Opening his eyes, the light of an orange fire confirmed his vision.
Slowly sitting up, he felt a general sense of cold, as though he were surrounded by frost. Looking around, he saw the darkness of the night accompanied by the white snow of a forest.
Having been placed and laid to sleep on dirt, his instinctual feeling was to rub his arms, hoping for warmth as he glanced at the fire—then, to the man beyond it.
"Hk. You're… oww, my head hurts…"
"Hm? I'd imagine that your head would have healed by now."
Holding his head in pain, Riley peeked at the gruff man, who sat on a log placed around a campfire. Seeing as he was still alive, he couldn't imagine that the man wanted him dead.
"...So, why am I here?"
"Well, you're calmer than you showed. To answer your question, I'm here to make you stronger."
"Stronger?"
Riley slowly stood up, patting the dirt from his clothes, which had multiple holes from the endless series of gunfire rained upon him. In fact, even his own leg had been restored, something he'd only just now registered.
"That's correct. I'm an old man. I've seen everything this world offers, and I'm satisfied. All I want is one more hunt."
"...So, you're a hunter? And, if my instincts are right… ah, of course they are. I'm meant to be your final prey, is that right?"
"Correct again. I merely want prey who can fight back, and make me genuinely fear for my life. That's hard to accomplish when you're armed to the teeth."
"I'd imagine."
Standing around, Riley's stomach growled, as he looked out at the moon-lit sky. The winds having just registered to him, he saw the branches of the tree move gracefully as he was provided some splendid white noise.
"That's a strong ability you've got," the man earnestly praised. "And I'm not just saying that because it's an ability similar to my own."
"...Yeah. Thanks. Still… I agree. I am still definitely too weak. How're you going to train me, then? We gonna do some pushups?"
"I will do no such thing. Rather, boy, you need to learn how to make the most of your abilities."
"Hm?"
"I saw it myself. You can summon a variety of weapons, can you not?"
Riley nodded his head in response.
"Then learn to use them. That gun of yours is incredible. It's a stronger single-shot than any of my normal guns—with the exception of my snipers, of course. But the fact that's even a comparison to begin with makes me question just how powerful you can be if you unlocked your full potential."
"Ah, is that so? Yeah, it's good. But it only has so much ammo—none of it restocks when I summon it once more. Say… with that ability of yours, can you summon ammunition?'
The man picked up what Riley put down, and got to his feet, standing from the log. "Do you know what kind of gun it is?"
"Uh, no. It's a revolver, I know that much. Here."
Summoning [Shooting], Riley handed it over, as the man looked it over.
"A 44. Magnum. Once bolstered the highest firepower of any handgun, but it's still incredibly solid. Let's give it a whirl, shall we?"
Summoning a 44. Magnum of his own, the man reloaded Riley's handgun for him. Giving it back to Riley, who aimed it at a tree—
"Wait, not yet," the man intervened, causing Riley to raise a brow.
"Hm?"
"There's a reason I chose this forest. There's a man in these woods."
"...A man?"
"Yes, and for now, it's best not to alert him. Erase the gun and bring it back, that's a good enough test for now."
Riley nodded his head and followed instructions. To his surprise, the method worked; the ammunition transplant had been successful.
"Woah… sick. So, can you summon a bunch of these, and get a backpack? Wait, do your guns restock ammo?"
"They do."
"...Woah."
Showing his youthful side, Riley gave the best praise he could muster. Although, it did also irritate him.
"How come you can restock ammo and I can't? It's bullshit."
"I can't say you're wrong. Even still, let's hold off on the idea of taking a backpack of ammunition—just for a second."
"Hm? Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? You need to learn how to actually use your abilities to begin with."
"...For real? I mean, I'd say I use them well enough already. I use [Hanging] to fly, I use [Bleeding] as a knife and cut them up, I use [Drowning] as a projectile when I can, and I use [Crashing] to explode or provide cover. [Falling], too, I use in my hand-to-hand stuff."
"That's not bad, but there's more to it. From my experience with you last night, the reason you lost so badly was because you rushed in and tried to shoot up close. Don't do that."
His face turning a light pink, Riley turned his gaze, clicking his tongue. "...Yeah, that's probably true. I was drunk and trying to copy something my friend did—it's a long story."
