Kabanata 17

Keenan could think straight now, the clouds in his mind disappeared and he knew what to do. All he had to do was to walk forward and eventually he would escape this place. The night was freezing cold like it would crack his skin but Keenan's determination was far stronger than the night. He was still stress about the possibility of meeting stronger Nightmares but Keenan decided to advance. He would think about it when he reached it, for now, he must focus on…

"I must kill these roaches around me."

He charged at the group of Nightmares and swung his blade, the monster evade his attack but they didn't know that Keenan had hidden blades. The Hands caught two monsters and slammed them into the others. The Nightmares saw their own kind smashed to them like a dump truck in a road incident, the monsters rolled to the ground whimpering in pain. Their bones cracked and they were having a hard time moving, their lungs were squeezed as they lost air at the impact. 

As for the two poor Nightmares, their legs were ripped apart, they were crying while bleeding ink-like blood. Their tears landed on the ground but no one care, they were monsters from the very start. They were disgusting to watch as they spurted ink.

Keenan was here for a week now.

Two days passed since he saw Roman's body, Keenan still didn't have any clues about his teammates' whereabouts but he knew that they were in this wasteland. Keenan's priority was to find them, either dead or alive. If they were alive then it was good but if they were dead, Keenan would use their transmitter to send a distress signal.

"I can't find Roman's transmission… In fact, he was mutilated too much that I can't identify him without studying his ring."

Keenan talked to himself while walking towards the injured monsters, his blade was reflecting the moon. The monsters tried to get up but unknown force grabbed them and put them in one place. Again, Keenan picked the two bleeding Nightmares, they were already tired because of loss of blood, they were dangling in the air while being grabbed by the Hands.

Keenan smashed the other monsters using the two Nightmares, this time, they were almost flattened. Their bodies were battered and they wailed like sobbing children being bullied. Keenan approached them, one of the Nightmares tried to bit him but Keenan kicked it in the face. He thrust his blade into its neck and twisted it. He made eye contact at the others, he was telling them that they were going to die soon.

The Nightmares trembled in fear, they make a last resort and jumped at him but Keenan was protected by his Hands. The monsters didn't reach him, he started swinging his blade and slashed them. His blade was sharper because of his new Skill. He targeted the weakest first before going to the stronger ones, his movement was smooth. He killed them, targeted their necks or eyes, he didn't go for their bodies. Keenan's expression while murdering them was normal, he didn't feel anything. For him, this was normal. The monsters were shivering as they witness his figure bathing in blood.

………
……
…

Keenan stretched his body, he was yawning while extended his shoulders in the air. He was sleepy because he fought all night long, he didn't have any rest. Thankfully, he had a way to cure his fatigue. Keenan opened his bulging pouch and took a handful of N-cores, he put them in his mouth and crushed them. The sweet and rejuvenating taste of the crystal sent signals in his brain causing his fatigue to disappear. The heat in his stomach started revolving in his body, healing and reconstructing his body. As long as he had N-cores, Keenan won't be hungry. Although eating N-cores had a limit too.

"I can only stay here for two to four days."

Because he wanted to become stronger, Keenan didn't hesitate to eat more N-cores than his body could take. This caused the energy in his body to constantly revolving and decreased his body's duration. If he won't stop eating N-cores for three to five days, his body would explode. Keenan understood that but he still decided to eat them, he needed the power to fight the monsters.

He needed every tool that he could use to maximize his survival. His decision was reckless but it did pay off. Now, he could fight multiple Nightmares alone. He was surprised that he could actually do this. He was an Arma and his job was to become a weapon for his Handler, but now he was fighting monsters head-on. This was hard to believe, if someone said that this was impossible Keenan would believe them. But now that he experienced it himself, he realized that nothing was impossible.

"If I use my complete form, then my power will multiply…"

He clenched his fists thinking about it. Perhaps becoming a High-Class Nightbreaker would be within his reach.

"Although I have to know the boundary of my second ability, Hekatonkheires."

He already reached the highest class of his katana and he couldn't make a breakthrough anymore. But with his Hekatonkheires, he still had a chance to become a powerful Nightbreaker.

"It's a unique Bestia so perhaps I can reach Class-S the minimum."

The corner of his lips raised up, he was happy thinking about it. He had two ability and one of them was a unique one, Keenan was excited to use his full potential. But he needed Carson to do that, they had high compatibility so his power would shine if Carson used him. As a blade/beast, Keenan understood his role, which is to become a great weapon. This was the dream that all Arma wanted to attain, to become a Legendary Weapon. The mightiest blade that can through any monster.

Keenan looked at the twinkling stars, just like his world, the stars here are the same. 

"Scientists said that Netherworld is a parallel universe of Thera. Although the species that live here are carnivorous."

Keenan thought that their deduction is right, the sky, the sun, the land, and even the season of this planet were just like the Thera. The only difference was the creatures living here, they were monsters that only think of eating meat.

Keenan stood and dusted his palms, he was on top of dead Nightmares that he killed. All of them had their chest punctured, their N-cores were missing and the culprit was Keenan Corragio. 

Did he feel any guilt? No, none at all. He smirked and continued walking towards nowhere.