Chapter 15: The massacre (part 2)

"Two hours"

That was how long it had taken him to recover both his exhaustion and injuries, the feeling of his arm back was a good one and he flexed it a little then stood up to look around the place. The victims of his massacre were still laying all around him in an ocean of their own blood, Raizel thought to himself to devour every last one of them before they became inedible or disappeared but when thinking of their numbers he lost a little motivation but still could not give up yet on such a buffet.

"If only it was as easy to devour as it is to kill".

The power of gluttony suddenly popped up in his mind and he facepalmed, he could create a demon for it right now but that would be cheating as nothing but his mutant body and abilities has been promised by himself to use so that was out of the question. Sighing to himself once again Raizel spent the next couple of minutes collecting the bodies, dicing them up into smaller pieces and turning them into mountains of meat of which he then placed a strong barrier around with his bio-aura.

"Guide".

The little being popped up once again "at your service".

"Will these bodies disappear".

"Not exactly, once a level has been cleared and the player declares no further use for the imps shall they disappear for new inhabitants to exist".

"And if the players declare a use for them?".

"Then they shall be given unto him in whatever quantity that is requested".

"Interesting, can a declaration be made without clearing the entire level".

"No".

"Him, how long does it take until their powers finish dissipating into the air".

"Well the dissipation isn't instant upon demise as it is with normal mutants, theirs only begin after a week".

"I see, that's more than enough time then, I only need 1 or two days at most".

"Have you any more questions for me".

"No, thank you".

The little being smiled and vanished, he stretched his body a little bit and released his orbs but un-summoned eight a second later after rotating them around. He took a look in the direction of the floor guardian and burst forward towards it high speeds reaching the location after a full 6 minutes. Even with how far away he was standing from it the oppressive aura washing over him was still so potent, it was quite an amazing feeling and one that stoked his reignited his blazing thirst for battle.

He jumped down from the hill and began walking towards the mountain with an entrance before him, he expected to find some more imps guarding the area but it seemed that the guardian was simply a loner which explains why no signs of disturbance could be seen for miles around showing just how much the imps on this floor feared it's might.

Upon reaching the entrance after a few minutes of walking he looked straight ahead at the pitch black before him and cracked a smile, then he walked in through what he felt was like a portal. The other side wasn't anything grand like he was expecting it to be, it was simply a near barren room with a lot of space and floating fireballs around the walls serving as illumination. To the left side of him a little far away was one big portal 20 meters in width and length sparkling with spatial storms every few seconds, from the other side of it he could hear the voice of beasts roaring in an almost taunting manner but fear could be felt still from them.

Then he turned his gaze to what lay right ahead at the far end, sitting on a throne of black iron with it's eyes closed and it's head resting on it's upright hand as it slept ever so peacefully was the guardian. A creature with red skin and four hands covered in scales that acted as armor protecting it's vital parts, it's head was covered in flames and though it's build was big it wasn't grotesque or disadvantageous to it in combat.

Based on what he could discern it would be a little taller than him when upright, about 6'5 to exact which wasn't much as someone who was 6'4, he smiled and began walking towards it only stopping when he was half a meter away from it then he snapped his fingers.

"Hey, wake up I'm here to eat you".

The guardians eyes sluggishly opened and it's ocean blue eyes looked at him for a few seconds before shutting off again, Rai smiled feeling no offense by this action but instead more excitement.

"It seems you need something more solid as proof huh, worry not then".

He walked forward and sunk his teeth into it's neck, the guardians eyes sprung open almost immediately as it looked down at Raizels face with chilling eyes, but he just smiled and ripped a huge chunk of flesh from it's neck then making sure to dutifully chew and savor the incomparably richer flesh compared to that of the imps, when he was done he swallowed and licked the tip of his fingers while looking at the guardian straight in the eye and surprisingly the eyes that met his eyes weren't that of a monster about to go feral but something else entirely.

