"A name for myself, huh. Ren, any suggestion?" the boy asked, his voice rough but uncertain, eyes still blind though burning with strange power.
The little wisp on his shoulder flickered with amusement. "Hmm… how about Fewu?"
The boy froze, then turned his head in Ren's direction. "Dude… what the fuck is Fewu supposed to mean? Do I look like some joke character to you?"
Ren twirled in the air, glowing brighter. "It's unique! Memorable! And besides, you don't exactly look like a serious guy right now, blind and coughing in river water."
The boy gritted his teeth, veins twitching at his temple. "Ren… I swear to whatever gods are listening, if you saddle me with a dumbass name like that, I'll toss you into this river and let the fish eat you."
Ren buzzed indignantly, crackling like static. "Hah! Like you could live without me! I've kept you alive this long, don't forget that."
"Yeah, yeah," the man muttered, but then paused, frowning deeply. He let silence settle before whispering, almost to himself."…Bahamut."
Ren tilted slightly. "Bahamut?"
"Yeah." His tone grew firmer, more grounded, more… savage. "Not a toy name. Not a joke. Something heavy. Something that belongs to a beast."
The wisp hovered quietly, then dimmed to a softer glow, almost like a nod. "…It fits. Bahamut. A name with weight. Like Behemoth."
As the word Bahamut left his lips, the world itself seemed to falter. The name wasn't just spoken—it resonated. Heavy. Jagged. A crown of thorns forced onto his soul yet fitting all the same. It stirred something ancient, something that had been waiting inside him all along.
Ren, the wisp on his shoulder, flickered erratically, his glow pulsing as if caught off guard. "Tch… well, shit. Guess Bahamut it is."
The body shuddered violently. Bones cracked and stretched, muscles tightening as his frame gained height. His hair drained of its color in waves, bleaching into a stark white while streaks of jet-black sliced through it like scars carved by the gods themselves. His skin deepened into a rich, dark chocolate hue that seemed to drink in the sunlight that was starting to spill through the trees.
Then his eyes snapped open.
No longer dull, no longer blind—they burned. Crimson slits blazed like twin suns, beastlike and merciless, cutting through the shadows with raw dominance. For a moment, the forest recoiled. The air itself trembled, the night wind faltering mid-breath, as if nature recognized a predator had awoken.
But the moment was brief. His eyes dulled once more, bleeding back to their usual lifeless grey. The blindness returned, but its chains couldn't hide the echo of what had stirred beneath.
Then came the aura.
It surged out of him in a violent tide, once fractured and pitiful, now brutal and whole. The weight of a beast's savagery, primal and unrelenting, coiled around him like barbed wire. Yet woven into that ferocity was a strange refinement—discipline, regality. The contradiction bled into a terrifying harmony: the merciless brutality of a predator, bound to the solemn bearing of a throne.
Ren dimmed instinctively, his glow paling as though cowed by the presence beside him. "…Bahamut…" he muttered under his breath, almost in disbelief.
The boy—Bahamut—staggered a step forward, chest heaving, muscles twitching as though struggling to cage the feral strength rippling through him. His lips curled into the faintest of smiles, bitter yet sharp. "Guess I've finally made a name for myself."
The forest held its silence. Even the roar of the waterfall seemed to hush, unwilling to interrupt the declaration.
Bahamut exhaled, voice low but rumbling with new weight. "Let's see if the world's ready for it."
| STATUS WINDOW |
Name: Bahamut
Age: 17
Titles: Psychopath, Ruthless Killer, Unknown, The BEAST
Race: Half Beast (???)
Class: Unawakened /???
HP: 14 / 127
MP: 30 / 30
Level: 3
EXP: 45 / 100
Attributes:
Strength: 15
Speed: 18
Agility: 19
Endurance: 12
Perception: 20 +13
Willpower: 25
Luck: 1
Skills:
Pain Resistance (Lv. 1)
Super Reflexes (Lv. 1)
Super Senses (Lv. 1)
Regeneration (Lv. 1)
Death Intent (Passive – Locked)
Special Traits:
Fragmented Soul (Effect Unknown)
Past Lives Memory (Dormant)
Madness Bloom (Dormant)
B. E. A. S. T: Your path has five concepts and principles you must comprehend and master. These are what makes you the One Above All Beasts!
◉B - Brutality of the BEAST: Embrace the Brutality of a Beast. Accept that survival is not gentle. It is instinct sharpened into dominance, where mercy is optional, and every strike must echo inevitability. Brutality is not cruelty. It is the raw, undeniable assertion of existence.
Mantra: "I live; therefore, you fall."
...
"I take it as some requirements I must fulfill to gain my first true power?" Bahamut asked the system.
[Yes. I wish you good luck]
"Thank you, I guess... Now to find something to ea... wait! The hand grew back!" Bahamut suddenly screamed in shock as he finally felt the cut arm now fully grown.
"Took you long enough," Ren said in a mock tone.
"How am I even seeing?" Bahamut asked another question of what he was experiencing.
"You aren't blind?" Ren asked in confusion. From the appearance of his eyes, he was clearly blind.
"I am but I can see. It's confusing..."
[Replying Host...]
[You aren't necessarily seeing. You are rather feeling. Your death intent, although passive has some active effects and one is how it paints outlines for you using your senses as a beacon. So, you are very blind, but instead of just perceiving things with your senses, your death intent has elevated it to a level where you can 'see' outlines of structures. That is also why your Perception attribute has a very high number of points.]
"I see... This is freaking awesome!"
"Fewu would have been very perfect for you," Ren said in annoyance.
"Heh! Deal with it."
Growl!
"Talk of bad timing, but it's good. I'm already starving," Bahamut exclaimed as his aura burst out in full and shot towards the crimson fox in front of him.
What followed was a brutal, beastly battle filled with blood, the cries of pain from the fox and the maniacal laughter of Bahamut.
Ren could only watch in amazement and sorrow at how his body was being used. Thankfully, the beast was a low level one, otherwise...
He couldn't help but shiver. How a wisp was even shivering was a phenomenon on its own.