Kaiser flew up the stairway, climbing the floors until he reached the door to the roof of the building. Unsurprisingly, that was locked. Kaiser threw himself against the door with all the force his small body could muster. As he did, he heard a sound that made him freeze up. From somewhere far below him, a scream echoed.
'I didn't have a choice, I was as good as dead if I stayed with him. I-'
But Kaiser's excuses felt hollow as he repeated them back to himself, as if he were trying to convince himself that his choice had been the logical and correct one.
"Damn it!" The boy slammed his fist into the unmoving door, this time in anger more than in an attempt to break it open.
'It's no use anyway.'
Sliding to the floor, Kaiser held his face in his hands. There was a good chance that whatever monster had gotten the old man would find him too, and in that case, what did it matter if one of them went slightly before the other?
Time seemed to stand still atop the grimy apartment staircase until Kaiser heard it. Something was climbing the stairs towards him. But it wasn't the sound of footsteps that'd announced the monster's presence; those were so soft he could only barely notice them even if he strained. The sound he'd heard was that of chewing.
'This is it, I'm going to die without ever getting the chance to do anything with my life. Well, it wasn't so bad a life, was it?'
Kaiser tried to resign himself, tried to believe his thoughts, but as the sounds got closer, that resolve shook. It sounded like the monster was right below him at this point. Now that it was this close, he could hear its footfalls; they were soft, nearly human, but any hope that might've brought him was quickly washed away by the thing crunching down on whatever it was eating.
Then it came into view; the monster was humanoid, walking on two legs, and was only a little smaller than Kaiser himself. If not for its greenish skin, Kai might've thought it was a very vile child. Well, if not for its skin and pointed teeth, teeth that were currently gnawing at what looked like… like a human leg.
Terror took hold of Kaiser then, and with it all pretense of being resigned to his fate disappeared.
"No, no, no"
Kaiser tried to scramble back away from the thing slowly approaching him, but it was useless; there was nowhere to go.
"Fuck, this I'm not fine with this, my life wasn't so bad? That's bullshit! I-I don't want to die. I never got to be anything."
The monster before him growled in response, tossing away its meal, much more interested in the prey before it. Kaiser slowly got to his feet, hoping against hope his movement wouldn't cause a response from the beast. There was only a single flight of stairs between the two now, but considering how fast monsters could be, there was no assurance that it'd take any time at all for the creature to cover that distance.
'There's only one way I'm getting out of here alive, and that's if I kill this thing.'
That was easier said than done, though, without being awakened, Kaiser didn't even have the passive boost to his strength that all awakened had, and besides that, he had no weapon to fight with. The monster, on the other hand, had both claws and teeth that looked like they could tear the flesh from his bones. Still, Kaiser raised his hands, replicating one of the stances he saw weaponless Hunters use.
The creature moved then, and it was quick, in a second it'd leaped up the stairs, using its hands to propel itself up the stairs, closing the distance to him. Before Kaiser could respond, it was already trying to scratch at him.
'It's so fast, I can't dodge that.'
Instead, he raised a hand to knock away the attack, but all that accomplished was letting the monster rip into his arm. Kaiser screamed, but he had no time to let the pain overtake him, since the creature had lunged again, intent on sinking its teeth into his flesh.
Kaiser's body moved before he could think about how to respond, using his uninjured arm to shove the monster off course, causing it to crash into the wall he'd just been standing against.
'Maybe I can run now? No. That's not even an option.'
Kaiser grabbed the back of the creature's head and slammed its face into the metal of the door. Despite the momentary hesitation, the creature hadn't fully recovered from the force of its attack. There was no running away; he was sure of that now. He simply could not outrun this thing, even if he tried; this was the only option.
Grabbing the creature by its hair, Kaiser put his entire weight on it, now pinning it to the ground and once again slamming its head into the door; the impact came with a sickening crunch. Before Kaiser could do it again, though, the creature managed to free one of its arms and was now swinging wildly at Kaiser, scratching him.
Kaiser did his best to ignore the attacks, but when the creature tried to go for his eyes, his grip slipped, and the monster was able to push him off it. Standing face to mangled face again, the creature hissed at him, swatting at him with its deadly claws in an attempt to keep him away.
'Damn it.'
It'd taken a lot out of him to try to keep the creature pinned for even that short amount of time, and it'd all only amounted to no more than a broken nose. Not just that, now it seemed pissed off, its next attacks came wildly, causing Kaiser to barely be able to block them. At this point, he'd resigned himself to sacrificing his left arm to block the creature's attacks.
Blood began to spill from his arm in a steady stream, its flesh now gouged in multiple places by the creature's sharp claws. Still, the monster kept on attacking, leaving no opening for Kaiser to exploit. Then it came, its attack was a right hook intent on tearing open his stomach. While Kaiser couldn't dodge with his back to the stairs now, if he blocked it, he'd have an opening to counter.
