"Hello, my unfortunate brother." His cheeks tore open, revealing a full set of teeth as Torq eyed his twin brother.
Bearing the same age of fourteen, and sporting a lean frame that was topped by a shiny, bald head was Runthral.
The place Torq had reincarnated to was a continent named Sumatra. Situated in a region on the continent named Tsloch Sea was one of the two Deity Races worshipped across the Continent.
Empyrean Snapper!
It was a majestic creature whose unsurpassable power made it stand at the apex of the food chain. And the Clan serving these majestic creatures was the Cooter Clan. Their signature appearance was their bald selves.
Thanks to genetics, Cooter Clansmen were born without hair. There wasn't even a single strand growing on their bodies. If one of them were to have hair, it meant their genetics were so inferior, they were offed at birth itself.
Runthral was an Empyrean Snapper, a baby at that, which is why he had a human form. Once he grows enough, he would shed his mortal form and assume his glorious, omniscient form as a rightful Deity. And here was the issue.
At birth, when he instinctively used his signature ability as the Empyrean Snapper, it was…weak. It was so weak, the entirety of the Cooter Clan's upper echelons were puzzled about the cause. Then, they arrived at an answer upon seeing Boiboi, who was born a few minutes later, possessing peerless talent.
Boiboi was born, having stolen Runthral's talents as a Deity. That was the Clan's consensus.
"You think…" Torq eyed the figure of Runthral drinking blood, his blood, from the fancy bottle, "Drinking my blood will improve your pathetic abilities?"
Bam!
A kick landed squarely on his cheek, racketing Torq's head. Blood trickled out as his vision spun hazily, making it seem as if Runthral had multiplied in numbers. It was a result of his brain getting disoriented by the impact and conjuring a hallucination in response.
But then, the blurry figures seemed to turn real, as four others arrived, circling around Torq. They were part of Runthral's clique.
One of them legged Torq's back and targeted the exposed vertebrae, 'Does this bastard seriously intend to kill me?'
'Now, of all times?' Torq was confused for a moment, because no matter how far he went, he would only be punished appropriately. The Clan's rules granted every child immunity to death until the age of fifteen. These rules were absolute, for in the Cooter Clan's opinion, the moment they create an exception, they'll always find excuses to make more exceptions in the future.
That was a sign of rot, a weakness that would result in their annihilation eventually. For, Sumatra Continent followed the law of survival of the fittest.
That was why Boiboi wasn't killed, despite the upper echelons of the Clan concluding he had stolen their Deity's talents.
And even though Runthral always went overboard when trying to harm Boiboi, he still followed the rules. 'Besides, the Clan rules already make it legal to kill me in a month's time.'
So, things didn't make sense. 'No, I don't need to break my head trying to think of a reason. In essence, he intends to kill me now. That's all I need to know.'
"Couldn't wait a month more to dispose of me, huh?" Torq chuckled as a palm latched onto his face and grabbed the torn section of his cheek, inching to rip off his facial skin.
"Trigger me as much as you want, Boiboi." Runthral huffed as he watched his subordinate slowly peel off Torq's facial skin, "I've decided to kill you today."
"You think you're above the Clan's rules?" Torq snorted in disdain, knowing exactly how stuck-up the Cooter Clan was, especially their Deities.
"I'll be punished harshly for this. However," Runthral kneeled before Torq and ripped off the remainder of his facial skin, "The Clan won't kill me."
"Tch!" He grumbled upon seeing blood cover his palms, "How do you engage in such a disgusting hobby, Boiboi?"
He pocketed the facial skin and eyed his four subordinates to move to the side, "The Clan will kill you guys if you were to participate in this kill. Get lost."
"Thank you for considering us, Boss." One of the subordinates smiled gleefully and dragged the rest with him to step away by a few metres. Now, only Runthral stood before Torq.
"Any last words, Boiboi?" Asking as such, Runthral raised his leg high up, positioning it right above Torq's head, "You better beg well, before I crush your head."
"Answer me this," There was a fluctuation in his emotions before one of interest covered his face as Torq lifted his skinless visage and eyed Runthral with bloody eyes, "Of all the worlds out there, which one do you think is the most beautiful?"
