From deep within the dark room a monster emerged.
The monster stood 7 feet tall, its legs reverse-jointed like a grotesque crane, ending in six-clawed feet. A maw of overlapping teeth dripped strings of saliva and blood, jaw unhinging with a wet crack, the growl vibrating in his teeth. Its mouth reeked of rotting meat
"3...2.....1." The count ended. The monster lunged, the floor beneath it's feet creaked.
Talen closed his eyes, his mind boiled on all cylinders, his body bulging with supernatural strength. Talen opened his eyes. They had changed, the whites turned a lifeless shade of black, his pupils and iris merged together into a swirling mist of radiant purple. He was in the Zone. His unique and special Zone.
Straining his body not to jump too high Talen jumped. Where he previously stood the monster's clawed hands slashed. Talen hung in the air just long enough to clench his fist, twist his body, and deliver a devastating punch. The impact sounding like a watermelon dropped from a roof, The impact jolted up his arm.
His fist crushed the skull, collapsing it inward. The monster's eyes bursting out from their sockets, gore and bone fragments flooding out. The monster collapsed, blood gushing out from its sockets.
Talen landed beside the corpse, his hands drenched in its blood. He clenched his fist. 'I love the feeling.' Lips curled, eyes remaining dead. Using his right hand he wrapped the scarf around his wrist, mixing it with the monster's blood.
His moment of bliss, cut short. More of the same monster poured in all lunging at him ferociously. His lips curled further.
A reflection of light from the jian caught his right eye. Right at that moment one of the abominations slashed at him.
His muscles moved as if precision-forged for this. He side stepped barely dodging a monster's slash. 'I need to take care of these maggots quickly, before the side effects kick in.' Then he sprinted for the jian. Monster hot on his heels.
Grabbing the jian. Talen hurriedly spun around to wardoff the creature. But he was too late. The moment he spun around the six clawed fiend's sharp claws dug deep into his chest. Talen heard more than he felt. The claw gouged deep enough to scrape bone, jolting his body.
Crimson red blood flowing out of his chest. A dam broken. He felt it stampede up his throat and burst from his mouth. His body screamed in pain but his mind ignored it. 'Oh that's gonna leave a mark.' His vision tunnelled, the blood leaving it too fast. Tightening his grin on the jian, with a flick of his wrist he lashed out at the hunched monster's arm.
The sword connected with its flesh. Easily parting it. It went further tearing the muscle underneath like a hot knife through butter. The monster's arm was severed in half. Blood rushed out like a fountain. Spraying on to Talen's face. He smiled
It leaned back in agony holding its arm, it roared.
They kept coming, each one a perfect copy of the last. No tactics. No fear. Just an endless tide of claws and teeth. 'The more the merrier.' He leaned in more blood spilling from his mouth. His vision Beginning to blur. He swiftly decapitated the monster, the blood from its severed head drenching his unruly hair.
He stood between the two corpses his back hunched over, breathing heavily, blood slowly dripping from his mouth. He crouched, left leg extended, one palm flat on the bloodied floor, the other gripping the jian at his side. A smile on his face. "Let the party begin." He roared as he exploded towards the furry horrors. 'with this wound I have at best 2 minutes left until the side effects kick-in frying my brain and body.'
Seconds later he was in front of another one. This one lunged at him with it's maw, it was too fast, or was Talen becoming slower his wound slowing him down. '2 minutes might be a stretch.' Taking a step back then to the side, Talen dodged positioning him self perfectly for a decapitation, so he did. More blood dyeing the floor red.
Talen tried to attack the next monster. A familiar pain crept into into his brain, his body screamed in pain each muscle refusing to move. The side effects kicking in. 'No, it's too soon.' He thought gnashing his teeth in pain, trying to push his body further. Then suddenly another monster slashed at his open chest, it was too fast for him to dodge in his current state. So he used his jian to block.
The claw met the sword with a clang. A violent tremor travelled through the sword with to his arms, making his grib on the sword loosen. The impact sent him flying across the room into a wall.
The impact launched him backwards, he crashed into a wall, spine first. A world of agony, agony too pulverizing, even his conditioned mind couldn't ignore it. He groaned, coughing Heaps of blood, his nose bleed getting worse, his grip on the jian lost . His eyes zooming in and out, he knelt breathing heavily.
He clenched his fist feeling the soft texture of his mother's scarf around his wrist, the fabric biting into his skin, Reminding him of her charred corpse. Gritting his teeth, he forced his trembling fingers around the jian's hilt. Every cell in his body shrieked, but he'd die before he knelt to these things. Pushing himself up with a groan he lunged at them. They lunged too.
Pushing through the pain, beyond his limits. He met them in the middle, and their clash began.
Talen did well to dodge most lethal attacks that would slow him down any further, but he still incurred injuries, but they were not for naught.
Every slash of his sword was meant to kill, and kill it did.
"F-finally.... All d-dead." Talen said, coughing up more blood, as the last monster fell.
Talen's body hit the ground in a pool of blood, his vision tunneling to black. The scent of blood and ozone clung to his nose.
...
Cold fluid swan in his veins. The scent of antiseptic replaced blood and ozone. Eyes began to shutter, bright light forcing them to awake. He blinked multiple times his eyes adjusting to the light.
His eyes opened fully adjusted to the light, a sterile white ceiling, its surface etched with a large Hexagon emblem.
He was lying down on a soft, warm white bed. Wires from large machines with holograms displaying his vitals attached to him. On his chest where previously was a gaping hole now was a medical tube and claw marks. The hole sealed up.
The whir of machines and off-key whistling filled the room.
"AH! Candidate 100 returns from the dead, well, mostly dead!." Talen heard an eccentric voice from the corner of the room. He turned around to see who was speaking.
It was a short skinny man, with brown hair and a pair of glasses, he wore a white lab coat, the cleanest Talen has ever seen, it bore the same Hexagon emblem on the robots and rooms ceiling. "I must say candidate 100 you are truly intriguing. I'm doctor Evan" He said, grinning ear to ear as he approached the bed.
Talen groaned. The doctor was a happy person, he didn't like happy people. They had something he'd lost, the life in thier eyes.