SYSTEM ASCENSION

Elias arrived at the edge of the pit. The one he was almost pulled into before Yvonne came to his aid.

It was dark inside, and even the little stars couldn’t illuminate it. Despite this, he could see just fine. Without hesitation, he leaped inside.

The pit was about six metres deep, with jagged edges and spikes. Unlike the small entrance, inside was about the size of a palace.

Elias gazed around.

The spikes protruding from the ceiling had people strapped to them with cobwebs. Some were already dead, and those hanging on to life could only manage faint whimpers.

"How pitiful," Mona grinned, and almost immediately. "When do we start feasting? Let me take over this time."

Elias didn’t answer. Although the cave was dark, he could see the sleeping Nulls, as well as the other creatures in the cave.

"Crawlers."

They were C rank monsters, capable of performing the duties of a spider. They had numerous legs and eyes.

"Crawlers are cold-blooded, so I expected them in a desert, but why are they in the same cave with Nulls?" Mona voiced out. "And cooperating too?"

Unfortunately, Elias also couldn’t answer that. It was extremely strange.

"I don’t care!" The voice was already moving on. "Let me take over!"

"No."

That single sound echoed the cave. For a moment, nothing happened, until an eye opened right beside Elias.

"Watch ou—"

A single limb shot out and slammed into his side, sending him crashing into a spike several feet away.

The cave shook, and several other creatures jolted awake. Many eyes opened at once, scanning the cave. Although searching, the boy who had caused the problem was no where to be found.

The spike he had slammed against, was empty.

Elias watched the chaos from the edge of the cave, his side still throbbing from the crawler’s hit.

Mona sighed.

"I must say, I applaud your control over me. You managed to switch us in a blink, make me block the attack, and switched us back in a blink."

Elias streched his hand and conjured a dagger, while Mona continued to rant.

"Now that you’re out of the cave, how are you going to feed us?!"

"I’m going back in."

"You’re going to die! You haven’t hunted since you were six! And did you forget that your leg is injured?!"

"The weak point of a crawler or a Null is the same," Elias casually swirled the dagger, and jumped in. "Their eyes and limbs!"

All the creatures attention drifted up to him.

He landed on a Null’s shoulder, driving the dagger into its eye. A fierce screech followed as black blood spilled from it’s socket.

From his left, a crawler limb shot at him. He jumped up, carrying his small frame with a casual precision, while switching the dagger to a long sword. He slashed the limbs into smaller pieces.

By now, the cave was already shaking as all the creatures rushed towards him.

"You only took out two and have been found out," Mona yelled. "At the rate, all the humans will die. You can’t absorb their vitals if they are dead, you idiot!"

As annoying as it sounded, Mona was right. He needed their vital energy to keep himself on his feet, and the chaos isn’t ending anytime soon.

The sword vanished and he shut his eyes.

"You take over."

As soon as he muttered those words, the air around him went still for a second. Then his eyes open, displaying nothing but a Gray colour.

He crouched down and conjured a chain.

"Finally, I’m out." Mona grinned.

He charged straight at the hordes, chain dragging after him. He swung it, and the one chain produced many spear-like edges.

The edges pierced all at once into the nearby creatures and he lunged it forward, bursting out the other side.

"Keep coming!" He retrieved the chains, and swung them again.

One swing became five, then ten. Spear-like edges tore through crawler limbs and Null flesh, black blood painting the cave walls.

A Null lunged, and he ducked, wrapped the chain around its neck, and yanked. Its head hit the stone with a wet crunch.

Another screech. Two crawlers came from above. He leapt, chain spinning, and shredded them mid-air.

Then something bigger shifted in the dark. A limb thicker than a tree trunk slammed into his side. Mona was thrown back, skidding across stone, and slammed into the cave floor hard enough to rattle his teeth.

"Barely felt it." He laughed as the dust cleared.

"He...lp me.." a voice sounded right beside him. He looked down.

He had landed beside a youth. His leg was mangled, blood pooling beneath him. His hand trembled as it stretched toward Mona. "Help... please..."

Mona didn’t blink. He raised his hand, placed it flat on his forehead, and closed his gray eyes.

Light shimmered out of the youth’s body, life draining out of him in a silent rush. Vitality is the proof of life, and that was being extracted.

The youth gasped, eyes rolling back. His body arched, skin turning pale and fingers went limp.

Mona exhaled, slow, like someone finally drinking water after days in the desert. The cracks in his ribs knitted and the ache in his side dulled.

He opened his eyes, where the gray colour was brighter now.

The boy’s corpse slumped beside him, like a hallow tusk.

"Finally," he whispered. "Food."

He watched the horde close in and drove the chain into the ground.

[Elias morial]

The system ding.

[Kill count: 01]

"Would you look at that?" He grinned.

The chain dropped from his grip and he stretched his hand.

"Come to me! I’ll put out your mystery!"

A faint glow seeped from his palms and it spread like invisible threads, countless wisps drifted through the cavern and weaving between the creatures to the humans.

The nearest wounded human stiffened. A pale shimmer escaped her body, floating toward Mona.

[Kill count: 02]

Another followed.

[Kill count: 03]

The gray strands multiplied, reaching every corner of the cave.

The injured humans hanging from the ceiling trembled weakly as tiny specks of light peeled away from them. Those whose lives had already faded remained untouched, while those still clinging to consciousness only lost what little strength they had left. Their breathing grew shallower, their bodies hanging limply within the webs.

[Kill count: 50]

"Yes..." Mona whispered, closing his eyes. "Give it to me. Your pitiful existences."

The streams thickened. Dozens of ribbons of vitality converged on him from every direction, flowing into his body like rivers meeting the sea.

[Kill count: 70]

The bruises beneath his cloths, and the lingering ache in his injured leg dulled.

Inside their shared consciousness, Elias watched.

"Just absorb the Monsters vitals."

"Too bitter." Mona stick out his tongue.

Elias sighed and went silent.

Mona continue to absorb.

[Kill count: 160]

"I guess there were a lot of them hanging on to life, right Elias?"

No reply.

He chuckled and continued.

After a minute, killed count settled in two hundred and five.

"I made quite a scene Elias. Fix it will you?"

He grabbed the chain from the ground.

"Now..."

And charged forward.

"Let’s party!"

Elias shut down his consciousness. Allowed himself to have a good sleep. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

***

His eyes opened at the first light of dawn. He narrowed his eyes.

"Mona?"

"You have an audience." Mona replied.

Elias looked through Mona’s eyes, only to come face to face with Quil.

The youth stood a few steps away, eye dilated in pure horror at the scene Mona created.

Blood and guts scattered around the cave, and hallowed bodies of people were noticeable. Elias himself was covered in black blood, eyes gray and piercing.

He stepped back.

"Elias?"

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