A Mysterious Creature Descends

I returned home after a 15-minute long walk. The journey home was in essence always a quiet walk, since I specifically avoided the streets with bars and restaurants. Especially as it usually was after-work hours when I walked home.

As I entered the house, it was completely quiet as well. This was only natural since my parents tended to work long hours. Still, the silence always felt unwelcoming. I sighed shortly as I went into the kitchen, pulled out the envelope of money I received that day and threw it on the table

"…?

This is a surprising amount of money for what the situation was, maybe Arisa is a rich girl after all…"

I soon started to drool a little but, not because of my hunger for dinner, but the ideas of what I could do with the money circulated in my head. The feeling of getting money was very sweet, like a ripe fruit.

"20 gacha pulls in Destiny; Mage Academy…!

Or a new set of Mahjong tiles…!

Or new running shoes…!

Or a new keyboard…!

Or…"

I got silent as a melancholy drew in on my face. My eyes had an unsure expression as they looked down at the pile of money. The realization of my wide amount of options to buy reminded me of my success in each one of these things. I scratched my head with a frown as I thought to myself

-Equipment isn't what makes you improve... –

As I felt depressed over the realization, I noticed that there was still something in the envelope in the corner of it. As I shook it out, it rolled along the table for a moment until it fell over. A metallic ring in a blue-ish colour shined into my eyes.

Immediately remembering the golden-hued rooftop only a few hours ago, I smiled to myself as I fitted it onto my finger.

"I guess I'll go study"

...

A darkness had swept the skies, and silence was the loudest it could be. Aside from some crows sitting in a tree squawking, there wasn't a single lifeform outside. But there was something there beside the crows.

A completely black figure descended slowly from the dark night sky, indistinguashible from its backround. But even so, its presence was known to everything around it.

The crows that had been the only source of sound in the area suddenly grew quiet and very soon started to fly away, as if they were in a hurry.

With trees rattling behind it, the figure landed his feet on the edges of a roof.

Feeling dark grey, gloomy clouds build up over its head, the figure knew it didn't have much time to mess around.

"I made it"

Without moving anything, the windows before it shot up and the curtains swept along as if there was a strong wind passing through.

A bolt of lightning shot down behind it.

...

Hearing a loud roar outside, Sekan immediately shot up on his bed in panic. The first thing he saw was his windows opened widely, letting in a surprisingly strong wind. The initial chaos made it hard to even react to anything happening, and before he had the chance to think he noticed something odd by the window. The exaggerated silhouette of a person was standing on the window frame, looking like it had its arms crossed.

- Am I in the middle of sleep paralysis right now? Is that a sleep paralysis demon?

But wait, am I supposed to be able to move during that...? -

He moved his hand before his eyes and looked for a moment before slapping himself in the face

*SLAP*

"Hm?"

*SLAP*

"Huh!?"

*SLAP*

*SLAP*

"No, I'm definitely awake normally right now

Then..."

"Have no fear, Resident of Earth. I've come here at your own request...!"

A voice was expelled out of the black figure, that now jumped down from the window frame to the floor of Sekan's room. Even though that's what he said, it did not lower Sekan's fear at any level whatsoever. Out of a strong unwillingness to accept the situation, he closed his eyes and opened them again. Unfortunately, the sight he saw was exactly the same. After a sigh, he responded

"My own request? Since when do people request to get robbed in their homes...!? I-I have some fresh money you can take if you'd like though..."

Even though it was the only logical option, Sekan did think it was bizarre that someone would've tried breaking into someone's house through the second floor window.

The figure released a quick chuckle as it said

"I understand immediately offering something to a higher being like me, but us World Creatures don't accept offerings like that. Even so I don't think I would have much use for a currency with a bad exchange rate like that.

The reason I've come here is to answer the prayer you sent out previously, I'm sorry for my tardiness though. It took a bit of time to intercept it."

Sekan started to somehow realize that the situation wasn't akin to his normal understanding of the world. The chances that this was a deranged psychopath that broke into his house or that it genuinely was a otherworldly creature was around 50/50 in his head. Even Occam wouldn't be sure as to which one could be true.

Sekan thought for a moment about prayers he's done, and had to dig through his actions the past few days. Even though events of studying, losing in the school festival, embarrassing himself infront of Class 2C and idly playing games on his phone came up, one moment related to praying also showed itself

- Is he talking about the prayer I did after I gambled yesterday with Kanji...?-

"I am not a God, nor am I Mother Earth. But I am your Fate currently.

I would like to propose an opportunity to make you into the strongest and most influential Earthling in the Universe."

Sekan slowly looked up from his hands, which he'd stared at while reminicsing, and looked at the shadowed figure with an open expression. Those words had found their target right in his heart, the exact type of thing that would draw immediate interest. The collected and serious composure of the figure gave the words weight, it was like the air around the figure was warped in a way that was completely different from what Sekan had seen earlier in his life. Could a human psychopath really be like this?

30/70.

"It seems like you're interested at least. That's a relief, coming all the way here is pretty dangerous for me...

Ah! oops--"

The figure dropped what looked like a notebook filled with black pages and white writing-lines. As it bent down, Sekan saw that behind the figure was a trail of some black smokey particles that had traced its movements into the house.

15/85.

The figure rose up again after picking up its book, and Sekan immediately broke his focus to realize something. He had been so caught up in the moment that he'd neglected the simplest way to see what the shadowed figure really was.

Quickly, he threw himself out of bed and cast his arm towards the wall.

*CLICK *

"Aaaaah, so bright! Ouch. What'd you do that for, out of nowhere...!?"

The lamp cast a bright light down upon the room, like a miniature of the sun. With his back toward the wall, Sekan stared forward with a dumbfounded expression. His eyes widened in surprise, like he had just been ambushed by an army legion.

0/100.

The figure he saw earlier stayed almost the same. In front of him stood a completely black figure in the shape of a cartoony silhouette of a person. It had thick blobby hands and feet and a relatively round head. The figure was shielding its face from the sudden bright light, and when it took down its arm a face showed itself. It had normal features on its face, and those features were staring down at Sekan. There were no signs of anger or irritation from the figure, but almost like a sense of embarrassment like they'd just been stripped naked. Sekan took a moment before he could return to his senses, at which point he tried to stand up again. But his muscles seemed to wane in strength as he tried to do so, and he slipped down the wall again to the ground. Carefully, he asked

"What are you...?"

...