Chapter three

" What.. where...how...why... Chrome!! What's going on?!!!" Maple yells in panic.

" You can feel it, can't you." Chrome replies, his voice calm and soft. A soothing breeze blows.

" This isn't our game avatars anymore. This is way too real and look I'm actually sweating. My heart is beating at a thousand beats per second. All of this is messed up but...it's real." Chrome grits his teeth and squeezes his hand into a fist.

" Chrome." Maple whispers.

" Mai, we're really In another world." Yui turns to her twin.

" This is very concerning." Mai replied to her twin.

" I think it's exciting, come on. This has always been our dream. Just like in the stories." Yui cheers.

" It is, exciting I guess. A real adventure." Mai finally admitting defeat, joins her sister in her cheer.

" How do we go back?" Maple slumps, reality settling in.

" I don't know, but for now you three should go inside and try to stay hidden." Chrome helps Maple back to her feet.

Staring at the twins, he frowns.

" What about you?" Maple asks, Mai and Yui walking up to the two of them.

" I need to make sure this area is safe. It's the first rule of securing a base after all." Chrome smiles.

" But this isn't a game anymore." Maple whispers.

" Yeah, all the more reason to do this. We can't take any chances. If you close the windows no one one can tell the difference between the guild and the trees around." Chrome watches as the twins run back into the guild. He turns back to Maple who seems to want to say something.

" Please be very careful." She finally whispers, and then turns and walks into the guild. A few seconds later the windows all close at once.

Chrome watches the guild for a few more seconds then he turns, takes a deep breath and runs right into the trees.

///////////////////////

It's been twenty minutes since Chrome started scouting the forest, and he's already starting to notice a great difference from his previous body.

Jumping down from a twelve meter tall tree with a large thud, a small crater forms underneath him.

" It seems our physical abilities carried over as well. No, I'm even stronger. This feeling of power welling up within me." He jumps unto another tree branch and begins moving through the forest with incredible speed.

A sudden roar stops his progress. Crouching underneath a dense foliage, he hides himself from view. He sees a large bear like beast almost five meters tall.

It's brown fur glittering like diamonds. It's claws longer than his arms while it's arms looks even longer than his whole body.

" That's one nasty looking bear, or is it a gorilla with claws. I didn't see any large beasts on my way, this must be his territory." Chrome inches closer to the beast.

SNAP.

A well placed twig alerts the beast to his presence.

" Ah crap." Chrome immediately bolts as the beast lets out a gut wrenching roar.

A massive shockwave erupts from the beast, uprooting the massive trees around.

The shockwave drafts Chrome up into the air for a few seconds before he lands with a roll then gets back on his feet.

" Alright then, it was nice meeting you. May we never see each other again." Chrome chuckles nervously before jumping back into the trees and taking off.

Faster than a speeding vehicle, Chrome bounds through trees with ease.

" Persistent, aren't you?" Chrome glances back to find the bear/gorilla beast chasing after him.

" Oh come on, I'm leaving already. No need to chase me." Chrome yells as he runs even faster.

The beast ignores him and lunges, mouth wide open. Hundreds of teeth in tow.

With a leap, Chrome dodges the attack. His shield and cleaver appearing in his hands.

In an instant, the beast is upon him and in one motion brings it's massive arm down in a claw swipe.

" Here goes nothing." Chrome yells and braces himself.

BOOOOOOMMMM

" Oh...oh shit." Chrome smiles in awe at what had transpired.

Chrome had instinctively moved his shield to parry the beast's attack, which ended up in the beast crashing fifty meters away from him, demolishing it's surroundings as it did.

" No way. Am.....am I stronger than this thing." Chrome stares in shock at the beast struggling to stand.

Finally on it's feet/claw/paw, the beast lets an even more powerful roar, releasing another shockwave that creates a crater with it as the center.

Chrome however, now more confident than before stands his ground and doesn't even budge from the shockwaves.

A smile creeps into his face " My turn."

Taking a stance, Chrome tries to access the feeling of power inside him. Almost immediately he feels it, the compactness of his bones, his muscles compressing like a wound up spring, a cold sensation makes him shiver as he feels a new energy build up within him till he can't hold it anymore.

Releasing all that energy at once.

RAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Chrome roars.

An immense grey shockwave hundreds of times larger and more destructive than the beast's erupts from him, demolishing everything for miles.

A huge crater forms in an instant, staggering the beast and sending it flying.

Crashing through multiple trees, the beast finally realizes that this human might be too strong for it.

However it's too late.

Chrome takes a single step.

Feeling a chill go down it's spine, the beast hurriedly raises it's head.

[] Stare into the abyss, and the abyss will stare back at you []

Eyes that promises nothing but the end.

Darkness, stained by grey.

A visage at the end of your line.

There is no death, there is only....him.

The Grim Reaper, has come for you.

The beast's final thoughts as the cleaver smashes down on it's head.

KRABOOMMMMMM

An explosion, spanning hundreds of meters, rips through air, tree and ground alike.

The next few minutes hold nothing but silence as the smokes and dusts finally settle.

Chrome stares at the corpse before him, it's head looking like grinded meat.

" Damn. And here I was, trying not to kill it." Truthfully Chrome had tried to avoid killing the beast as he felt he could use it to test out if his skills worked. So he used the back of his cleaver, hoping to hurt it enough but keep it alive. That had just crushed it's head and grinded it's flesh to paste.

" Might as well." He crouched, and placed his hand on the corpse.

A feeling rose within, the chill returning. When the feeling reached it's peak, an eerie silence surrounded him as he spoke.

|| Soul Eater ||

A rush of warm energy flowed into him and he shivered from the bliss.

He could feel it, a ball of energy forming within his core.

The ball of energy immediately disappeared as if it was consumed and a new feeling rose within him.

Placing his hand back on the now dried corpse, he spoke.

|| Bestow ||

The corpse remains still as Chrome holds his breath.

Then suddenly, it twitches. Then it jerks. Grey smoke billow out of it in a frenzy, consuming the corpse.

The smoke clears and the beast stands before Chrome.

It's eyes a pale shade of grey with the occasional mist.

It stood at an impressive six meters, one meter taller than it's living counterpart.

It's previously brown fur now black as night and stained by grey.

" Whoa." Chrome whistles.

" I could get used to this."