength to even stand up. His resolve was weakening by the minute¡­ no, by the second.


    ''Kenny, get up.''


    ''I can''t.''


    ''Get up.''


    Kenny thought of an idea to conserve as much of his energy as possible..


    With a raspy and shaky voice he said:


    "Come forth."


    Kenny stood up, his legs shaking and his face looking exhausted and pale. He climbed onto the King Arachnid''s back, layed there and let the King Arachnid do the walking. He layed there, reminiscing about the life he had before being trapped in this hell hole. He couldn''t stop himself from almost tearing up, but in the end, didn¡¯t. He was tired of always feeling pain. Although it''s only been three weeks since he''s been trapped inside Purgatory, everyday was a struggle, a hell. Not a day passed by where Kenny didn''t go through a hardship.


    The mistake Kenny made was thinking it couldn''t get any worse than this. How wrong was the poor 15 year old boy.


    The King Arachnid had encountered one or two F-Rank demons, and thankfully not much struggle was made in defeating the demon.


    Kenny climbed down from the King Arachnid and walked up to the demon his servant had killed, summoned his regalia, and cut the demon into pieces. He didn''t even try to roast it with his flame, Kenny just dug in. He felt a tiny burn in his stomach, but not anything that would hurt. Kenny began to feel sadness and pain as he munch on his meal.


    ''It taste like shit.''


    ''Kenny, stop drowning in self sorrow. From now on, this is going to be your life in purgatory. Pain will become common, so will despair and fear. The faster you accept and get used to this, the better.


    Kenny felt discouraged by Aragons words, but couldn¡¯t help but agreed with him. He now knew the kind of place purgatory was, it was a place full of dangerous Demons that would kill you, even if just out of fun. Before coming to purgatory Kenny didnt think of it like a place of what he sees now. He thought there were no struggles and that slaying demons wouldn¡¯t be this hard and fearsome. Oh¡­ How wrong he was indeed.


    Kenny even chuckled at his past self''s stupidity as he continued to munch on the demon, he even went so for as to quench his thirst with the blood of the damn thing.


    Although the monster didn''t taste good whatsoever, it felt good to have his stomach full and not starved.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    To not waste his energy Kenny continued the journey on the back of the King Arachnid, and throughout it Aragon began to teach Kenny about the demon language and basics of controlling Xin now that he is part demon.


    Although learning the Demon language was quite an easy task for Kenny, Xin on the other hand was a struggle.


    ''You have no talent.''


    Kenny sighed.


    ''I know.''


    ''Pay attention. To control Xin you must train both your mind and body. With your mind, imagine moving Xin through your body and into your arms in order to strengthen them.''


    ''It''s easier said than done.''


    ''Close your eyes and relax all your muscles. In a moment, you should feel the Xin circulating throughout your body. Now, with your mind, move it into your arms.''


    Kenny closed his eyes and relaxed all his muscles. He sat there for a while, not moving.


    ¡°I can''t do it no matter how much I try, and It isn''t even remotely useful in battle if I have to meditate in the middle of a fight.¡±


    ''If you become skilled enough in controlling your Xin, you''ll be able to do subconsciously.''


    ''Alright.''


    Kenny closed his eyes and tried over and over again.


    ***


    Kenny wasn¡¯t sure how much time had passed, but he guess that mabye weeks had gone by, and Kenny was still stuck in the dark chasm.


    ¡°How big is this damn crack in the ground?¡±


    Kenny sighed.


    ''Danger.''


    Kenny quickly summoned his regalia and jumped off the King Arachnid.


    ''Where?''


    ''Coming in from behind, I''d estimated that it''s a D-Rank.''


    ''Alright.''


    Kenny hid behind a rock and levitated his flame towards the King Arachnid. He waited for a few minutes, then heard stomping. He couldn''t see the demon but knew it was pretty big if it''s stomping was that loud. The thing finally came into the distance of the flame.


    It was a giant tiger-looking thing with all black fur and red eyes. It was a little smaller than the king arachnid, but still fierce looking.


    Kenny''s plan was simple every time he fought a demon. He would use the king arachnid as bait in order for the demon to focuse it''s attention on it. He would then swoop in to kill it. Quite simple, but effective.


    The demon began to attack the King Arachnid with it''s claws. The Arachnid battled with the giant tiger like Demon, and as it did, Kenny prepared himself, then dashed with great speed and swung his sword. Unfortunately, the demon noticed Kenny and stopped the sword with its mouth. Kenny tried to take his sword back, but the demon didn''t let it go. It then raised its claw and slashed Kenny''s left eye. Kenny retreated back as he ordered his servant to attack.


    The King Arachnid raised one of its sharp legs and peirced the distracted demon through its torso.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    [You have reached Rank 3]


    [You have received a new Gift].


    Kenny groaned as he covered his hand with his eye. He then removed his hand, his wound began to heal slowly. After a few seconds, the wound was completely healed and he felt no pain, only a little discomfort.


    He turned and finally saw the notification.


    ¡°Rank 3! Hahaha!! Yes!!¡±


    He opened his status window and read:


    [Name: Kenny]


    [Titles: (Reanimator), (Ghost Of Death)]


    [Rank: 3]


    [Gifts: ¡­(Sword Master)]


    [Blessings: None]


    [Regalia: (Survivor''s Blade)]


    He tapped on his new gift and read:


    [Sword Master: Makes the user more efficient in using a sword they have marked as their own.]


    [Sub Gifts: (???), (???)]


    ''Simple but very useful¡­ Sub Gifts? I think I''ve heard of them. Some people receive Gifts with sub Gifts. They are sort of like extensions from the main gift and act as support.''


    Kenny looked at his regalia.


    [Would you like to mark this sword?]


    "Yes."


    Red markings enveloped the swords blade.


    Kenny looked up at the demon and walked over to it.


    ''Hopefully it works this time.''


    Kenny put his hand on the slain demon.


    [Would you like to Reanimate this Demon?].


    "Yes."


    [Reanimation failed. Would you like to try again?].


    "Yes."


    [Reanimation successful].


    Although Kenny couldn¡¯t see it quite well, a black mist began to emit from the demons body, but mostly around the hole the King Arachnid had left in it. After a while the demon stood up, a red portal appeared in front of it, and it walked inside.


    Kenny was relieved. He had tried reanimating all the demons he had slain before but his attempts were not successful.


    Now, he had a new companion.

 Noir & Wolf

    ¡®How long have I been in this dark maze?''


    Kenny had spent so much time in the depths of the dark chasm that he himself had lost track of how many weeks or even possibly months had gone by.


    During this time, Kenny had been developing his knowledge of the demon language, as well as controlling his Xin. Progress was made with Xin, he could now strengthen his body with it, although it was the most basic form of the usage of Xin, it was progress.


    With days or mabye weeks passing, Kenny kept on learning and practicing, until one day, finally, he saw light.


    Kenny''s heart filled with excitement. He hopped off the King Arachnid and began to run towards the light with anticipation. The more the light became visible the, faster Kenny ran.


    Excitement, hope, happiness, and joy filled Kenny¡¯s mind and body as he ran towards the light.


    Upon arriving at the light, Kenny was finally free from the darkness of the chasm.


    ''Now the journey can finally commence.''


    ''What do you mean?''


    ''The labyrinth we are going to soon enter is bigger than the chasm maze you had gone through before. More complicated and complex.''


    More complex and complicated than the chasm¡¯s maze? Kenny couldn''t believe Aragons words. All the time he had spent in the darkness of the chasm maze getting lost over and over again was less complicated and complex than the labyrinth?


    He felt discouraged. Kenny remembered Aragons words of getting used to the pain. He knew the only chance he had of going back was through the labyrinth, so he decided to let the discouragement go and keep on going.


    He summon his servant and headed south.


    ***


    Kenny closed his eyes as he deeply inhaled, then exhaled. He stood there for a while, gathering his Xin to his fists. Then with a fast strike, he hit giant boulder in front of him, leaving a big dent in it.


    ''I''m getting the hang of it.''


    ''Although you were slow at first, you''re starting to make progress now.''


    Kenny sat down with his back against the boulder.


    "Come forth."


    Kenny stared at his servants for a good while.


    ''What are you doing?''