His eyes moved to it's neck which was already regenerating the lost piece of flesh "hohh, you regenerate and quite fast at that too huh".

The guardian stood up and both looked the other in the eye, the pressure in the room began rising heavily until the reached the magnitude of an earthquake focused only the mountain, neither were flaring their powers at full force just yet. With a flick of the guardians finger a strong invisible force blew Raizel away like a rocket into the walls and bouncing off it upon impact, normally a force like this should not be anywhere near too much for his body to bear but for some reason he could feel every bit of organs and bones vibrating leading to him coughing out some blood.

"Wow, this place is really something if it can withstand such force".

Looking down at his body which was still shaking from that attack and the pain that could be felt inside his entire body down to his very bones he smiled weakly, the guardian was really a strange meal indeed.

"Oh deary me, how many internal injuries is that I wonder".

He looked up to find tbe guardian's knee coming straight for his head and moved far away from the attack but once again the invisible force still reached him and shook every bone and organ in his body worsening his injuries but all he did was smile.

"If I continue accumulating damage like this I might not get the chance to eat you properly, do forgive me".

He vanished and reappeared right behind the guardian holding a piece of it's flesh in his mouth, he had bitten from the very same spot of which he had before and the guardians eyes were wide open in surprise as it watched it's blood spill down it's body like a fountain before fully regenerating again 2 seconds later, Raizel sent a kick to it's sides sending it flying hard into the walls and bouncing off it.

But strangely enough the one who seemed to have taken damage wasn't the guardian unexpectedly but him once again as the same invisible force traveled through his body this time at a much higher intensity than before causing him to fall down on his knees and clutch his chest.

'This is what I get for being regeneration dependent huh' he chided himself mentally.

The guardian looked very angry right now, it's aura flared up to full intensity and with this he showed a smile of pure joy.

"You idiot, if only you'd stayed at the same level then you might have won this".

As Rai was not one to refuse such a wonderful greenlight he brought his bio-aura to normal levels giving it it's original crimson hue which could be seen by the naked eye. This time he could make an image of the invisible force that had been hitting him, it was getting stronger around the body of the guardian and vibrating with an insane intensity that could not be concealed, the entire mountain began showing cracks at such intensity but they healed back up.

Upon the tiniest bit of release the entire area around him was reduced to dust, with every step it took towards Raizel the vaporization effect spread, then it slowly raised it's hand up and pointed towards him.

In that split moment with his senses being pushed into overdrive Raizel cocooned himself inside a sphere made of his bio-aura, there was no flashy bang nor exaggerated effects, it simply happened all too fast as a huge chunk of the mountain was turned to dust particles along with multiple hundred thousand miles around it. Raizel compressed the cocoon even further and wrapped it around himself like a full body suit that showed not a single bit of him, not even his eyes were visible and right now he just looked like a faceless being of pure energy in humanoid form.

"You're definitely dangerous no doubt, but it seems you're still not enough".

"Can't force me to use it, but I'll play with you".

The guardian as if understanding the words that had just come out of Raizels mouth tilt it's head and showed a vicious smile belonging to a predator so sure it was at the top of the food chain, the visible vibrations that could be seem around suddenly turned invisible once again leaving only the illusion of a cool wind blowing ever so softly around it. Then it clasped it's hands together and both were wrapped in gauntlets made out of tiny white particles, the same was done to it's feet and every last part of it's body as a whole, then finally those white particles spread out like a cloud and stuck to every part of the walls forming an impenetrable enclosure.

Some of the cloud was also flowing around it's body at a small distance, Raizel felt like he just made a small mistake allowing the guardian to fully craft the environment to it's home advantage which would only serve to terribly annoy him soon enough.

"Deary me".

A wave of crimson bio-aura rose upon from the ground and was brought back down on the surroundings like the heavens might to destroy the domain but the invisible force hit them before they could do so, looking at the white particles he couldn't escape the feeling this was a ticking time bomb that might spell disaster for him so the only thing he could do now wasn't to attack them but the guardian directly, the crimson wave was separated and compressed into a multitude of weapons which rained down on it like a crimson hell.

