Chapter 26: The Beginning After Death

The Wrath approached the second of the three humans it had been tracking since the previous day. Its beady red eyes stared without emotion at the broken figure hanging from its own blood forged horns.

It had already devoured the first of the humans. His blood had been warm and satisfying. The second lay before it now and the third had escaped.

The third had crossed into the boundary of human territory. Within it lurked stronger humans. To continue the hunt there was to risk becoming prey itself.

It had been fortunate enough to encounter a group of weaker ones outside of those borders. That feast alone had accelerated its growth far more than months of ordinary hunting could provide.

However, its fortune... ended here.

At the very least, one more meal remained. The silver furred wolf turned its attention toward the broken human suspended upon the crimson horns.

It lowered its massive head and opened its maw, the blood dripping from between its fangs struck the forest floor one heavy drop at a time. The scent of its freshness lingered heavily in the night air, drowning out every other smell the forest had to offer.

The Wrath’s hot breath washed over the dying human. It intended to end this in one bite, however....

.... It suddenly stopped.

Something was hovering beside the human. It was small and possessed several translucent wings that beat without making a sound.

The winged creature might have been small but its mere presence had every strand of silver fur along the Wrath’s body standing upright. Something about that tiny existence felt fundamentally frightening.

It released a deep growl while taking several cautious steps backward.

The tiny creature slowly turned to face the beast and instantly disappeared. The Wrath was left dumbstruck for a moment, then focused on the human in the next.

The human was dead, it had pierced every vital organ. It had felt bones crack beneath its fangs and tasted the blood spilling from his lungs. There was no possibility of surviving that.

If that was the case, then why was it unwilling to approach despite the motionless prey before it?

After several long seconds of staring, greed quickly overcame caution. The Wrath willed the crimson horns impaling the corpse to throw him high into the night sky.

When the body spun in the air, the silver wolf crouched and opened its enormous jaws beneath him, preparing to swallow him whole.

In that moment, the Wrath’s pupils violently contracted as a suffocating pressure exploded from above. A tidal wave of crimson spiritual energy bursted from the falling body, causing the atmosphere to become impossibly heavy.

It didn’t get a chance to do anything when its enormous body slammed into the earth without warning, a crater spread dozens of meters outward.

The Wrath snarled furiously while every muscle bugled, struggling to rise, but it was all in vain. No matter how much strength it exerted, the gravitational force was too strong.

With its head buried in the crater, its eyes rolled upward and what it saw made its warm blood run cold.

The full moon hung overhead, standing before it was the human. He wasn’t falling anymore, his body floated several inches above the Wrath, suspended by red spiritual energy that drifted around him like smoke.

His torn flesh was knitting together at a frightening speed, even the blood he had lost reversed course. It didn’t take long before the gaping wounds through his torso were closed.

The only proof of the fatal injuries he had received was his shredded clothing.

His eyes opened slowly. Instead of his usual amber, in their place burned two scarlet lights looking down on the monster with absolute indifference. Like a king looking upon an insect.

The human descended until both of his feet touched the ground. The instant he did that, the crimson horns across the Wrath’s back melted into rivers of blood, forming into dozens of enormous spears that erupted toward the human.

But none of them reached him, they shattered before they could. This attack that had claimed many of his comrade’s lives was rendered useless.

The Wrath suddenly felt something akin to fear.

The human raised one hand and balled it into a fist. Without looking directly at the monster, he spoke in a voice utterly devoid of emotion.

"Know your place"

The moment he flicked his index finger, the invisible force crushing the Wrath folded inward before erupting outward.

The monster never even had time to scream when its skull exploded, then followed by its spine. Its flesh burst apart. Chunks of red meat, organs and broken bones scattered across the devastated forest as though an invisible giant had squeezed the creature until nothing remained.

The invisible force continued forward till everything that stood behind the Wrath was carved into a canyon.

In a single second, everything along that line had ceased to exist, with such ease too!

At the heart of this destruction, the man stood motionless. His crimson aura continued flowing around him. Not a single drop of blood or meat piece had landed upon his body.

Just like that, the monster that had hunted him for hours was dead.

He exhaled a cold breath and said.

"Devour"

He opened his palm and the spiritual energy around it began to rotate until it resembled an enormous vortex.

The scattered remains of the Wrath suddenly trembled. Then they lifted into the air before they dissolved into streams of spiritual energy being pulled toward the enormous whirlpool.

The streams entered his body one after another causing his spiritual energy to darken. For a brief moment, an enormous shadow resembling an open jaw appeared behind him before vanishing just as quickly, along with the spiritual energy cloaking his body.

In mere moments, the creature that should have left behind a mountain of remains vanished without a trace. Everything had been consumed.

The young man’s cold expression was replaced with confusion, then slight groans of pain.

"Huh?"

Rhos blinked and stared blankly at his perfectly healed body

"Argh man... what just...?"

Before the thought could fully form, strength left his body all at once and he collapsed on the ground. Through his fading vision, he saw something circling him overhead.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

A murder of black crows descended from the moonlit sky, gathering around him one after another. Rhos tried to lift his head, but the world was already fading into darkness.

The last thing reflected within his eyes was the silhouette of a single crow landing behind him, its intelligent magenta eyes staring directly into his own.

Everything went black.