    ''I''m going to give them a name, you know, to make it easier to command them.''


    Kenny began to think long and hard.


    ''The tiger will be¡­ is it a girl or a boy? Do demons even have genders?''If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ''Of course they do.''


    ''Then which is this one?''


    ''I''m really not sure¡­''


    Kenny put his hand on his chin and continued to think.


    ''Your dark fur and red eyes truly fits the description of demon. Your name will be¡­ Noir.''


    [You have bestowed a name upon your servant.]


    [Noir has reached level 5.]


    ''What?! I can do that? And 5 levels too?''


    Kenny looked over to the King arachnid.


    ''Then¡­ you will be Wolf.''


    [You have bestowed a name upon your servant].


    [Wolf has reached level 8].


    ''That ability of yours is really a remarkable one.''


    ''You think so? I feel pretty drained though.''


    ''How could they allow such an ability?''


    Kenny raised an eyebrow.


    ''Who are¡­ they?''


    ''It''s nothing you need to concern yourself with for now. What I said was a mere slip of the tongue.''


    Kenny sighed.


    ''Whatever.''


    Kenny stood up and began to continue his training.


    Aragon was clearly keeping secrets. Like his whole identify and how it was even possible, his knowledge of the labyrinth and the gate, as well as this "they" people. But he knew that his goal was to return home so this information wouldn''t really matter.


    Would it?


    Kenny took a deep breath, then exhaled.


    A sudden overwhelming pain began to flow through his chest as Kenny coughed blood. He looked down at his chest.


    "Huh¡­?"


    Kenny looked behind himself. He saw a disgusting creature, with pale skin and deep dark eyes. It''s wore a big smile showing its yellow, razor sharp and deformed teeth. It''s gums covered in stains of blood, as well as its teeth.


    Kenny felt dizzy as he coughed even more blood.


    ''Shit!''


    The demon grabbed his arm and completely tore it off as it then put it in its mouth and began to chew.


    Kenny let out a loud and painful scream as he writhed on the ground.


    With blood in his mouth and throat, kenny managed to say two words.


    "Com¡­ furth..."


    Noir and wolf both came out of a portal, instantly charging at the demon.


    ''Kenny be careful, I can''t sense that demon''s presence.''


    ''Too late, that son of bitch put a hole in my chest and ate my damn arm!''


    The demon was both strong and really fast, and on top of that it could hide its presence from others. Both Noir and wolf''s attacks didn''t land, the thing was just too fast for them.


    Kenny was still screaming and groaning. Then suddenly, the pain stopped. Kenny looked confused, both the hole in his chest and his arm had already been healed.


    ''Wow¡­ this regenerative power is really amazing.''


    Kenny felt Aragons feeling''s for the first time, and it was pure amazement.


    ''What wrong?''


    ''Your regeneration, it''s way too powerful for a new born demon. Usually a new born demon could only heal scratches or bruises, but you, you healed an entire arm and a hole in your chest in just a dozen seconds.''


    ''Am I really that amazing?''


    ''Don''t get too full of yourself.''


    Kenny concentrated and took a deep breath.


    "Now, for this damn bastard."


    Kenny gave the demon an angered and pissed off look. I mean¡­ why wouldn''t he be mad after what that thing had done to him?


    Kenny summoned his regalia, red marking appeared on the sword.


    ''I feel stronger all of a sudden. This sword master thing is really helpful.''


    Kenny dashed with greater speed than he had ever traveled at before. Kenny was suddenly behind the demon, he swung his sword aiming at its neck. Unfortunately, it was still too fast. But Kenny didn''t let up with his attacks, Kenny could now more clearly see the movement''s of the demon, he could faintly and momentarily see the demons path.


    Kenny''s relentless attacks made the demon irritated at the young boy and retaliated with a strong right slash with its claws. Kenny ducked and slashed the stomach of the demon. The demon screeched in pain as it fell to the ground. Kenny seized the opportunity and stabbed the demon in the chest, then sliced its head off.


    No normal human being would even dare to take a bite of a Demon, but not Kenny. Purgatory was a place of despair and misery. He couldn''t be picky about what went into his stomach, not that he could since in purgatory the only living organisms are demons so there really isn''t any other choice.


    Kenny cut the demon into pieces then set it on fire. With the remaining prices he began to munch. Even giving some pieces to Noir and Wolf.


    After filling his belly, he stood up and began to traverse purgatory yet again in hopes of reaching the labyrinth.

 Pit of Hell

    The journey continued as a slow and boring one, encountering a few demons here and there. Week after week, all Kenny could do was travel and battle. During this time, Kenny''s 16th birthday had unknowingly passed, though it was unfortunately only spent traversing purgatory.


    Kenny¡¯s diet consisted of mostly unbearably disgusting Demon flesh, and if Kenny had no choice, Demon blood would be his only way of somewhat quenching his thirst.


    If Kenny would encountered a Demon, it was almost sure he would be severely injured.


    While fighting a specific demon once, it had clawed its way into Kenny. Organs, blood, excrement, and other innards spilled out of him making for an extremely horrifying sight. He had spent days in agony, slowly healing, and somehow avoiding death. Thankfully, Kenny had Aragon by his side doing what he could to keep him alive. That day, Kenny had slipped past death by the very skin of his teeth.


    Several other events such as this would occur during Kenny¡¯s travels. This made Kenny feel despair and misery, making him want to drop his sword and let embrace of death free him from constant suffering and pain. But Somehow, he managed to keep most of his sanity intact and continue on.


    Weeks passed, then months ¡ª unknown to Kenny. At this point in time, Kenny clothes were completely gone, and what replaced them were the hide of slain demons. Though, it wasn¡¯t enough to keep Kenny warm during the ice cold nights. Although rarely, Kenny had to chop several of his own fingers and toes just to remove them from their frostbite state.


    ***


    Even though Kenny had traveled for possibly a year, he hadn¡¯t even come close to reaching the edge of Purgatory. This made him think:


    ¡®Just how damn massive is this shitty hell.¡¯


    Kenny quickly dismissed this question as he didn¡¯t care at the moment.


    Why?


    In front of Kenny, was his hope. He stood in front of a massive red mountain, which at the bottom where giant metal doors.


    ''Is this it?''


    ''Yes, I am sure of it.''


    Kenny walked up to the doors. He lifted his hands and strained his muscles as he pushed, attempting to open the doors. After a while, he stopped and looked confused.


    ''So, how do I open this?''


    ''Onto its right is a lever that opens the doors.''


    ''Oh, why didn''t you say so at first?''


    Kenny walked over and pulled the lever.


    Loud scraping marked the floor as the two big doors opened revealing pitch black darkness. Kenny entered the void as a mix of emotions filled his heart.


    ¡®Almost there¡­¡¯


    As soon as Kenny stepped inside of the labyrinth, torches hung from the tall ceiling lit up, Illuminating the dark void.


    ''Now would be a good time to fill me in about this place.''


    ''Yes, you¡¯re right. Where do I start?¡¯


    ¡®Just tell me everything there is to know. Even the smallest details.¡¯


    ¡®Very well, Inside of the labyrinth, the corridors are always changing and moving by the day. Meaning that each new day the labyrinth is a completely different maze, making arriving to the end almost impossible. On top of this predicament, there are a total of eighty two floors inside of the labyrinth which make it even more difficult.''If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    ''So that''s why you said it was way worse.''


    ''Right. Inside of the labyrinths are only D-Rank demons and stronger, so you must act with caution.''


    Kenny summoned his regalia and clenched the grip of it. Not even one minute after he had entered the labyrinth, a demon had appeared in front of him, drooling at the mouth.


    It was a big and muscular ogre, with dark skin, tusk, and what seemed like sharp bones protruding from its skin where it''s ribs were. It also had horns that wrapped around its head where its eye where supposed to be.


    Red markings quickly enveloped Kenny''s regalia.


    He didn''t summon either Noir or Wolf, he wished to defeat an enemy on his own this time.


    Kenny dashed towards the enemy wi the speed that greatly surpassed his previous self.


    Looking at the oncoming human, the ogre threw a punch that was noticeably fast for his size.


    Kenny jumped high and onto the arm of the ogre as he then ran up it with his sword embedded into its arm. The ogre roared in pain as it struggled to shake Kenny off.


