Day 6

I decided to start the day off with some good old skill testing. That is, after I had finished recoating the ground and entrance with my poison shots.

<< [Imprint]: Allows the user to leave its mark on anything>>

'Allows me to leave my mark on anything, hmm… Interesting. So if I left my mark on this nest right now.'

I tried, by walking up to the walls then stepping on it. I willed for the simple activation of the skill and it came.

The wall glowed with a white light, then my foot print was left on the wall.

[You have declared this wall as yours]                           

[It is now Hinotori's Wall]

'Eh? Just the wall alone? What about the entire nest?'

<<Skill is too weak to cause such an effect>>

'Ah… useless. All my skills are so useless because of how low level they are. This is super annoying!'

BOOM!

The ground shook mightily, forcing me to jump up.

'W-What was that?!'

BOOM!

Again, the place rumbled and I almost fell. I was getting scared by what was happening. I didn't like the way things were going. From the looks of things, there might have been a crazy powerful monster fighting out there.

I was left wondering what kind of beast it could have been. Some ogres going at it or maybe trolls. Giants maybe? Wait… dragons? If two dragons were going at it I really wanted to see the fight. It was definitely going to be the ultimate fantasy fight everybody wants to see.

Just as I thinking of what it might have been, the top of my nest was blown away by some crazy force. A stupid amount of sunlight just entered the nest uninvited, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. I ran out of the nest to avoid the falling debris and was stunned by what I saw.

There were two forces facing each other and I was at the center. I suddenly felt like some kind of anchorman broadcasting some kind of match.

'From the left comes the ferocious but cute fanged bunnies. You know them, you love them for their seemingly dormant nature, but don't let them fool you! Those fangs are for sucking out all your blood. And then there's their boss! The great Silver Quartz Rabbit King! And from the right! Let me hear your boos! Yes! That's right! King of the insufferably violent horned rabbits, the Black Rose Jack King. A completely malicious tyrant who could be compared the demon lord from manga! We hope you lose!'

To my left, there were a bunch of rabbits with light coloured fur and fangs sticking out. There were easily over a hundred on my left, each of them being at least level 8 and having stats that I'd have trouble with.

Then there was the big one. A massive rabbit almost as tall as the trees, with silver pink fur. It had quartz like eyes that stared intensely at its opponent and fangs that looked as hard as a walrus' tusks. The rabbit had a short tail that laid about a meter behind it. Its belly was white and there was a jewel growing in its chest.

STATUS

[Name: -

[Species: Silver Quartz Fanged Rabbit King      Lvl 9/90

[Status: [Anxious]

[Age: 250 years                         

[Rank: B-

[Race Rank: Tier 5

[Titles: |Of World|, |Survivor|, |Rare Species|, |King|, |Rabbit Matriarch|, |Fanged Rabbit Lord|, |Ancient Beast|, |Cruel Mother|, |Gold Eyed|

[Blessings: -

[Level: 119       

[Health: 40000/40000      Stamina: 38900/39000    Mana: 7000/7000    Strength: 13567      Speed: 19740    Defense: 12500      Dexterity: 11456    Intelligence: 2500    Magic: 300  Luck: 30

[Skills: … Calculating…]

'W-What is with the stats? And skills? W-Why does it say calculating?'

I fell down, feeling pressured by the sheer amount of numbers I was seeing. This was the first level 119 I had faced. I didn't think anyone could even go beyond level 100. This made me think. What was the final level?

STATUS

[Name: Hefla

[Species: Black Rose Jack King    Lvl 15/100           

[Status: [Excited]

[Age: 5 years                         

[Rank: B-

[Race Rank: Tier 5

[Titles: |Of World|, |Rare Species|, |Survivor|, |Lucky Star|, |Named Beast|, |King|, |Rabbit Patriarch|, |Horned Rabbit Lord|, |Broken Blessing|, |Blessing Thief|

[Blessings: |Fragment of Blessings of the Demi-god of Violence|

[Level: 130       

[Health: 46790/46790      Stamina: 25893/30000      Mana: 00      Strength: 20000      Speed: 27840    Defense: 26700      Dexterity: 40000    Magic: 00    Intelligence: 30        Luck: 1140

[Skills: … Calculating…

The Black Rose Jack King was also as big as the other rabbit, but it had black fur with a white mane. It had two horns growing from its head like a deer, with spikes containing closed flowers on them. Its eyes were a cruel red and its spine was pointed outward with sharp spikes coming out and a tail 2 metres long with what seemed to be a wrecking ball attached to it.

