Young Juma

-*- psa: in his previous life, the mc's name was Devon. In his new life, it is Kai. Devon is more associated with his hateful side and Kai is more associated with his innocent side. That is why his name is used interchangeably. -*-

From the corner of his eye, Kai saw Ernest cowering behind a tree trunk, her fearful eyes staring at the same monster he was. She raised her hands to her mouth- a failed attempt to quiet her heavy breathing. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Mud ruined her otherwise beautiful dress- a most loved gift from Myria.

The monster's long bearish arms excitedly flailed around as its monkey face bellowed with animalistic excitement. Kai instinctively raised his hand to his nose in an attempt to quell the horrible stench emitted from the beast's stomach.

Its red-brown fur was matted, though Kai couldn't tell if it was due to blood or just its sweat. He hoped it was the latter. Even if Devon was fine with sacrificing Khazi if it came to that, he much preferred saving both of his friends.

He gritted his teeth, trying to find some opening or strategy. The tales he heard of the Juma were nothing short of terrifying. Despite only being a C-rank beast its death count reached the thousands.

Its body was equipped with multiple lethal weapons- the first being a strength far superior to bears or gorillas. With just a single swipe of its massive paw hand, the beast could cleanly decapitate 3 C-rank tamers at once. Additionally, the gaping mouth situated in its stomach let loose a terrible stench, capable of paralyzing any prey.

Then there was its true mouth, a terrible evolution of a gorilla's or similar D-rank primates. From the bottom of its mouth, 2 fangs curled up like a C. The top of its mouth had 4 sharp triangular teeth that slightly jutted out of its jaw, just barely grazing its lips.

None of this was enough to scare Kai though. The Juma was making quick haste to Ernest, soon going to eat her. Having no fear for his own life, Kai let out a guttural scream that terrified his best friend but intrigued the monster.

As the monster turned, Kai stared into its eye.

Its singular eye only formed a bottomless pit of indifferent slaughter.

As the beast made excited animalistic sounds, Kai couldn't do anything except stand still. His mind wasn't listening to him. His legs weren't moving for him. His arms weren't raising themself in defense.

The beast charged at its new food. As Kai stood still, the Juma became one of the fastest things in existence.

'Run, Ernest! Run!' Kai thought, wishing he would take his own advice.

Right before the beast's jaw would've bit his head clean off, Devon ducked as he simultaneously raised his hands- palms facing the beast.

One aspect of a Juma's physique Kai had forgotten was its awkward feet. Theorized to be some attempt at fooling prehistoric tamers, at some point, the species had evolved to have backward feet.

This made it so that if they walked left, the tracks on the ground made it appear as if they had actually gone to the right. Perfect for leading a poor tamer astray- and dead.

However, this evolution also made them clumsy.

And a Juma was even dumber than Khazi, no matter if it was much stronger and more ferocious.

Bending his legs so that he could create the most upward force, Devon pushed his leverage as low as he possibly could, thrusting his palms into the beast's legs. Terribly off-balanced due to its feet, the beast helplessly flipped over Devon and fell into a tree, knocking it to the ground with an earth-shattering bang.

Devon knew the fight wasn't close to over yet. Silently cursing at Ernest's still body, paralyzed by fear, he studied the Juma as it flailed itself upright.

Now angered, the Juma let out a roar that even toppled trees. Whether or not Devon would be thrown through the air by such a roar was out of the question. The only thing he could control was his landing.

Forcing a calm ease of mind even as his body tore through space, Devon raised his arms to create some resistance. Then he used his elven nimbleness to turn in the air. Putting all of his focus into his legs, he positioned himself so that he would have the cleanest impact with the ground.

Still, he felt his right ankle sprain. He ignored the sting of his new injury as the Juma banged its fists off of its chest and roared again; instead, he was attempting to prepare for the upcoming charge. However, no preparation could save him.

He quickly found out that he could barely hobble, let alone jump. His greatest strength as an elf was gone.