    Kenny enveloped his entire arm with Xin as he then proceeded to stab the ogre into it''s head. Kenny then opened his palm inside of the ogres head, and a burst of energy exploded inside of the ogre.


    The demon attempted to grab Kenny, but Kenny jumped off the creature while it roared out in pain with its hands on it''s face. He then charged to it''s feet, slashing it''s achilles, making it fall onto the ground.


    The Demon was somehow still alive even with a destroyed brain and half sliced arm.


    Kenny walked up to the fallen creature and jumped on top of its body. Kenny raised his sword and with great strength pierced it''s heart.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    ''You''ve become a bit brutal with your methods don''t you think?''


    ''Have I? I didn''t notice, when ever I see a demon¡­ it just kind of pisses me off.''


    ''I see, not that it matter''s anyway.''


    ''Don''t you hate me for doing that to your own kind?''


    ''Not at all, on the contrary I am in favor of what you are doing?''


    ''Why is that?''


    ''I''m not very found of demons myself, that''s why.''


    Kenny shrugged it off knowing Aragon was dodging the question again.


    ''So from this point on I just wing it?''


    ''Unfortunately¡­ yes, there is no other way to go about it, and mapping it is of no use so I am afraid it''s the only way.


    Kenny sighed with frustration.


    ''Well, if this is going to be a problematic thing, how about you start teaching me useful techniques instead of having me meditate all of time.''


    ''Meditation is a key part in controlling your Xin and strengthening it. Although you have been doing a good job lately, so I know a good technique for you.''


    Kenny was suddenly filled with excitement and enthusiasm.


    ''Really, What is it?''


    ''It''s nothing special, but first you must learn Xin release. As a matter of fact, what you did early is Xin release.¡¯


    Kenny looked confused and asked:


    ''Really? I gues it does make sense.''


    ''Now that you''ve learn to control Xin within your body, you must learn to release that energy out of your body in a controlled manner. What you did earlier was just you bursting it out, which is less efficient.¡¯


    Kenny sighed. He barley managed to learn how to control Xin within his body. Now he must learn how to release it out of his body, which sound a million times more difficult in Kenny''s ears.


    Kenny continued to walk through the labyrinth as Aragon gave the rundown on how Xin release works.


    ''Do you understand?''


    ''I think I do...?''


    ***


    Kenny did not keep track of the amount of time he had spent inside of the labyrinth, more like he couldn¡¯t. He had made it to the second floor within this time which he was quite proud of, but still a bit impatient. If getting up one floor took him possibly a week, he knew that this would take an unbelievable amount of time.


    Kenny dismissed this thought and focused on the task in front of him.


    Marked Regalia in hand and Noir behind him, Kenny rushed to the enemy he was faced with.


    ''I''ve gotten stronger and can defeat a D-Rank demon on my own. Possibly two.''


    As Kenny rushed in, so did Noir, it''s red eyes gleaming in the almost pitch black halls of the labyrinth.


    Kenny aimed for the legs of the ogre, knocking the big guy down.


    Noir on the other hand was holding his own against another ogre, landing a few scratches and bites here and there.


    As the ogre fell down, it made a final attempt to defend it''s self as it swung it''s open palm towards Kenny.


    Kenny unaware of the danger still rushed in. He prepared for a slash at the neck but felt a sudden impact from his side.


    The impact sent him flying into the wall of the labyrinth with great force. On top of the hit and the crash in the wall, Kenny had broken many bones from his arms and ribs.


    Kenny groaned in pain. As he stood up his injuries were already healing at an incredible rate due to his regeneration. Kenny could feel that Aragon was still quite amazed at the regeneration speed of the new born demon.


    Kenny held out his hand, and since his regalia had been thrown far away from him, he simply summoned it back to his hand. Red markings engulfed the blade of the sword.


    Kenny raised his sword and performed a downward swing. Xin was release from the blade in a form of a slash. The slash was quick in cutting the head of the ogre.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    Kenny looked over to Noir who was struggling with the ogre Demon. Kenny ordered Noir to step back as he preform a Xin slash.


    The slash bashed into the neck of the distracted demon, cutting off its head.


    [You have slain a Demon].

 Unknown Conscience

    Massive amounts of blood covered the floors of the labyrinth. Kenny''s messy brown hair was stained with spots of blood from the demon ogres.


    His makeshift clothes were in tatters with holes and pieces missing from them, they were also filled with dirt and blood.


    ''Now that I think about it, I haven''t showered in a lot of time. I probably reek. I don''t smell anything though. Is there water in the labyrinth?''


    ''Hmm¡­ on the 50th floor there is a forest with rivers and lakes.''


    ''50th?!''


    Kenny sighed.


    ''Well it''s not like I''ll meet anyone else down here so it doesn''t matter¡­.''


    Kenny looked over to Noir. He approached him and asked in the demon language:


    "Can you smell me?"


    Noir didn''t give him any sort of answer, or emotion for that matter. Kenny tried to get something out of the thing, he tried ordering it to answer, but it seems that it is an order it cannot follow. Kenny brushed the predicament aside and hopped on top of wolf to continue to traverse the labyrinth.


    Kenny didn''t bother sending Noir and Wolf back into the red portal since it was more beneficial for him if they just stayed out there with him. They didn''t need necessities like food or water so keeping them close to him and at his beck and call was the best thing to do.


    ''Although a bit sloppy, you''ve gotten a good grasp of the demon language.''


    ''Yeah, you guys have a weird and complicated language.''


    ''Is that so?''


    ***


    As time went by Kenny eventually reached the third, then the fourth, and so on until he was eventually in the twentieth.


    ''How long have I been in this labyrinth?''


    ''I would estimate about 3 months. I''m surprised you made this much progress.''


    Kenny sighed.


    Kenny sat down, then layed down with his back resting against Noirs fur.


    He was tired of the labyrinth already, nothing much changed aside from fighting stronger demons. He still eats demons and drinks their blood, although he''s gotten used to the taste of demons, drinking their blood makes his stomach ache.  But what other choice does he have?


    ''Kenny, Demons.''


    Kenny instantly jumped to his feet and summoned his regalia with the markings already engraved. Wolf and Noir both rised as well and prepared for battle.


    Three bizzare and pale creatures emerged from the darkness. They had the torso of a snake with a long tail and four legs with sharp claws. Though it''s body was built like a spider, it wasn''t one, not in the slightest.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    It had no eyes, just a mouth with razor sharp teeth. They stood same height as Kenny, but Kenny didn''t underestimate them because he knew these three were danger since even Aragon seemed worried for him.


    ''Kenny they are a bit powerful for D-Rank demons, so you have to be careful, if not run away.''


    Kenny looked surprised, he hadn''t fought three D-rank demons at the same time before. In all his time in the labyrinth he had only miraculously encountered around two D-Rank demons at a time.


    Kenny tightly gripped his sword and charged at one of them while he ordered both Wolf and Noir to hold back one each.


    Kenny prepared for a strike, but the pale demon sudden appeared in front of him. It opened its giant mouth and unexpectedly tore Kenny''s arm.


    Kenny screamed out in pain as he held his shoulder were his arm was missing. He sense that his servants had too been killed, he looked around and found both Noir and Wolf shredded to pieces.


    Fear clouded Kenny''s mind.


    ''Kenny, focus, you have to run away!''


    ''But those bastards are fast, they''ll catch me in an instant.''


    ''You have no other choice.''


    Kenny stood still as he was faced with the three nightmarish creatures. He prepared himself, then with all his strength made the attempt to run away.


    Adrenaline filled his body. He was running at speeds he himself didn''t know he could manage. He took a left, then a right, then another left.


    He was sudden stopped in his tracks by a sharp claw that had stabbed him through his chest.


    Then another one of the creatures tore his remaining arm left. Kenny felt unimaginable pain yet again. This time he kept a bit of his composure and summoned his regalia to his newly regenerated arm.


    He swung his sword to the demon who had it''s claw in his chest, but it was futile, for the remaining demon bit his arm off yet again and began to chew.


    This time Kenny couldn''t hold it in, he let of a loud scream that echoed through the labyrinth''s halls.


