Time travel was not a foreign concept to Ash, but experiencing it first hand was still a strange occurance.
Peeking out from the cave with his sword in hand, a familiar scenery welcomed him, as the town was once again showered in blood.
Looking at the town and the droplets of blood hitting the ground conflicting feelings started to arise in Ash.
He knew who was the one behind his return, it was Floch, but why he did it was something he couldn't understand.
To him it seemed like Floch held a strange interest in him for seemingly no real reason.
Once again glancing at his sword Ash knew that he had to confront Floch once more, but what bothered him was the feeling that that's exactly what he wanted Ash to do.
While thinking he was suddenly interrupted by a strange noise coming from the town.
The sound was a strange mix of howling and gargling. It was a greatly disturbing sound.
Soon Ash was able to come face to face with the source of the sound as a giant pile of flesh came crawling out of one of the streets.
The creature seemed to be the amalgamation or around three people, with each of the faces as sources of the distrubing sound.
Looking at the creature before him Ash couldn't hold back his disgust, and had an instant want to vomit.
The last time he went around town he had seen a number of dead bodies, but they were just that bodies. But whatever was before him was something much more disturbing and disgusting.
As he leaned to the side to vomit, he heard the creature release deafening shout.
After coming to his senses he heard sounds of running and by the time he could look in the creature's direction once more it was already right before him.
Trying to get a hold on his sword Ash found his actions slow as the creature rammed into him at full speed, his sword leaving his grip.
*thud*
With a large force he felt himself colliding with the town's barrier, instantly breaking most of his bones.
"Arghhhhh"
He shouted as the pain he felt was nothing like he had experienced before.
When Floch killed him although it hurt it was quick, but this time was different, as even now he was still alive.
Even after Ash hit the wall the creature didn't show any signs of slowing as it once again got closer to Ash.
Ash tried to move, but his body didn't obey.
The creature was once again right before him, this time trampling on him.
Ash knew that he was dying once again, hoping that he would loop once again.
But before he could be released the creature lowered it's heads and started eating Ash alive.
The pain was even worse than before, or it should have been, but by this point Ash could feel nothing as he was once again embraced by death.
...
Waking up in the cave once again, Ash breathed heavily as he though back to what had just happened.
Clenching his head Ash was not in a good state, understandably so.
He had just died in a very painful manner, anyone would react like this.
After a few moments the screaming was heard once more, to which Ash flinched.
And as if on command the User Interface appeared once more before him.
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[Talent scanning is complete]
[Thank you for using Soul Chip Corporation for you procedure]
[Showing results...]
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[Soul Chip Interface]
>Core Power: [Truth Seeker]
>Proficiency: [2%]
>Rank: [I]
>Attribute: [Light]
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[Minor Skills]
> Null
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Seeing the interface Ash regained his senses, and dismissed the interface.
Looking out from his cave he could see that the rain has once again started, but his motivation to go out has completely vanished.
Floch was strong and terrifying, but he still felt like a somewhat human threat, while the monster that killed him last time was something merely driven by the instinct to kill.
Ash knew that between the two Floch was stronger, but he still felt a much higher drive to challange him than the monster. This feeling was not driven by any logic it was purely something emotional.
'I... can't beat... that... thing...'
With all his motivation gone Ash decided to just lay there in the cave, while looking out at the sky.
He would have normally tried to sleep, but with what just happened, and the strange noises coming from outside it was a seemingly impossible endeavor.
Laying there, second, minutes and soon hours passed by. The sun has long since gone beyond the horizon, and the dark night was well in process.
The sounds have decreased since nightfall, and with a few hour to calm down Ash felt that he could fall asleep once more.
So although with reluctance Ash closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
...
Waking up in the morning to his surprise, from what he could see from his cave the sky was clear no bloody clouds in sight.
Perking up his ears, and trying to listen it seemed that all the sounds outside have disappeared too.
'Could it all have just been a dream?'
But he could see that his sword was still next to him, a clear indication of the opposite.
Still with a hopeful curiosity he figured it would be best to check out what's going on outside.
Peeking out from his cave Ash was shocked to see a scenery before him that was both foreign and familiar.
Outside the cave the town that was meant to be there was nowhere to be found, instead only dunes of sand and small rock formations could be seen all around.
'Where am I?'
Picking up his sword Ash took a step out from his cave, and as he did he felt the heat of the wasteland hit him with full power.
Ash didn't have much experience with exploring the desert, as his longest excursion was his visit of the graveyard just a few days back.
But he knew one thing about the desert, and that is that it was deadly, especially so at night.
He had to find shelter before the sun set, luckily for him it seemed it hasn't been long since the sun came up so he had plenty of time.
With only his sword, he started heading in one of the directions.
After a few hours of walking Ash felt despair descend upon him as he could feel himself becoming weaker and weaker.
The only thing in his cave were some newspapers and other random garbage, so naturally Ash had no water source with him.
Walking for so long thirst was also becoming a problem for him.
But the biggest reason for his despair was that there was simply nothing.
Towns weren't common, but they weren't so rare either, by now he should have definitely found one, but there was simply nothing, no town, nothing to indicate that there was one anywhere either.
The sun was soon setting, Ash had seemingly run out of time.
Once the sun was fully gone the darkness of night descended, but as he was not in a barrier protected town, the darkness also started to envelop him.
He could see nothing, hear nothing, and even his ability to feel was mostly suppresed.
'This feels weird.'
Ash tried to keep moving, but he could feel himself stumbling.
While trying to stand up he could feel small vibrations below his feet.
In the next moment he felt like he was shredded by a thousand razors, but in the next moment it was already gone.
...
Waking up in the cave once more, Ash was dumbfounded to find himself dead once more.
While in the desert it seems he got shredded in a few milliseconds, thanks to that this death was by far the least painful of the three.
Sitting in his cave looking out the skies were grim once again, ready to rain at any moment.
It seems he had returned to yesterday, back to when the monsters were roaming around.
Soon the usual scream came once again followed by the Interface appearing once more.
Ash quickly dismissed it and grabbed his sword.
Realising how endless the wasteland was, he knew that him making it to a town was unlikely, so he was left with only one choice.
Fight!
He had to do what Floch wanted and fight his way through town, so could meet him once more.
Looking around in his cave, among the piles of random garbage he found an old discarded belt and proceeded to use it to wrap his sword to his hand.
For now not losing his sword was the most important thing to him. He couldn't allow himself to die such a painful death once more.
With determination, he stepped outside, and sure enough before long the creature once again crawled out from one of the streets.
Strenghtening his grip Ash looked at the monster with a fierce expression.
'Hah, let's do this.'