Sky Fall (1)

(There are multiple ways to survive a wretched world turned black by the wicked nature of the creator of all, but many more ways to die.)

In the center of New York's traffic, a single man would soon attest his fate again and again at the doors of death. His name was Graham William, a pretty boy with golden eyes with a shade of green behind them. It was a spectacle to stare at, the mixture of topaz and emerald, it was like staring at a nebula in the night sky. His blonde hair that was slicked to the side and faded to a zero at his ears gave him a lot of questions whether he was in the military or not because he was also ripped. 

He never knew true adversity until recently, where he stood at the bus stop realizing he was five minutes too late and would have to walk to work, or wait an hour for the bus to come back around. 

Fortunately for him, he would've died upon that bus which would soon crash and burn, killing all inside of it. 

Graham stood there waiting to depict if he should take a step towards his company or whether he should just sit down and enjoy the hour off, the sun lost all light. The sky streaked with lightning that stayed in place looking almost like the black sky was shattered glass. 

The sudden panic in the streets was fast, cars crashed, people screamed, and fire ravaged buildings as people called for the end of the earth. 

Graham was too stunned to even move. He only questioned the reality of the situation, wondering if this was all but a dream. 

The sky shattered with the force of an entire tower bearing its weight across it. It landed upon the memorial where the twin towers once stood, desecrating land sacred to the citizens of the city. 

[Objective: Survive the oncoming onslaught!]

[5:00:00]

[Failure: Death]

[Success: ???]

Everything happened in quick succession, far too fast for any normal human brain to understand. Graham dropped his phone as screams came from the distance where he could see a horde of creatures begin to feast on any unlucky human outside. 

Graham began to run, perhaps too late, as the beasts were already upon him. 

"Hragha Hrooh" 

The sound of the beasts was anything but native to earth. They almost sounded like the zombies that would appear in films. 

They were hellhounds. Although their appearance was undead, they were very much alive. Beasts that descended from decay. Their hide peeled away showing their brittle bones that protected their mana cores. They only beared their fangs to other living creatures, for all living creatures opposed the essence of decay.

There was maybe fifty yards between them and Graham, and fifty more yards to the closest open door he could see. A female held the door open for a grandma and her grandchild, she had a worried look as she saw the man running from the pack of creatures. 

She contemplated shutting the door as they neared. 

Ten more yards.

Graham could almost feel the creature's breath on his back as he continued to run. 

-Is this how I die?-

Graham clenched his fist and took large strides diving into the door as the woman closed it behind him. The sound of the creatures banging the door brought fear to everyone else standing in the back against the wall. 

At first, Graham blacked out not realizing his own surroundings were possibly as dangerous as the outside with the sharpened metal and wood that lined the wall as well as filling multiple racks. He now had to be wary of the five others as he caught his breath. 

"God please save us!" 

"This is God saving us… This is the apocalypse."

The man holding his cross praying, set down his cross knowing what the older man beside him said was true. If there was an actual god of this world, they had left everyone to die. Certain of this, the older man lit his cigarette in the store despite the child and the grandma being in the building. 

The grandma scoffed as she held the child in her chest.

 "Can't you smoke that elsewhere?" 

"Oh? Of course my bad. How about I just go outside and let you guys watch as my limbs are torn off."

The grandma lost her attitude and the older man walked over to the glass. 

"Wow, this stuff is really durable. At least the store owner wasn't a cheap bastard, or else we'd all be dead right now." 

Graham looked at the ceiling out of breath, tranced by the ringing in his ears. 

Pop. Confetti fell from the ceiling, a flash with it as well. 

A demon being appeared, that of which they have never seen depicted in literature. It was an Arc, a female demon who hid their privates with the fur of an Ashen Lion, sacred beasts of the demon realm. The Arc had sharpened teeth like a wolf and smiled with tenacity as she would seek to share the joys of this world with those who sat in their thrones above the broken sky. 

"Oh? What do we have here!"

The entire group was confused for the moment. Were they cursed to die?

Graham looked at the time limit.

[4:12:53]

He had only been laying there for thirty minutes at most, the other ten he must've spent running. Regardless, he was still tired and sore everywhere. 

"While some people are fighting for their lives, we have others trying to live it easy. No no. We can't have that. Let's give this a little tinker!"

Boop.

The screen popped up. 

It became obvious from there. The Arc's job was to use the system and wreak havoc amongst the participants of the world. 

[Objective: Kill a hellhound or human within the time limit]

[Failure: Death]

[Success: 100 G]

Graham jumped up, which startled the woman who held the door for him who was sitting beside him to make sure he was ok. 

"What if we just kill you!" 

Graham pointed at the demonic creature as he grabbed a pointy cane off the wall. 

"Hyuh hyuh hyuh, Well of course if you'd like to try! I'd say that would be rather bold of you." 

She flew herself in front of the face of Graham, nearly kissing him, then pushed him down with one finger. 

She was a specific type of demon, a conversion from succubus towards a better purpose, to relay the information to the beings above them. They were known as Tricksters, and were only called by their chosen name.

The entire room was filmed as if it were a movie, and the humans in stress were just mere actors meant to satisfy the tastes of hungry beings beyond the comprehension of humans. In other words, God's. 

