Sirius tighten his hands around his dirty shirt, his body in pain.
Sitting on a forest, Sirius secluded himself from the outside world, from the safety of other people.
He had to.
As much as it hurts leaving his family and going into seclusion alone, it was a very much needed thing to do.
His [Supernova's Crown] wouldn't allow him to be with his family and in the arms of safety. The very minimum safety.
Laying down on the floor, he looks up at the moon high up on the sky.
Curling up, he hugs his knees, before letting out a soft sigh.
'I miss them...'
Sirius closes his eyes, remembering the warmth of a normal life.
Of a life without the need to constantly fight for his life.
Sure it may have sucked a bit, school, not having enough time to hang out, or play games.
But still, there were no constant fear.
Speaking of fear.
Sirius stands up, hearing a low growl coming from the bushes of the forest.
'Here it comes again...'
Sirius looks at the bushes, his knees bent low, his body entering a stance, ready to fight.
A wolf the size of his body, a bit more bigger, with grey fur comes into sight, the wolf looks tired, a bit tattered. It seems as though it had just come out of a fight.
[Calamity]: [Grey Wolf]
[Class]: [Seed]
Now, now it sees a meal in front of it.
Sirius steady his breathing, inward, he cursed at [Supernova's Crown] once more.
Even experimenting with it is dangerous.
One of the reasons why was this.
Summoning a dagger that curved like a fang, Sirius skips to the side, dodging the werewolf that jumped at him, jaws wide open before biting into nothing.
Quickly, Sirius stabs at its ribs, towards the Soul.
A crack could be heard as Sirius yanks out the dagger, he quickly jumps and hugs the wolf as he land on top of it.
Sirius reach out to its neck as it tries to yank Sirius off, only for Sirius to slit its neck. Dark bood spurts down to the ground, the wolf lets out a whimper before falling onto the ground weakly.
Dead.
All the fights had always been this cycle of dodging the wolf, stabbing at its Soul as he dodged and killing it.
Calamities, unless their Soul is wholly destroyed can still recover. But a blow to its Soul that leaves a crack is enough to weaken them until they're almost dead.
Sure, leaving it alone as it dies slowly from the cracked Soul is also doable. But, one thing that Sirius had learned is that you must confirm the kill.
Do not hesitate, retreating and leaving it to die? Who knows if they can recover, who knows if they can deliver a final fatal blow.
It is paramount to kill Calamities as soon as possible.
Sirius pants as he sits on the floor, even a simple movement of skipping to the side, whipping a powerful stab that could cut through a skin, meat, and into the Soul is tiring. Not only that, jumping and keeping a tight grip on the wolf and slitting its neck.
Plus, it's sometimes a gamble.
He could've struck a bone instead and not the empty part between the bones and his dagger could've gotten stuck.
Not that he relies on his luck, his eyes seem to remember where to strike to avoid the bones and just go into the Soul.
Cutting open the carcass, Sirius could see the black orb, with a crack on it hovering behind the ribs.
Sirius saw through the bones with his dagger and grab onto the Soul.
Bringing it close to his chest, he let the black orb be washed away into a clean pure white orb.
Slowly, the white orb dissipate and enters his body.
The familiar feeling of his Soul being cleansed soothes him.
Status: [Blessed]
Name: Sirius
Class: [Seed]
Soul Purity: [1/4]
Body: [Tainted]
Blessings: [White Fang]
Runes: [Brightest Star]: [Supernova's Crown]
Looking at the counter of his Soul Purity, Sirius could only sigh.
Sure he could feel himself stronger, stronger than he usually was.
But it's a drop in the ocean.
He could only guess why his counter is going so slow.
The fact that Sirius had to injure the Soul of the Calamities, and not kill it by either beheading, stabbing its brain — if it had one — and resort to cracking the Soul to weaken it made the amount of Souls he needed to level up his counter slower.
If he was given the chance to absorb a fully pristine Soul with no cracks or injuries, the amount of mana to fill up his Soul Purity counter would rose higher.
Still, as far as he know, it takes a long time for someone to raise their counter even by one.
Also, the fact that you need to kill lots of Calamities.
Closing his eyes, Sirius reopens them before standing up and looking around.
'I should move.'
It had been a few months since the Apocalypse came. Months of running and fighting, taking shelters, and witnessing death.
Sure there were some food here and there, people that survived doesn't really have any food problems.
Due to the deaths of millions of people, the rate of life had lowered. Thus, the number of foods, supplies available surprisingly was enough for the survivors to survive for maybe a year? Before they have to start hunting animals like neanderthals.