"You were only supposed to beg like a worm…" Runthral was perplexed by the question. He pondered about it for a couple seconds before snorting in disinterest, "Are those your last words?"
'In a radius of 180 metres around me…' While Runthral wasted a couple seconds in thought, Torq's eyes swerved to the ends of their socket, eyeing his surroundings, 'There's only Runthral and his four underlings. Then, it's not an issue.'
"Sumatra," He arched his spine until his forehead touched the floor, in utmost respect, as his devoted words reverberated, omnisciently, "your blessed one seeks,"
In a radius of 180 metres around Torq, space grew monochromatic, turning absolutely still. Prana bubbled towards the edges of the monochromatic space, beginning to condense a silver humanoid. All that had formed were a pair of eyes, and the four subordinates were already clutching their faces, gripped by insanity.
Tears streamed out of their eyes. If one were to taste the tears, they would notice vivid traces of Prana in them.
Present in the hearts of every living being on Sumatra was a semi-tangible entity, capable of processing Prana and also housing unique abilities wielded by various races. That was called a Spirit Container.
The Spirit Containers of these four were collapsing, causing Prana to ooze out of their bodies in the form of tears.
"S-Stop!" Runthral gasped in shock and stammered back. Instinctively, he rushed towards the edge, intending to run out, only to slam into a formless barrier. "Get…LOST!"
The ground churned to form a blade that stabbed into the barrier, all to no avail. It was as if the monochromatic space had trapped him within, with no option to exit. Despair crept up his face as slowly, he turned around to stare at Torq, "W-What did you do, Boiboi?"
There was no response. Instead, Torq merely widened his creepy smile further. Following next were screams from Runthral, "Stop! Stop it, you bastard!"
"Stop…please, stop." He kneeled on the ground upon seeing more of the silver humanoid's body getting condensed. And then, an eye contact with the other party's eyes caused even his Spirit Container to tremble in response and sport a crack.
That sealed the deal, as Runthral had fully prostrated on the floor, "I…I give up, Boiboi. Please, spare me."
"Aren't you glad I'm a stickler to the rules, my unfortunate brother?" At Torq's words, Runthral lifted his head and noticed the monochromatic space had vanished. The silver humanoid too was no more.
Now, he heard faint murmurs from the people in the stands, wondering why Runthral was kneeling on the floor. "This…"
'What the heck was that?' Runthral was stunned, lacking an answer as to what had happened. All that met his face filled with questions was the skinless visage of his younger brother.
"Still in the mood to kill me?" Torq taunted once again. As he spoke, a stream formed in the air, created by gathering the shed tears of the four bald students lying nearby. Using the Cooter Clan's signature cultivation technique, Torq refined the abundant traces of Prana present in the tears to form a medicine.
And then, the stream flowed down his mouth. He formed a mild scowl at the taste, but ignored it past that, as once the medicine flowed into his stomach and was acted upon by his stomach's digestive juices, a stream of Prana entered his Spirit Container.
From there, it was funnelled to his wounds, causing them to heal slowly.
"This…this isn't over!" Runthral turned tail and ran away, only to stop a few seconds later at Torq's taunt.
"Are you abandoning your subordinates?" Torq chuckled upon seeing the ground around him tremble in response to form a platform that carried the four subordinates away. In a matter of seconds, Runthral had vanished from view, "For a turtle, he sure runs fast."
"Now," He spat out some saliva and condensed it into a droplet, following which he spun it until it resembled a saw. Right as he neared the liquid saw to the chains binding him to the floor, there was a stir in the distance.
A tsunami formed in the wake of a neck that reached the skies, twisting clouds around itself. Slowly, forming numerous coils of clouds in the sky, followed by an oppressive presence that cracked the floors, an eye shielded by a filament of lightning glared his way.
"Wow!" Torq burst into laughter as he eyed the colossal entity glaring his way from over a hundred kilometres away, so huge it was visible from so far, "I think…"
His heart thumped as he uttered, "I'm in love."
Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast–Empyrean Snapper!