Spectral Regalia

Ch 8: Grinning Demon

Avrin had made a mad dash towards his shelter, but a Hecate gorilla was closing in fast. Before it could reach out and grab him, a lion-like creature pounded its hammer-like fist into its gut which made the Hecate vomit blood onto the floor - truly a sight to behold. Avrin had jumped into the shelter before the lion creature could grab him and yet again barely managed to make it in. He rolled around the inside of the stony ground then leaned up and chuckled. He somehow avoided death yet again. He wiped the dirt from his face as he listened to the sounds of the ferocious battle outside.

From here, he could see one lion creature dismembering a Hecate as its blood almost shot out from its arm sockets like a mini jet, while the same lion also nearly bit the head off of another. He also saw four Hecates doing the same to one of the lions, each one grabbing a limb as they tore it off. Truly a frightful sight, but Avrin just smiled as he pondered what to do now. Before he realised it several ching-like sounds echoed and he laughed to himself, knowing what they were.

It seemed an unfortunate lion had stepped onto one of his mines and a gorilla, taking the chance to attack the injured lion had also stepped on one. The creatures, figuring something was wrong stopped their assault as they looked around, wondering if another creature had joined the fray.

Avrin talked to himself. "How disgraceful." His face covered in darkness, his blue eyes were revealed. "I think I won't run anymore." He stood up and walked out of the entrance, the smell of blood thick in the air, but he gazed around. He spotted the lion that he had injured in the eye currently pounding the face of a Hecate. It gazed at him before roaring and charging at him.

"How fitting for you to be my first proper kill in this world." Avrin's heart beat with nervousness and excitement as he charged, a void bolt aimed at the lion

The lion creature knew something was wrong, as it felt a killing intent emanating from Avrin. It was somehow like this: This man creature ran away and injured me pitifully but now he is showing so much intent to kill me...what changed? Before he had time to reconsider his plan, Avrin had fired a speedy void bolt. The lion creature barely managed to dodge from its intended direction of his chest, but the bolt hit his arm, blowing it right off. As if to add more fear to the creature after losing its arm, the arm that was swinging around began to turn black in a near instant and disintegrated into nothingness.

The creature didn't even roar. It just turned to look at Avrin, wondering what the hell had just happened. Except Avrin was giving a wide smile as his eyes were narrowed like a demonic clown that wanted to play some more jokes on someone. He began to fire more bolts in all directions. The other creatures had just seen what happened and knew one bolt would mean certain death. They began to flee, but not before some had their legs blown off or arms lost.

"Aww, it's no fun if you run away...you bastards were so intent on killing me. I'll show you that I'll be the one doing the fucking hunting from now on!!" He raised his hand to fire a single bolt toward a Hecate gorilla. It was the one he injured prior to the battle and was skittering about. It looked behind in fear and saw the hungry void bolt head towards it.

"And for you, my dear predator lies nothing but darkness." Avrin had been holding out for quite a while during his training with void bolt's he discovered he could manipulated them by using the mana in the air as a sort of chain frequency that led to the bolt. By doing so, he could disperse the bolt or feed it. In this case he expanded it and hollowed out the middle before capturing the Hecate in the middle of it.

"Such an adorable pet... but I was never good at keeping my pets alive." Raising his right hand, which was opened he clasped it firmly which signalled the void bubble bolt to close in a second. It shrunk as the Hecate inside of it turned black and struggled violently as if being ripped apart. The bubble filled with a black liquid that Avrin knew was blood before shrinking out of existence with the gorilla inside of it. "I'll call that the Void Wrap." Although Avrin showed killing intent around him, his face was somewhat red with embarrassment for his crappy naming sense.

Although not all the creatures were wimps. After all, they did live while constantly fighting for survival. One of the lion creatures charged at Avrin, but instead of a bolt hitting it, Avrin decide to try out a different weapon and so he had formed a void blade. In one quick movement he tried a technique he developed by using the weapon a lot, it was the ability to extend the blade to a certain degree and widen it.

This allowed him to effortlessly slice across the lion creature's waist in just under a second. The lion creature stumbled forward before its torso split and its upper half came off, as blood shot out from its lower half, one could see its internal organs spreading out from the open wound along with disgusting smoke and the remains of its last meal.

Avrin was panting as he looked around, only to see the corpses of the remaining creatures that couldn't run away and the lone injured lion creature that had kneeled down as if knowing it couldn't run. Avrin felt battle in this world and for the first time it felt somewhat more intense and hands on. After all, magic existed in this world. Avrin gazed at the lone lion creature, which seemed to stay silent as it looked at him. "And now my dear hunter what do I do with you?"

Avrin approached the weakened and stunned lion with the same demonic grin as he gazed over it. "Ahh yes...you will be my experimental subject... there is no animal protection agency in this universe, which is unfortunate for you my friend." The lion, as if understanding its fate was sealed, lowered its tail and its ears dropped down. It gave a worried expression while gazing at its first and only owner.

Avrin began to form a large steel cage around the creature while brandishing a void bolt threatening it to not move. The maximum size he could now form from his Nebula mist was a stunning 14 meters in height and six meters in length. He used his ability to finally form the steel cage around the creature, being sure to make it sturdy enough for it to not move. The creature grasped one of the bars and tried to bend it, but it didn't even budge.

Avrin took the opportunity to absorb the lifeless organic bodies that laid around. For some reason, he felt better absorbing organic material rather than inorganic. It made him feel somewhat stronger, as if he became what he ate, so to speak.

Avrin began planting more mines, this time in a sort of circle around the clearing, so unwanted visitors would be welcomed with an icicle spike. This way he would finally claim the clearing as his own. He figured the creatures wouldn't show their faces here again as they acknowledged him as the stronger opponent.

Avrin decided to head back to his shelter and take a nap, but not before tormenting the creature in a humane way. He gave it a slab of dark manifested meat and a large water bowl. He also formed a dark bubble over the creatures arm socket and messed with it until it shut in itself to stop the bleeding, even though the act caused the creature to screech in agony. He wanted it alive for the fun he planned to do after he rested.

It was strange, though, he didn't feel tired or exhausted, but it seemed his human habits of resting had caught up with him. In the military, he often rested whenever he could even if he hadn't been up for a full day. He would have to break this habit as soon as he could.

"Tomorrow I'll experiment on that Nemean," Avrin spoke in reference to Hercules vs the Nemean lion. It was perfect, considering it was a lion and was most certainly of a build that resembled Hercules. "I'll also have to start working on my physical training. I feel as if I'm underestimating this body. I wonder if I could augment my muscles down to the cellular level to become stronger." Avrin brushed the idea aside. He knew he wasn't skilled enough to even attempt such a feat.

"For now though," he walked over to the sleeping bag cautiously as he remembered the torturing nightmare he had before. Laying down on it, his back against the wall just in case he was attacked, he finished his sentence, "I'll get some rest." He could hear the Nemean outside giving a pitiful roar as if crying to its kin for assistance, but Avrin knew they wouldn't dare come. This thought made a prideful grin stretch across his face before he shut his eyes completely and fell asleep.