But the invisible force stopped them from reaching it leaving both powers at a stalemate, the vibration could not vaporize the constructs in a short time and Raizel could also reform them quickly enough once again the moment they showed signs of breaking down, he tried using his thin threads as a way to get past but they were getting destroyed and repelled much too easily compared to the constructs so he threw that plan in the bin and decided to use the only path he had left.

'Small reminder to myself, the goal is not to kill it too quickly but to enjoy the thrill of battle'.

"Oi guardian" he called out.

"Let's play a little game, your abilities alone will barely work on me anymore and I won't use mine on you".

"So let's just fight, perhaps when combined with your strength you might have a chance".

The guardian seemed to care not for what Raizel had just suggested and sent another strong wave of vibrations focused only around Raizels body but all it did was give him a slight feeling of numbness which wasn't what anyone would call effective.

"Fine then, I'll just have to beat you into cooperation".

He vanished and connected a perfect punch to the guts forcing it to keel forward, then he gave a backhanded slap to the back of it's head forcing it down to the ground of which it bounced off of, then finally he ended the sequence with a slight turn and a kick to it's sides mid-air making it fly off like a rocket embedded into the walls.

Raizel shook the little feeling of numbness in his legs off and looked at the guardian who had already recovered itself from the walls allowing it to heal and walking back towards him but Rai had no patience and attacked him again with another punch to the gut, this time it blocked it by outfit it's palm in the way and holding onto Raizel's fist. Unfazed by these turn of events he stomped on it's toes but unlike he expected it showed no reactions to it's feet getting crushed and instead went for a grab at his head with it's free hand of which he grabbed onto and holding it in a lock but it's other two free hands were still unchecked threats so he went for a simple leg sweep which worked but it also dragged it down with him, Raizel reacted quickly and plant his feet back down on the ground to stop himself then gave the guardian a headbutt to it's face crushing it in the process and freeing his other hand from it's palm of which he immediately used in grabbing it by the throat and tossing it away like a piece of trash. But the moment he turned around he was brought down with a knee kick to his throat which shattered the entire place completely and damaging hore he got get a hold of his bearings another punch was driven to his chest crushing his ribcage and forcing a great amount of blood out of his mouth.

It did not stop there and instead continued with a flurry of punches at his chest and face with no mercy at all, it just continued like a savage beast while making sure to send ultra focused vibrations to specific weak points of his body until it's heart was satisfied then it stopped to look down at it's challenger, his heartbeat was super weak but he wasn't dead yet.

"Such a big mouth for someone who's not on my level".

"But you were strong no doubt, definitely the second strongest opponent I've ever had after that monster".

It balled a fist and focused more power in preparation for the final punch to obliterate him, then the coating of bio-aura around Raizel's face began fading away showing his bloodied face to it and on his face was a smile.

"Do you mean Garim" his voice was super weak and talking hurt but Rai cared not for his state.

The guardians eyes widened for a bit "you know him?".

"No, not at all but I can guess how your fight with him went, at first he made you feel like you were perfect equals using an ability at a level that matched yours".

"Then he revealed his true cards and copied your ability using it to an even greater level than yours which could only have been the most humiliating feeling ever I'd imagine".

"What followed was simply a one-sided beat down in his favor and boy did he make sure every hit was as humiliating as it could get before finally putting you down like some rabid wild animal".

Raizel smiled even more seeing the look of pure boiling anger on the guardians face "finally got you to show some emotions you boring piece of meat".

He laughed and coughed some blood from his worsened internet injuries but kept laughing through it, the guardians rage grew further as it saw the opponent it had just defeated mock him and roared as it brought two of it's charged fist down at full force on his chest sending Raizel's body digging a mile deep tunnel into the earth and destroying the surface once again.