"Alright. Still, don't do that. You can summon multiple abilities at once, right?"
A gentle nod of a head.
"Then use them in tandem with each other. Using [Hanging] to fly isn't a bad thing. But I'm assuming it's a telekinetic rope, right? What's the range?"
"Um… Well, I'd assume it's infinite. Or at least very big."
"Then instead of always using up one ability to provide movement for you, use it in tandem with yourself. Send it out to flank your opponent; it's a freely controlled noose. It can trip, or wrap or bind or choke if you please. Use it as its own being. Sneak it around your opponent's ankle and lift them up into the air. Do that, shoot them with your gun while they're bound, or you can use that bomb you used on me."
Riley nodded his head, placing his hand on his chin and trying to think about it.
"...I guess that is true. I can only have about three active at a time currently."
"And [Bleeding], it's a knife, isn't it?"
"It is. And it can cut through anything, I'm pretty sure."
"Then use that. Throw it at your opponent, and if you miss, just try it again. If you have any ability that can make it easier to aim, perhaps even using [Hanging] to wrap around the handle and use it as a flying dagger, then use it."
Riley walked over to the log, taking a seat. The man let Riley ruminate in his thoughts, as the boy who had much greater knowledge of his own ability than he did tried to figure out how to properly use it.
Then, I should use them in tandem, right? Isn't my ability, at its core, about enlisting a variety of methods to help?
Sticking only with one method, not using it to its fullest potential… isn't that right? Even back then, couldn't I have used [Hanging] to trip them, or used the infinite summoning to assault them with storms of knife throws—each one I landed would have dealt a lot of blood loss, wouldn't it?
Or, or even with [Crashing]. I could use [Crashing] to use it as a stun grenade—it's a loud explosion, I know that extremely well. Even just detonating it for a split second could create a distraction, where I'd summon [Hanging] to follow through and grab them by their wrist or neck, jolting them off balance… then, I could go in with [Falling], using it to… to amplify my strikes.
The deeper he delved into his thoughts, the more horrifying the reality began to set in.
—Then, if I just wasn't using my ability to its fullest potential—even when I could have, before I killed all those people… w-what was the point of that, then!?
Riley Woods, having finally understood the truth, was reminded that the slaughter he'd committed had been pointless.
Yes, it did make him stronger. But he sought brute-force strength, rather than learning to actually use his ability the way it was meant to be used.
In essence,
—I feel sick.
His stomach churning, Riley covered his mouth, his vision becoming blurry, his eyes stinging in salty pain from the rapidly approaching tears.
Yes. He had betrayed his moral compass, abandoned the ideals which held together his fragile will to live——utterly for naught.
As it was written, "Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing."
It gave him strength and newfound power, unmistakably. But that power might not have even been necessary. If he had just used the cards he was dealt to the best of his ability, then there was a chance he could have saved far more lives than he took.
What was the point? Wasn't that slaughter senseless, then? I killed the prisoners who might have one day become better, I killed the security that likely had families. I did all that… all of that…
"...F-for nothing…" he spat out, looking down at his trembling fingers.
Tapping his foot repeatedly, a small smirk curved on his lips. Letting out a small chuckle, Riley grit his teeth, wiping the tears from his eyes.
"T-that's right… that's why, that's why I have to die, isn't it? That… that has to be. I can't allow it otherwise, I… I absolutely…"
Riley Woods was a man of innumerable vices, crimes and flaws.
If one were to mold into existence a being composed of the worst weaknesses a man could possess, and then sloppily stitched him together with the unrealistic dreams of humanity, that existence would be given the name "Riley Woods."
That's right. That's why… that's just another reason that I absolutely have to die.
"...Alright, then."
Standing up, a soft grin on his face, Riley looked down at the gruff man.
"I'm going to fight the man in these woods. In the meantime, fill up a backpack with ammunition for [Shooting], alright?"
"Understood. If you fail, I won't be there to save you. —Prey that dies to another hunter is entirely theirs; I won't fight for it."
Looking down, Riley continued to laugh. Shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, he encroached upon the woods, [Bleeding] in hand as he set out to kill yet another servant.