'This is my chance.'
Kaiser made to raise his left arm again, but something was wrong; either from the damage or blood loss, his left arm had been slow to move. Instead of fully blocking the attack, his attempt only managed to turn an attack that would have spilled his guts into one that gouged gashes into his arm and stomach.
Blood immediately began welling up from the injury. Even if the attack wasn't as bad as it could have been, it'd still hit something important. And now that thing was making him bleed profusely. Kaiser tried to put pressure on the injury, but his shredded arm lacked the strength to do so, and on top of that, the monster was about to attack again.
Seemingly sensing the gravity of Kaiser's injury, the creature in front of him was grinning, its sharp teeth still glistening with blood. Then it lunged. The next moments felt like they took forever.
Kaiser felt pain shoot through his body, a pain unlike the kind from his injuries, though it was like a wave of electricity was tearing through his body. It felt like he was dying, but instead of numbing him, it felt as though the pain had reinvigorated him.
'Is this what it feels like to be on the brink of death? Is this what it feels like to be about to die? It- it feels, it feels good, exquisite even.'
It felt as though Kaiser's mind had sharpened, as if the new energy coursing through him had even increased how fast he was thinking. The monster was still leaping towards him, but it felt like it'd been minutes since it'd first started lunging at him. It felt like he had all the time in the world to respond. So when he did, he made sure it was the best course of action.
Kaiser shifted to the side, and as he did, he pushed the creature away from him, letting its momentum carry it forward and down the stairs. As it fell, it tried to grab Kaiser, but only managed to tear at his one good arm before it went tumbling down the stairway. It landed in a heap at the bottom with a cry of pain.
'It's not dead yet.'
Kaiser backed up a little before sprinting towards the stairway, and then he leaped. Kaiser sailed over the stairs towards the landing and the creature that was still lying in a heap there. Although it was slowly stirring, it wouldn't be quick enough to get out of the way.
When Kaiser landed, he landed with a sickening crunch. The monster screamed, and so did he. Although it had taken most of the impact of his landing, Kaiser had still landed with a jarring pain from his injuries. And it still wasn't over, as expected from a monster from a gate, it wouldn't be killed so easily.
What followed was a bloody fight for survival. Even though Kaiser had the upper hand, he was still weaker and less deadly than his opponent. So he became deadlier; it wasn't enough to fight like a person, so Kaiser didn't, he scratched and tore and pulled and gouged, but it wasn't enough. One of its arms was broken from his landing, but it was still fighting back with the other and straining with all its might to get out from under him.
They were at a standstill. Kaiser had its good arm pinned, but he, too, had only one useable arm, and that was currently being used to stop the creature from smashing its head into his own. While having his arm pressed into the thing's face did keep its head down, it also meant it was able to bite him, which it did. Pain shot through Kaiser, making him scream once again. At this point, he didn't even recognize his voice.
What Kaiser did next was probably the correct choice, but one he would not have made in a different situation. He probably would never have even thought of doing it if it hadn't just been done to him. Kaiser bit the creature back.
Sinking his teeth into the creature's throat, Kaiser did his best not to gag at the foul taste of the monster's blood. For a moment, the pain of the creature's bite let up for a moment but in the next, the monster seemed to have redoubled its efforts. It felt like its bite might just break his arm if this continued. So Kaiser bit harder too; if it broke his arm, it'd be able to free itself, and if it did, he knew that would mean his death. He could feel himself losing strength, the surge of energy he'd felt earlier was fading fast, and now it felt like every bit of him was on fire and in pain.
Still, Kaiser bit down, blood pouring into his mouth; it felt as though he could even feel each of the creature's heartbeats. Then it felt as if something was changing; it felt like the creature's bite wasn't as painful anymore.
'Did I lose too much blood? Am I losing feeling?
No, it's getting weaker.'
It wasn't just its bite that was weaker; it'd been doing its best to strain against his weight, but now it felt as though that'd lessened. What Kaiser was feeling wasn't himself losing feeling or strength; it was the creature's strength draining from its body as it died.
Then, it stopped moving. But Kaiser didn't release his bite, even when he couldn't feel the thing's heartbeat; he didn't stop. What finally made him let go was the realization that he couldn't breathe; at some point, the monster had broken his nose, and now he was finding it hard to breathe through it. The problem was that his mouth was similarly full of blood.
'There's so much blood.'
Some of it was the creature's, but most of it was likely his, and at this point, he was lying in a pool of it.
'I'm going to drown in my blood.'
No… He had enough strength to shift slightly, rolling onto his side, so he wouldn't drown in it; instead, he'd die from blood loss. He could feel the warmth leaving his body. As his consciousness began to slip, the last thing he remembered was heavy footfalls coming from somewhere below him and someone picking him up. Then everything went black.