Reo didn't even bother turning his head at Raven's direction when the boy's voice reached him.
"Look below you."
He said simply.
Raven did not immediately look. He was wary of the older boy—someone who had beaten him up just because he felt like Raven wasn't worth his boss's kindness would definitely try something like that again.
But his curiosity got the better of him anyway.
His stomach twisted.
Below, in the narrow street, something hunched over a slumped body.
It didn't look human.
The creature had four legs, all of which were unnaturally long. It also had no eyes on its head, or anywhere on its body for that matter, just a mouth and gray fur stained with patches of blood.
Next to it, was a man.
Or at least, the remains of a man.
The corpse's upper body was gone, the only evidence that it once had an upper body being the bloodied remains.
The creature opened its jaw wide, tearing a chunk of flesh from the remains of the corpse.
It chewed.
It swallowed.
And then lapped at the blood that pooled on the ground.
'Beast.'
Raven thought.
Beasts had a specific name, unfortunately, right now Raven couldn't remember.
His mind was focused on something else entirely.
"This creature...."
Raven muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
He felt the urge to vomit, but he managed to hold it in.
Raven had killed, it hadn't particularly disturbed him. But, seeing the bloodied corpse, even he couldn't hold it.
This was one of the few times he regretted having sharpened vision.
"This creature isn't particularly strong, is it now?"
Reo asked.
'Not particularly strong.'
Raven repeated internally.
From what he felt, the creature was at least on the same level as he was.
That was bad....
Instinctively, Raven turned his head in Reo's direction, and the look in the boy's eyes practically confirmed his thoughts.
Reo walked slowly towards the younger boy.
"Though it isn't too strong, since this is your first patrol we'll have to approach carefully."
The older boy said as he neared.
He practically whispered the next word into Raven's ears.
"And the most careful approach I can think of right now.... is having you fight it."
Reo kicked him in the back, sending Raven falling down from the rooftop since he had been leaning to look.
The raven-haired boy fell.
'One hit.'
He thought.
The air around him changed as sparks flew.
'Lightning strike.'
He had already known what Reo was planning to do before he had done so.
He had already begun charging up for the skill.
And now, it was time to release.
The sparks crackled as he approached his enemy.
Raven thrust his arm forward, his hand imitating that of a blade—
—Only for it to hit nothing but air.
At the last second the beast dodged, making the lightning strike nothing but air.
Then, before Raven could even land, the monster rammed into him.
The raven-haired boy hit the ground with a thud.
"....Fuck."
He cursed.
The beast had hit him out of the alleyway and into the road, surprisingly there were no civilians running around.
The place was relatively empty.
A growl woke him out of his thoughts.
Raven took an educated guess on who it was, and he was correct.
The beast lunged at him, pinning him into the ground with its weight.
Raven struggled, but he wasn't able to move.
'Fucking hell.'
He thought.
As soon as he stopped moving around, the beast didn't let the opportunity slip.
Immediately, it sunk its teeth into Raven's shoulder.
"Urghk."
There weren't any words to describe the pain he felt in his left shoulder.
The beast tried taking a chunk of his shoulder with a bite, but it seemed like its food had tough meat.
Raven tried kicking it off him.
But his attempts to escape the monster's grasp failed each time.
Suddenly, the beast jerked its head violently.
He gritted his teeth, not allowing a single sound to slip through.
After all, he had learned long ago, that cries only fueled someone's will to hurt you.
A chunk of his flesh tore away with the monster's teeth.
Blood sprayed out.
At that moment, his nerves screamed as if fire had been poured on it.
His vision blurred, dark spots dancing across his eyes.
But—
In that brief moment where the beast turned its head to the side, Raven reacted.
He used his right arm to grab the monster's neck.
Lightning crackled wildly between him and the beast.
It was quick to react, but it wasn't fast enough.
The wild lightning wrapped around his entire body like chains.
It didn't stop there, the lightning coiled around the beast like barb wires.
Bolts tore through its body, sizzling through fur, skin and bone.
It flailed wildly, unable to get away from Raven's grip.
Just like how Raven was mere minutes ago.
It clawed at him more desperately, screeching wildly as its blood quite literally boiled.
Despite everything, Raven didn't let go.
He couldn't....
He really couldn't.
It was almost as if his arm had been welded to the beast's neck.
"Just die."
Raven rasped.
Finally, its body finally went limp and almost immediately, the chain of lightning stopped.
The blackened corpse of the monster fell to the ground.
"I did it."
He murmured, almost inaudible.
"I did it."
A slow, manic grin spread across his face as he struggled to get up.
His shoulder no longer bled; but that was because he was in no better shape than the monster.
Just as he had fried it, he had also fried himself.
His body was blackened, and his clothes were even worse than rags, almost like they were going to turn into a pile of ash any moment.
"I DID IT."
Raven suddenly shouted as he got onto his knees.
His gaze went to Reo, the boy who had pushed him off was still standing there on the rooftop. Watching.
He flicked Reo off, extending his metal middle finger.
"I DID IT!"
He yelled, raising both hands up with some effort.
"I KNEW I WAS FUCKING INVINCIBLE!!!"