    He was helpless as the demons just kept on tormenting the poor boy. Once he regenerated a new limb, the monsters just tore it right off and feasted.


    Kenny''s regeneration began to slow down, he was running out of Xin to regenerate.


    ''Dammit¡­ not again. It hurts so much¡­ I thought I had gotten used to it, but it still fucking hurts like hell.''


    The demons kept on feasting, and Kenny''s regeneration slowed down even further.


    The demons grew impatient for limbs, so they moved on to his torso. One of them opened their mouths to get a bite, then chomped.


    But¡­ nothing was there?


    The demons looked around to find the prey that had escaped from them. One of them spotted something in the distance. The monsters felt a sudden chill run through its body.


    They saw a singular red gleaming eye that emanated power look back at them from the darkness. The amount of bloodlust that was emitted from this mysterious being made the three demons feel extreme fear and anxiety.


    It was Kenny whom had stepped out of the dark and into the light, but he seemed different. The sclera part of his eyes were black in color and only his iris remained their color. Black markings enveloped the left side of Kenny''s face and body as his nails grew and sharpened themselves.


    ''Kenny.''


    Kenny walked in the direction of the demons. He then dashed with immense speed, seeming like he had teleported in front of the demon. Kenny grabbed the demons head, then completely tore it off.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    The other two demons looked confused as to where Kenny had gone, but they knew that if they stayed there, death would be certain so they wasted no time in trying to make their escape.


    Kenny stabbed one of them into the ground to prevent it''s escape as then caught the remaining one and struck it, sending it into the wall. Kenny grabbed two of its legs and ripped them off.


    The sound of tearing flesh and bone echoed through the labyrinth.


    Kenny tore off limb by limb, going so far as to even regenerate its limbs for them, just to tear them off again.


    ''Kenny!''


    Kenny then flowed Xin into his hand, and bashed in the demons skull, blood, and what seemed like brain matter splattered all over the wall and floor.


    [You have slain a Demon].


    Kenny turned towards the last demon and gave it a strange yet menacing smile that sent shivers down its spine as it panicked. The demon had witnessed what Kenny had done to the other two demons, which made it feel fear like never before. It was so desperate to escape that it even started hacking into it''s own foot to try to escape.


    ''Kenny!''


    Kenny walked towards the creature while the menacing smile still decorated his face.


    Fear, dread, and terror filled the very being of the demon.

 50th Floor

    Kenny emanated a different aura, a violent and uncontrolled one. He wasn''t his usual self at the moment, something different had taken ahold of his consciousness, something that certainly was not human.


    Kenny''s regalia suddenly levitated out of the demons foot and flew into his hand. The demon attempted to use this chance to run away, but it didn''t get far.


    Kenny lifted his arm and swung his sword down as a wave of Xin was released from the blade of the sword, slicing the demon¡¯s right limbs.


    The demon let out a ear deafening screech as it tumbled down onto the ground. It tried to crawl away with it''s remaining limbs, the blood pouring out from its wounds painted the floors red as it crawled.


    Kenny, or whatever was controlling him, merely walked towards it, eventually reaching the demon. The demon tried everything it could to get away, even throwing a few attacks. Kenny stabbed it through the back, securing it down and in place. He grabbed its two remaining limbs and tore those off as well.


    Ripping flesh echoed through the labyrinth hallways yet again. Kenny grabbed his sword and pulled it out of the demons body, then stabbed it again, over and over as he laughed looking at the pitiful state of the creature, one evil and wicked laugh.


    ''Kenny!!''


    Kenny suddenly came to his senses as he looked around to his surroundings.


    ''Have you finally come to your senses?''


    Kenny looked confused, all he could remember are the demons eyeless faces as they opened their mouths to devour him, then suddenly he blacked out.


    "Wh-what happened?"


    ''You suddenly started acting weird, you had these markings on your body, your nails grew sharp and then you began to mutilate the demons, quite brutal.''


    Kenny felt a sudden and intense headache, the memory of what had happened came rushing to him.


    ''I¡­ I did that?''


    ''My guess is that it''s a side effect of some sorts, from you turning into a demon.''


    ''What kind of side effect involves me blacking out and making me do that?''


    ''I''m not sure¡­ since you are the first human in the history of purgatory to turn into a demon, at least according to the records, side effects and other things may happen to you that I''m not aware of. What just happened there is one of them. You seemed to have lost control of yourself, while something else took over.''


    ''Then¡­ what took over me?''


    ''I don''t know, but it wasn''t pleasant...''Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As Kenny tried to walk, his legs shook and a headache made his steps even more wobbly.


    ¡°Shit¡­ my head hurts.¡±


    ***


    Suddenly emerging from an ethereal light on a stone platform, Kenny said:


    "Finally, I made it¡­ to the 50th floor."


    Kenny dropped to his knees and finally relaxed, a smile of joy was visible on his face. In front of Kenny was a green and breathtakingly beautiful forest, the sound of water running could be heard. Kenny spotted rabbits, deers, mice and such animals inside of the thriving forest. Surrounding the forest were giant stone walls, and the ceiling was covered in crystals that seemed to replicate the day and night cycle.


    It was a spectacle in Kenny''s eyes. He didn''t know when was the last time he had seen a forest, or any greenery in general. In the corner of his eye he spotted a sparkling blue river.


    Kenny rushed to examine the water, he then hurriedly put his head inside the fresh water as he took giant gulps of the water. He felt like he had drank heavenily water straight from the heavens themselves. It was so refreshing that demon blood couldn''t even compare one tiny bit.


    For the first time since he had arrived in purgatory, he actually felt happy and relaxed. Though Kenny still stayed on guard, all those nights he had spent in Purgatory and labyrinth made him develop a habit of sleeping with one eye open. Not just when he was asleep, every day was a struggle for him, not a day passed where it was easy, each and every day was constant fighting.


    Kenny followed the river bank, eventually leading him to a clear blue lake with a giant tree in the middle of it, and what seemed like a gleaming glass bridge. Close to the lake was a manor multiple stories tall.


    "Is that¡­ a house?"


    Kenny didn''t hurry to check it out, his time in the labyrinth had taught him not to touch anything, even if it looked safe. Although that didn''t mean he wasn''t going to get a good look at the manor, he just had to be careful.


    As Kenny carefully walked over to the manor he was already fantasizing about a comfortable bed and a roof over his head, this made him eager to go barge in, but contained himself.


    Kenny felt a sudden ache in his heart.


    "Is something wrong Aragon?"


    ''Everything is alright.''


    Kenny didn''t believe a word Aragon said, what he felt said enough for him to know that the strange building had a sort of emotional connection to Aragon. Unfortunately, like always, Aragon would just avoid the question if Kenny had asked.


    Kenny lifted his hand and summoned his regalia. [Sword Master] was already activated as he proceeded to walk towards the manor.


    The manor looked very strange to Kenny, it''s architecture was very different from anything he had seen back at earth. Not the elves, beastmen, dwarves, or even humans used such a bizarre design of a home. Although it was strange, he could tell that it was luxurious.


    "Hey Aragon, do you know what this building is?"


    Aragon stayed silent for a couple of seconds, then answered:


    ''It''s a house.''


    Kenny felt irritated by what Aragon said.


    "I know it''s a house, but what''s it doing in purgatory."


    ''I don''t know.''


    Kenny noticed that beside the building was another one with two big doors. He approached the doors with caution, and when he got close a loud and sudden sound scared Kenny, making him prepare for a battle. Inside was a strange creature with a red exterior, or at least that''s what he thought.


    He stood there for a moment, but after a while, nothing moved. Kenny looked confused as he tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. He slowly approached the mysterious creature. No matter how close he got the thing still didn''t move, the closer he got the more details he could make out.


    It had a emblem of a horse in the front of it and many windows, with two on each side and one in the front and one in the back.


    ''Don''t worry that isn''t going to harm you, it isn''t alive.''


    ''What do you mean, what is thing strange creature?''


    Aragon thought for a moment then answered:


    ''I think it''s called a supercar.''


    Kenny looked perplexed.


    ''What kind of beast is a supercar?''

 Change

    To my knowledge, it is a very technologically advanced machine able to cover great distances in a short amount of time with minimal effort.''


