What nonsense?!!
Heat flared through Yuin's body, a storm of emotions churning within him. But above them all, anger.
Why the hell should a system decide his death out of nowhere?
It was true that he found it unfortunate that he wasn't a chosen, but he didn't go begging desperately for it.
So why should the error of a strange system drag him into a mess that warranted his death?
I have to die…? And leave my three pumpkins all alone?!
The more it settled in his head, the angrier he became. But reality soon ripped him out of his head.
"KYAAAH!!" A gut wrenching scream from a girl pierced his ears.
Instinctively, Yuin's gaze snapped toward the sound to meet the trembling figures of the crowd and a puddle of blood on the floor.
It stood out sharply, a dark stain on the pristine void.
Looking closer, Yuin met five lifeless bodies on the floor. Before things could even register in his head—
FIAM!
Five tiny transparent wisps shot forward.
They snaked through the crowd and pierced five hearts.
"KKUHU!" The victims coughed blood and collapsed forward.
It's the same as that day, Yuin's heart dropped.
This was how the celestials made an example of them three years ago when their arrival plunged the world into chaos.
With just tiny wisps that wove through the crowd, hearts were pierced, heads cleaved.
ARGHHH!!!
The crowd roared in dread, scrambling about to find safety. But there was nowhere to hide.
In such endless white space, even a shadow would stand out.
FIAM!
STAB!
PLOOK!
Wisps slithered through from the celestial's palms.
They stabbed through hearts and coiled around necks, cleaving heads from bodies.
"Fuck! What did we do?!! What was our offense?!" A voice cracked from the crowd. "Killing us like this— fuck!"
"Please, spare us. Spare me— I have a son waiting for me at home. He's just 4," a woman fell to her knees in tears.
"I just graduated, hik! It was finally time for me to work and h-help my mom, ha!"
The celestial's onslaught never slowed. In fact, the helpless cries seemed to delight him because his face beamed with thrill.
"Be honored that I'm taking out time to give you rest!"
Stained with blood from the crowd, Yuin's eyes trembled wide. Not a single thought able to penetrate his mind.
This was his second time experiencing such ruthless slaughter. That too, from someone they could do nothing against.
A celestial couldn't be harmed nor stopped. Even if he tried to stop the wisps, they'd pass straight through him and continue their tasks; killing.
The crowd wailed bitterly, desperately running toward the glass wall and attempting to break through.
BAM! BAM!
They hit, crying.
"Fools!" The celestial shunned from above. "Do you think that is an ordinary glass? It is a veil between two realms that the lots of you can never access."
THUD!
THUD!
THUD!
Group by group, Yuin watched the crowd crumple lifelessly. His heart hammered against his chest as the crowd grew thinner.
His turn was coming.
In the next moment, his eyes spread wide as a wisp snapped toward him, rippling through the air.
His muscles spasmed where he stood, blood pumping.
I have to—
WHAM!
The wisp slammed with forceful pressure, stirring a gust of wind that flapped Yuin's clothes.
"H-Ha…" Yuin's breath shook, his legs frozen and trembling in place.
The celestial recalled his wisps from the fallen victims. Then he turned to Yuin with a questioning look.
"Hmm?"
"What did you do?" He asked Yuin who was still wide eyed at the wisp that seized in front of his chest.
He had done nothing. He couldn't even act before the wisp reached him.
But as though a wall was standing before him, the wisp slammed into something and seized right in front of his chest.
The celestial's eyes squinted with ire, evidently displeased. But a subtle confusion lingered.
"No matter," he said. "I just have to do it again."
The wisp in front of Yuin slithered back to the celestial and—
FIAM!
It shot forward again.
This time, it came faster.
Fiercer.
Leaving Yuin no chance to react.
But—
WHAM!
It slammed against an invisible wall again, seizing a few inches away before it reached Yuin's chest.
Like paper, the celestial's face twisted uglily, feeling insulted and enraged.
He moved.
And in the blink of an eye, he was beside Yuin.
Without calling back the wisp, he produced another from his palm, held it up like a whip and struck down toward the side of Yuin's neck.
FIAM!
It whooped the air near Yuin's neck, pressing against an invisible wall and refusing to go further.
Yuin's heart almost puffed out of his mouth, his eyes bulging as he regarded the celestial up close.
Even he couldn't comprehend what was happening. But something else was pulling his attention.
The mark.
It's burning, he said, lifting his trembling right hand up.
The faint glow from the mark instantly caught his eyes, flaring heat and pain through him.
But something else was more nerve wrecking.
The digits.
The seven on one side of the mark had gone down to five.
What is happ—
"What manner of beast are you?!" The celestial thundered as multiple wisps slammed and seized around Yuin at once.
At the exact moment they did, the mark seared Yuin's flesh so harshly, his eyes darted back to it.
And he caught it, the moment the digit went down.
Four.
Feeling choked by the celestial's presence, Yuin dropped and rolled away, creating distance.
It went down right after the celestial's attack, he stared at the mark, puzzled.
Thinking about it…
The number was decreasing every time the celestial attacked.
Seven had gone down to four. And the celestial had attacked him three times.
Are they connected? Does this digit show how many times the celestial will attack me?
FIAM!