It's breathing was heavy and it's eyes bloodshot as it tried calming it's rage down which took nearly 3 minutes to achieve and once it did the guardian looked down at the mile deep hole which Raizel's body had created with a solemn expression, it's eyesight was more than good enough to get a clear visual of his current state.

A huge hole in his chest serving for a makeshift pool of his own blood, completely shattered ribcage and a bloodied up face that still held that unchanging mocking smile, the guardian shut it's eyes and turned away walking back to it's throne but he stopped as it felt something was amiss and walked back meet Raizel's body still down at the hole which was the problem.

It knew from experience that once a player had died their body breaks apart and disappears to a place it knew not of but that's what was supposed to happen.

"It can't be" it whispered and looked closer using it's ability to feel for his heartbeat of which it could feel no signs of which just served to confuse it even further.

Then it saw Raizel's smile growing wider and turning into a grin as he opened his eyes to look up at it, those crimson eyes were full of madness like it had never ever seen of felt before, the pool of blood in his body began getting absorbed by something he hadn't noticed before, a crystal core that pulsed with seemingly endless mutant power and red veins full of that power appeared all over his body healing up every bit of damage he had acquired and absorbing the shattered bones in his body to make a new ribcage before finally dully closing up.

Raizel coughed out the blood that had been sitting in his throat and took a look at his body 'right, I forgot this new heart of mine existed, guess it's recognized as part of my absolute base as it is my heart after all and I'd die without it'.

He sighed and looked up to meet the bewildered eyes of the guardian and smiled 'Thankfully what's it's nature is at the moment is simply a mutation bearing only the energy of a mutant else I could have really failed my self imposed test".

Feeling the power flowing through his veins he balled a fist and jumped right out of the hole right to the surface and latching himself down on solid ground using the same arachnid limbs he had crafted before, once fully settled he wiped some dust of his body and looked at the guardian.

"Apologies for playing around too much before, that was a huge mistake on my part of which I shall now be rectifying".

He slowly stretched out his hand's towards the guardians face and for some reason it felt it's senses going in overdrive for the first time since his battle against that monster and backed away to the other side of the wall with visible fear on it's face.

"Deary me, seems he left quite a great mental scar on you" he shook his head and began walking towards it.

The fear on it's face was replaced by rage as it vanished and threw a focused punch at his face of which Raizel simply just caught while breaking his hand and body in the process but more power seeped into his body healing the damage.

'Yeah, this is how I fight, I will fix it soon enough so it doesn't become a big weakness but for now.....I'll enjoy it".

Three crimson threads rose up from the ground and wrapped around the guardians arm cutting it off and forcing the guardian to back away once more in shock, but he continued his casual walk towards it with the same mocking smile on his face.

He appeared before it and gave a precise punch to it's shoulder blade of which the guardian ducked in time to counterattack with two palm strikes to his guts carrying focused vibrations but Raizel stopped him with an elbow to it's head and a knee kick to it's face raising it off the ground and then followed by a strong uppercut sending it straight up through the mountain and bursting out the top continuing on with maximum velocity like a rocket through the skies.

Raizel lept out of the opening only to be met with a tackle by he guardian back down to the ground causing a catastrophic impact, it's eyes held desperation and fear as it jumped away from Raizel and clasped it's hands together remaking the disrupted parts of his domain and bringing back the cloud once again but this time much bigger than it had ever been before.

Raizel having no interest in waiting to see what it was attempting simply launched an attack but was shocked the see his hand bursting a cloud of red, taking a halt to look at the guardian and his surroundings he suddenly understood the situation.

"No wonder you looked so desperate" he chuckled.

"DIE!".

The little particles were activared and the guardians outer body began breaking apart into many pieces showing a form that looked almost crystal like, a little humm resounded through the place and then came nothing but pure white accompanied by a whisper and a cool breeze.