    Kenny looked puzzled and amazed by what Aragon had said.


    ''What a strange machine, but it does sounds remarkable.''


    Kenny set aside the strange machine for the moment and focused on what he was most interested in. He walked up to the wooden door, then carefully and slowly with a twist of the door knob, opened it.


    The interior of the building was no different than what a manor would look like back at Earth. It looked quite luxurious, like something a noble would have. A large red rug decorated the floor. It led to wide curved stairs leading to the second floor and a fancy chandelier hung from the ceiling.


    Kenny explored the manor, he was cautious with every door he opened and every turn he made. After a while he came to the conclusion that it wasn''t booby trapped at all, which made him relaxed, though he still decided to be careful since it''s better to be safe than sorry.


    ''I feel out of place here, I''ve never been in such a fancy manor before.''


    ''Why is that?''


    Kenny thought for a second unsure of what to say. The best answer would probably be because he''s not rich, right?


    ''Because I''m not rich, I guess.''


    ''Ah, yes, you humans use a currency, and use that currency in exchange for necessities. To be honest, I find that system to be a double edged sword, and to be quite flawed enough that it makes me dislike humans a bit.''


    ''Flawed? How come?''


    ''Because¡­ sure it keeps an order of equal exchange. But, in your world, money equals power, and some humans have more power than others, making them have a higher standing in society. This power eventually corrupts them, making them blinded by it and then they begin lust for more. That''s when they start to take from others, and those who are taken from eventually are deprived from their natural rights to food , water, shelter, and warmth due to their lack of power, the same power that had been taken from the greedy humans. And that isn''t all to take into account.''


    Kenny thought about what Aragon had dropped on him, and to be completely honest, he strongly agreed with him. Back in Earth, nobles greedily took from the poor, but even that wasn''t enough for them because they eventually started raising their tax to the point of starving the people to death.


    Now that Kenny had a talk with Aragon about human behavior, he had a thought, one that eventually have an impact in his future.


    Is the world better off without humans?


    ''In some aspects, I do agree with that. But, not all humans are as bad, even though suffering themselves, those who are selfless still manage to help others, which in a way earns them my respect.''


    Kenny immediately thought of General Yemel, Will, and Claire. His mother as well.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ''Then, do you dislike humans, or respect them?''


    ''I don''t have an opinion of humans as a whole since there are multiple sides to humanity. You see, I judge by one''s character, not by society''s depiction one.''


    Kenny looked surprised.


    "Even demons?"


    ''Even demons. You know¡­ never mind.''


    ''Aragon, you seem quite¡­ I''m not sure how to put it.''


    ''That''s enough talking about our perspective on humanity, hurry and get settled, we''ve got training to do.''


    "Oh, right."


    ***


    Steam filled the room, it''s walls decorated with golden engravings, and a big body of water filled the middle of it. Inside of the water was a sixteen year old boy with many scars covering his body. He was lean with calloused hands from all the time he practices with his sword. His long messy brown hair was no longer was covered in dirt and blood.


    "I feel like I''m in heaven. Thankfully this place has a bath, and a really nice one too."


    While relaxing inside the warm bath, he noticed a red reflection in the water. He looked down to the water and saw the reflection of his face.


    "Am I seeing things?"


    ''What''s wrong?''


    In his reflection Kenny saw that his left eyes¡¯ iris was red in color from when Noir had struck him, it didn''t heal properly probably because he was still basically a new born demon.


    "Why the hell is my left eye red?"


    ''It''s from when Noir clawed at it, it didn''t heal completely and stayed red in color, I figured you knew.''


    "I didn''t. I guess I''m starting to look the part of a demon..."


    Kenny ignored his red iris and stood up from the water.


    "Now that I think about it, what do I wear? All my clothes are all torn up."


    Kenny got out of the water and exited the bathroom.


    ''You know your not wearing any clothes, right?''


    ''What does it matter? It''s not like anyone is here.''


    ''I am.''


    ''We''re both dudes, it doesn¡¯t matter anyways. Wait¡­. You¡¯re a guy right?''


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    Kenny sighed in relief.


    ***


    [Name: Kenny]


    [Title(s): (Reanimator), (Ghost Of Death)]


    [Rank: 3]


    [Gift(s): (Illuminating Flame), (Reanimation), (Sword Master)]


    [Blessing(s): None]


    [Regalia: (Survivor''s Blade)]


    "It''d be nice if I could reach rank 4, but no matter how many demons I kill, I just can''t.''


    ''You must be patient.''


    Kenny nodded.


    ''Now listen up, now that you''ve gotten much better at Xin control and release, you must put those skills to use by learning B¨´.''


    ''B¨´?''


    ¡®Yes, B¨´ is a technique used to travel at great speeds. By having a certain amount of control in both Xin control and Release, you are able to perform B¨´. First, you must skillfully control and navigate your Xin to the bottom of your feet, and with Xin release, burst your Xin out of the bottom of you feet.''


    "Sounds easy enough."


    Kenny carefully and quickly controlled his Xin to the bottom of his feet, just like Aragon had instructed. He then let the Xin burst out of his feet.


    ''Wait, Kenny if you do it like that you¡ª''


    Before Aragon could finish what he was saying Kenny had already attempted to try B¨´, and ended up in a disaster.


    Kenny was flung like a ragdoll dozens of feet away. He crashed into a tree, breaking it in half. Kenny my attempted to get up, but strangely¡­ he couldn''t. Kenny felt a strange and a little painful sensation in his legs, he looked down to his legs to see what this strange feeling was. He was surprised at what he saw.


    His legs were broken and greatly disfigured, blood oozed out from gashes made from his bones. But what greatly puzzled him was not the state of his legs, but what his legs lacked.


    Pain.


    ''It does doesn''t hurt¡­?''


    ''What do you mean? Have you not noticed? You''ve been in similar situation, if not worse, where you haven''t had a reaction to the injury like you didn''t notice it. it''s a good thing though, now, you don''t feel as much physical pain. You¡¯ve gained resistance to it. To a certain extent.¡¯


    Kenny didn''t know if this was a good or bad thing. He felt like he was slowly losing his humanity. This didn''t just apply to the absence of physical pain. While traversing the labyrinth, there were moments where he lost himself, he would watch demons beneath his feet face him with terror on their faces as he was about to end their life. For him, those moment''s felt exhilarating to the point where he would sometimes give the poor thing a menacing grin.


    This scared him. He was changing to adapt to purgatory, and not in a pleasant way.

 Two Monsters

    Kenny had spent 2 entire weeks inside on the 50th floor. Even though he could¡¯ve relaxed, he didn¡¯t. Kenny had been training and studying with no days of rest.


    Aragon had kept on instructing him on how to efficiently and effectively use B¨´ throughout the 2 weeks. Unfortunately Kenny had kept on failing and failing, over and over.


    He quickly grasped the theory behind B¨´, but couldn''t correctly execute it. He always felt so close to correctly performing it, but at the very last second he would lose control of his Xin.


    "Damn it, why can''t I get it?" Kenny said while panting and smashing his fist on the ground.


    ''I''m not sure, I''ve told you all there is to know about B¨´. All that¡¯s left is to practice until it becomes muscle memory. But¡­ you lack talent.''


    "I know that you bastard."


    But kenny wasn¡¯t one to give up so easily. That much was clear, how do you think he¡¯s managed to survive this long?


    Gathered his Xin to the soles of his feet, Kenny let out a burst of energy as his entire body was thrown several dozen meters away in a split second. But again, it was a failure.


    Kenny felt irritated and at a loss, but didn''t give up. He stood up as his bones began to heal themselves. Kenny gathered his Xin again, then attempted B¨´ again and again, breaking bones and tearing his own flesh.


    ''You need to learn B¨´ in order for you to stand a chance against the demons on the lower floors.''


    ''I know, I''m trying but I just can''t no matter how hard I try.''


    Aragon sighed.


    Before Kenny could attempt B¨´ again a sudden and massive quake shook the entirety of floor 50.


    Giant cracks began to form on the ceiling, and a loud roar came from above.  The ceiling came crashing down, and a large creature descended from the upper floors. It came descending down like an angel, and it look like one as well with it''s white skin and humanoid body.


