1 Spirit Of Starvation
On a rainy day in West Tokyo City, a massive vortex of dark, slimy goo was forming over a certain place.
This place was called the Eishu Juvenile Detention Center. It was, in layman's terms, a prison for teenagers who had committed crimes and couldn't be tried as an adult.
It was a great source of despair, depression, sadness, anger and grief so thick that one could feel it weighing down the atmosphere within the place as they entered.
It also was the cause of the dark vortex hovering above the area.
In this world, when so many negative emotions come together at once while building upon itself overtime, it forms something, a phenomenon called a cursed spirit.
These cursed spirits, completely formed from the negative emotions turned cursed energy leaking out of humans, were sentient beings that were hellbent on destroying humans.
The ones responsible for making them.
It was a bit ironic if you thought about it.
Although sentient, the intelligence level of these cursed spirits could range from downright barbaric to above genius level human intellect.
This usually depended on what rational or irrational fear the curse was formed out of.
Some were formed out of the fear of heights, fire, oceans, forests, spiders and sometimes, even the hatred humans felt towards each other. Worse yet, the consciousness of such curses would be directed towards that specific fear.
But this particular one forming over the earlier mentioned Juvenile center had more of a simple, primal fear that 99% of humans had.
Even the most fearless people on the planet felt some inkling of uncertainty when it came to this phenomenon.
This was one of the oldest fears known to man.
Starvation.
Vroommm....
The vortex suddenly became smaller as the goo began to compress itself into a humanoid shape, slowly taking the form of strange creature.
A cursed spirit.
This one was rather humanoid, even moreso than the norm.
He was muscular and toned, despite his relatively small frame. He had two long antennae on his ears and a large shell-like armor over his head that resembled a helmet.
There were dark pigmented areas on his arms, legs, chest, head and his bare feet. He possessed a tail equipped with a stinger that could potentially serve as a weapon.
Lastly, both his hands and feet had only four digits each.
As soon as this spirit was formed, the vortex disappeared.
"Hm? Where am I?"
Even though he was a cursed spirit, his speech was completely human. His purple pupils darted around the rooftop of the detention center, trying to find a way to ascertain his location.
It didn't take long for him to locate about 4 auras in close proximity.
"3 humans and 1 with an aura similar to mine...they seem to be fighting. Hm."
BOOM!
The spirit stomped through the concrete roof and started moving towards the closest auras.
The moment he entered the building, he felt as if he entered a different area, a completely different dimension.
It was a place filled with an endless amount of industrial pipes that led to seemingly impossible locations.
"This aura...it belongs to the one that's down there."
The spirit immediately figured out who was responsible for the change in scenery. It was the only other aura that resembled his own, the other cursed spirit.
WHOOSH!
But the new situation didn't stop him. When he locked onto an objective, there was nothing that could stand in his way.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions could be heard as he crashed through each wall with incredible speed and power.
His physical abilities, especially for a newly born cursed spirit, were outstanding.
It wasn't long before he eventually crashed through one last pipe and suddenly arrived in a massive open space within the building.
The moment he arrived there, his eyes locked on to the two figures in battle. Their eyes also locked onto him.
Everything seemed as if it was moving in slow motion to the spirit as he fell down to the ground below.
The two figures, one human and one cursed spirit looked at him with surprise in their eyes.
"The human is already injured. He seems to have something that's reminiscent of myself in him, but he's far too weak. As for my kin...time for us to have a talk."
WHOOSH!
The moment his feet touched the ground, he accelerated between the two figures in a blur.
Before they could even react, the spirit plunged his entire arm through the pink haired boy's chest and kicked him away, sending flying through multiple walls until he eventually flew out of the building.
After stylishly flicking the blood from his arm on the floor, the spirit then turned to his kin and for the first time since he was born, an amicable expression formed upon his face.
He outstretched his hand and said, "I am Meruem. Could you tell me where we are?"
The spirit was shocked by Meruem's abilities as it started to slowly back off.
But it's pride wouldn't let it go down so easily.
Stifled by fear and unwillingness, the spirit started charging up a yellow colored attack with it's cursed energy, hoping to destroy Meruem with it.
"You...lack intelligence."
Just like before, Meruem's movement was so fast the spirit couldn't even track it.
With a few flicks of his tail, he decapitated the spirit and chopped off its arms, completely halting its attack.
As he looked at the destroyed body of the spirit, a sudden, primal urge overtook his body from the depths of his soul.
"I'm hungry."
His purple colored cursed energy flared as he crouched down and started devouring the spirits body with reckless abandon.
That's when he noticed something strange happening.
It's uneaten body parts started joining back together while the eaten portions started regenerating from nothing.
Contrary to what one might think though, Meruem wasn't put off by this phenomenon. In fact...
"An infinite meal!"
A gruesome smile appeared on his face as mercilessly devoured the other spirit like a famished demon.
This scene continued on for about 10 minutes as the other spirit screamed in pain.
Just as he was about to grab another limb to devour, he noticed something in the middle of the spirit's chest, something resembling a finger.
Of course, he reached inside and grabbed it, thinking it would just another delicious part of the spirit.
The moment he did, his expression changed drastically.
Meruem threw the finger out of the building as an indomitable aura assailed his body and soul, causing him to momentarily retreat.
"The energy coming from that finger...is dangerous. I should stay from it for now."
As he turned around to continue eating the spirit, he noticed it turning to dust in front of his eyes for some reason.
Although he could feel an incredible amount of anger boiling within for the loss of his meal, his mind was still rational.
"That finger must have been his core. Tch. What a wasted meal."
His cursed energy had significantly increased from devouring the spirit but the potential of what he could've gained stayed fresh within his mind.
That's when he remembered something. A detail that had slipped his mind in his hungry craze.
"The aura that was coming from that finger...while it's not as strong, there was a faint but similar one coming from that human I killed. Could that be why he was fighting that cursed spirit?"
Curiosity started to take hold of him the more he thought about it.
But in the end, he decided against it.
"Calm down, Meruem. I'm not sure who or what that finger belongs to yet. When I do, then I'll make a decision. For now, I'll just find a place to settle. Hm, the area changed since that spirit died too. What an interesting thing."
Now that his next move was decided, it was time to move.
Meruem walked outside of the hole he sent the pink haired boy flying through and looked down below.
When he did, he noticed some more humans, about 3 of them surrounding the boy.
"It seems that they're trying to heal him."
The moment that those words escaped his mouth, the three humans at the bottom sensed his presence and reacted accordingly.
One of them, a boy with black spiky hair, jumped back and made some strange hand signs with his hands, summoning a bird from his shadow.
The other, a orange haired girl, tried to move but she seemed heavily injured also.
The spirit from earlier seemed to have done a number on her.
With a blur, Meruem appeared over the pink haired boy he killed before and looked at the hole he made in his chest.
"I'm right. The aura is similar. Hm. Is this a thing with all humans?"
Meruem's tail suddenly extended and wrapped around the boy's neck, drawing him closer.
"Hm. This one isn't the same."
He threw him away and grabbed the girl that was closer, inspecting her too.
"Just like the last."
Meruem threw her into a wall and turned his attention to the last human, an older man with glasses.
Just one glance at him already told him everything he needed to know. This man wasn't nothing more than garbage.
Not even worth his time.
"That's enough for today."
WHOOSH!
Meruem disappeared as he left the area, heading into Tokyo City. It was time to see what this place had to offer.