Unsummoning his dagger, Sirius looks behind him.
Behind those trees, lay the ruined city where refugees, the ones rescued by other Blessed and the operational base of the Blessed ones that fight for the safety of everyone.
'... Maybe I should go there? Apply for missions...'
Sirius stops himself, chuckling.
'No. If I do so, I will only be a liability. Not with this damned Rune.'
The rustling of bushes snaps him out of his mind.
'Talk about timing.'
Sirius starts to run deeper in the forest, passing by trees and rocks. The steps, the sound of trees crashing, falling down, and the dread that Sirius feels.
'A Fallen.'
Sirius thinks to himself. Could he kill it? Maybe.
Stopping himself, he looks around the surrounding, ideas forming in his head as he summons his dagger and lets out a sigh.
'Why do I always summon and unsummon my Blessing...'
It had to be noted that summoning a Blessing takes up some mana from your Soul so some people unsummon it after a use. But, keeping the Blessing also requires mana, and in situations like this? Who knows if you might get attacked or not.
Sirius had never experiment on which saves up more mana, but still he feels like the latter was better.
The trees in front of him crumbles, destroyed, as a muscular red bull with horns protruding on the side of its head slams against them. Jagged rocks that covered its legs and torso like an armor protects it from the splinters and the woods.
[Calamity]: [Rock Bull]
'That's...!'
The familiar bull lets out a bellow, huffing as it lunges at Sirius.
Sirius dodges to the side, his eyes widening as he feel the heavy breeze that whipped him as the bull lunge past him.
The bull shatters a tree, sending it crashing against the other trees.
Sirius steady his breathing, one wrong move and he's dead.
He needs to run.
He doesn't have any type of way to break through those sturdy rocks.
But...
'How do I kill it?'
His head was filled with ideas, ideas that are scrapped as he run simulations inside his mind as he run away.
Sirius' mind stops at one idea, nodding to himself in his mind, he runs.
Sirius doesn't bother looking back, he knows that that damn bull is following him.
Sirius once more locks the mana that is going inside his Seed Soul.
As the ambient mana enters and stay in his soul, he could feel his Soul burning tight.
Autonomously, more mana flows inside Sirius' Soul, Sirius tries to keep it in, imagining his Soul trapping it. The orb keeping that water despite it being full and over.
It cracks.
The image cracks, the mana burst as it sent a small shockwave.
Sirius stumble on his feet, falling onto the floor. The trees sway, leaves falling, and the bull stops.
Sirius looks back in surprise, seeing it stop and eyeing him carefully.
More surprisingly, nothing hurts the bull.
Well that is to be expected. Since it was just a small shockwave and there are rocks covering its entire body.
...
'Wait...?'
Sirius' train of thoughts had to be stopped there as the bull lunges at him.
He rolls to the side, panting as he sees the bull crash yet another tree.
Sirius starts to run again, the sound of waves crashing against stone and stream running down could be heard from his location.
'I'm close..! Now, let's try this..!'
Sirius piles up the mana once again, biding for his time as he run around trees, not yet running to the sound of stream crashing against rocks.
As soon as his Soul could no longer keep in the mana, Sirius imagines his body, the insides of his body. He construct an image of his ribs, his inner skin, his muscles, his fat, his limbs, and everything inside his body.
Though it was a rough image, it happened.
Instead of the image cracking as his Soul could no longer contain the mana inside his Soul, the mana that is hauled by [Supernova's Crown] now flows inside his body.
Sirius' eyes widen with a smile.
'I did it!'
He thought to himself, as he starts on running towards the stream of water crashing against the rocks.
The trees starts to give way, allowing him to finally see the deep river on this forest.
A loud bellow snaps him out of his mind, he looks back and sees a tree about to make him a puddle of blood.
Sirius dodges to the side, he sees that bull running straight at him.
Sirius' eye stays wide, a wide smile on his face. The feeling of ecstasy, of how the mana spreads throughout his body fills him.
He could finally, maybe, have a secret arsenal in him to surprise his opponents and damage them.
Sirius runs by the side of the river, the bull follows him with a roar.
Sirius' body ache, he could feel how the mana inside his body seemingly expand his insides, the same feeling that he had whenever he tried to force his Soul to contain the abundant mana.
The feeling of inflation.
Sirius grit his teeth, trying to push his body as far as possible.
The farther he goes, the bigger the shockwave and explosion of mana.
He might just kill that damn bull.