    It had two heads with no eyes but a mouth with many sharp teeth. Its legs were strong and digitigrade, and its four arms were muscular. It stood at least 2 times the height of Kenny. Its body was equipped with armor plates and other protective gear.


    Kenny felt immense pressure from the demon, so much of it that he had trouble moving and breathing.


    ''What the hell? Why does that thing have armor?!''


    ''Kenny you need to run immediately, if not, you will die. That thing is an S-Rank demon although it''s not as strong as the others, it can still kill you easily.''


    Kenny cursed and began to run towards the doors that lead to the lower floors.


    The demon glanced over at Kenny, that was enough to send chills down his spine. Kenny turned around to look at the demon.Stolen novel; please report.


    Kenny knew he saw it far away ¡ª at least a few hundred meters away, but somehow it was like the thing had teleported in front of him. The immense pressure that had made him have trouble moving was even stronger now that the demon was in front of him.


    The demon spoke with a deep and powerful voice.


    "Are you a human?"


    Kenny fell to his knees from the immense weight of the pressure that the demon was emitting. Kenny couldn''t respond, he was too weak in front of the demons presence, but he knew if he didn''t answer things would only get worse. So, in the demon language he spoke:


    "That''s¡­ right."


    Both the heads moved in closer and looked at Kenny with curiosity.


    "What is your name, human?"


    Kenny mustered his Xin to the soles of his feet. He was going to attempt to make a run for it, but before he could attempt B¨´, Aragon stopped him.


    ''Kenny don''t even try to run, if you do, that thing will kill you before you can even blink.''


    Kenny looked agitated. Instead of attempting to run, he responded:


    "Kenny.¡±


    Upon hearing Kenny say his name, the demon wore a big and disturbing smile that reached to the sides of its faces.


    "So you are Kenny?"


    Kenny had a confused look by what the two headed demon had spoke.


    "You know me?"


    "I do, after all you are¡ª"


    Before the demon could finish it''s sentence, a fist had been planted on the demons face, sending it flying miles to the other side of the floor and crashing into its brick walls.


    Kenny looked up to see who the person who saved him was, but most importantly who sent an S-Rank demon flying with so much power.


    In front of him he saw tall muscular man with a golden yellow hair and beard. He wore what seemed like heavy gauntlets on both his arms. The gauntlets were both white in color and lines that were engraved on them glowed blue.


    "Who ar¡ª"


    Before Kenny could finish his sentence a loud and powerful roar resounded throughout the 50th floor.


    "Wait here kid."


    Kenny looked surprised.


    ''Human language?''


    Even though the demon had been launched to the other side of the floor, it had gotten back to where Kenny and the man was in mere seconds.


    The mysterious man and demon both threw a punch with so much force that it crushed the ground beneath them. The shockwave that the punch produced tore trees off its roots and sent Kenny a few feet back.


    "They''re so powerful¡­" Said Kenny as he managed to keep himself on the ground and not be sent flying.


    After that singular punch which produced so much power, the two monsters proceeded to throw a barrage of punches.


    The force produced by the two shook the entirety of the 50th floor as the ground began to crack and the greenery began to disappear.


    Kenny was amazed by this remarkable display in front of him. The man almost reminded him of the General, he couldn''t tell which one was stronger, but he knew that the man in front of him was strong without a doubt. He could go toe to toe with an S-Rank demon by himself. If that isn''t an impressive feat, then Kenny didn''t know what was.


    The barrage of punches ended as the demon landed a left hook on the man''s face sending him into a wall.


    The man bled, but got up and proceeded to take on the demon again. Both the demon and the man had skilled control over their movements, they were efficient and effective, they avoided unnecessary movements that hindered their ability to attack.


    ¡®These two are skilled hand to hand combat masters, I can tell by how they move and how efficient they are with their movements.''


    ''It looks like it, but who is that man? And why are there humans in purgatory? And where did that demon come from all of a sudden? And what''s with that demon being so skilled?''


    ''Calm down Kenny, you will know soon enough, after that man is finished with that demon.''


    ''How are you so sure he''ll win?''


    ''I¡¯m not sure. Intuition?''


    ''What kind of logic is that?''


    The barrage of punches stopped as the demon made some distance. But the man didn''t let up, he didn''t want to give the demon time to regenerate. The gauntlets the man wore suddenly glowed blue as he charged towards the demon. The man let out a powerful scream as he gave all strength into a singular punch.


    The demon tried to escape, but it was too late, the punch had landed.

 Mysterious Beings

    The glowing gauntlet landed on the demons chest, tearing a massive hole into it that it ripped the demon in half. The strike was so powerful that the ground beneath them shattered and the environment around them was destroyed beyond recognition.


    The gauntlet on the man''s arm let out a huge amount of steam.


    Kenny looked at the man with amazement. With admiration.


    ''He''s¡­ so powerful.''


    The man walked over to Kenny, his face was covered with blood and bruised and his sleeve was in tatters due to the impact of the gauntlet. The walked a bit weakly and he seemed to be in a lot of pain.


    The man had a deep and raspy voice as he began to talk with Kenny.


    "You okay kid?"


    Kenny was still in shock by what he had witnessed, but pulled himself together.


    "Yeah, I am."


    "What are you doing all the way up here kid?"


    Kenny didn''t know what to say, should he tell him what had happened to him? Would he even believe him? These questions ran through Kenny''s mind.


    ''Should I tell him Aragon?''


    ''No, if he find out You are part demon, they won''t spare you.''


    Kenny thought for a while. He then began to explain a story of what had happened to him. With the excuse of him ¡°getting lost¡±.


    The man sighed.


    "That''s impossible kid. The demons would have eaten you if you¡¯re by yourself."


    Kenny flinched.


    "Uhh¡­"


    Kenny had a weird feeling about something, but he couldn''t figure out what it was. After a second Kenny felt the same immense pressure he felt the moment the demon descended upon the 50th floor. Kenny looked behind the man and to his surprise, the demon was still standing and the hole in us chest was healed.


    ''How is it still alive after that?!''


    The demon charged towards the man without him noticing. It was silent, even though it was massive Kenny could hear no stomps or any sound at all, it was like it blended in with the wind.


    Kenny pushed the old man to the side, summoned his regalia and activated [Sword Master] on top of infusing Xin into his blade. Kenny knew that he couldn''t stop one of those monster punches but did tried to stop it anyways.


    Kenny lifted his sword to guard the attack. The moment it''s fist made impact with his regalia, Kenny could already feel massive amounts of power behind it and due to the force, Kenny''s regalia shattered into pieces. Kenny as a last ditch effort put up his arms and prayed that he didn''t die.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The punch sent Kenny flying off into a wall. Kenny could feel his entire torso caving in, he couldn''t breath due to his lungs being completely smashed as well as many of his organs and all of his limbs were in a complete mess.


    Kenny screamed out in pain.


    ''Shit! Why does it hurt so much! I thought I couldn''t feel pain anymore!''


    Kenny''s regeneration began to heal his wounds but it was slower than previous times.


    ''Aragon what the hell is happening!''


    ''If enough Xin is used it can negate your regeneration and your pain receptors react to the amount of Xin used in the attack, making it more painful than a normal attack.''


    Kenny''s regeneration has always been extraordinary compared to normal demons, so much so that life threatening injuries could heal quickly, but now that same regeneration was slow.


    The man looked surprised by what happened, everything happened in mere seconds. He looked over at Kenny and saw his body slowly regenerating from horrific injuries. Although surprised, he had no reaction to this strange phenomenon occurring to a human¡­ which was ironic to say the least.


    The man focused on the white giant in front of him, he focused and prepared a left hook that was ultimately dodge by the demon as it dashed backwards.


    "I must admit that you are a formidable foe, even though you¡¯re human. But, if you struggle against me, well then you won''t last a second against them."


    The man looked confused, he didn''t understand what the demon was blabbering about. After all, he didn''t understand the demon language. But Kenny, even though far away could hear what the demon had spoken.


    "Hey! You big white bastard!"


    The demon turned towards the yelling boy.


    "Who are this ''they'' people!?"


    The heads of the giant grinned with a wicked smile that reached the sides of their faces.


    Then, one of the heads said:


    "You''ll know soon enough. After all, you are you, and his ambition remains the same."