He hadn't unlocked any latent ability. He wasn't a tamer.

Once again, he would die. Except this time, he wouldn't die alone. Ernest would be killed as well.

In a final desperate bid, Kai gave up any hope of combatting the beast and instead turned to his best friend, screaming, "RUN!!! WHAT ARE YOU STANDING HERE FOR, YOU IDI- YOU DUMBASS!!! I came here to save you and you're just standing there! Go! Run to your brother! Yell at him if you have to, just live damn it!!!"

The paralyzing terror Ernest had felt up to this point finally dissipated. A rising fire-red passion for life erupted in its absence, forcing her to scream as tears ran down her face, "No! Ka-Kai, I- I'm sorry! I knew better than to go into the woods, but I did anyway- just to- just to prove to brother I wasn't scared. But I am! I don't want you to die... I'm so sorry Ka-"

"I'll be ok. This guy's nothing." Kai smiled, knowing that the Juma was finally charging. If he was going to die again, he was going to die knowing that the light of his new life was fine. If screaming didn't work, he hoped that his reassurance would get her to leave.

That's why he faked that smile, even as he felt a burning hatred rise in his heart.

'Khazi... this is all your fault. All you had to fucking do was grow up. Now I'm going to die again and I don't even know if Ernest is going to live. You stupid imbecile idiotic piece of shit... all you had to do was watch over her. Instead, you decided whatever damned grand adventure existed in your decrepit mind was more important... You decided that was more important than your sister's life... You are the reason we're going to die... WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TAKE AWAY ANOTHER'S FREEDOM TO LIVE!!!'

This intense vitriol ignited the spark that had laid in his heart all the time, ever since his reincarnation. A latent, scorching fire that would threaten the entire world. The purple blaze of death he inherited that would force the strongest beasts to be nothing more than his thrall.

This sudden influx of power made him completely unaware of the body that suddenly threw itself into the Juma, only to be torn into shreds a moment later. He was completely impervious to the shrill scream of Ernest.

'My magic is Corruption,' he thought to himself as the Juma bit Khazi's head clean off, the hot breath of his mouth instantly cauterizing the wound.

Devon was wrong. Khazi had not fled after he noticed his sister's trouble. Instead, the boy ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to the estate. He frantically called out every name he knew in hopes that there was any tamer at the estate that he could call upon for help.

Realizing that there wasn't any, he returned as fast as he possibly could to the forest, praying he wouldn't be too late. He had no problem sacrificing himself now that his single foolish attempt to receive help failed. As long as his sister was safe.

Khazi found Kai doing his absolute best to protect his sister. Filled with a boundless love for his elven friend, Khazi knew he had to make this right. Kai didn't deserve to die for his mistake. His little sister especially didn't.

So even as he was torn apart, he felt no grief or fear. He only felt pain and love.

Kai stared with wide unbelieving eyes, completely ignoring the purple flames of corruption dancing off his fingertips as he watched his friend get torn apart. The young master's limbs littered the ground, as well as the blood that dropped from the Juma's excited chomps. His cries of pain pervaded through the false bravado, decorating Kai's and Ernest's tears.

Driven by pure rage and instinct, Devon raised his hand. A ball of purple fire formed in his hand before erupting in one blaze of pure destruction. The fire scorched the entire surrounding area, turning any plants it touched into a pitch black. But they hadn't become ash- they just died.

This wall of pure unadulterated hatred conflagrated around the beast, scourging any idea of self it had.

The beast felt its very will turn on itself- flailing its arms in a desperate bid to live, the young Juma wasn't fighting the fire.

It was fighting the pure domination of the SSS-Rank skill known as Corruption.

And it lost. Horribly.

Devon watched this annihilation with pure glee as he felt the aspect of its soul join his. He finally knew what it felt like to tame a beast.

But the beast wasn't tamed by Devon.

It was enslaved, corrupted.