The entire mountain was gone as was nearly more than 60% of the entire floor area, the guardian collapsed to it's knees with it's head down nearly wheezing from the exhaustion it was feeling, then it looked up to the skies and started laughing like a maniac.

" He really wasn't the same as that monster after all".

"Correct".

It was like it's whole world has come to a stop hearing that voice, pure terror was written on it's face and looked down at Raizel's body on the floor unharmed, it's mind raced back to the battle it had in the past with monster and how it's greatest move was rendered utterly harmless against him, but unlike the situation of the past this time it could not understand what Raizel had used to survive it.

He stood up and cleared away the gathering of dust around him, then he looked down at the guardian who was trembling in total fear.

"You waisted your only chance after having caught me off guard on a useless arm when my head was right there".

"In my current state I'm quite sure I couldn't survive that, what a waste".

He slowly shook his head in disappointment but then snapped his fingers as his face brightened up.

"But do you want to know a little fun fact, sometimes on very rare occasions a supreme or omega mutant will be blessed with an extra affinity or two in their bio-auras".

"Unsurprisingly I am amongst that very rare select group and can you guess how many I was blessed with".

Receiving no response as expected he just shrugged "ehn, guess I'll help you out then, 3".

Eliciting some reaction from the guardian he smiled and continued "do not worry as it gets even better you see".

"The first affimity is quite simple and can be referred to as a two in one package, it is called---

"Devour...and....Amplify".

The guardians eyes widened as it understood what was being implied with no need for further explanation, Raizel gave an acknowledging smile at it for catching on.

"Don't worry, amplify will not be used against you lest I destroy you".

"Like I had said already, you're my meal and I shall treat you with care".

"Although to be a bit honest eating rocks would be quite uncomfortable, why couldn't your ultimate form be more chewy".

He sighed and unleashed a wave of crimson bio-aura which swallowed the guardian ignoring it's futile attempts at destroying it and escaping, he turned the wave into a sphere and weakened it's power so as to make it more transparent but even then the guardian could not escape it which only served to bring a smile to Raizel's face.

"I know I've talked a lot during this....battle of ours so I apologize but I have one more question".

"How does it feel to have been beaten without ever having witnessed the depth of my abilities and power".

"Surely I get a higher score than Garim or at least close to it right?".

Raizel waited eagerly for a reply but the disgraced mental state of the guardian proved unhelpful so all he could do was sigh in defeat "guess I needed more impactful moments of domination then, one's ability being copied and immediately used much than you ever did to beat you down is quite something you could never live down".

He clicked his tongue in annoyance having failed his side mission and released the guardian from the sphere then grabbed it by the neck while making sure to drain as much power as he could from it's body directly until it's form regressed back to it's original state and he just smiled.

"Your energy is surely no joke, I was almost reaching my limit of absorption there".

He left the guardians body and suddenly it was impaled in five places, both hands and feet then finally it's abdomen. Hooks sprouted as support lest it's body slid down, then he created an altar for it's body to rest on and two belts to hold it down further, one for it's mouth so as to reduce the noise and another just below it's chest. Once finished he walked around it and casually ripped off one of it's right arms.

The guardian eyes widened as it squirmed around and tried it's best to escape but all it did was reopen it's injuries which were healing around the constructs impaled in it's body, meanwhile on Raizel's face was a look of disappointment.

"Seems you can't regenerate limbs, how annoying".

The guardian could not believe it but a weird sense of relief came over it, this lunatic was planning on ripping off it's limbs over and over again to cannibalize on but who knew a weak regeneration ability could prove useful in such a twisted way, it really could not believe this situation at all.

Raizel began eating the arm while he ran some thoughts through his head and the sight was a very chilling one for the guardian, he finished devouring the arm with the bones included and felt the potent energy flowing through his body which was enriching his own power and the feeling that he was approaching a new limit lit up like a small burning flame in his head.