    Kenny felt irritated, he was tired of hearing these mysterious people like "they", "him", and "them". Who were these people? And what did he mean by "you are you?" and "his ambition remains the same". Who was "Him"? These unanswered questions made Kenny a furious.


    "Stop with the nonsense and just give me a straight answer you oversized marshmallow!"


    The demons expression stayed the same and unaffected by Kenny comment. Probably because it doesn''t know what a marshmallow was.


    The man who was witnessing the two speak in a language that he didn''t understand waited until both Kenny and the demon fell silent.


    "Hey kid! What is that thing saying!?"


    "Just focus on killing it! I''ll tell you what it said later!"


    The man nodded and he turned his attention over to the silent demon as he raised his fists up.


    By this time the only thing that had healed from Kenny was his ability to speak and a few of his organs. He was still in immense pain and his injuries were healing slowly, his limbs were still in a mess which made any attempts at moving futile.


    ''All I can hope for is for that man to take that thing down, because if not, then we both die.''


    Kenny sighed. Although he had only met the guy a few minutes ago, he was now placing his life in his hands, it was really all he could do.


    The man was pretty tall with had blonde hair and he seemed to be nearing his thirties, his face was pretty handsome with two blue eyes that looked like a deep ocean.


    Kenny thought of how opposite they both were. Kenny had a red eye, while the man had blue. The man was strong while he was weak. Even their personalities. The man seemed like a cheerful and caring guy, Kenny on the other hand was not like that at all, he was a bit selfish at times and could never take an insult without retaliating, not to mention his foul mouth.


    Kenny sighed.


    ''Hey Aragon, don''t you think that you should tell me who these mysterious beings are?''


    Aragon stayed silent for a few seconds then answered:


    ''What does this have to do with your goal of  going back home? knowing won''t change the outcome of your journey.''


    ''I guess your right.''


    Oh, how wrong they both were. Soon enough, Kenny would be yearning for the identities of these mysterious beings, and their heads.

 Coordination

    The man had a big disadvantage in this deadly fight. The demon could regenerate, but he could not. No matter how much damage the man inflicted on the demon, the injuries would simply heal, making it look like the attacks never happened. The only way for the man to achieve victory was for all of the demon''s Xin to deplete and stop it''s regeneration.


    The onslaught of blows were tiring the man out. Every blow he threw felt heavier and heavier, but the demon on the other hand looked riled up and ready to keep on going.


    ''This isn''t looking good. I could probably escape, but what about the kid? If I leave him here the demon will kill him. The only choice I have choice is to wait for backup, I have to hold out until then.''


    Kenny who was witnessing the battle wasn''t so encouraging.


    ''He¡¯s going to lose at this rate. What should I do Aragon?''


    ''You should run.''


    ''What? I can''t just leave that guy behind and save my own ass!''


    ''You''re seeing the battle, he''s going to lose if this keeps going. When he does, the demon is going to come after you next.''


    ¡¯What happened to your intuition?¡¯


    ¡®Well, it was wrong.¡¯


    Kenny gritted his teeth. He didn''t know what to do. He could crawl away while the man kept the demon busy, but then he would be leaving behind someone who had saved him to die, which is something that would lay in his conscious forever.


    ''Kenny, you''re going to die if you stay.''


    Kenny felt conflicted. His injuries were healing faster and would be done healing in a few minutes. This left him with the question: should he stay and help the man, or should he escape?


    After a few seconds of internal conflict he decided to stay and wait for his injuries to heal. Kenny couldn''t just leave the man behind to die. After all, he was human and he would feel miserable if he had left someone who saved him to die.


    ''I''m going to stay.''If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ''Kenny, do you understand that even if your injuries are healed you can''t even interfere in that battle!? You''ll only hold him back! Then you''ll both die! You need to run!''


    Kenny ignored Aragon''s words.


    ''Kenny!''


    Kenny poured as much Xin as he could to his injuries to make them heal faster.


    ''Kenny! Listen to me! You have to run!''


    He summoned his regalia to his hand and activated [Sword Master].


    [You have unlocked the Sub Gift: Sword Teleportation].


    Kenny stood up. He strongly gripped his sword and threw it with all his strength to the demon. The demon was surprised, but not by the attack, but by Kenny actually attempting to fight.


    The demon smirked and with a swing of it''s hand smacked the sword to the ground.


    Kenny teleported to his sword and grabbed it as he then proceeded to slash the demon''s stomach.


    "Hey! Coordinate with me!"


    Although surprised by Kenny, the man instantly heeded Kenny''s request and assisted him.


    The demon prepared a punch but was stopped by the man with a punch of his own. Kenny dashed backwards, and so did the man.


    "Although I''m nowhere near as strong as you, I can still help you land some strikes."


    "Alright!"


    "I''ll follow your lead."


    They both lunged towards the demon. The man slowed himself down to keep up with Kenny. Even he knew that he couldn''t defeat that monster alone so he would need to cooperate with the boy.


    Kenny threw a Xin slash to the demon, but the demon just slapped it out of existence. The moment the demon swung it''s arm and destroyed the Xin slash Kenny was infront of it and he swung his sword. Although it failed, it was just a diversion from the main force.


    The man appeared beside Kenny as he lunged in and threw a punch that landed on the healing wound that was inflicted by Kenny when he threw his sword.


    The punch had sent the demon skidding back, but the two didn''t let it think as they began to yet again charge at it.


    Sudden black markings enveloped the left side of Kenny''s body as his nails sharpened themselves. He then threw his sword towards the demon''s head. It dodged, but Kenny had teleported to it again. Kenny grabbed the sword and swung it with the entention of slicing it''s neck. Although the demon dodged the attack again, Kenny had already bought enough time for the man to prepare a devastating attack.


    The demon looked down and saw the man''s right gauntlet emitting small blue lightning as the man threw a right hook at it, landing in it''s stomach again.


    The blow had sent it skidding back again. It was surprised. Kenny was a weakling who it could kill instantly, but now with the man''s coordination it didn''t have enough time to land a blow on any of them.


    Although the two humans had only just met, their coordination was spectacular and remarkable. Anybody would think that they had been seasoned fighters who had been fighting together for many years. Their attacks were so coordinated that it didn''t give the demon time to counterattack or even react.


    "You filthy humans!! How dare you!! How dare you!! How dare you!!"


    The demon grew irritated and angry by the two humans who were giving him trouble.


    "Us, who were chosen by Lord Greed himself cannot be bested by mere weaklings such as yourselves!!"


    "Jackass." Said kenny under his breath.

 Greater Being

    Kenny could see the demon¡¯s rage boil fiercely.


    ¡°Why me damn it!! It''s always me with the bad luck!!" Yelled the demon as it banged its fists on the  ground repeatedly.


    Kenny felt a bit insulted by this since he himself has gotten through so much, all because a demon wanted to suddenly show up once they he was about to reach the pathway.


    "I''ll distract it for a bit so you charge up one of those super punches of yours. I can buy you at least five seconds, no more."


    The man nodded.


    Kenny lunged towards the distracted demon.


    Tears kept rolling down the demon''s face as It kept on punching the ground. It was strange to Kenny, it was acting completely different as if it had an entire personality took over.


    Kenny swung his sword while enforcing it with his Xin. Kenny could feel his regalia become more durable, sharp, and powerful. But he hadn¡¯t expected that his blade would slice through its heads


    The heads of the Demon dropped on the floor and azure blood poured out of it''s neck in intervals.


    ''It was that easy¡­?''


    ''Kenny, your about to regret not taking my advice. I sense three different Xin in that demon.''


    ''What?''


    Kenny looked down at the demon''s motionless body with a confused expression.


    Then the man from a distance yelled out:


    "Is tha¡ª"


    His sentence was cut short, Kenny looked back at the man with confusion, he saw a horrified expression on the man''s face as he ran towards him, yelling.


    A giant white arm pierced through the chest of Kenny, making him cough large amounts of blood. Then another arm grabbed his upper torso and completely ripped it off.


    ''I tried to tell you Kenny, there was no chance of defeating that monster the way you are. If you had listened to me we could''ve survived. Now, we both die.''