She scratched her chin.

 "Well, How about this? I'll kill the first person in here to show this isn't a game, and then you guys can solve the rest by yourself!" 

She clapped her hands together like it was a great idea.

Squish.

The little girl's head exploded within the grandma's grasp. The grandma fell backwards, holding the right side of her chest as she cried for her little girl whose brain was just scattered all around the room. 

"Now! The faster you clear the objective, the faster you guys can be free!" 

The old man was quick, taking the blunt end of a cane and smashing the grandma's face in two. 

Now there were only three that had to achieve the objective. 

The demon laughed. 

"You are quick to adapt for a human." 

He just smoked his cigarette without wiping the blood off his face. 

Graham looked at the guy against the wall and then back at the woman behind him. 

"We don't need to kill each other. We can kill a hellhound as well!" 

"And open that door? To hell with that!" 

The man against the wall pulled a knife out of his pocket and ran at Graham. 

-was everyone always this insane?- Graham thought. 

He dodged the blade watching the man trip on himself and fall to the ground. The girl grabbed a vase and broke it on the guy's head, going for the kill herself. 

"Wait!" 

He watched her kill him, confirming herself clear of the objective. 

"I can't afford to die yet." She had a cold look in her eyes, was this really the same person who had just saved him? 

Graham gulped. 

[3 Hours remaining]

The time limit rang in his ear. He felt as if time was going by too fast, stuck in his own mind he looked at the door where the hellhounds now scattered, still filled the street. 

Looking back at the bloody mess and the other two, he knew he didn't want to take a human life himself. 

Was taking the life of a creature any different? The questions of morality had always kept humans intrigued for ages. What was right and what was wrong? 

He finally came with his answer as he grabbed the handle to the door. 

"Can we just let him open up that door?"

"Surely he'd not dumb enough to flood the room with those things."

The two survivors looked at eachother.

"Surely, right?" The female said. 

Graham opened the door, watching as they came running to the creaking of the door. 

The other two tried to stop him, he allowed five hellhounds into the rooms before the older man forced the door shut and threw Graham to the side. 

Four hellhounds kept their distance looking for a weakness to jump at as they saw the three had a weapon of some sort. 

The woman held the knife the cowardly man was once wielding. The older man was holding his cane. And Graham was on the ground behind the two, holding the hellhound that took position on his arm. 

It was no good, once a hellhound bit you, it would never let go. 

[Curse Mark: Hellhound's Bite]

As Graham screamed in pain, he grabbed the hellhound by its neck, attempting to snap its neck. 

Snap. 

[100 G Awarded for Killing a Hellhound!]

[100 G Awarded for Completing the Objective]

The tension on his arm did not release until he snapped the jaw from the hellhound. 

[Curse Mark: Hellhound's Bite: Occurred upon the bite of a hellhound, once bitten the hellhounds will be attracted towards you when they are in the area for the rest of your life.]

Thankfully for Graham, his time limit on earth was going to be short. 

The four other hellhounds barked towards their fallen brethren, and eyed down Graham who held himself up with his cane.

If a human was simply a F Grade Species, the hellhounds before them were D Grade Species. The parallel between the two didn't seem far off due to one letter grade, but normal humans were far from an actual pack of hellhounds that worked in unison like ants. 

Graham pulled out his cane from beneath him, catching his balance after wobbling onto the older man's shoulder. 

"Sorry. I can deal with these as well." 

As Graham pushed himself off the shoulder of him, he nearly fell to the ground before he was caught. 

"You're losing too much blood. Sit this one out."

He looked over to the female. 

"You patch him up, I'll deal with this. It'll cost you guys though, my cartons of cigarettes are almost out, someone is going to have to replace them."

The female went to tend the bite mark on Graham's forearm that seemed to endlessly ooze out blood. 

The older man raised the cane that he used like a mace. 

"Which one of you mutts are first?"

They all jumped together towards the older man, four against one was a lot better than the previous look of two and maybe even three against four. 

"I guess all of you are." 

He swung the cane like a baseball bat sparking a newfound power never seen to earth yet. 

[Due to the nature of your abilities you have unlocked the Skill 'Forceful Swing Lv. 1']

The cane packed the strength of a moving vehicle, his swing connected with all four hellhounds sending them into the glass leaving an impact where they landed, cracking the glass slightly. 

[100 G Awarded for Killing a Hellhound!]

[100 G Awarded for Killing a Hellhound!]

[100 G Awarded for Killing a Hellhound!]

[100 G Awarded for Killing a Hellhound!]

[Secret Title Gained- Hellhound Slayer: Kill 2 or more Hellhounds at the same time]

The Nature of the world slowly grew on the old man. The power he felt surging through his arms dissipated and he was left feeling normal again. 

After feeling such an adrenaline rush, no one could ever turn away from it. It was like a drug addiction, once you felt mana, you needed to feel it course through your body again. 

"That's not going to cause any problems right?" The female said as she looked at the cracks on the windows. 

The hellhounds clawed at the window hoping for a weak point, but it still didn't give in.

The older man flicked his cigarette on the ground, stomping on it. 

"Hopefully not."

[Time Remaining 2:30:00]