The bind on the guardians mouth was released and Raizel walked right up to it "It's been eating at me a bit, I really want to know why you're still the reigning guardian if Garim killed you and as I'd imagine the many thousand others that cleared this level".

No response was heard from the guardian for a few seconds but before Raizel could begin making an incentive for it to speak it began cooperating".

"Players do not posses the authority to dethrone a guardian even if they kill one as that privilege is only in the hands of another challenger originating from this place".

"And if the new challenger is successful in simply just defeating the guardian but not killing one somet,hing happens to it anyway".

"There is no hope of revival after a successful dethronement".

"I see".

"And how long have you been in power".

"I don't know, time is pointless to keep track of here but by the closest estimate I can think of then it's probably a little more than a century perhaps".

"And how many times have you been defeated in that time frame".

"3, with you included it is now my fourth".

"Hoh? So little, are the challengers really that scarce".

"No, monsters like that guy and yourself are what's scarce. And motivation to continue after being killed in the worst ways possible so many times is not something easily found, it leaves some terrible mental scars".

"I see, thank you for answering so well".

He reformed the bind on it's mouth and shaped a blade of which he used in cutting off a large piece of flesh slowly and methodically from the guardians body, it's muffled screams and squirming absolutely ignored as he repeated the process three more times and then dispelled the construct to take a look at his work which was already regenerating.

He ate the large pieces of flesh he had taken from the guardian and wiped the blood off his hands before taking a moment to monitor the amount of energy flowing through his body and once finished he frowned a bit, in comparison to the arm he ate the amount of power in the flesh alone was barely worth half a finger which annoyed him a little bit after he thought about it again. But although the power contained in the flesh alone could not be compared to an arm it did not make it completely worthless, with that thought in mind he began flaying the guardians of it's skin from scalp to toe and going deeper to it's muscles and organs including it's eyes and bar it's heart, he repeated this over and over again every time it regenerated it all back until finally he noticed something.

The guardian was no longer regenerating as effectively as it did at the start and now looked like a deformed monstrosity with deep holes all over it's body showing it's skeleton, an unhealed bloody eye and bits of it's guts visibly spilling out. It was then he finally took a moment to look the guardian in it's eye and all that he could see was nothing but pure misery and a weariness so great it began killing it's own heart, in a few seconds he watched the life drain entirely from it's body.

"Congratulations!!".

Yelled the guide who had popped up all by itself after the guardian's death but Raizel ignored it's presence and formed a blade of which he used in cutting off the guardians arms, it's legs and then finally beheading it. Once done he released the binds on it's body and brought it upright as he cut it's body in two vertical halves then once more in a horizontal strike to it's torso. Once finished he dispersed the constructs and picked up the pieces then walked over and placed them next to the other parts he had harvested from the guardian over and over again, he looked up the guide who was showing him quite a nervous smile and smiled back before beginning his feast.

For the next 4 minutes all the guide heard was the mushy sounds of biting, munching, ripping and crunching of bones. The entire area around Raizel was stained red with blood and once finished he released a long sigh and closed his eyes, in his body was a raging torrent of energy being absorbed by his very cells and some white veins of energy began appearing on his body, his bio-aura flared up for just a little bit but became calm once more.

Raizel forced out the power he had absorbed directly from the guardians ultimate form and compressed it into a very dense orb then ate it. The raw power contained in such a forcefully condensed state was far wilder than what he got from the guardians flesh and it almost made him feel like he could explode at any moment, his body was so dense it was crushing the ground around him but not being one to be so passive he began his counterattack.

His hungry cells with a seemingly insatiable hunger began devouring the raw energy and splitting it apart into smaller and smaller pieces until and once it had been completely assimilated the new power was taken directly to his heart which further processed it and began enhancing every last bit of Raizel's body in a permanent way, his new limit had been raised significantly higher than before and the excess power which wasn't potent enough to give further enhancements was just kept as part of his mighty large reserves.

«First Path – 3rd layer».

EnD.