    The demon looked different than before. It had four arms and legs. The Demon went from being in distress and it''s cowardice showing, to having a blank expression with no movement from it''s face at all.


    Kenny''s two halves were on the floor and huge amounts of blood surrounded him along with his innards slowly spilling out. Kenny didn''t move an inch. He stayed still on the floor and his face was blank. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Kenny was no more.


    There was no way even Kenny''s extraordinary regenerative abilities were capable of healing such damage, even if he applied all of his remaining Xin, it wouldn''t make a difference.


    "Kid!" The man yelled with a horrified expression.


    In the distance a group of people could be seen approaching.


    "Captain! Why did yo¡ª"


    The man looked back to see the people that had just arrived. The group of people saw the man who looked horrified, the three headed demon, and the boy who was surrounded by large amounts of blood and in two parts.


    "What the hell happened here?" One of the people from the newly arrived group said as he tried to understand the scene in front of him.


    "I-I¡­ couldn''t save him. A life parished because I wasn''t strong enough." Said the man with a crestfallen expression and tone.


    The demon stood infront of the man and pulled his arm back, readying itself to throw a punch.


    "Captain infront of you!" Yelled one of the female members of the group.


    The man didn''t respond to the women''s warning and took the punch head on to his face, sending him crashing against a wall.


    "Damn it! Get in formation I''ll deal with the captain! Hold out until then!" Yelled a tall women with silver hair and blue eyes.


    "Roger!" responded the rest of the squad.


    The silver haired women ran over to the man.


    "Hey Ike! What the hell happened here!"


    Ike looked up at the women.


    "Jasmine¡­?"


    His eyes were full of sorrow. He was truly a kind and caring man, he would grief over someone whom he had just met. He blamed himself for not being strong enough to save someone who in his eyes was just a boy who looked sad and miserable. It was true, Kenny had spent about a year now in purgatory with only Aragon by his side. He would sometimes feel lonely, but most of all he, was tired of this god forsaken place, but this explanation is for another time.


    "I sensed a big danger in the 50th floor so I came here as fast as I could. I saw that boy standing in front of that demon. We fought to defeat it, but it just wouldn''t die no matter how much damage it took, and then¡­ it killed him. Ripped him in half¡­"


    Jasmine looked over at the messed up state of Kenny then looked back at Ike.


    "You fool¡­ You can''t save everyone. How about you help us so we can give that boy a proper burial."


    Ike looked over at Kenny.


    "I didn''t get to ask his name."


    Ike stood up and enchanted his body with Xin. His face looked determined yet defeated. He saw his team barley holding the demon back. He turned over to Jasmine and said:


    "Let''s hurry."


    Jasmine nodded.


    But before they could even take a step a pressure so immense that it shook the entirety of the labyrinth suddenly fell upon them. The pressure was so crushing that it made even Ike and his squad fall to their knees. Even making the S-Rank demon dare not move an inch.


    A massive and horrifying eye covered the entire ceiling of the floor appeared on the 50th floor. Then a voice so powerful and commanding that it made everyone including the demon almost faint, spoke:


    "No, I can''t have that."


    Kenny''s body levitated off the ground and a black mist surrounded both parts of his severed body. The mist was healing Kenny''s minor injuries while a black and gooey unknown substance appeared on both parts of Kenny''s ripped flesh. It then moved to connect the two parts of the disconnected body together.


    The group and even the demon looked in amazement at what they were witnessing.


    "What in the world is happening¡­?" Said Ike while still under the immense pressure.


    Although the demon could withstand the pressure, it decided to kneel of it''s own accord.


    It seems this is one of those greater beings Aragon was talking about.

 Sun Squad

    Upon waking up, Kenny saw a woman who seemed in her twenties. Her brown eyes shined with warmth and kindness. Her long dark hair glistened with the sunlight that entered through an open window next to her.


    With a soft and gentle voice the women said:


    "Oh, you''re awake."


    Kenny looked confused as he looked around the room. Then, the memories of the events that had previously taken place suddenly flashed in his mind.


    "What¡­ happened? And who are you?"


    "If your referring to the 50th floor, then I''m not very sure myself. And to your second, my name is Christina. I''m part of Sun Squad of the Vanquisher Corps."


    Kenny felt relieved to hear that someone from the Vanquisher Corps was here. That meant that there were other Vanquishers here, meaning he could finally go home and leave the nightmarish world of purgatory.


    He was excited. He could finally see his mother, Claire, and Will which he was longing for after so much time in purgatory.


    "Are we still in purgatory?" Kenny asked.


    Christina looked slightly confused but still answered anyway.


    "Of course we are."


    "Have you guys obtained the key to the pathway yet?"


    Christina''s slight confusion grew.


    "Key? Pathway?"


    "Yeah, the key to the pathway."


    Christina looked perplexed by what the boy was spouting. It seems she had no idea what Kenny was talking about.


    "I''m not sure what your talking about, but when you''ve come to your senses come down stairs and we''ll get things sorted out."


    Christina stood up from the wooden chair and walked out the door.


    ''What the hell?''If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Kenny looked around the room and noticed many unfamiliar things such as a shard which was the size of a hand on the ceiling that was lighting up the room and another shard which was just lighting up on a wall, probably for decoration.


    But what absolutely blew Kenny''s mind was not all the shards in the room, or the woman whom he had met, but the scene that he saw through the window.


    "What in the actual hell am I witnessing."


    What layed before Kenny''s eyes was a town, not just a town but what looked like¡­


    "Civilization?"


    ''That¡¯s right.''


    ''Aragon, you knew about this?''


    ''I did. This was your destination Kenny. The civilization of Eir¨¥n¨¥. A civilization in Purgatory.¡¯


    "Then I''m guessing the women along with those people are part of here. No wonder she didn''t know what I was talking about, I must''ve sounded like a lunatic."


    ''Probably. Anyway, this place has the best chances of you going home.''


    "Really? Are you sure?''


    ''Yes. There should be a portal somewhere in here, unfortunately I don''t know where.''


    ''Then we just have to find it right? Then we should ask them.''


    Now that he thought about it he hadn''t talked to another human being for a year, he felt a bit nervous but it didn''t stop him from approaching them.


    Kenny threw the blanket off of him, he got off the bed he was laying on and walked out the wooden door. He was greeted with a long hallway with six doors including the room he had just walked out of. He walked down it, passing each door one by one until he reached a stair case going down.


    Kenny walked down the stairs and at the bottom he saw five people.


    Christina notoced the long haired boy whom had just came down stairs.


    "Your finally here. I thought you had fallen back asleep."


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    In the corner of his eye, Kenny noticed the man from back at the 50th floor.


    "Hey, your that guy from the 50th floor."


    The man, who''s name was ike had a big smile on his face.


    "My name isn''t man, it''s Ike, kid."


    "Then my name isn''t kid, it''s Kenny."


    The room looked like a sort of living room, although it wasn''t fancy, it wasn''t cheap either.


    "So your name is Kenny huh? The name is Gerdon, Gerdon Koch."


    As Gerdon was speaking he stood up and walked towards Kenny. He was tall and buff man with long brown hair along with brown eyes and a stubble beard.


    "Since no one was daring to ask, I will. So, Kenny, who and what are you?"


    Kenny was confused. Did his appearance change or something?


    Kenny titled his head to the side in confusion.


    "I''m a human being named Kenny¡­?"


    "That''s not what I mean."


    "Then what is it?"


    Gerdon sighed.


    "Back at the 50th floor, you were in half. Then a big eye showed up and then you were suddenly all healed.


    "What?"


    ''I was wondering what the hell happened. Was that really what happened?''


    ''I don''t really know myself. Remember, it''s like we share the same body. if you pass out, I pass out.''


    Gerdon continued with his words.


    "What do you mean by, ¡®what¡¯? Your whole existence is a whole mystery as well. For example, how are you even up in the 50th floor?"


    Before Gerdon could continue Jasmine interrupted him.


    "Calm down Gerdon, let him breath."


    Gerdon looked towards Jasmine and backed off.


    "But we will need you to answer our questions, Kenny."


    ¡°Of course. There no reason to deny¡±


    ¡®Remember, you can¡¯t reveal you¡¯re a demon.¡¯


    ¡®I know.¡¯