Birth of a Monster

No words needed to be said.

Nothing needed to be communicated.

The position of Eve and the sadistic grin-bearing fiend couldn't be clearer. He was the prey whilst this thing was the predator.

"Khhhr"

"Grugra"

"Meeeaaat"

Multiple heads made horrifying screeches as if to speak but to no avail.

Its hands twitched and curled, it was thin and long but the muscles bulging under the pale skin looked to be carved straight from marble.

'If I'm grabbed by those hands, my bones will break instantly.'

That much was painfully obvious. 

'Maybe, just maybe, if I don't move, it might not attack me.'

That was wishful thinking he didn't get to enjoy the company of.

Just as he thought that, the ghoulish fiend took off with a crack in the floor, Before he knew it, he was lifted into the air with his left hand in the clutches of the demon.

Before his frail humerus bone turned to dust, Eve thrust the tip of the metal rod into one of its eyes.

He knew instinctually that no knife could pierce this thing's skin and no hammer heavy enough to fracture its bones, at least any that he knew of.

So the only targets remained were its mouth and eyes, the soft flesh vulnerable to simple weapons.

The metal rod pierced through the eye filled with mad malice and caused nigh-pitch black blood to spray all over his face.

The sudden burst of pain caused the thing to jolt back and let go, causing Eve to fall on his injured leg, further messing it up.

However, his leg was of no concern as long as it could support his weight.

'I might die.'

His left arm, now part of it crushed and severed with only a tendon keeping it from falling.

A nauseating amount of blood spurted from the wound and death loomed over Eve closer than ever before.

'I might die.' He repeated again in his mind.

'And this thing will be the murderer.'

The ghoulish fiend scrambled on the ground as the metal rod etched into one of its brains messed with its motor system, causing its movement to become unstable and erratic.

Other people would have puked at the absurd sight, some would run for their life and others would have picked up weapons to make this chance count.

Eve was not like other people. Cursed with a disability since birth due to his mother's questionable choice of substance use, he could never fit in with others.

All he thought seeing the creature in front of him was…

'Pathetic.

You've got 8 other heads. Why won't you use those? Do you know how much it hurts with an entire arm crushed? Come and get the job done.'

"GRAGH."

"KILUU-"

"KILL"

"YU-"

The 9-headed fiend eyed Eve with the rest of its eyes with pure malice.

There was no sadistic light to them anymore. It wanted to get rid of Eve immediately instead of toying with him.

Unfortunately for it, its main head had been damaged and it was not skilled enough to make full use of the other heads.

This sight made Eve even more frustrated at it.

It was true that he had felt fear upon seeing its kind for the first time but there was a reason for that.

Their uncanny resemblance to the human body but the bizarre body proportions and shape made them alien-like.

Combined with the environment of dark and the ruined apartment, it was a breeding ground for fear.

Even Ivarage himself could feel a sense of urgency and danger in this condition with his messed up brain.

Yet, any semblance of fear in his mind was utterly and completely erased once he saw the creature eyeing him like a loser.

He had seen this sight before when he got into a fight with some kids a year ago.

They were drinking and causing noise around the neighborhood which made them a target for his daily dose of adrenaline rush.

Intoxicated people do not fight as well as in their prime state but their numbers made up for the lack of difficulty.

That was when Eve realized he loved dominating people in a fight.

Or rather, instead of enjoying the act of dominating others in itself, he loved how that brought out the absolute best of people out.

By demonstrating his superior ability to engage in combat and beating them senselessly, humans show two possible behaviors.

The first would be to give up and plead for their life. They sometimes try to bargain with their possessions and promises.

The second would be to get up and fight again, with their every action fueled by rage and desperation.

Eve found the latter to be more entertaining.

He didn't understand why he liked it but looking back, he had a hypothesis or two.

He most likely enjoyed this desperate act because of the raw emotion it contained. Being the emotion-deprived person he was, he wanted to make the other party feel stronger emotion more than normal to compensate for his lack of feeling.

This triggered the rush of adrenaline that he sought out.

The other one was that he was just a machine wearing the disguise of a reasonable person who just wanted to fight.

Either way, Eve didn't care.

Looking at the creature who seemingly climbed out of hell itself act frustratingly like a human erased any trace of sense of danger in him.

Of course, Eve knew a cornered person was the most dangerous of all. They would abandon all common sense just to fulfill their desire.

In fact, one of the drunkards that day practiced some martial arts and had the common sense to not drink his mind to oblivion.

Eve received a good beating that day although he won in the end.

It was the fight that dealt the most damage to him and it was the fight that caused him to stop seeking combat.

Getting bruises every now and then would raise some red flags at his job so he had to.

But now? Eve didn't care.

The blood loss from his left arm, or the absence of a left arm was severe. Eve was positive he would die in the next 5 minutes.

If he were to die, what's the point of running?

As well as try to enjoy it.

He erased his sense of self-preservation and rushed into the beasts twitching on the floor.

He would give this thing a beating of his own lifetime.

Kill.

He would kill this thing before he died.

His first kill and his last.

'I wonder… if killing feels different.'

That was his last thought before his thoughts were erased from his mind too.

His sole and complete focus was on his prey and the metal rod embedded in one of the eye sockets.

Unfazed by the horrid screeches and protests made by the prey, Eve jumped on the chest of the thing to hold it steady and grabbed hold of the metal rod once again.

He twisted it 180 degrees before pulling it out.

And thrust it to its other eye socket.

Twist.

And the next eye.

Repeat.

Blood got into his eye but he didn't close it. He couldn't afford to lose sight of this extremely desperate beast that could barely move its body anymore.

Blood got into his mouth and swallowed out of habit, but he didn't care. If his body was running out of blood then he might as well put some back into it in one shape or form.

Eye after eye, head to head.

He ran out of eyesockets to put his rod into, but the beast was still alive shown by its beating heart.

Aware of his body getting ready to expire, Eve pulled out the metal rod one last time.

Before throwing it away and sending his whole fist into one of the eye sockets.

Eve grabbed whatever was inside the head and pulled hard, as hard as he could.

Remains of brains along with many other red organs he couldn't identify ripped from the beast's insides and at the same time, Eve's life expired.

Nonetheless, Eve was lucky.

Before his consciousness slipped away, the soul power residing within the 9 headed ghoul transferred over to him.

One second, his sight was dark and he felt like he was frozen in ice, stiff and cold.

Then, scorching heat spread throughout his entire body.

His body gained warmth almost instantly, and power too.

His body grew in stature and more blinding pain formed on his face as more eyes manifested.

Eve's every injury was healed, and that included his brain.

An injury that followed Eve since his birth was getting healed thanks to his accelerated healing factor due to a surge of soul power.

If things were as simple as this, then Ivarage wouldn't have killed everyone.

If an injury persists as long as it did for Eve, it is only natural that it would be healed somewhat with the passage of time.

Much to the universe's misfortune, Eve's brain had wrongly healed during all his life.

So, when his body's healing capability was enhanced in a great burst after absorbing the soul power of the 9-head, all it did was heal faster.

The error wasn't corrected and as such, his brain 'healed' in all the twisted ways possible.

The whole recovery process was highly addictive for Eve. When the deformities in his brain tried to heal, it caused a sensation similar to scratching an area that had been itching for a very long time.

Once the recovery period was over, it left Eve with a messed up brain and a hunger for another healing session like this.

In his half-insane mind, he had figured out he would feel like this again if he killed again.

Eve entered the building as a human and left it as a monster.

This was how the Ravager was born.

And the present day Eve woke up.