'Oi! You're not supposed to be so strong! This is just the starting point of the game you moron!'

The black jack stomped the ground with its leg, shaking up the entire ground. It caused me to dance a bit, but then all the other horned rabbits started to follow. Then it made a weird sound like a trumpet.

Dududududududududududu... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The horned rabbits stopped, then their stomping begun again, only this time it was more in sync than the other times.

It were almost as if they were making war cries. Both of them stopped. For a moment, there was quiet, but then the rabbits charged at each other without mercy. The horned rabbits stabbed the fanged and fanged bit the horned. It was one of the bloodiest moments I could remember.

I was taken aback by how bloody common bunnies could be. I felt like Hefla had something to do with it, but the rate at which bunnies were dropping was bad. I was also getting this nagging feeling telling me to participate.

'Eh… to hell with it! Let's go!'

<<Alert! Master is under the effects of the skill [Violence Inducement]>>

Agent said something shocking.

'Eh? [Violence Inducement]? What's that?'

<<Violence Inducement: A skill that compels any target to want to get violent and engage in unreasonable acts, while draining away at their stamina and creating mental stress. It also slowly erodes the soul>>

'Ah… that's dangerous. Any solutions?'

<<Answer. Flee>>

'What? But that's my home! I can't just abandon it!'

BOOM!

There was a loud clash that seemed to silence the entire forest. A powerful shock wave was sent through the forest, and I might have been blown away if I didn't stick my beak into the ground. After it died down, I saw the two rabbit kings, horn against fang.

They then separated. Then clashed again. To be honest, in my eyes, they were practically invisible as they moved. Then there was another clash, a shock wave that actually broke some trees in half.

Terrified, I decided to go hide behind one of the trees to avoid the shock waves.

The fanged rabbit grabbed the horned rabbit's horns with its drooping ears that were apparently controllable, then flipped it over. The horned rabbit however grabbed the fanged rabbit's throat with it's wrecking ball tail and both of them were sent flying.

After that, I couldn't see anymore.

All I knew was that I saw the horned rabbit over the fanged rabbit, growling with what seemed to be happiness.

'Eek! Hefla won?!'

The sprouts on Hefla's horns sprouted into beautiful roses. These roses released a weird gas that permeated the area. It smelt nice, but then something annoying happened.

[You have inhaled Nightmare Poison]

'Nightmare poison? What is that?'

<<Nightmare Poison: A unique kind of poison that has a direct effect on the brain and can cause severe mental disorder. Induces various mental effects>>

'Ah… In that case, I can't be here! Ah! It's time to move then! Tori Sprint!'

I activated [Sprint] then made a run for it, just going wherever I could. A fanged bunny came up from behind and tried to bite me, but I activated [Acrobatics] and dodged in time. Another one came, this time a horned rabbit. It charged at me from the front, and not wanting to waste energy on it, I decided to avoid it as well by diving to the left.

Just when I thought I was in the clear, one horned rabbit rammed into me, throwing me away. Although it hurt, it hadn't managed to stab me because I put up some [White Viper Scales] just in time. I rolled away, but without stopping the momentum I continued to run for my life. I wasn't allowed to breathe in the gas so I wouldn't.

***

I made it! I managed to get to the river side where I first found myself. I let out heavy baited breaths as I walked towards the river to get a drink. Just as I was about to dip my beak into it, I noticed something. I looked bad.

I looked at myself in the river. My feathers were a mess and dirty. I looked exhausted and pathetic. Was this how I had looked this entire time?

Tears started to run down my cheeks.

'Why am I crying? No! Stop crying, it's only been a few days. There is absolutely no reason to cry. Men don't cry. W-Why?' I just broke down, the tears streaming down one by one till it became a concentrated flow of crystalline water.

This had to stop. All this running. I needed to stop it. I couldn't keep suffering like this.

'Ken! I'm sorry! I swore to live a glorious second life, yet look at me! A crying mess! A coward who keeps on running! I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I- I can't do this anymore. I want to die.'

Suddenly I had a memory of a time before my reincarnation.

I was a kid, just transferred to a new school in grade 3. I was naturally a shy person, so I wasn't able to make friends easily. One day there was soccer practice happening and I was supposed to join in on the action. I did. However, I got tackled and was hurt. Obviously I started to cry.