Feeling that he can't go any farther and ruin the timing, Sirius stops on his tracks before turning around, the bull fasten its pace before lunging at Sirius, trying to pierce his body.
Sirius, with a pained expression dodges to the side before whipping his fist to the bull's side as he roars.
As the punch connects, an explosion, a shockwave of mana erupts from Sirius body.
He released all the pent-up inflated mana that threatens to explode his insides.
The explosion sent the bull flying, the proud jagged rocks that covered the bull's body shatters from the point-blank range of explosion.
The bull gets violently thrown into the river, knocked away from the ground.
Sirius falls onto the ground, his body trembling, spasming as he twitch like a dying cockroach.
Sirius wheeze, gasping, the pain is insufferable, his body feels weak, his organs, his insides, his bones, all weak and trembling.
The breeze of the wind doesn't help it as Sirius gasp in pain.
'Don't pass out! Don't pass out! Don't pass out!'
Sirius shouts in his mind, the pain left him lightheaded, combined with the bright light covering his visions when it's supposed to be night, left him weak.
Sirius roars, shouting as he desperately keeps himself up.
He tries to stand up, though wobbly, he manage to slowly stand tall.
His visions return normally, albeit doubled.
'Damn... it...'
Sirius thinks to himself, he falls to the floor on his butt, he stays seated, trying to regain himself.
Panting, Sirius steadies his breath as he waits for the ringing, the vision, to clear up.
The sound of water splashing ring the alarm bells inside his mind, Sirius looks at the surface of the river and sees the battered red bull climbs out of the depth.
"F..."
Sirius widens his eyes at it swims towards him desperately, making splashes.
Sirius, wobbled, stands up slowly as he clutch his dagger that is next to him.
Entering a stance, Sirius watches as the bull lands on the ground, it staggers as it walk towards Sirius, huffing.
Sirius slowly takes a step.
The bull slowly takes a step.
The both of them rush at each other weakly.
The bull whips its head, aiming its horns at Sirius.
With habit, Sirius dodges to the side, but is met with the bull throwing its sides to Sirius, as if expecting Sirius to dodge.
Sirius quickly raise the both of his arms in front of his head to block the blow, he knows that it is not enough, but it was all he could do.
As expected, Sirius is slammed to the ground with a thud as his head rings in pain.
The bull skid to the side, only for it to stumble on its legs as it fall to the ground.
Blood seeps out of its side, it slowly stands up, glancing to its side.
It sees a white curved dagger implanted on the side, plunged deep.
Looking back to the human that did it, it sees Sirius standing up weakly before looking back at the bull with a wide smile and a bloodied face.
It lets out a bellow as it once again rushes at Sirius.
Sirius runs forward, even when his legs are screaming at him, his body screaming at him, and his lungs burning from exhaustion, he runs.
Once again, the same scenario happened.
The bull whips its head at Sirius, Sirius dodges to the side, and is met with its side that is about to come crashing against him.
This time, Sirius is prepared as he slide down in between its legs.
Sirius dodges the side of the bull as Sirius grabs onto its legs and yank it backward.
Though he was sure he wasn't able to, it was enough to make the bull fall onto the ground.
It lets out a bellow of pain, but it couldn't do anything.
It tries to stand up, only to see Sirius sitting on its side as it sees the human with rage and ecstasy, smiling at it.
The human raises the curved dagger and stabs it against the bull's head, at its brain.
The bull could only watch as the human stabs the dagger onto the brain, the final sight that it sees is the human sitting on top of it victoriously.
Silence ensues, only the sound of crashing waves and a panting boy fills the night.
Sirius, lets out a roar as he scream on top of his lungs.
'My first...h Fallen kill...h!'
He was happy, absolutely happy. It was his first hunt where he come out on top. Every encounrer with a Fallen, he always runs away when he deems it impossible to kill after he tries out all his ideas.
All that he had killed over the months were simple Seed Calamities.
But this? This was his first, solo Fallen kill.
"You're good. Boy."
A breeze flutters against him.
Sirius' body freeze, snapping him out of his joy. He slowly turns his head around and sees a tall man with a white coloured middle parted hair. A full beard covers his rough face, and his red eyes are staring at Sirius.
The man wears a black cloak, and underneath that cloak, a set of armor could be seen.
Scratches and dent could be seen if one pays attention, but it was from battles that the man had gone through if Sirius had to guess.
"You...h are..?"
Sirius ask, his voice weak and unsteady.
"Cassian."
The deep rough voice replies.