Liya

Tenshi opened his eyes and saw his new friend was gone. After searching around for a bit, he found her nowhere.

As he sat down, he hugged his knees and thought 'It felt nice talking to someone.'

It's been weeks since he was in Hell. Every day, he would just sit in the cave and reflect on random things, like his past regrets and mistakes…

As the weeks went by, slow helplessness and despair slithered up to him. The food is almost empty; there is only one remaining egg.

Samael hasn't once spoken to him since the last time he revealed about the eggs being Leviathans.

"Should I kill myself?" Tenshi said out loud; it was a manner he had developed to stop himself from going mad.

Thankfully, he has lost no weight; the nutrients from the eggs are more than sufficient for him. And there is plenty of water in the cave, which is drinkable.

Tenshi has been staying in this dream-like world for a while, and he had already noticed he now has white wings, which unfortunately don't seem to respond properly.

'Wait, why didn't Rias question my wings?' Tenshi questioned again, finding the situation strange.

Now that Tenshi thought about it, he found her often avoiding subjects like her family, other than mentioning to him they were rich.

His theories were interrupted when he spotted the world starting to crack. He thought maybe he was going to wake up from the dream.

…

As he expected, when he opened his eyes, appearing in the same shitty cave, he had been living in.

Tenshi looked at his arms and saw one was still missing, unlike in his dream, where he had two. Then, looking over his shoulder, he saw there were no wings.

'It felt nice to have my arm back in the dream' Tenshi thought.

"How many days have I been here?" Tenshi then thought out loud.

Abruptly, he heard cracks behind him.

Turning around, he caught the last egg he had preserved had cracks on the eggshell.

Tenshi dashed to the cave entrance and grabbed a large rock, ready to slay the baby before it could attack him.

A small, frail creature walked out of the shattered shell. It seemed very curious as it looked around with its adorable small head wobbling around.

The tiny baby creature stared at Tenshi with wide, curious eyes. It is unusual for a baby when it is born with its eyes open.

Tenshi's hand was in the air with a large rock, ready to smash the baby and eat its meat; It had been so long since he had eaten the meat of an animal.

Tenshi looked at its watery blue eyes, which were looking at him closely. Then the baby raised both hands, imitating Tenshi, whose hand was over his head.

Watching the adorable situation, Tenshi didn't have the heart to kill the baby, but it was his last rations of food. He would need to go outside the cave to hunt, where cruel, deadly creatures were ready to devour him.

Harding his heart, he said "I am sorry."

Before dropping the rock.

◈ ━ ◆ ━ ◈

⪼ Inside Sacred Gear⪻

"I am surprised he survived this long" said a man with enormous white wings which are greater than the size of a planet.

Samael has been watching Tenshi from inside the sacred gear since the beginning.

Samael had seen all of Tenshi's breakdown, sorrow, thoughts of suicide, and despair.

It would be a lie to say it isn't entertaining for him to see Tenshi frightening like a rabbit whenever he hears roars outside the cave.

Samael knows one of the main reasons Tenshi survived is because of the Leviathan.

Before choosing its nest, Leviathan marked the territory around the cave with its scent and scratch marks. It's a way of warning smaller predators who can see large marks and smell scent. The beasts can understand if they pass, the Leviathan will attack. And its eggs even sustained him.

If anyone else discovered Tenshi was using Leviathan eggs to feed himself, they would have crucified him and declared him an imbecile.

Tenshi stepped inside the cave unknowingly when the Leviathan was sickly from birthing and hibernating. So it couldn't react adequately, leading to it dying from Tenshi's Holy Fire.

"So you still have morals? Intriguing!"

◈ ━ ◆ ━ ◈

"I am sorry… I ate your brethren" Tenshi said as he dropped the rock aside while startling the baby creature.

Tenshi leaned down to reach the baby's eyes and said "I-I don't have enough food to feed you."

The baby Leviathan tilted its head cutely and gave a baby "rawww.."

Then the baby went back and carried a piece of eggshell in its mouth, then placed it under Tenshi's knees.

Tenshi was first puzzled but soon realized some babies ingest their eggshells because they had an abundance of nutrients.