That would be the normal reaction, right? I scraped my knee and sat up with tears streaming down my face. The boy who tackled me came back and saw my bleeding knee. He then got closer and licked it. At that point, I was weirded out more than in pain so I just backed away and asked what he was doing.

He told me that he was licking my blood to stop the wound and that he'd heard that licking would be the fastest way to stop it. The P.E teacher got angry at his statement and knocked him on the head. The whole class laughed as he complained. At that moment I thought he was the class clown. Somebody I could never get along with.

After the day, both of us waited for our parents together. We talked a bit and he told me that there was no need to cry on the field. I asked him why and he said, because I was pretending. Confused, I asked what he meant by that.

He told me that I was simply a good actor. Rather than getting up and continuing the game, I cried just because I didn't want to play anymore. At this point I was confused. The boy told me that he hated me and that that was a stupid stunt.

Being the shy guy and not wanting to get bullied, I asked him how I could get him to stop hating me although I clearly wasn't at fault. He told me that to earn his forgiveness, I would just have to keep on begging till he gave it to me.

So the next day, I went to him, begging. He wouldn't listen. I tried again the next day. Same result. I kept this up for two weeks, because I had realized that he was popular and with that popularity meant power. I could easily be bullied by him, so I just kept on doing this till the end of sixth grade.

We were to go to middle school, but then he called me. I asked if he had forgiven me and these were his exact words "Grow a spine and fight. All these years have you even sat down once to think about what you did wrong?" to which I respond "no" because if I said yes, the truth was that I didn't know what I had done wrong.

Then he said the most shocking words. "I can't be friends with someone who is such a wimp. You did nothing wrong. I thought you would have realized that and challenged me, but you never did. If you had, we could have been real good friends." Then he left.

That was the most shocking thing I had heard him say. I wanted to cry because of how much wasted effort I put into it, but decided against it. It was my stupidity and cowardice that led to that. No one else's. He just wanted to make friends and I was too stupid to stand my ground.

'Yea… that's right. I won't take shit from others! I'll fight too! Alright then! First step is taking back my nest! This means war!'

I dipped my head into the stream then shook it, getting my battle face prepared. I was about to formulate a plan of offense, when I heard rustling from the forest. Something didn't feel right. It were almost as if I were being watched by someone.

I slowly begun to take some steps back, but then I remembered what I just thought. I wouldn't back down now! I had to take a stand and fight. How else would I grow stronger?

Whatever laid behind that bush, was my opponent for the day. I was going to devour it and grow stronger. Nothing was going to stop me now that I was in my full force.

'Bring it on! I'll take whatever you've got!'

A giant centipede appeared before me. Its skin was pitch black and its antennae were set alit with dark purple flames. It stared at me with its compound eyes and its mandibles clacked as they hit each other with glee.

STATUS

[Name: -

[Species: Devil Centipede 98/30         

[Status: [Hungry]

[Age: 2 years                       

[Rank: C+

[Race Rank: ???

[Titles: -

[Blessings: -

[Level: 70        Exp: 7/920,000

[Health: 10000/10050      Stamina: 4590/9900      Mana: 1530/2950      Strength: 2250      Speed: 9200    Defense: 4120      Dexterity: 4500    Intelligence: 890      Magic: 1150      Luck: 1950

[Skills: [Antennae Sight], [Poison Bite], [Acid Spit], [Radar], [Fire Affinity], [Dark Affinity], [Twilight Affinity], [Probability Manipulation], [Undetectable Stealth], [Great Deception], [Universal Detection], [Super Thought Process], [Demonic Form Transformation], [Hell fire], [Soul Consumption], [Hellish Bite], [Hellish Gaze], [Temptation], [Herculean Strength], [Devastation], [Magic Absolution], [Investigator], [Teleport], [Contract], [Life Absorption], [Unfazed], [Night Prowler], [Shadow Travel], [Dark Magic], [Dark Magic: Illusion], [Dark Magic: Dark Shot], [Twilight Magic: Twilight Shot], [Twilight Magic: Dawn's Time], [Twilight Barrier], [Heaven's Inspector], [Flame Barrier], [Auto Health Regeneration], [Auto Mana Regeneration], [Possession], [Appraisal], [Modifier], [Flame Form], [Fire Magic: Purgatory], [Fire Resistance], [Poison Resistance], [Ice Resistance], [Pain Nullification], [Water Magic Resistance], [Magic Attack Resistance], [Aura Resistance], [Exhaustion Nullification]

'W-What the hell?! I-I can't do this!!! What is with today and the crazy scary monsters?! First the two kings and now this guy!'