Another wisp snapped toward him, seizing inches away from his face. Not minding it, Yuin checked the digit beside the mark.
Three.
Right there, he understood it.
Right! There's no way the celestial would only attack me seven times! He will keep trying until I'm dead, so that's not it.
Slowly, Yuin rose to his feet, shoulders bobbing up and down as he chuckled.
Haa! This might sound funny, but is there a god looking out for me?
The digit didn't equal the number of times the celestial will attack him, but the number of times the celestial's attack will not work on him.
If that's what this digit is for, what about the other one? Yuin wondered. But his priority was far from that.
Just because a digit was temporarily protecting him, didn't mean he was safe from the celestial.
With no way to touch or harm the celestial, he was still as good as dead.
What should I do? his nerves reeled for an answer.
FIAM!
Another attack. But Yuin ducked to the side before it reached.
I can't afford to waste any more of this digit.
FIAM!
Again, another attack. It kept coming one after another as if the celestial was running wild.
But each time one came, Yuin ducked, evaded and ran.
Should I just use him to run around until he gets tired and decides to spare me? He thought. But his mind soon contradicted that.
As if! This is no time for delusions!
Enraged by Yuin's lack of concentration in his presence, the celestial moved, floating toward Yuin.
Getting close to the celestial was suicide, so Yuin took off running.
But it only took a heartbeat for the celestial to appear right beside Yuin.
With his face taut with rage, he lashed a hand forward. "Stop squirming about, you unruly pest!"
Yuin's brain lunged into wild mode, feeling severely threatened which caused his body to act before he could process.
"Don't!" His hand lashed forward.
!!??!!
Silence crashed upon them, the shock rippling.
The celestial's mouth was agape and frozen, while Yuin's eyes were wide and still— both faces mirroring the heavy shock.
Breaking away from the shock, the celestial bellowed. "How dare a bug touch me?!!!"
He thrust his other palm forward, producing a wisp.
But Yuin, still fueled by the sense of danger, tightened his grip around the celestial's wrist until it nearly snapped.
And with every bit of strength he had—
FWOOM!
He flung.
The celestial's body spun through the air like a ragdoll before crashing through the endless void.
The celestial's black board went flying in another direction as he rolled and rolled until the momentum slowed and he stopped.
"Huff…. huff…" Yuin panted softly, bewildered at what just happened.
I touched him, he breathed.
Unbelievable but wasn't this what he wanted? What every human wanted.
First, it was the digit protecting him from the celestial's attack. Now, he was able to even touch the celestial.
A super pack!
The most wanted super pack!
With such powers in his hand, Yuin knew he couldn't afford to waste any time.
At once, he shot forward, speeding toward the celestial where he crashed to avoid giving him chance to recover.
"H-How dare a mere mortal— a rotten one at that—! How dare he touch me?" The celestial quivered on the ground like one totally traumatized.
His gaze snapped to Yuin who was speeding toward him.
"You bug born of an unclean essence, die!" Multiple wisps snapped from his palms toward Yuin.
Yuin didn't slow.
He kept charging toward the celestial.
But just before the wisps reached him, he veered sideways, grabbed one, and—
YANK!
He wrenched it with raw power, yanking the celestial forward.
The instant the celestial was pulled within range—
SNAP!
He snapped a forward kick onto his face, breaking his features with the impact.
But Yuin was nowhere near relenting.
Pulling the wisps back further, he forced the celestial's face onto his shoe, pressing deeper and harder with suffocating resilience.
With his other leg, he pushed himself up, and plunged the celestial onto the ground with a loud crack.
Then—
PRESS!
He pushed his shoe deeper into his face.
"Mmmmfff!!" Muffling, the celestial attempted to shoot a wisp from his hand. But Yuin retracted his foot and crashed it down on the celestial's wrist.
"AARGHHH!!!" An agonizing scream tore from the celestial.
Yuin didn't budge. Because it wasn't nearly half as loud and gut wrenching as that of the crowd that the celestial ruthlessly slaughtered.
Seeing all the blood and the lifeless bodies scattered around, plus the one in a million chance of harming a celestial, Yuin's sense of reasoning crumbled.
He dropped down on top of the celestial and—
POW!
He rammed a heavy punch into his face.
POW!
He plowed another, more powerful and devastating.
Then—
POW!
POW!
POW!
It was unending.
Again and again, he pummeled the celestial's face. The sound of features cracking filled the air, but didn't cause Yuin to flinch even once.
More than a hundred had meaninglessly died to the cruelty of the celestial. He would've been among, leaving his brothers to fend for themselves in this world of hardship and misery.
Yuin's eyes went bloodshot just thinking of this.
And so, over and over again, his taut fist met the celestial's face, moving down to his neck.
Even when blood soaked and dripped from his fist, he continued. He was so overwhelmed with anger and survival that he spared no time to listen to whatever the celestial was mouthing.
He didn't stop until a new sound overtook the wet repeated sound of punching.
[Alert! You have slain a Celestial]
Yuin's head fell back, a low exhale escaping him as he finally took a breather.
Who would've thought that right after manifesting a mark and being thrown into this mess, killing a mighty celestial would be the first thing he did?
Wait!
Yuin snapped wide awake.
Did he say I'd be trapped here forever whether or not I killed him?!