Deciding to try, he took a bite of the eggshell. It was terrible; he felt like he was chewing paper. But he didn't spit it out; he knew the scarcity of food and wanted to be grateful for the baby creature's kindness.

Tenshi then lifted his arm and started to caress its slimy forehead.

Suddenly, he felt a sting on the top of his left hand. Then, looking closer, he noticed blue markings on it.

Looking at the purring baby Leviathan, he realized he could sense its emotions -Love and affection.

"You think I am your mother?" Tenshi said, making the baby around his fingers to stare at him.

The baby had a querying look but then nodded its head.

Tenshi guessed the tiny creature, too, was able to sense his emotions now.

Tenshi smiled slightly. It was his first genuine smile in a very long time. He was only able to smile like this when he was chatting to Rias in his dream.

"I may not birth you and bring you into this world… but I will raise you as one." Tenshi said, making the small creature jump in excitement with its tiny legs.

…

It's been a week since the baby creature, now named Liya. He was initially going to call it Levi, but after finding out its gender, a female. So he named her Liya, the Leviathan.

When she was born, Liya was the size of his half-knee, but now she almost reached Tenshi's knees.

Liya had been eating the previous eggshells with Tenshi, who also ate after boiling them.

Today Tenshi is going to take a risk; he is going to hunt a small creature. He left Liya back in the cave, which saddened her, but she still listened to Tenshi and remained in the cave.

Tenshi wasn't scared about Liya's safety as much as his because he found some fascinating things about Liya. Whenever she gets wet, she gains a 'boost' which can increase her power; he had watched her crush a rock into chunks with her teeth. With food(eggshells) for a month, he is sure she can survive by herself in case something were to happen to him.

Tenshi maintained his guard. Living in the cave definitely messed up his reflexes and perception, but it wasn't dangerous enough for a handicap.

Clutching the manmade bone axe in hand, he took a deep breath. Today he is going to find food, not just for himself, but for Liya, who needs food for her to grow healthy.

*rustle* *rustle*

Tenshi picked up the bushes around him rustle. It feels like déjà vu. Then, the same exact scene happened; a red creature came out. Looking closely, he felt it resembled those Imps from the games he had played.

As he was barefoot, he felt the ground tremble, something inside moving.

The Imp suddenly launched toward him, but this time Tenshi was prepared. He jumped to the side, evading the Imp, trying to sink its teeth into his flesh. It was easy for him to dodge as he only had one hand.

As he previously jumped, he saw a hand coming under his feet at the place he left a second ago.

Tenshi felt the ground vibrating again as his hand was on the ground. He never withdrew his eyes from the Imp, and the Imp was staring at him like prey.

Tenshi hopped to the side again, and at the place, he had just been revealed, a massive hole and a worm-like creature emerged with its mouth open.

'Please work' Tenshi prayed as he took out a rope made up of vines and sharp teeth resembling the teeth inside the worm-like creature's mouth.

Like he had practiced hundreds of times, he fired the rope like a lasso targeting the Imp, who was distracted by observing the worm.

The vine-rope bound around the Imp while sinking the teeth attached to it.

"AAAA…." The Imp gave a shrill cry, feeling pain from the rope's sunken teeth.

Tenshi saw the scene and cheered with his success plan. But, sadly, all of it was drained away when suddenly, many tentacles came out of the ground, restraining Tenshi.

"No no no no…." Tensei trashed around the tentacles he wrapped around. Despair; he was feeling. He expected one or two tentacles.

The worm-like creatures stared at him. Somehow Tenshi felt it was smirking, with its ugly round mouth.

It didn't help that the worm creature deliberately dragged its body towards Tensei, causing him more despair.

'SAMAEL SAMAEL!' Tenshi screamed in his mind, crying for Samael's help.

==============

A/N: I know MC might feel weak and a coward, but don't worry, as it is only initially like this. MC soon becomes a proper warrior or a hunter.

Please ignore if you found any grammatical mistakes, and let me know any spelling errors.

Here is my P@treon if you want to support me :)

----> https://www.patreon.com/crazy_penguin