I cried as I turned to run away. To be honest, I don't know or remember what the centipede did to me. All I remember was the blood from my body flying all about as it was being broken apart and I passed out.

***

The devil centipede looked over the golden chick. It had never seen such a creature before and was intrigued. It was about to eat it, when suddenly [Universal Detection] was set ablaze and it was alarmed. It tried to run away, but it was too late. Its opponent had already appeared.

The bear gave a low growl that killed all the weaker creatures that heard it. Birds fell from the trees and insects just dropped dead. The bear was already giving off an aura that would give the best of the best trouble breathing.

It had mid-night black fur with tiny white spots spread all over it. Its eyes were just as white and it would tower over any ogre easily. With each step the titan took, the ground shook mightily and its footprint was left embedded in the ground. Its tail swayed from side to side causing shockwaves that destroyed all the trees.

Ursula Minor.

A creature that has been deemed too dangerous to be disturbed. They mostly hibernated for months, never actually trying to do anything, but when they woke up, that period was termed the 'Ursa Month'. Fortunately, it wasn't that time of the year yet. So what was this bear doing awake?

Well that was because of the Devil Centipede. It stumbled into the Ursula Minor's cave and attempted to possess its body. This caused it to go on a rampage and now it was here to destroy the centipede.

The devil centipede tried to activate its teleportation magic, but the Ursula minor used its skill [Sky Block] to prevent access. It then activated its skill [Nyx Claw]. A move that allowed for complete and utter destruction of the opponent, including their souls, unless they had some form of counter measure.

The devil centipede did not possess this counter measure. The streak of black from the monster's claws came at the centipede and broke it in half immediately, disintegrating the body.

The Ursula minor turned around and left almost as soon as it was done. Sleepily, it stumbled back to its cave to go rest.

The devil centipede then reappeared out of a subspace it had been hiding in and collapsed on the ground. Half of its body had been torn off. It had utilized [Undetectable Stealth] and [Great Deception] to lie to the Ursula minor and escape death. However, this was useless as it wasn't able to dodge the full attack.

The thing about [Nyx Claw] was that if a target got even a single scratch from it, the effect would slowly spread like a disease till the target had been wiped out. The demon centipede had only bought itself a few minutes till disintegration.

It looked around, looking for a means to survive. Normally death in this world would have just sent it back to the Devil realm, Hell, but it stood the possibility of dying. It used the skill [Probability Manipulation] to increase its odds of survival then looked at the golden chick. It was weak and dying. It didn't have an ego that would have been able to give it problems. It would simply take over and continue with its contract like it was originally supposed to.

The actual devil left the fading centipede body. It appeared in the form of a shadowy mass with massive red eyes and it looked at the chick gleefully. It swarmed the body and activated its skill, [Possession].

When the devil tried to take over Hinotori's body, it met a firewall. This fire wall was in the form of the unique skill [Evolver]. The devil was confused, but tried to bypass this ever upgrading firewall. Then there was the light.

The weird light that literally destroyed the devil… no, it wasn't destroying the devil. Sure it was tearing it apart, but it wasn't necessarily destruction. It was more like collection.

That's when the devil realized what [Evolver] was doing. The skill was morphing Hinotori's body to a state where the devil couldn't possess it. Normally this wouldn't have been possible, even with the unique skill [Evolver]. Fortunately, the very world was backing up this process.

The devil realized that it had no chance at surviving so it looked around for an escape route. It tried fleeing the body, but it wasn't allowed to. It was restricted and chained down into the body. So it did what it did in times of crises. It experimented.

It looked for a way to survive. When it found one, it took it. The devil just needed to get to that hole of escape. [Evolver] was tearing away at its very being, but if it got to that hole, none of that would have mattered. It did everything it could. In a few seconds, [Evolver]'s process would be done.

The devil knew this so it went all out. It wouldn't die now. It had been in other life threatening situations before yet here it was. It couldn't wait to see what kind of power boost it would receive after trying this.

The devil got to its hole. The devil survived.